The Road That Tried to Forget Him
They walked.
Not quickly.
Not quietly.
But with the kind of silence that doesn't ask for permission to return.
The trees thinned as they moved northeast, deeper into Veilguard territory. The village sat behind them like a dream they hadn't earned. Ahead, somewhere past the ridges and warding lights, was Celestis Veil—the kingdom they still thought they knew.
The guards stayed close.
Not aggressive. Not trusting either. Just… uncertain.
Kaelen kept glancing at Zephryn. He hadn't said a word since unmasking. Not even a nod. Not even to them.
Yolti walked beside him, hands in her sleeves. She wasn't afraid.
She was listening.
Because there was something in the way the trees bent when he passed.
Something in the air pressure, the weight of his footfalls, the way the light didn't touch him the same.
"He's not even breathing hard," one of the guards muttered behind them.
"I watched him take down five Riftborn," said the second. "Didn't even speak. Like he didn't need to."
"Who is he?"
None of them answered.
Because even the ones who knew his name didn't understand what he had become.
Kaelen finally spoke.
"Where did you go?"
Zephryn didn't turn.
"Six years. Nothing. No sign. No hum."
Still silence.
"You disappeared. You left us—"
He stopped himself. Regret trailed the edge of his voice.
Yolti looked ahead. "He didn't leave us. He was taken."
Zephryn's head tilted. Just slightly.
Not agreement.
Not correction.
Just the smallest break in stillness. Like a stone shifting beneath the surface of a frozen lake.
When they reached the wardlight boundary, the air shifted.
A glyph sparked overhead, marking the veiled perimeter around Celestis Veil.
The tallest guard—older, sharper—raised her hand to signal.
The glyph flared once.
And the barrier parted.
Zephryn didn't flinch.
He just stepped through.
As if the gates never closed for him at all.