Kael didn't move.
The attackers mistook that for hesitation.
The first blade came down in a clean, practiced arc meant to force him back into the ravine wall. Kael stepped forward instead.
The silence didn't surge.
It withdrew.
For half a heartbeat, the world sounded normal again—stone grinding under boots, breath cutting through air, metal humming as it moved.
Kael let it.
He caught the attacker's wrist mid-swing and twisted sharply. Bone cracked. The blade clattered to the ground.
The second attacker struck immediately, aiming for Kael's exposed side.
Kael turned into the blow.
The impact drove pain through his ribs, but he absorbed it, stepping inside the strike and driving his shoulder into the man's chest. Not hard. Not fast.
Close.
The man flew backward anyway, skidding across stone before going still.
The third attacker hesitated.
Too long.
Kael crossed the distance in three steps, grabbed the man by the collar, and drove him into the ravine wall hard enough to dent stone. He held him there for a breath, eyes level.
"Leave," Kael said quietly.
The man nodded frantically.
Kael released him.
The fourth attacker didn't retreat.
He smiled instead.
"That's it," the man said. "That's what we needed to see."
He dropped his weapon.
Kael frowned slightly.
The man raised both hands. "You don't know who's watching you yet. But they will. And when they do—"
He stepped back toward the edge of the ravine.
"—you'll wish you'd chosen a side."
He jumped.
Kael moved instantly, reaching out—
Too late.
The man vanished into the depths below, swallowed by shadow and distance.
Kael stood still, chest rising and falling steadily.
No pursuit.
No aftermath.
Just the echo of what had been said.
Chosen a side.
Kael looked down at his hands.
They were steady.
The silence inside him stirred faintly, not protesting, not approving.
Accepting.
Kael turned away from the ravine and continued down the road, leaving the broken stone and unconscious men behind him.
He hadn't won.
He hadn't lost.
But the line was crossed.
From now on, restraint wouldn't be assumed.
It would be tested.
And next time, empty hands wouldn't be enough.