The morning came heavy with mist.
Kael tightened the straps of his pack as Selene handed him a rolled map. Behind them, Harlen watched from the doorway of his cabin, arms crossed and face unreadable.
"You'll want to stay off the main roads," Harlen said. "The fog isn't natural today."
Kael glanced around. The fog wrapped around trees like silent hands, thick and still. It hadn't moved for hours.
Selene stepped beside him. "This way." She pointed east, where an old hunting trail twisted into the woods. "The cathedral ruins lie beyond the Spine Ridge. Three days if we push."
They moved quickly, silence falling between them. Trees towered above like pillars of an ancient temple. Every branch creaked. Every gust carried a whisper. Not words—just pressure in the air, like someone watching.
By midday, Kael's shoulder began to ache.
Selene noticed his slowed steps. "Is it the mark?"
He nodded. "Feels like it's tugging… pulling me off the path."
She took his hand, firmly. "Then we hold the line together."
The fog thickened.
By dusk, they stumbled into a clearing. An old stone shrine stood at its center, shattered and overgrown with moss. Selene approached it, brushing off the ivy. Strange symbols—similar to those on Kael's mark—lined the broken stone.
"This isn't on the map," she said.
Kael stepped closer, but his head spun the moment his foot touched the stone ring around the shrine. Voices filled his ears—fast, overlapping, urgent.
"We see you. We know you. Come closer."
He stumbled back. "They're here."
Selene caught him, guiding him away. "We keep moving."
As they reached the edge of the clearing, Kael paused and looked back. Something shimmered where the shrine had been—a tall, robed figure made of shadow and smoke.
Selene didn't turn around. "Don't look back. If you do, it follows."
He obeyed.
They walked deep into the night.
When they finally stopped to rest, Kael sat against a tree, hand to his chest. "It's growing louder."
Selene sat beside him, laying her cloak over them both. "Then we get to the cathedral faster."
He looked at her. "Why are you doing this? You could've stayed behind."
Her answer came quietly. "Because I heard the whispers too. But when I'm with you, they go quiet."
Kael blinked. The mist seemed to ease for a moment.
In the distance, a wolf howled.
Neither of them slept that night.