But before her fingers could touch the ancient stone, a sound shattered the silence of the clearing—a rustle of movement from the shadowed edge of the woods, swift and deliberate. Elara's heart raced, her mind torn between the desire to uncover the altar's secrets and the instinctive caution that the unexpected sound evoked.
She turned, her gaze piercing the shadows, searching for the source of the disturbance.
Under the cloak of night, the Whispering Woods seemed to breathe with a life of its own, each shadow and rustle a whisper of the ancient magic that pulsed through its veins. Elara, her heart set on uncovering the secrets that might bridge the worlds between her and Aiden, found herself deep within this enchanted realm, the moon her only guide.