With the Siren dead and her path momentarily clear, Seren moved forward.
She leapt from boulder to boulder, one after another, as if guided by instinct more than thought. The rhythmic thud of her boots against stone echoed faintly in the wide, open silence of the shallow water.
Rest never entered her mind—not out of pride or stubbornness, but simply because she didn't need it. The battle had barely scratched the surface of her stamina.
She still thrummed with energy, focused and unshaken.
And so she pushed forward, her steps as precise as they were fluid.
...
But just as she was about to step onto solid ground at the edge of the water, something strange happened.
The water shifted.
It wasn't a wave. It wasn't natural. The water, which had been deathly still until now, moved—the surface creeping forward, rippling unnaturally across the shallows to meet the shoreline ahead of her.
Seren paused, blinking once. "Illusion?" she murmured under her breath.
