STEEPED IN DEATH.

Chapter: 23

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TALON:

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The world around me melted away, replaced by a dense fog that clung to my skin like an unwelcome shroud. I felt my consciousness slip, not into sleep, but into something deeper—a dream that was not entirely mine. Shadows flickered at the edges of my vision, whispers of a time long forgotten. And then, like the snapping of a twig beneath a heavy foot, I was thrown into another life.

I stood not as I am now, but as the rogue I once was in a dense forest, the scent of pine and earth thick in the air. The trees loomed above me, their branches entwined like guardians, cloaking my presence in a veil of darkness. I could feel the cool evening breeze rustle through the leaves, but it was not the chill that sent shivers down my spine; it was the pulse of danger thrumming through the ground beneath my feet. A primal instinct surged within me, alerting me to the boundary I had unwittingly crossed.

I was not alone. Beside me, two companions moved with