The wind was colder in the north.
Kael adjusted his cloak, eyes scanning the jagged path ahead. The mountains rose like jagged teeth, biting into the sky. Clouds hung low and grey, trailing mist through the valley like veils of mourning.
Behind him, Sarya walked quietly, hood drawn. She hadn't spoken since the clearing—not about the Warden, the word she had uttered, or the terrifying power that still clung to her like smoke.
Beside her, Nerra scouted the edges of the path, silent as a shadow. She hadn't said much either.
Kael could feel the tension.
Not between them—around them. Like the world was holding its breath.
"There's an old tower ahead," Kael finally said. "A ruin where I used to train before everything fell apart. There's someone there. Someone who remembers who I was."
Nerra glanced at him. "One of your lovers?"
He shot her a dry look. "A priest."
"Same thing in your old life, wasn't it?"
Sarya stifled a smile for the first time in days. The tension cracked just a little.
They camped by a frozen stream that night, the stars hidden behind shrouded clouds.
Kael sat apart from the fire, staring at the Seal etched in his chest. It pulsed slower now, in sync with something distant—something ahead. He could feel it drawing him forward.
A memory stirred. A name. A woman's voice—whispering his death sentence.
He clenched his fist.
"They'll come for us soon," Sarya said behind him, wrapping her arms around her knees.
Kael looked at her. Her white hair glowed faintly in the moonlight.
"I know," he said. "That's why we need to know what you are—before they use you against us."
Sarya frowned. "What if I'm the weapon? What if they're chasing me because I'm what destroys everything?"
Kael leaned in, firelight flickering in his eyes.
"Then you'll destroy the right things this time."
A soft sound from the trees stopped them.
Nerra appeared out of the shadows. "We're being followed."
Kael stood.
"How close?"
"Not close enough to attack. But they're watching. Listening. They're good."
Kael nodded.
"Then we lead them somewhere they can die."
He turned back toward the mountains.
Somewhere ahead, the ruin waited. A sanctuary of memory—and maybe truth. But Kael already knew:
Truth never came without blood.