Chapter 164 The First Attack

• ~ Elara ~
• The sun had barely climbed over the horizon when I set out again. My legs ached from the previous day’s journey, and my mind was still fogged with the remnants of restless sleep. Each step felt heavier than the last, and the rough terrain ahead didn’t offer much promise of reprieve. Jagged rocks jutted out of the ground like the bones of some long-forgotten creature, and the path I followed had become a narrow, treacherous trail weaving through steep hills. The air hung thick with moisture, making it harder to breathe. Every breath tasted of earth and damp leaves.
• The weight of everything bore down on me—my banishment, the loss of the gem, Draven. The thought of him, of what he had already done and what he might be planning, gnawed at me like a parasite burrowing into my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about the shaman’s cryptic words, her warning that Draven would be a constant temptation, a shadow lurking at the edge of my thoughts. He had already taken so much from me, and yet… there was this insidious part of me that feared what more he could take.