Chapter 1841: Whispers of the Hollowed

The road to Auralis stretched before the caravan like a scar across the land. Though the Ashen Bloom had been purged from Barrow's Hollow, its aftermath clung to the travelers like a film of ash. Kaelin's vial of cleansed spring water hung heavy around her neck, its weight a constant reminder of the corruption they had unearthed—and the darker truth she dared not voice. The earth's whispers had grown urgent, fragmented, as though the land itself recoiled from a shadow they could not yet see.

Liam rode in silence, the Emberheart's pulse now erratic, flickering like a guttering candle. He could feel its warmth waning, as if whatever bond had been forged in the Cinder Vale was fraying at the edges. Elena rode beside him, her gaze distant. The encounter with the Bloom had left her hands trembling, not from fear, but from the memory of its voice—the way it had *known* her, down to the marrow of her oldest wounds.