The smoke grew thicker with every step.
What had started as a hazy smear on the horizon was now a rolling cloud of grey and black, billowing up from the slopes of Blackstone Mountain and spreading across the valley like a funeral shroud. The air carried the acrid smell of burnt wood and something else—something chemical, unnatural, the residue of magic gone violent. Rowan led the group forward, his pace steady, his eyes fixed on the source of the destruction. Behind him, the others moved in silence, too tired to speak, too anxious to rest.
Raya had woken during the last stretch of the walk, her eyes fluttering open to a world of smoke and ash and distant thunder. She was still weak—her limbs heavy, her mind foggy, her aura reserves nothing but a hollow ache in her chest—but she was awake. She walked leaning on Kai's shoulder, her feet dragging with every step, her breath coming in shallow gasps.
"What is going on there?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
No one answered. They had all been asking the same question for the last mile, and none of them had an answer.
Then came the rustle.
It started as a whisper—branches shifting, leaves stirring—and the group tensed immediately. Hands went to weapons. Kai's fingers found his bow. Koby's hatchets appeared in his grip, though his arms screamed at the weight. James drew his sword, the blade catching the grey light. They formed a loose circle, backs together, eyes scanning the treeline.
The rustling grew louder. Closer. It became the rhythm of running footsteps, fast and urgent, crashing through the undergrowth with no attempt at stealth. The bushes ahead parted, and a figure burst through—
Rowan moved.
He was there and then he was there, his sword at the figure's throat, the blade so close it must have kissed the skin. The figure froze, hands up, breath coming in ragged gasps.
"It's me! It's me—Aries!"
She pushed back her hood, and the tension broke. Rowan lowered his blade, stepping back, his expression unreadable.
"Aries?" Koby was the first to speak, his voice cracked with surprise. "What are you doing here?"
Aries was panting, her face streaked with dirt and sweat, her clothes torn from running through the forest. She had run hard. She had run far. And now she was here, and the smoke was behind her, and her eyes were wide with something that looked like terror.
Rowan didn't wait for pleasantries. His voice was calm, but there was an edge to it that hadn't been there before. "Better question: what is going on there?" He pointed toward the mountain, toward the smoke, toward the place that had been Lyrielle's home for longer than any of them had been alive.
Aries met his eyes. She didn't flinch. She didn't look away.
"Lyrielle is in trouble."
The words landed like stones dropped into still water. The silence that followed was absolute. No one breathed. No one moved. The weight of those three words pressed down on them, crushing, suffocating, inescapable.
Rowan's eyes sharpened. The calm in his voice was gone. "What do you mean—in trouble?"
Aries spoke quickly, the words tumbling out in a rush. "A man came. He said he was from the Eclipse Collective. He said he wanted the players. He said that you and Lyrielle were obstacles that needed to be removed." She paused, catching her breath, her chest heaving. "He had a sword—a greatsword. It glowed green. And he had something else—something that Lyrielle called a seal. It was limiting her power. She couldn't fight at full strength."
Rowan's jaw tightened. A muscle in his cheek twitched. "What about the residents?"
Aries swallowed. "I managed to evacuate most of them before the battle escalated. My grandmother is with them, heading to the town market. I told them to keep moving, to not look back."
Something flickered in Rowan's eyes—relief, maybe, or pride. He reached out and tapped Aries lightly on the head, a gesture almost paternal. "That's good. You did good, kid."
He turned to face the rest of them, and the weight of his gaze settled on each of them in turn. Raya, still leaning on Kai. Koby, pale and trembling. James, his sword still drawn. Kai, his bow lowered but ready.
"Is Lyrielle going to be okay?" Raya's voice was small, fragile, the voice of someone who already knew the answer but needed to hear it anyway.
Rowan smiled. It didn't reach his eyes. "She's a tough nut to crack."
But his eyes said something else. Worry. Anxiety. Confusion. The battle had stretched this long, and from here—from miles away—he could already see the remnants of Lyrielle's Ramulus Dei, the great tree she had summoned, now broken and scarred. Something was wrong. Something had gone very, very wrong.
His thoughts moved quickly, piecing together what Aries had told him. The Eclipse Collective. They were after the players. Why, he didn't know—but he knew enough to know that letting them succeed was not an option. Lyrielle had held them off this long, but she was losing. He could feel it in the smoke, in the silence, in the absence of her presence on the mountain.
He made a decision.
"First thing: we need to worry about your safety." His voice was flat, commanding, leaving no room for argument. "It seems the enemy is after you all. Why that is, I don't know. But we can't let them have you."
