I kept walking.
The Rift at my back, the ruined chapel behind me, and the scent of old fire still clinging to my coat.
The path ahead was narrow. Winding. It used to be a trade road once—back before the Umbravine spread this far east. Now, it was overgrown with wild vines and strange flowers that pulsed faintly with mana.
Nothing normal grows here anymore.
I'd need to find shelter by nightfall. And a name.
Not mine. A false one.
There were still wanted posters out there. They never stopped printing them.
"Kalen Veris—Oathbreaker. Riftborn. Kill on sight."
I remember the first time I saw one.
I laughed.
The second time, I burned it.
The third, I started keeping count.
***
The forest deepened as I moved north.
By dusk, the sky was painted violet and red, the trees casting long shadows across the road. Mana drifted through the air like fog. The scent was earthy, but sharp—metallic almost. The way it always got near Umbravine-heavy zones.
I set camp just off the path, near the remains of an old stone arch. A collapsed watchtower, maybe. It didn't matter. It was shelter.
The fire was small, more for heat than light.
I kept my sword nearby.
The old blade was a relic. A piece of the past I should have left behind.
But it remembered me.
The engraving on its hilt was chipped, but still legible.
"For the Light. For the Oath."
I didn't follow that oath anymore.
But I didn't forget it either.
You don't forget something that cost you everything.
As I stared into the flame, I felt it again.
That pull.
The Rift had changed me. Left a mark on my soul. A second heartbeat, always faint, always there. I could feel it thrum beneath my skin—stronger now.
Something was coming.
Or someone.
And not just anyone.
Elira.
I felt her long before I'd see her.
Not with magic. Not with sight.
With memory.
She was coming.
The only question was...
Which of us would draw the sword first?
***
The fire had burned low by the time I noticed it.
The silence.
Not the peaceful kind. Not the natural stillness of the woods at night.
This was too quiet.
No insects. No wind. No rustling in the trees.
Just the crackle of embers. And my heartbeat.
I stood, slow, careful. One hand on the hilt. The other steadying my breath.
Something was watching.
No… something was waiting.
I turned my gaze to the treeline.
Nothing there. No movement. No shape.
But the mana—
It had shifted.
It moved like a tide beneath the earth. Thick and sluggish, but aware. Like something ancient stirring in its sleep.
Then came the sound.
Crunch.
Soft. Barely audible.
But enough.
I moved.
Blade in hand, I stepped away from the firelight. Shadows closed in around me as the woods swallowed the campsite.
I waited. Breath slow. Eyes wide open.
Another step. Another crunch.
Then—
A whisper.
Not through the air. But inside.
"Oathbreaker."
I didn't flinch.
I've heard worse.
Another voice followed, rasping from the dark like a broken flute. This one real.
"Is it true?"
A figure stepped out from behind a tree.
Slender. Cloaked. Face hidden in the shadow of a hood.
I didn't lower my blade.
"Depends on who's asking," I said.
The figure tilted its head slightly.
Then pulled the hood down.
A young woman. Probably no older than twenty. Eyes pale violet, almost glowing in the dark. Mana-touched. Not corrupted, but close.
"You're him," she said. "Kalen Veris."
I said nothing.
She didn't seem to expect confirmation.
"I've been looking for you."
"Most people have," I said. "They usually don't walk away."
She didn't look afraid.
That was concerning.
"What do you want?"
She reached into her cloak. Slowly. Carefully.
Then tossed something to the ground between us.
A pendant.
Worn, silver, and engraved with the sun-through-sword symbol. The mark of the Oathbound.
But twisted.
The sun had been blackened with ash.
I narrowed my eyes.
"You're not with the Order."
"No."
"Then what are you?"
She looked up.
And smiled.
"Proof."
She turned and walked back into the woods.
Gone without a sound.
***
South Pass, Border Outpost
Elira stepped over the charred remains of a soldier.
The outpost had been silent when she arrived. No guards. No warning bells. Just smoke and blood.
Eight dead.
Two missing.
All signs pointed to an Umbravine incursion, but the pattern was off. The bodies were too intact. The mana residue was fragmented—unnatural.
Something else had moved through here.
Something that knew how to cover its trail.
She knelt beside the largest scorch mark. Laid her hand flat on the stone.
Still warm.
Then she saw it—just at the edge of the mark.
A boot print.
Deeper at the heel. Slight drag at the right foot.
She closed her eyes.
Kalen had always dragged his heel slightly on his right side. Not enough for most to notice.
She did.
He was close.
"Lady Maren!" came a shout from the road. "We found a trail!"
She rose without speaking.
And followed the shadow of the past into the dark.
***
I didn't sleep that night.
The pendant still sat in the dirt by the fire, untouched. I'd seen symbols like it before, but never so clean. So deliberate.
Twisting the Oathbound seal was heresy.
Wearing it meant execution.
Unless, of course, you wanted to be found.
The girl hadn't followed me.
She didn't need to.
I'd follow her.
Because whatever group she belonged to—they knew things.
And I needed answers.
How deep the Order's betrayal went.
Why the Rift was waking now, not ten years ago.
And most of all—
What they were so desperate to keep buried that they'd kill off their own to hide it.
I kicked dirt over the fire and strapped the blade to my back.
One last look at the trees.
Then I was gone.
Like a shadow that forgot how to sleep.