The silver flowers glowed softly beneath the darkness.
Their pale light stretched endlessly across the black water like fragments of moonlight scattered through a dying world.
And in the middle of them, stood the silver-haired man.
Still.
Elegant.
Watching her.
Aliena could not explain why her instincts screamed louder the longer she looked at him.
Nothing about him appeared openly threatening.
He was not snarling.
Not radiating violent rage like Sebastian did when anger consumed him.
No, this felt worse.
Because the man standing before her looked completely calm.
The kind of calm only ancient beings possessed.
The kind that came from surviving things ordinary people could not even comprehend.
The silver flowers swayed gently around him despite the absence of wind.
Aliena remained frozen several feet away, her pulse uneven beneath her ribs.
The black water around her ankles had become unnaturally still.
Even the whispers beneath the abyss had gone silent.
