The fire had died out by morning, but no one slept well.
They stayed close to the church, each person finding their own patch of silence — some pacing, some sharpening weapons, some pretending they weren't afraid.
But fear was there.
Like smoke they couldn't shake.
Braydon sat beneath a tree, eyes half-lidded, blade across his lap. His breathing was slow, his body still.
Too still.
"Do you feel it?"
The voice again. Not a whisper this time — louder now. Clearer.
"They look at you like you're one of them. But you're not. Not anymore."
Braydon shut his eyes tightly.
But it didn't stop.
Elsewhere, Brandon stood by the church door, arms crossed, keeping a quiet watch.
Shoto walked up beside him, rubbing at his temples.
"You sleep?" Brandon asked.
Shoto gave a humorless chuckle. "Barely."
Brandon's voice dropped. "Something's wrong with Riley."
Shoto turned. "What?"
"She said something last night — mentioned something about my family. A memory she shouldn't know. A detail I've never said out loud."
Shoto frowned. "You think she's the one?"
"I don't know," Brandon said. "But I've had my eye on her since we came back from the Hollowed Ring. Her aura feels… off."
Inside the church, Elizabeth sat with Riley and the other two survivors, talking softly.
One of them — Marcus — stared at the stained glass above them, unblinking.
Then, without turning his head, he spoke.
"You ever feel like this place isn't real?"
Elizabeth paused mid-sentence. "What?"
Marcus blinked and looked over like nothing had happened.
"Huh? Sorry. Zoned out."
Elizabeth glanced at Riley, who smiled too quickly.
Something in her chest twisted.
Back outside, Pate and Gage trained together — bursts of light and blood arcing across the clearing in short, controlled explosions.
Pate grinned. "Nice. Your timing's getting better."
Gage just nodded, his red eyes glancing toward the tree line.
"Someone's watching."
Braydon hadn't moved in minutes.
His lips parted.
"I know who you are now," the voice said.
"I remember the way you screamed when I fell. The way your power tasted when you killed for the first time."
He clenched his fists.
A faint pulse of gravity pressure cracked the ground beneath him.
Then—
A sudden gust.
The church doors blew open.
The journal flew across the room and slammed into the stone floor.
Elizabeth ran in, eyes wide. "Shoto—!"
The group gathered fast.
Shoto knelt and opened the journal.
New words burned themselves across the page:
"One of them was placed, not pulled."
"And one of you… has already started to turn."