Morning came without ceremony.
No blaze of sunrise split the sky, no birdsong announced a new beginning. The forest simply lightened, shadows thinning like breath on glass, colors returning cautiously—as if the world itself was unsure whether it was safe to continue.
Aria woke before anyone called her name.
She lay still for a moment, listening.
The camp breathed around her—soft rustle of cloaks, the low crackle of a fire coaxed back to life, the distant drip of dew from leaves overhead. Pain flared gently along her ribs when she shifted, a dull reminder of how close everything had come. How close it still was.
She sat up.
Across the clearing, Darius stood with Kaelos and Thane, speaking in low voices. Mira knelt near the edge of the ward circle, fingers pressed to the earth. Nyra watched the treeline, veil unmoving, eyes sharp. Eladora sat with her ledger open, though the pages were blank—waiting.
Everyone was awake.
The night had not released them.
Aria pulled her cloak tighter and rose. The ground was cool beneath her boots, damp with moss and fallen needles. As she stepped closer to the fire, Kaelos noticed her and broke off the conversation.
"You should rest," he said.
Aria shook her head. "I slept enough."
Thane studied her for a long moment, then nodded once. "Then listen."
Kaelos turned back to the others. "We move at first full light. This camp is no longer hidden."
Nyra tilted her head. "It was never truly hidden. Only… uninteresting."
"And now?" Aria asked.
"And now," Nyra said, "we are a point of interest."
Mira stood, brushing soil from her palms. Her expression was troubled. "The ground remembers the Tracker," she said. "Not its shape—its weight. Whatever it was, it pressed deep."
Eladora closed her ledger softly. "And something else passed nearby before dawn."
Aria's pulse quickened. "Tsumiki?"
"Yes," Eladora said. "Scouts. Careful ones."
Kaelos's jaw tightened. "They're testing us."
"They're testing her," Nyra corrected gently.
All eyes turned to Aria.
She held their gazes, refusing to shrink beneath the attention. "Then let them watch," she said. "I'm done pretending I don't exist."
Darius looked at her sharply—not in warning, but in something like approval.
"We'll draw them away from the deeper woods," he said. "There's a ravine two leagues east. Narrow paths. Bad sightlines. Good place to vanish."
Kaelos considered, then nodded. "Agreed."
Thane tapped his staff once. "And if Virel is truly moving again—"
"—then storms will follow," Mira finished. "Even restrained ones."
As if summoned by the thought, a low rumble echoed far above the canopy. Not thunder exactly. More like a sky clearing its throat.
Aria felt it in her bones.
Something old stirred when the Stormborn's name lingered too long in the air.
They broke camp quickly.
No spells flared, no portals opened. The Wizards moved like soldiers now, efficient and quiet. Wards were folded inward, leaving no lingering signatures. The fire was smothered with earth and leaves until it looked like nothing more than a disturbed patch of ground.
Aria walked near the center of the group, flanked loosely by Darius and Mira. The forest closed around them as they moved, branches knitting back together behind their passage.
After an hour, Mira slowed.
"Wait," she murmured.
Everyone froze.
Aria felt it a heartbeat later—a subtle shift in pressure, like a held note changing pitch.
Nyra lifted a hand, eyes unfocusing. "They're near. Three. Maybe four."
Kaelos's fingers ignited faintly. "Tsumiki?"
"Not yet," Nyra said. "Watching from inside other shapes."
Aria swallowed. "Animals?"
"Yes," Thane said. "Borrowed ones."
Darius leaned closer to Aria, his voice low. "Don't look for them. They'll feel it."
She nodded, forcing herself to breathe evenly.
They moved again, slower now, threading through dense undergrowth and stone-laced slopes. The ravine appeared as a sudden tear in the land—a deep cut where the earth had split long ago, its walls sheer and shadowed.
"This way," Kaelos said.
They descended single file.
The air grew cooler, damp. Sounds echoed strangely, footsteps doubling back on themselves. Aria's head throbbed faintly, awareness stretching outward whether she willed it or not.
She stopped.
Darius noticed instantly. "What is it?"
"I don't know," she whispered. "But something's… pulling."
Thane turned, studying her face. "Not forward," he said slowly. "Down."
Aria nodded. "Like the ground wants me to listen."
Mira's eyes widened. "That's new."
Eladora stepped closer. "Aria—do not reach without warning."
"I won't," Aria said quickly. "I just—feel it."
Kaelos made a sharp decision. "We don't explore. We pass through."
They did.
But the feeling followed.
At the narrowest part of the ravine, it happened.
A scream—high, animal, wrong.
Nyra spun. "Behind us!"
The first Tsumiki dropped its borrowed form mid-leap, flesh tearing and reforming as it hit the stone. Another followed, then a third. Their eyes burned gold, feral and intent.
"Scatter!" Kaelos shouted.
Magic exploded.
Fire roared down the ravine, steam hissed as Mira's water surged to meet it. Thane's staff rang like struck iron, ripples of force smashing one Tsumiki into the wall. Nyra vanished, reappearing behind another with blades of illusion slicing deep.
Aria stood frozen for half a second—
Then moved.
Power surged through her without command, violet and bright. She raised her hands and pushed.
The air bent.
One Tsumiki was flung backward, slamming hard into stone. Another lunged for her—and never reached her.
Darius was there.
Steel flashed. Blood sprayed dark against rock. The creature collapsed at his feet.
Aria's breath came fast. "You didn't have to—"
"Yes," he said sharply. "I did."
Another Tsumiki howled, retreating, its form unraveling as it fled upward into the trees.
Silence rushed back in, loud and abrupt.
Kaelos turned to Aria. "Are you hurt?"
She shook her head. Then winced as pain flared in her ribs.
Darius swayed slightly.
Aria noticed immediately. "You're bleeding."
He glanced down at his side, where blood soaked into his tunic. "It's nothing."
"It's not," Mira said, already moving.
They didn't stop again until the forest thinned and the ground rose into a rocky shelf hidden beneath hanging vines. A temporary shelter—old, natural, defensible.
Tents went up quickly.
Mira and Eladora worked together to tend wounds. Aria sat on a low stone as bandages were wrapped tight around her ribs. Across from her, Darius sat stiffly while Mira pressed glowing water into the gash at his side.
Aria watched his jaw clench, the way he refused to make a sound.
"Why do you do that?" she asked suddenly.
Darius blinked. "Do what?"
"Jump in front of things meant for me."
Mira pretended not to hear and moved away.
Darius was quiet for a moment. Then, lightly, "Is it a crime to save someone?"
Aria frowned. You always ask that question.
He looked away, gaze fixing on the tent wall.
She studied him. "You smiled earlier. When I asked about the Trackers."
His shoulders stilled.
"You noticed that?"
"Yes."
A pause.
Then, softer, "I thought… maybe you cared."
Aria didn't answer right away. She looked down at her hands—still faintly glowing at the edges.
"I do," she said finally. "That's why I asked."
For a heartbeat, the world felt strangely still.
Then a horn sounded—low, distant.
Kaelos's voice cut through the camp. "Up. Now."
They emerged into gray daylight.
Far above the treeline, clouds were gathering—not thick, not violent, but deliberate. Lines of pressure folded the sky into unfamiliar shapes.
Mira whispered, "Storm magic."
Eladora's eyes were grim.
Thunder rolled once. Controlled. Measured.
Aria felt the pull again—stronger now.
Whatever was coming had finally decided to step closer.
And this time, it was not watching.
It was moving.