The Ember Path wound on, quiet and golden beneath their feet. Morning mist clung to the undergrowth, turning the forest into a veil of silver light and shadows. The glow of the path pulsed steadily, leading them deeper into woods untouched by time.
Eira walked at the front again, her brow furrowed in thought. The further they went, the stronger the pull in her chest became. It wasn't painful, more like a tether, something drawing her forward. Not just the path. Something beyond it.
Behind her, Lena offered quiet encouragement to the limping villagers. She had spent much of the night tending to those too injured or exhausted to walk. Her magic was subtle, nearly invisible, cooling fevers, easing pain, encouraging bone to knit but her presence alone calmed those near her.
Kaela moved more quietly now, keeping her sword sheathed but her eyes vigilant. She said little, but her silence had shifted. Less tense, more… thoughtful. Eira could feel her watching, not just the woods, but them. As though measuring something invisible between them all.
Torin had stopped cracking jokes. Mostly. He helped an older woman across a gnarled patch of roots, then looked back toward the end of the line, where Thorne had fallen behind to scout the rear.
"Still no sign of trouble?" he asked as Thorne returned.
Thorne shook his head once. "The forest is too still."
Eira turned. "Too still?"
"Birdsong vanished a mile back. No tracks. No wind. Something's wrong."
Before Eira could respond, Lena suddenly paused mid-step. Her hand went to her chest.
"What is it?" Kaela asked, alert in an instant.
Lena's brow furrowed. "I… I felt something. Like a pull. But not from the path."
Everyone stilled. The children clutched their blankets tighter. Torin looked ready to draw his dagger.
Then the light of the Ember Path flickered.
Only for a second but it was enough.
Thorne stepped in front of Eira, instinctively shielding her. "We need to keep moving."
Eira nodded, but her thoughts whirled. The Path had flickered. Like it had sensed something too.
⸻
Far behind them, through another stretch of the same forest, boots crushed the underbrush in rhythm.
A Veil tracker knelt beside a barely visible hoofprint. He ran gloved fingers over it, eyes narrowing. "They're still on the path. But it's changing."
From the shadows, a cloaked figure stepped forward. She moved like mist, silent and cold.
Kaela's sister. Captain Maelis of the Veil's shadow guard.
"Changing how?" she asked, voice low and dangerous.
"It's fading behind them," the tracker said. "Closing up."
Maelis tilted her head. "So they're following magic we can't. But that doesn't mean we can't catch them."
The tracker hesitated. "Permission to speak freely?"
Maelis raised an eyebrow. "Granted."
"They have something old on their side. Something that doesn't want to be seen. It's… watching us."
Maelis stepped forward and stared down the path that was no longer there.
"Then we don't follow," she said. "We wait. Everyone leaves a shadow behind. Even those who walk in light."
⸻
That night, Eira sat beside the faint glow of the path again. She hadn't told the others yet, but the warmth she'd felt before. the hum of the shard was changing.
It had begun to feel… restless. Like the ember wasn't leading them away from danger, but toward something inevitable.
Thorne approached, carrying a small pouch of dried fruit. He handed it to her without a word, then sat beside her.
"Do you trust it?" she asked after a while.
He didn't look at her. "The path?"
She nodded.
"I trust you."
She looked at him, surprised by the quiet honesty.
"And if I walk us into something we can't come back from?" she asked.
Thorne finally turned his head, eyes steady. "Then I'll walk with you. Wherever it leads."
A quiet moment stretched between them. The forest whispered softly around them. And for just a heartbeat, there was no war, no path, no fear.
Only the two of them and the faint glow of something stirring in the dark.