The forest thinned.
Not all at once.
Step by step.
Trees spaced wider. The ground hardened underfoot. Roots gave way to stone that pushed up through the soil in uneven plates. The air felt different. Colder. Moving more freely between the trunks.
They didn't speak much.
There wasn't space for it.
The path had narrowed.
Reth walked ahead with Kael's arm over his shoulder. The scout carried his weight without complaint, but it showed in the way his steps shortened, the way he adjusted his footing twice before committing to each shift forward. Kael kept pace as best he could. Not steady. Not fast.
Enough.
Toh followed close behind them.
A little slower than before.
One hand came up to his side once when the ground tilted too sharply. He lowered it again before anyone said anything.
Elira led.
She didn't look back often.
When she did, it was quick. Measuring distance. Pace. Nothing more.
Aric walked behind Brenok.
The spear rested against his shoulder now instead of held ready. His grip shifted now and then when the ground forced it. His ribs still answered when he breathed too deep. His shoulder pulled when he adjusted too fast.
It didn't slow him.
Not enough to matter.
Brenok moved ahead of him.
Steady.
Unchanged in pace.
Only the blood at his side marked what had happened.
The trees ended without warning.
One step—
and there was no more cover.
Stone replaced it.
The ground rose sharply, uneven and broken, slanting upward into the mountain face. The air moved stronger here. Wind carried across the exposed surface, catching loose cloth and hair and pushing against them with steady force.
The path didn't disappear.
It changed.
What had been a trail became a line of movement carved into the rock. Not smooth. Not wide. Just enough space for one, sometimes two, to pass if they adjusted their steps.
Reth slowed.
Not by choice.
Kael's weight shifted more here. The incline forced his balance off, and twice he had to stop to correct it before moving again.
"We take it slower," Elira said.
Not turning.
Just stating it.
No one argued.
They adjusted.
Brenok moved to the side when the path narrowed, giving space for Reth and Kael to pass ahead of him. Aric followed behind, one hand brushing the rock wall when the ground dropped too sharply to the right.
The climb wasn't steep enough to stop them.
But it demanded attention.
Every step mattered.
The stone underfoot shifted between rough and smooth, some sections worn down by time or use, others sharp and uneven. Natural ledges broke the incline at intervals, giving brief moments of level ground before the climb continued.
Aric noticed the marks.
Not random.
Not natural.
Edges that had been cut.
Surfaces that had been flattened.
This wasn't just terrain.
It had been shaped.
"Used often," Brenok said without looking back.
"Yes," Aric answered.
Above them, the mountain rose higher.
Not a single peak.
Layers.
Stone on stone, stacked and broken, forming a wall that stretched across their view.
And within it—
movement.
Not people.
Structure.
Barely visible at first.
Lines that didn't belong to the rock.
Straight where everything else was jagged.
Too precise.
Aric slowed for a fraction.
Then kept moving.
They climbed.
Time passed without measure.
The wind grew stronger the higher they went, cutting across the path and forcing them to lean into it in some sections. Kael stopped once, breathing harder now, his arm tightening against Reth's shoulder.
"We stop," Reth said.
Elira looked back.
One glance.
Then nodded.
They paused on a narrow ledge.
Not wide.
But enough.
Toh leaned slightly into the rock wall, his posture tightening before he forced it straight again. Brenok stood near the edge, looking out over the slope they had come from.
Aric stepped beside him.
The forest spread out below them now.
Wide.
Distant.
What had felt endless before now looked contained. A stretch of green broken by darker lines and small clearings.
Different.
Further away than it should have been.
"They came from there," Brenok said.
"Yes."
"They'll move fast."
Aric nodded once.
"They'll recover."
Brenok didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Above them, Kael shifted slightly, adjusting his position against the rock. His wing stayed close to his side, unmoving.
"Not far now," he said.
Aric looked up.
"You've seen it before," he said.
"Yes."
"From above."
Kael didn't respond.
He didn't need to.
Elira spoke.
"You'll see it soon."
That was all.
They moved again.
The path changed once more.
Less incline.
More structure.
Stone steps now.
Not uniform.
But deliberate.
Carved into the mountain in uneven intervals, some shallow, some deeper, all worn by use.
The climb became more vertical.
Hands were needed now.
Aric reached forward, gripping a cut into the stone as he pulled himself up a steeper section. The rock was cold. Solid. Familiar in a different way than the forest had been.
This place wasn't wild.
Not entirely.
They climbed in sequence.
Reth and Kael slower.
Toh careful.
Elira without hesitation.
Brenok steady.
Aric behind.
The path turned.
Once.
Then again.
And then—
it opened.
Not fully.
But enough.
Aric stepped onto the next ledge—
and stopped.
The mountain didn't end.
It broke.
Opened outward into a wide face of stone that dropped away in layered terraces.
And in those terraces—
there was a city.
Not built on the mountain.
In it.
Structures carved directly into the rock face, rising in levels that followed the natural shape but refined it into something else. Platforms extended outward, some narrow, some wide enough to hold entire sections of buildings. Open spaces stretched between them, not enclosed, not restricted.
Height everywhere.
Vertical lines.
Bridges cut across gaps where there was no ground beneath them. Paths ran along the cliffside, connecting one level to another. Some wide enough to walk without thought. Others thin, precise, requiring balance.
Above it all—
open air.
Unrestricted.
No roofs in the way.
No walls closing it in.
Built for movement through space, not across ground.
Aric's gaze moved across it.
Up.
Further up.
The city didn't end where he expected.
It continued.
Higher.
Into the mountain itself.
Brenok stepped beside him.
"Hard to take," he said.
Aric didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Elira stepped forward.
"This is Volar."
Not loud.
Not grand.
Just clear.
Behind them, the path waited.
Ahead—
Volar stretched upward into stone and sky.
Aric adjusted his grip on the spear.
And looked once more.
Not at the path.
At what came next.