The journey had been grueling, the hours stretching endlessly as the group traversed rough, uneven terrain under the scorching sun, with nothing but the occasional gust of dry wind to provide relief from the heat. Each step had taken them further from the crowded streets and into the untamed wilderness, where the air grew thicker with the scent of damp earth and the distant rotting of something unseen. Now, as they stood before the entrance of the vast, shadowed forest that loomed ahead like the mouth of an enormous beast, Nate felt a strange sensation creeping up his spine, an unsettling awareness of the sheer, oppressive energy radiating from within its depths.