⚔️ **CHAPTER 20 — The Road That Gives Nothing Back**
The road appeared without warning.
Not built—*exposed*.
Stone pressed up through the soil in a narrow line, old and cracked, as if it had been buried intentionally and forgotten by something patient enough to wait. Kael stepped onto it and felt resistance for the first time in days.
His foot ached.
He welcomed it.
*The land isn't helping here,* the second voice observed.
"Good," Kael said. "I don't want favors."
The road wound through low hills where the air smelled faintly of iron and dust. With every step, the strange strength dulled—not vanished, just… restrained. His breathing grew heavier. Sweat returned to his skin.
By noon, hunger whispered again.
Not loudly.
Just enough to remind him he was still human.
Kael stopped at a broken milestone and sat. He tore the last of his dried meat in half, eating slowly, deliberately. It tasted like effort.
He smiled despite himself.
Movement flickered at the edge of the road.
Kael's hand went to his sword—but the figure that emerged wasn't armed.
A woman stood there, wrapped in travel-worn gray, hair tied back roughly, eyes sharp and cautious. She held no weapon openly, but her posture suggested she didn't need one.
"You're walking on a return road," she said.
Kael studied her. "And you're blocking it."
She shrugged. "Only checking if it remembers you."
Silence stretched.
The woman nodded once, as if confirming something. "It does."
Kael frowned. "Who are you?"
"Someone who learned not to eat when the land offers," she replied. "Name's **Mireth**."
The second voice stirred uneasily.
*She can feel the debt,* it said.
Kael rose slowly. "Then you know I didn't have much choice."
Mireth met his gaze. "No one ever does. That's why the price is always worse."
They walked together for a while—far enough that Kael realized she wasn't trying to stop him. Just… accompany.
"You're being followed," she said eventually. "Not by hunters."
"I know."
"Good. Because this thing doesn't kill quickly. It lets you ruin small things first."
Kael's jaw tightened. "Like what?"
Mireth gestured ahead.
A small settlement lay in the valley below—half a dozen houses, smoke curling gently from chimneys. Ordinary. Fragile.
"Like choosing whether you pass through," she said.
Kael looked at the village.
For the first time since exile, the road offered a decision that wasn't about survival.
It was about **distance**.
The road continued straight.
The village lay just off it.
And the presence beside him—quiet now—*waited*.
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