The air changed.
I didn't need to see him to know something monstrous was coming. I could feel it. Like a shift in the atmosphere—sudden, heavy, and oppressive. The kind of presence that made breathing feel like dragging shards of glass down your throat. All around me, people started shifting, whispering, some falling silent altogether as the weight bore down on us like an invisible boulder. Even Ori stiffened beside me, the playful glint he usually had completely gone.
And then I saw him.
A bitter smile tugged at the corner of my lips, more reflex than emotion.
"Yeah… that's him," I muttered under my breath, voice barely above a whisper.
I stared past the crowd—past the frightened eyes and trembling shoulders of the newest captives being shoved forward by snarling goblins and stomping orcs. I didn't even register the people anymore. My eyes were fixed on the space behind them… on him.
Tharnok.
The Fifth Orc Lord.
The Gravity Orc Lord.
