The Forest Spirits

Previously

…As the spirits began to drift, their melodic chimes a soft, guiding song, Branden turned his back on the blighted clearing. The metallic tang of decay still hung heavy in the air, but now, a faint, sweet scent, like blooming moonlight, seemed to weave through it. He had seen the devastation, understood the enemy. And though the path ahead was shrouded in a darkness he had never truly comprehended, he knew, with a certainty that settled deep in his warrior’s soul, that he would not falter. The forest, even in its dying breath, had called to him, and he, Branden, would answer.