The black warhorse Seraphina rode finally slowed to a walk, its heavy breathing fogging the cool evening air. The trail they followed had disappeared entirely, replaced by thick spruce trees and stones covered in moss.
The forest canopy was so thick with intertwined branches that it hid the sun, but now, above the tallest trees, the first pale colors of dawn were starting to show.
I was happy to see the morning light, in a way that felt almost stupid.
An experience most people would call unremarkable.
But after all that time in the void…
I still didn't know how long I had been there.
How long I existed without a body.
If I even existed at all.
Could I really say I was alive back then?
Rattle.
Thump.
The noise in the forest broke the silence.
A sign of life after all that time.
And for once, I was glad to hear it.
Caught in the relief of everything, I drifted off again, slipping into that empty space in my head.
It happened often now.
Too often.
Until Elijah's voice snapped me back, "Tch. Quit zoning out. If you've got time to daydream, it means you have all the strength in the world to ride this horse."
"..."
Then, Seraphina raised her hand, signaling a halt.
"This is far enough," Elijah grunted from behind me, pulling back hard on the reins. The horse shuddered to a stop. His mechanical arm released its grip on my chest, and the sudden loss of support made me sway dangerously.
Elijah swiftly dismounted, his boots landing silently on the damp earth. He looked around the small, rocky clearing—a hidden niche flanked by massive pines.
"We rest here for now," he announced. "We are well away from the stench of that village, and the tracking dogs won't pick up a scent past this ridge."
Seraphina was already busy, dismounting and quickly securing her horse to a low branch. She didn't look tired, just intensely focused.
"The coordinates hold true. The cave entrance is just behind that outcropping," she said, pointing toward a moss-covered boulder the size of a carriage. "I'll start on the perimeter."
Elijah nodded curtly, "I'll handle the fire. Boy, get off the horse."
I slid down clumsily, my legs cramping the moment my feet touched the ground. The jarring ride had been brutal.
I then stumbled, clutching my side where the burns from the collapsed logs still throbbed mercilessly.
I tried to keep walking, but each step felt worse than the last.
My legs buckled, and I reached out for anything to hold onto.
Then I saw a boulder that sat near the treeline, I didn't mind how rough or cold it looked, I just needed to sit.
I dragged myself over and lowered down slowly, breathing through the pain.
My whole body shook.
Not from pain this time—just exhaustion.
Elijah glanced back at me.
"Tch. Figures," he said, crossing his arms. "You stand for five minutes and you're already falling apart."
"..."
I tried to answer, but all that came out was a rough breath.
I just pressed a hand against my side, waiting for the throbbing to settle.
It didn't.
But sitting made it bearable.
My vision blurred at the edges for a moment.
The world tilted, then steadied again.
"What's wrong with me…" I muttered.
Seraphina paused, a coil of thin wire in her hand, and shot me a sharp, cold look,
"There's nothing wrong with you that a good night's sleep wouldn't fix," she said.
Then she went right back to twisting the wire, like I wasn't even worth the full turn of her head.
But that brief flicker of attention was enough.
I pushed myself a little straighter on the boulder, steadying my breath.
If she was talking to me instead of ignoring me outright, It meant she isn't all that detached.
My gaze drifted back toward the east, where the burning city had been left behind. The image of the white haired bodies—the children, the old men—replayed in my mind, as I finally decided to ask.
"Why did the Valorian soldiers go that far?" I asked. "Wiping out everyone... even the women and children. What pushed them to do that?"
Seraphina straightened slowly, turning her whole body toward me. She then crossed her arms over her chest, the leather of her gauntlets giving a small, tired squeak.
Elijah kept gathering wood, but I could feel it, his attention shifted.
It was Sharp. Quiet. Waiting.
"A Haldrin asking me the reason for their own people's demise? I never expected the youngest generation to be so clueless about everything."
I didn't flinch.
Haldrin.
Was that the name of those people?
It had to be, nothing could explain otherwise.
She watched the flicker of surprise in my eyes, then continued, her voice hardening, "Don't look so shocked. Your people brought this on themselves the moment one of your kind tried to assassinate the Emperor himself."
"Then... are you Valorian?" I asked quickly, trying to process the information. It seemed like a ridiculous question given she was running from them, but I needed to know who my allies were.
"I'd rather die on my feet than claim allegiance to those bastards."
'That came out of no where.'
As she spoke, my eyes fell on her chest plate. Unlike the pristine, polished armor of the knights, hers was functional and battle-worn, but proudly displayed on her breast was a small, engraved circular crest. It was stylized, featuring a serpent wrapped around a broken sword.
"That crest on your chest, what does it signify?" I asked, already feeling the next dozen questions forming in my mind. The more I learned, the more threads I could pull to understand this impossible situation.
And asking about that crest would at least make me look curious, not suspicious, so throwing a few questions around wouldn't seem out of place.
Seraphina sighed dramatically, rolling her eyes toward the forest canopy, "You are the question type, aren't you?" She gave me another measured look, a hint of grudging respect entering her expression. "Just try not to poke around Lijah; he's not the answering type."
She reached up and touched the crest briefly with her fingertips.
"It's the ensign of Arakai."
"....Arakai?"