I didn't stay in Vel'dran.
Not after that display.
Word spreads faster than plague in a city like that. By nightfall, three enforcers were dead, two alleys had been scorched black, and a bounty poster with my face on it was nailed to a gallows beam—though they got my eye color wrong.
I left through the southern sewer gate. Slipped into the marshlands under the veil of a thunderstorm. The girl I saved? She stayed behind. Gave me a piece of bread, half a smile, and said, "You don't look like a god."
Good. I wasn't trying to.
The forest beyond Vel'dran was old. Trees knotted like clenched fists. Moss thick enough to hide bones. They called it Whisperdeep, though no one who called it that ever stayed long enough to explain why.
But I knew. The trees listened.
"Elion," I whispered, gripping the shard beneath my shirt. "You still with me?"
No answer. Not like I expected one.
He never spoke, not since the Fall. But sometimes… in dreams… I felt him. Watching. Regretting.
The shard pulsed faintly. Like a heartbeat too far away to save.
I collapsed near a cold stream, letting the cloak dry by a guttering fire. My hands were shaking. Not from the cold. From what I'd done. From what I could do now.
Every time I used the shard, it took more of me. Not just strength—memories. I couldn't remember my sister's voice anymore. My mother's name felt like fog. And what terrified me most? I didn't even care.
A branch snapped.
I was on my feet in an instant, blade drawn—not the shard, just iron—and eyes locked on the treeline.
She stepped out slowly.
A girl, maybe nineteen. Red hair tied back. Bow on her back, two knives on her hips. Eyes like shattered emerald.
She didn't speak. Just studied me.
"You gonna rob me or kill me?" I asked.
"Neither," she said. "Yet."
"Good to know."
She tilted her head. "You're the one who shattered Korran's enforcers in the market."
"Depends who's asking."
"Someone who doesn't want to see this world burn."
I smirked. "Then you're too late. It's already ash. Just wearing a mask."
Silence. Then she took a step closer, eyes narrowing.
"You're playing with fire you don't understand."
"I understand enough to know I'm out of time."
She didn't argue.
Instead, she sat by the fire like she owned it. Took out a piece of dried meat. Bit into it slowly.
"Name's Caeryn," she said. "Former Dragoon. Exiled. Traitor. You?"
I hesitated. Then answered truthfully for the first time in years.
"Jace."
"Just Jace?"
I nodded. "Until I earn something more."
She stared into the flames. "Then let's start earning."
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