Ethereal Prince

"Welcome, seekers," a voice spoke directly into their minds. 

The voice hung in the air around them, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. Samantha instinctively placed a protective hand over her stomach, where her child—the impossible offspring of hybrid, werewolf, and dragon bloodlines—grew within her.

"How does it know who we are?" Marcus whispered, leaning heavily against Samantha while eyeing the massive silver-leaved tree with both wonder and suspicion.

"The Grove knows all who traverse the waygate network," the voice answered, though none of them had spoken directly to it. "Especially those whose coming was foretold."

The platform beneath them shifted subtly, the living wood seeming to ripple outward from the central tree. What had appeared to be a simple raised dais now revealed itself as a complex structure, with paths spiraling around the massive trunk and small clearings nestled between arching roots.