The tear sealed behind the creature with a soft, breath‑like sigh, leaving the forest dim and still. The spirit stood motionless in the center of the path, its long limbs folding with quiet grace, its faceless head tilted as though listening to something only it could hear.
No one spoke.
Vinrah's knuckles whitened around her reins. "I've never seen anything like this," she murmured. "Not in any record. Not in any tale."
Siegfried didn't answer. His sword remained raised, though something in him whispered that steel meant nothing here. The creature radiated no malice — only age. Deep, ancient age, like the memory of a forest older than kingdoms.
Then the carriage door clicked.
Softly.
Deliberately.
Vinrah's head snapped toward it. "Stay inside!" she barked.
But the command came too late.
A figure stepped down from the carriage, her movements calm and unhurried. As her boots touched the earth, she reached up with both hands and lowered her hood.
Silver hair spilled free, catching the faint forest light like strands of moonlit water. It framed a face both young and ancient, the unmistakable features of an elf high‑boned, graceful, and steady. Her blue eyes shone with clarity and purpose, reflecting the pale glow still lingering from the tear.
Siegfried froze.
For the first time, he saw her clearly.
Ellina Sorell.
Her ears, delicately tapered, peeked through the fall of silver hair as she stepped forward. She wore no armor, only a simple traveling gown, yet she carried herself with the quiet authority of someone who had walked through centuries rather than years.
Vinrah hissed under her breath. "Lady Ellina..."
But Ellina raised a hand, silencing her.
She moved toward the spirit with a certainty that made the riders fall silent. The mist curled around her feet as she approached, drawn toward her like a tide pulled by the moon.
Siegfried's pulse quickened.
She wasn't afraid.
She wasn't even cautious.
She bowed her head slightly. "Ancient One," she said softly, her voice steady. "You honor us."
The spirit responded with a low, harmonic tone — the same sound that had shaken the trees, but gentler now, almost melodic. It lowered itself, bending its long limbs until its faceless head hovered inches from hers.
Vinrah stared, stunned. "She… knows it."
Ellina lifted her hand and placed her palm against the creature's smooth, pale surface. Light rippled outward from the touch, faint and warm, like moonlight on water. The spirit's limbs relaxed, its posture softening.
They spoke without words a silent exchange, a resonance that vibrated through the air like distant chimes.
Then, slowly, the spirit stepped back.
It bowed.
To her.
The forest seemed to exhale.
The spirit glided toward the trees, its form dissolving into mist and shadow until nothing remained but the faint shimmer of disturbed air.
Silence settled over the path.
Ellina turned.
Her blue eyes found Siegfried.
For a moment, neither spoke. The forest held its breath again but this time, not from fear.
Ellina stepped closer, her presence calm, steady, and impossibly composed. "You may lower your sword," she said gently. "It meant no harm."
Siegfried lowered the blade, though his pulse still thundered. "You knew what it was."
"Yes." She studied him with quiet intensity. "And now you know who I am."
Vinrah dismounted, her voice tight. "Lady Ellina… you should not have revealed yourself."
Ellina didn't look away from Siegfried. "He needed to see."
Siegfried swallowed, unsure what he had just witnessed. "What… are you?"
Ellina's silver hair shifted in the breeze, catching the faint light. Her blue eyes softened not quite a smile, not quite sorrow. "An elf," she said quietly. "And someone who carries a burden older than this forest."
She stepped past him, her presence calm, steady, and impossibly composed.
"Walk with me, Siegfried," she said softly. "There is much you must understand before we reach Gishtar."
Ellina led Siegfried off the road and into the trees, her steps light and sure, as though she'd walked this forest a hundred times before. The retinue faded behind them, swallowed by the hush of ancient trunks and drifting mist.
The deeper they went, the more the forest changed.
The air grew warmer, touched by the scent of damp earth and crushed pine needles. The canopy above thinned just enough for shafts of pale light to pierce through, illuminating motes of dust that drifted like tiny, wandering stars.
Siegfried followed a few steps behind, listening.
At first, he heard only their footsteps — Ellina's soft and deliberate, his heavier, crunching lightly over fallen leaves. But as the forest opened around them, other sounds emerged.
A distant trill of birdsong, delicate and hesitant, as though the creatures were testing whether the danger had passed.
The soft rustle of branches shifting overhead, stirred by a breeze that didn't touch the ground.
The faint chirring of insects hidden in the undergrowth, weaving a thin, constant thread of sound beneath everything else.
And beneath it all, a quiet, rhythmic lapping — water against stone.
They stepped into a small clearing.
A pond lay at its center, round and still, its surface so smooth it reflected the sky like a polished mirror. Reeds swayed at the edges, whispering softly as the breeze brushed through them. Dragonflies skimmed the water, their wings catching the light in flashes of blue and green.
Ellina approached the water's edge and knelt, her silver hair spilling forward like liquid moonlight. She dipped her fingers into the pond, sending gentle ripples across the surface.
Siegfried stopped beside her, taking in the scene. "It's quiet here."
"It's meant to be," Ellina replied. Her voice blended with the sounds around them — the soft rustle of reeds, the distant birds, the faint hum of the forest settling after the spirit's departure. "Places like this are sanctuaries. The forest keeps them hidden."
Siegfried crouched beside her, watching the ripples fade. "You knew where to find it."
Ellina nodded. "The Ancient One's presence lingers in the air. It leaves… echoes. If you know how to listen, they guide you."
