The air was thick with the smell of burning wood and blood. Smoke coiled between the trees like ghosts, swallowing the night in gray veils. I could barely see past the haze, but I could feel him — Dante, somewhere to my left, his every movement sharp and deliberate. And beyond him, a darker presence moved through the smoke.

The betrayer.

His voice cut through the chaos like a blade. “You can’t hide forever, Dante!”

The sound made my blood run cold. I recognized the tone — calm, almost amused, the way someone would sound when they knew the ending before it began.

Dante’s voice came back, low and controlled....