The fire had long gone cold, but Kael had not moved.
Sarya lay beside him, her body pressed lightly against his, her breath soft and even. She was asleep now or pretending to be and he didn't have the strength to disturb the stillness between them. For the first time in weeks, maybe longer, he had felt something other than anger and grief. Something tender. Something dangerously close to hope.
But morning had come.
And the world outside still wanted them dead.
He rose without a word, gathering his clothes and armor in silence. The stone beneath his feet was chilled, and as he buckled his gauntlets, he heard her stir.
"You're leaving already," Sarya murmured.
Kael didn't look at her. "The others will be awake soon."
"They won't say anything. Not unless you do." She sat up slowly, the blanket falling from her bare shoulders, revealing bruises from battle and the fading glow of their night together. "Are you going to pretend it didn't happen?"
"No." He paused. "But I can't afford to need anything, Sarya."
She studied him, not with anger but sadness. "You already do."
That truth hung heavier than his sword.
Outside, the forest had thinned. The mountains had begun to slope down toward the iron plains beyond toward the ancient city where the Obsidian Order once ruled unchallenged.
Maren was awake, tending to the horses. Ash sat nearby, sharpening his blade with methodical care. Liora stood by the tree line, half in shadow, half in light, her face distant as she whispered to something unseen.
Kael joined them without a word, nodding once to Ash, who raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"We're close," Maren said, eyes scanning the horizon. "I can feel the weight in the air. The threshold is near."
Kael nodded. "Good. The next fragment is there. We move before nightfall."
Ash glanced toward Sarya as she stepped into view behind Kael, fully dressed but quiet. He said nothing, only offered a knowing look between them, then returned to his blade.
Liora finally turned from the trees, her voice soft but sure. "Something is waiting. Not just the Order. Something older. It remembers him."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Let it remember. I need to remember, too."
They rode in silence through the broken lands.
The world here was marked by scars burned trees, crumbled watchtowers, old war remnants left half-buried in soil that refused to heal. As they rode deeper, Sarya drew closer to Kael's side but said nothing. Their eyes met once a quiet exchange neither dared voice aloud.
It was Maren who broke the silence.
"What happens when you recover the last fragment?"
Kael didn't answer immediately. His eyes narrowed toward the north. "Then I face what I ran from. The truth. The Sleeper."
Ash frowned. "And if it kills you?"
Kael shrugged. "Then maybe I deserve it."
"No," Sarya said suddenly, sharply.
The others turned to her.
Kael's expression darkened. "You don't know what I did."
"I don't need to," she said. "I saw the way you mourned Nyra. Tareth. You bleed for the past, but you never let anyone see the part of you still alive."
His breath caught but he said nothing more.
By late afternoon, the land shifted.
Black stone ruins jutted from the earth, half-swallowed by moss and silence. A fractured monolith rose from the center, a spire of ancient obsidian wrapped in warding sigils.
They dismounted.
Kael stepped forward, hand outstretched, the pull in his mind growing stronger, magnetic, aching. This was it. The second memory shard.
As his fingers touched the stone, the sigils pulsed.
A flash of her eyes, the Sleeper, golden and full of fury.
A flash of burning cities. Of his hand raised in command. Of the sky turning black as wings descended.
He staggered back, gasping.
Liora reached out, steadying him. "You saw more this time."
Kael nodded, sweat beading on his forehead. "I remembered why she was locked away. And it wasn't just to protect the world. It was to protect me from her."
Maren stepped forward, worry in her voice. "What does that mean?"
Kael looked at them all. "It means the next place we go may not be a ruin. It may be a prison. And she might not be dreaming anymore."
That night, as they made camp beneath the ruins, Sarya approached him once more.
This time, she didn't speak.
She simply sat beside him, letting the silence settle.
Kael didn't move, but his hand found hers in the dark.
No promises. No regrets.
Just warmth.
A fragile flame in a cold world.