Night fell fast over the highlands.
They set up camp in the shell of a half-collapsed observatory, its massive lenses cracked and useless, pointing forever into a sky that no longer answered. Kaien sat by the fire, flicking pebbles into the flames, watching how his shadows curled around the light but never dared to touch it.
Iria sharpened her blade silently. Solryn stood near the edge of the cliff, frost clinging to his shoulders like a second skin. And Elias… Elias hadn't spoken since they left Veridan.
Kaien glanced at him. "You knew about that village."
Elias didn't look up. "I suspected."
"Same thing," Iria muttered. "You sent us in blind."
Elias finally met their gaze. "If I'd told you what it was, none of you would've gone."
"No," Kaien said. "We would've. But we would've prepared."
A pause. The wind howled through the open dome.
Solryn broke the silence. "I've seen that kind of magic before. Memory anchors. Emotional loop-weaving. That's old tech — forbidden tech."
"Pre-Resonance?" Kaien asked.
"Pre-Convergence," Solryn replied. "Before time began folding."
Elias stared into the fire. "It's resurfacing. That means the enemy is closer than I thought."
Iria tossed her dagger into the dirt. "Then give us something real. You've been dancing around it for weeks. Who are we fighting, Elias?"
Kaien turned to him too. The question had hung in the air since the day they met. It was time.
Elias stood slowly, his coat brushing dust from the stone floor. The fire lit half his face, casting the other in deep shadow.
"They call themselves the Ardent Veil," he said. "Once scholars. Now zealots. They believe the world's current reality is a lie — and that by unraveling it, they can reach the 'true form' of existence."
Kaien blinked. "Isn't that what you believe?"
Elias gave a thin smile. "The difference is that I seek to reveal the truth. They seek to replace it."
"They're the ones who wiped Veridan?" Iria asked.
"They're just the tip. The Veil isn't one group. It's a system. A faith. A machine of rewritten laws."
Kaien felt a chill pass through him. "And you used to be one of them."
The silence that followed was enough of an answer.
Solryn scoffed. "Wonderful. We're following a heretic with a redemption arc."
Elias didn't deny it. "I left them. Because I saw what they became. What I became."
A long beat. The fire crackled.
Kaien stood. "Then what's our next step?"
Elias turned to face the shattered lens above. Through it, the stars flickered faintly.
"We find the Keywrought," he said. "Before they do."
Solryn frowned. "You think it still exists?"
"I know it does," Elias said. "Because I buried it."