Meng Wan huddled among the branches of a gigantic ancient tree, soaked through and shivering so hard her teeth chattered. The rough bark dug into her back, but she didn’t dare move an inch. From the undergrowth below came the low growl of an adult saber-toothed beast. Its fetid breath carried through the rain, making her scalp prickle with fear.
Three days earlier, a sudden rift in space had torn through the settlement where her people lived. Her mother’s clan was the most powerful Wood Spirit clan in the eastern Beast World. Females were rare and precious, especially one like her, born with exceptionally open spirit channels, whom her clan had cherished. But the rockslide and wave of strange beasts unleashed by the rift were too fierce. The panicked crowd swept her away from the others, and she fled with a few guards. In the end, she lost contact with them on the edge of the Misty Forest.
