The night felt colder than it should have.
They made camp far from the ruins of Old Luthis, in a thicket sheltered by dense trees and a natural ridge of stone. No fire was lit. No one spoke above a whisper. Even the beast was quiet, ears flicking every few seconds, its snout lifted to scent the air.
Ava sat apart from the others, her back to a mossy rock, one leg bent, her eyes staring into the dark.
Sil watched her from across the glade, worry etched into her face. Adam kept his post as always, silent, dependable, but his gaze lingered more than usual. Nicholas and Ash sat nearby, both unusually still—like wolves sensing the edge of a storm.
"Whatever that was," Ash said finally, "it knew you."
Ava didn't turn.
Nicholas added softly, "And not just 'knew' you. It named you. Flame. Oathbreaker. Queen of something dark."
Ava closed her eyes, exhaled slowly. "I didn't think it would remember."
"It?" Sil asked, her voice tight.
Ava rose, slowly, coat flowing behind her like smoke.
"I need to tell you something," she said. "About before the castle. Before I claimed the Dark Reach."
They gathered around her, drawn like moths to the heat in her voice.
"Centuries ago," she began, "I was part of a different court. One that doesn't exist anymore. We called ourselves the Ashen Circle—mages bound to the Hollow Flame. We studied the things even the Gild feared. We believed magic had no morality—only power, and those strong enough to wield it."
She paused, the wind catching her hair and lifting it like silk.
"But we were wrong. One of us—my mentor, my lover—went too far. He opened something beneath Virelia, something ancient. It nearly consumed the world. I… I stopped him."
Ash's eyes narrowed. "Stopped, or killed?"
Ava met his gaze. "Both."
There was a long silence.
"And that voice?" Sil asked. "Was it… him?"
"No. But it was something he touched. Something that remembers me—and hates me for surviving."
Nicholas chuckled darkly. "And here I thought I was the only one with cursed exes."
Ava gave him a faint smile.
Then Adam spoke, his voice low. "Do you think it will come for us?"
"It already is," Ava said. "We disturbed its tomb. Now it knows I'm alive. And it will follow."
The fireless night stretched long. No one slept soundly. Ava stayed up until the moons dipped low, eyes glowing faintly in the dark.
The next morning, a courier hawk found them.
It landed on Ava's shoulder without fear, a silver scroll case tied to its leg. She plucked it free, opened the seal, and read quickly.
"What is it?" Nicholas asked.
"A job," Ava said. "From the eastern Gild. They want us to escort a vault transport to the city of Blackros. The pay is... generous."
Ash raised a brow. "Sounds clean."
Ava's voice was colder now. "It's bait."
Sil frowned. "You're sure?"
"I recognize the sigil. It's from one of the lesser Gild houses—the same ones who helped fund the Ashen Circle back when I was still part of it."
Adam's hand rested lightly on the hilt of his blade. "You still want to go?"
Ava nodded. "I do. If they're drawing me out, then they know I'm coming. That gives us power. Control."
Nicholas grinned. "And if it's a trap?"
"Then we spring it our way," Ava said. "And make them regret ever lighting that signal fire."
By nightfall, they reached the first marker stone of the eastern path. In the distance, beyond layers of mountain fog, the black towers of Blackros gleamed like spears stabbing the horizon.
And behind them, back in the ruins of Luthis, something shifted.
A piece of stone cracked.
A whisper echoed through buried halls.
And a name was spoken aloud for the first time in centuries
Avarielle