At dusk, just as the trio reached a fog-draped gorge known as Whisper Hollow, the first scream split the silence.
A merchant caravan ahead of them had stopped—horses bucking, guards shouting. Something black, sinuous, and smoke-born slithered from the trees.
It had no eyes, only a jagged maw and a shifting body made of tendrils, ash, and bone.
> A Veilborn.
The very air cracked around it—Veil corruption warping nature itself.
Meiyan drew a short blade from her saddlebag. "What in the spirits is that?!"
Qingsai jumped from his horse, stepping between the girls and the creature.
"I don't know," he said, heart pounding, "but it knows me."
The Veilborn let out a screech like shattering glass and lunged.
Qingsai raised his arm—flame surged forward in a great arc, but the creature phased through it, re-forming mid-air.
Qingsai grunted as the creature's tendrils slammed him into a rock. Blood trickled from his forehead.
> "Weak… still incomplete…" the creature hissed. "Not yet awakened fully…"
The words—not spoken but echoed—through the minds of all around.