Kai snorted. "No duh. What do we do?"
Rowan's gaze swept over them, assessing, calculating. "You're going to sneak through the valley and into the town where the evacuated villagers are. I'll deal with the threat."
Aries stepped forward, her face tight with concern. "The valley is all but ruined. Most of the cover is gone—trees uprooted, the ground torn up. It's going to be hard to navigate without being spotted. I barely made it through to get here."
Rowan looked at her. Not at the kids, not at Axle—at Aries. "I'm sure you can do it again."
She stared at him. The weight of his words pressed down on her, heavier than the seal pressing down on Lyrielle. He was putting their lives in her hands. All of them. Koby, Kai, James, Raya. He trusted her—a girl, just a girl, who hunted in the forest and gathered mushrooms and tried not to think about the weight of her grandmother's box wrapped in red cloth. He was trusting her to keep them alive.
She swallowed. Nodded. "Okay. I'll do it."
Rowan handed them off without ceremony—a nod, a glance, and then he was gone. Not running, not walking. Just gone, the space where he had been empty, the air where he had stood already cooling.
Kai blinked. "Did he just vanish?"
"That's how fast he is." Axle's voice was calm, matter-of-fact, as if disappearing into thin air was something people did every day.
He turned and began walking. Not toward the valley, not toward safety—toward the mountain. Toward the smoke. Toward the cottage.
Aries called after him. "Umm... where are you going? We're supposed to cross the valley area." She pointed in the opposite direction, toward the path that would take them down and away, toward the town, toward her grandmother, toward safety.
Axle didn't stop. "I have something of importance at the cottage. I'll make a quick trip there and join you later."
James stepped forward, his face set. "Whatever it is, I don't think it's worth risking your life."
Axle stopped. He turned, and his eyes were cold, harder than James had ever seen them. "Don't act like you could possibly understand."
The words hung in the air, sharp and final. James opened his mouth to respond, but Aries cut in, her voice urgent.
"Still—"
James held up a hand, silencing her. "Aries, take the rest and cross the valley." He didn't look at her. His eyes were fixed on Axle.
"And you?" Aries asked, though she already knew the answer.
"Don't worry about him." James's voice was calm. "He won't be alone. I'll go with him."
Axle's head snapped around. "Are you stupid?"
Kai let out a short, incredulous laugh. "My thoughts exactly."
James didn't flinch. "You can't go by yourself to a dangerous place."
"I'm not a child, James. I know the risks." Axle's voice was tight, controlled. "You're injured. You're weak. You're also the main target of the enemy." He stepped closer, his eyes boring into James's. "You'll just hold me back."
"I won't hold you back." James's voice was steady, unwavering. "You won't even know I'm there."
Koby moved forward, his steps slow, his face pale with exhaustion. He reached for James's arm, his grip light but insistent. "That's a bad idea, James."
James looked at him, and for a moment, something passed between them—something that might have been understanding, or frustration, or goodbye. "You all can do what you want." He pulled his arm free. "I'm wasting more time."
He turned and ran. Not toward safety. Toward the mountain. Toward Axle, who was already moving, already disappearing into the smoke.
James stood there for a moment, watching him go. Then he turned to Koby.
"He needs someone to watch his back."
Koby's jaw tightened. "He chose to go himself."
"He could die without backup."
"Then let him die." Koby's voice rose, cracking with frustration, with fear, with something that might have been anger. "It's his choice. Don't drag yourself into it!"
James looked at him. Not with anger. Not with disappointment. With something quieter, something sadder. He shook his head, a small, almost imperceptible movement, and turned away.
"I'll be back."
He ran.
Koby stood in the silence, watching him go. Why had James looked at him like that? Like he had said something wrong. Like he had failed something. They were supposed to survive. That was the point. Survive and go home. That was the only thing that mattered.
He turned to the others. Aries was watching him, her expression unreadable. Raya was leaning on Kai, her face pale, her eyes shadowed with something that might have been disappointment. Kai was looking after James, his jaw tight, his fingers still wrapped around his bow.
Koby met their gazes. Held them. "He's made up his mind. We should get going."
Aries was the first to move. She turned, her back to the mountain, her face set toward the valley. She walked, and the others followed. Raya leaned on Kai's shoulder, her steps slow, her breath shallow. Koby brought up the rear, his eyes fixed on the ground, his thoughts on James, on Axle, on the look that had passed over his friend's face before he turned away.
Behind them, the mountain burned.