The camp stayed awake long after the forest found its voice again.
Crickets returned. Leaves stirred. The fire settled into glowing embers. But the feeling did not leave — that sense that something had leaned in too close, learned too much, and withdrawn only because it had chosen to.
The Wizards gathered near the fire, forming an uneven circle.
No one sat.
"Virel," Nyra said at last.
The name felt heavier spoken aloud.
Eladora's fingers tightened around her amber necklace, "That was not coincidence."
Kaelos frowned. "He's been gone for months."
"Gone," Thane echoed. "Not dead."
Mira's gaze lowered to the earth beneath her feet. "And not silent."
A low wind stirred the trees — not strong enough to be a storm, but restless. Unsettled.
Aria stood slightly apart, her arms folded around herself, ribs still aching. "The Tracker said he interfered," she said. "With what?"
No one answered immediately.
Darius's jaw tightened. His eyes were fixed on the dark line of the forest, as if expecting the mist to gather again.
"Virel was Stormborn," Darius said finally. "He never believed in waiting."
Kaelos scoffed quietly. "He never believed in rules."
Nyra's veil shimmered faintly. "Which is why his disappearance should have frightened us more than it did."
Eladora looked up sharply. "We didn't look for him."
The words landed hard.
"We noticed," Thane said slowly. "We debated. Then we moved on."
Silence.
Because it was true.
Virel had vanished — no body, no battle, no farewell storm tearing the sky apart. And the world had continued to turn. The Rich Wizards had continued to rule.
Aria felt a chill that had nothing to do with the night.
"So he's been doing something," she said. "All this time."
Mira nodded. "And not openly. Which means whatever he's touching… even he knows it's dangerous."
Darius finally turned back toward them. "The Revenant Tracker doesn't name people lightly."
Kaelos's flames flickered once, then stilled. "If Virel is acting outside the Circle—"
"—then he's changing outcomes," Nyra finished.
Aria looked between them. "And I'm part of that."
Eladora met her gaze. "Yes."
The fire cracked sharply, sending sparks into the air.
Thane planted his staff into the ground. "We have three problems now. The Tsumiki. The Tracker. And one of our own."
"And we don't know which is the most dangerous," Mira said softly.
A distant howl rolled through the forest — long, low, deliberate.
Not close.
But closer than before.
Aria straightened, pain flaring and then settling into resolve. "Then we stop waiting."
Kaelos studied her. "You don't understand what stepping into wizard affairs means."
Aria met his gaze without flinching. "I understand what being ignored costs."
That shut him up.
Darius watched her closely — not with fear, not with calculation — but with something like grim recognition.
"The Seventh Key is moving," he said quietly. "And the board is responding."
The Wizards exchanged looks.
No one disagreed.
Because somewhere beyond the forest, thunder rolled — distant, restrained, unfinished.
And for the first time since his disappearance, the name Virel no longer felt like a wizard's
It felt like a warning.