They had retreated further, far enough for the mist to completely obscure the motionless figure on the rock. None of them spoke yet. The silence had become more than tactical—it was reverent. Almost sacred.
What they had seen… was not a mere beast.
As they continued their path through the dense fog, they began to notice other things—motionless forms, half-buried in the earth, sometimes dismembered, sometimes barely recognizable.
Carcasses.
Some massive, clad in split scales; others slender and long like giant serpents, or bristling with fangs. Their bones were shattered, scattered, blackened by something older than time.
Dylan stopped before one of them—a colossus with a skull split in two, its ribs splayed open like a shredded flower.
"That's the guardian…" murmured Élisa.
Maggie didn't respond, but her gaze was dark, vigilant.
