I could still feel the echo of Varek's final spell thrumming in my veins. The cave we'd taken shelter in was damp, narrow, and barely big enough for two, but it was the only safe place we could find after the chaos that had nearly cost us our lives.
Rael sat across from me, a deep gash running down his arm, his shirt stained with blood and dirt. His jaw was tight, but he hadn't complained once—not during the escape, not during the climb, not even when he'd fallen and slammed his shoulder into the rocks.
I reached forward with trembling fingers, trying to keep my voice steady. "Hold still. This will sting."
He didn't flinch when I poured a few drops of the healing tonic onto the wound. "You've gotten better at this," he said with a faint smile.
"Necessity," I muttered. "I didn't exactly plan to become a battlefield medic."
A beat of silence passed between us. The cave flickered with the low light of the enchanted stone I had activated earlier—just enough to see, not enough to draw attention. Outside, the wind howled through the mountains like a warning.
My thoughts drifted to Varek. The way his eyes had flared with something more than anger when he realized I was no longer the same girl who had once flinched in his presence. He hadn't expected me to fight back like that. He definitely hadn't expected Rael to stand with me either.
"He's not gone," Rael said quietly, reading my mind.
"I know." My voice was a whisper. "He retreated, but not because we beat him. He was testing us."
"Which means the next time, he won't hold back."
I nodded, unable to meet Rael's gaze. "We need to be ready."
Silence settled again, thicker this time. I hated how tired I felt—how this war inside me kept pressing for space, even when I wanted peace. The Silent Mountains had taught me resilience, yes. But they'd also revealed something else—something I hadn't told Rael yet.
"I think... he's looking for the Well."
Rael stiffened. "You're sure?"
"Almost. The magic he was channeling... it felt ancient. Not like his usual dark aura. This was different. Deep. And it resonated with the ground."
"The Well of Echoes hasn't been touched in centuries."
"Exactly. Which is why it makes sense. He's searching for something more permanent. Something bigger than me, or you."
Rael was quiet for a long moment. Then: "So what do we do?"
I stood, brushing the dust off my knees. "We go to the Ardent Keep."
Rael blinked. "Aria, that's suicide. The Keep hasn't opened its gates to outsiders in—"
"—In over a hundred years, I know." I turned to face him fully. "But I'm not just any outsider anymore. I have the mark."
I pulled my sleeve up and showed him the scar—faint, silver, shaped like a curled flame. The monks had said it was a symbol of balance, that it only appeared on those chosen to protect the Well. I hadn't understood it then.
I was beginning to now.
Rael stared at it, then back at me. "You were going to tell me this when?"
"When I was sure I wasn't hallucinating it."
He snorted. "Fair enough."
I turned toward the mouth of the cave. "The Keep is three days' hike east. We'll need to move fast, and stay off the main trails. If Varek really is headed for the Well, we don't have much time."
As I started packing my things, Rael moved to help me. Our hands brushed, and I felt that now-familiar spark again, the one that had first flared between us under that old tree on the ridge. Only now, it was sharper. Warmer.
"Aria," he said suddenly, "do you think we'll make it?"
I paused. Then I looked up at him—not as the scared girl I'd been at the start of this journey, but as the warrior I was becoming.
"I don't know," I admitted. "But I know this: if we don't try, the world we know dies with us."
That was enough.
We stepped out into the cold morning light. The mountains stretched wide before us, full of secrets and ruins and dangers we couldn't yet name. Somewhere out there, Varek was moving too—closer to the Well, closer to the truth.
But he wasn't the only one with power anymore.
This time, I would be ready.