4338.209 · July 28, 2018 AD
What Listens in the Dark
A night that begins with quiet reflection and half-remembered stories becomes something else entirely when the darkness answers back. Glenda learns that Clivilius has teeth—and they're closer than anyone imagined.
There are nights when the world holds its breath. When the fire crackles too loud and the silence between sounds stretches too long. When you catch yourself straining to hear something you're not sure you want to find.
For Glenda, the evening begins gently enough—tending the campfire, settling the others, stealing a moment alone with memories of her father and the impossible stories he used to tell. The coins pressed against her skin feel like secrets waiting to be spoken, and in the quiet of her tent, she lets herself drift toward sleep and toward him, summoning his voice from the depths of memory.
But Clivilius doesn't grant peaceful nights.
A growl shatters the stillness—deep, wrong, and far too close. What follows is chaos: screams that don't sound human, a Portal blazing to life where no Portal should be, and Kain's body crumpled in the dust with something terrible carved into his leg. As Glenda and Paul race through the storm toward sounds no one can explain, she discovers that her years in Borneo—the machetes, the minefields, the blood-soaked triage tents—may have been preparation for something she never could have imagined.
The night is hunting. And they are no longer alone.