Siegfried listened again.
The pond lapped softly against the stones.
A frog croaked from somewhere near the reeds.
Leaves rustled overhead, the sound like a sigh.
And beneath it all, the faintest hum — a resonance he hadn't noticed before, subtle and low, as though the forest itself breathed around them.
Ellina's blue eyes lifted to meet his. "This place is safe. We can speak freely here."
Siegfried exhaled, tension easing from his shoulders. "Then tell me what I need to know."
Ellina looked back at the pond, her reflection rippling gently. "The Ancient One came because something in this forest has shifted. Something old is waking. And it is tied to me… and to why we travel to Gishtar."
Siegfried waited, the sounds of the clearing wrapping around them like a living tapestry.
Ellina's voice lowered. "You asked what I am. But the better question is what I carry."
She touched the water again.
The pond glowed faintly beneath her fingertips.
Ellina's fingers brushed the surface of the pond, and the water responded instantly.
Not with light this time.
Not with anything obvious.
But with a subtle shift a tightening of the ripples, a faint shimmer beneath the surface, as though something deep below had stirred in recognition. The pond grew unnaturally still around her hand, the water smoothing into a perfect mirror that reflected her silver hair and blue eyes with uncanny clarity.
Siegfried watched, breath held.
The sounds around them sharpened.
A soft plink of droplets falling from a leaf into the water.
The distant flutter of wings as a bird took flight.
The whisper of reeds brushing against each other.
The low hum of insects weaving their constant thread through the clearing.
And beneath it all, a quiet resonance — a vibration so faint he almost mistook it for his own heartbeat.
Ellina withdrew her hand.
The pond returned to normal instantly, as though nothing had happened.
Siegfried studied her, searching her expression. "What did it react to?"
Ellina didn't answer right away. She stood, brushing a strand of silver hair behind her ear, her gaze lingering on the water with a softness that bordered on sorrow.
"It wasn't reacting to me," she said at last.
"Then what—"
She cut him off gently. "Some truths must wait for their moment."
Siegfried frowned, but he didn't press. The forest around them felt too alive, too aware, as though listening for the wrong question.
Ellina stepped away from the pond, her posture composed once more. "What matters now is that the Ancient One allowed us to pass. That means the forest does not see us as a threat."
"Or it sees something else," Siegfried murmured.
Ellina's blue eyes flicked toward him — a brief, knowing look that held far more weight than her words. "Perhaps."
The breeze shifted, carrying the scent of moss and cool water accompanied buy the smell of Lilacs and mint as Ellina walked past him. The clearing felt peaceful again, but Siegfried couldn't shake the feeling that something unseen had watched them… and approved.
Ellina turned back toward the path. "Come. We shouldn't linger."
Siegfried followed, glancing once more at the pond.
The surface was still.
Too still.
As though waiting.
Ellina and Siegfried walked back through the trees, the sounds of the clearing fading behind them — the soft lapping of the pond, the whisper of reeds, the distant trill of birds settling again after the spirit's passing. As they neared the road, the forest grew quieter, as though respectfully withdrawing into itself.
The retinue waited in uneasy silence.Vinrah's eyes flicked between Ellina and Siegfried, searching for answers neither offered. Ellina simply lifted her hood again, silver hair disappearing beneath the fabric, her expression composed.
"Let's continue," she said.
Her voice carried a calm finality that settled the riders more than any explanation could. They mounted up, forming a protective ring around the carriage as Ellina stepped inside. Siegfried closed the door behind her, the soft click echoing louder than it should have in the stillness.
He took his place beside the carriage once more.
The wheels creaked into motion.
The forest changed as they traveled. The trees grew taller, their trunks thick and ancient, their branches arching overhead like the ribs of some vast cathedral. The air cooled, carrying the scent of moss and distant water. Sunlight filtered through in thin, golden shafts that shifted with every step of the horses.
The sounds of the forest deepened.
A woodpecker tapping somewhere high above.
The rustle of small creatures darting through underbrush.
The low groan of old branches swaying in the wind.
The rhythmic clop of hooves on packed earth.
Siegfried walked in steady silence, his thoughts circling the moment by the pond, the Ancient One's bow, Ellina's calm certainty. Every so often, he glanced at the carriage window, though the silk veil hid any sign of her.
Vinrah rode ahead, her posture rigid, her eyes scanning the trees with renewed vigilance. She didn't speak, but Siegfried sensed the questions simmering beneath her composure.
The road wound on.
Hours passed.
The sun dipped lower, turning the forest gold, then amber, then a deepening blue. Shadows stretched long across the path, merging into one another until the world felt carved from dusk.
The riders lit lanterns.
Their warm glow flickered against the trunks, casting moving patterns that danced like spirits of their own. The forest sounds softened as night creatures stirred — the distant hoot of an owl, the chirr of insects rising in a steady chorus.
Siegfried felt the weight of the day settle into his bones.
The Ancient One.
Ellina's reveal.
The pond's reaction.
None of it felt real, yet the forest around him seemed to breathe with new awareness, as though acknowledging the truth he now carried.
Vinrah slowed her horse and called back quietly, "We'll make camp soon. The forest is calm tonight."
Siegfried nodded, though his gaze drifted once more to the carriage.
The lantern light caught the edge of the silk veil.
For a moment, he thought he saw Ellina's silhouette — still, composed, watching the night gather around them.
Then the carriage rolled on, and the veil fell still.