I Received System to Become Dragonborn

On the other side of Eccar and company's camp, deep within the winding trails of the forest, a different rhythm pulsed.

The group of ten adventurers moving at a slow pace. Laughter echoed between the trunks, the sound of relaxed boots crushing leaves, idle talk about food, woman, and petty rivalries happening around them. They weren't worried in the slightest.

After all, the amulets they carried granted them a strange but undeniable immunity to the dangers of the forest's Magical mist and corruption. The plants didn't twist toward them. The air didn't thicken with cold mist like it did for others. So they walked like travelers on a carefree holiday, basking in the illusion of safety.

But Darel, at the front, wasn't laughing.

He kept his eyes ahead. He didn't look on the path but on the shifting trees beyond it. His hand rested close to the hilt of his sword, fingers tapping absently against the steel.

Beside him, Yara moved in near silence, her long braid swaying behind her with every step.

She glanced at him sideways, reading the tightness in his jaw.

"They don't get it," she murmured, her voice low enough not to carry to the rest. "This amulet makes them feel safe. But you and I both know there's no such thing as real safety in a forest that's waking up like this."

Darel nodded slowly. "It won't last long and they'll find out the hard way if something pushes through those woods that is stronger than what the amulets were designed to block. I told them already but they keep ignoring it."

Yara exhaled, glancing briefly behind them at the others, who were now trying to make someone laugh by tossing a mushroom cap like a frisbee.

"You think something else beyond what we prepared for is happening?"

"I don't know," Darel said. "That's what worries me."

They walked in silence for a few more steps before he added, "We've already seen things we weren't prepared for. That battle earlier between those two force near the river. You feel the tremors from that battle, right?"

Yara's lips tightened. "I felt it. And I saw the smoke and wind Magic. That wasn't a normal fight. That was a damn earthquake made out of fists and powerful Magic."

"Exactly." Darel's eyes narrowed. "Is there two giants, maybe? That's what it looked like from a distance. If those were presence in this forest, a natural-born inhabitants, then I hope they still obey this amulet effect."

Yara let the idea settle. "You think that party we've been tracking… you think one of them have that kind of power that causing the earthquake of wind Magic?"

Darel wait for about three seconds, then let out a sigh before speaking again.

"If they weren't the cause," Darel said, "they were close to it. Who else were there beside them and their enemy? That alone makes them more dangerous than we planned for."

Yara gave a short, quiet nod. "We're not going to get the drop on them if they've got that kind of power. We'll need a new angle."

Darel looked ahead again, his eyes shadowed. "I'm still betting the amulets bought us time. But not a lot of it. We stay out of every battle until the picture's clear. No matter how curious our people get."

"Agreed," Yara said. Then, after a pause, she added, "Let's just hope that forest doesn't wake up faster than we can adjust."

Behind them, the rest of the group broke into another round of laughter. But Darel and Yara walked on in silence with their heavy and sharp thoughts.

Then something happened behind the party. It started as a flicker, barely more than a ripple in the air.

The adventurer who noticed it first was named Brann. A lanky man with a patched beard and a hawk feather tied to his spear, Brann had been dragging behind the others. He almost didn't notice it.

But then the ripple twisted few meters beside him. Brann blinked.

A seam appeared mid-air, hanging a few meters above the ground. It glowed faintly like moonlight bouncing on shattered glass.

"Uh... hey?" he called, his voice unsure, halfway between a joke and a real warning. "Anyone else seeing that?"

The laughter died like a snuffed torch.

"What is it now, Brann?" one of them called back.

"No. No, seriously. Look!" Brann's tone sharpened, urgency creeping in. "There's... there's something wrong with the air!"

The group turned, groaning, until they followed his line of sight. Then silence fell to them.

The tear in space widened. No noise accompanied it but the edges shimmered like silk burning slowly from both ends. From inside, an unnatural darkness oozed out.

Darel and Yara were already moving, cutting through undergrowth without a word. They emerged from a small ridge just in time to see what Brann had meant.

Darel stopped cold. Yara's hand went straight to clenches her gauntlet.

"That's a rift," Darel muttered, eyes narrowed. "That's a tear in space and time from somewhere that opening fast."

The tear pulsed once. Then, something moved inside.

A hand pushed through the boundary with an eerie silence. The hand have long fingers and tipped in dull gray claws, each one crusted with something dark like dried tar. The skin was smooth like stone but writhed. It flexed as if grasping the air.

Brann took a step back, voice shaking now. "What the hell is that?"

Darel didn't answer. His gaze locked on the rift as it widened again, an unseen force forcing it apart from within. More shapes swirled just beyond it, like something massive trying to birth itself into the world.

"Form up!" Darel barked, snapping out of his trance. "Weapons ready! Don't think the protection of the amulet is enough for this! Ready yourselves!"

The adventurers fumbled for their weapons. A few muttered spells.

Yara was already drawing a rune in the dirt with her fingers. "I'll mark a warding circle."

Darel moved forward slowly, eyes never leaving the clawed hand as it gripped the edge of the rift.

Behind them, the laughter was long gone turned into the hiss of drawn steel and the hum of incantations.

The rift keep widening.

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