Part 1: Mist and Memory
They moved at dawn, mist curling around their boots, dampening the sound of each step as they left the glade behind. Overhead, the canopy thinned, letting thin bars of grey light stripe the moss and roots beneath them, trembling like breath on glass.
Aeris walked at the front, Liora close beside him, her small hand clutching the edge of his sleeve as if afraid the mist might swallow him if she let go. She was humming softly, the half-remembered tune from her dream-vision, and the silver bell at her waist chimed faintly in rhythm.
Mira walked behind them, her shawl wrapped tight, eyes flicking to the trees with the soft wariness of a healer who had seen too many wounds to take peace for granted. Evin brought up the rear, silent but present, the quiet rhythm of his boots a comfort that Aeris felt like a heartbeat behind him.
In his journal that morning, Aeris had written Liora's song again, tracing the words with careful ink as she sang:
"Where the fire falls on the leaves,
And the ashes dance like rain,
Where the whispers call us home again,
Little lights, little lights, don't fade in the flame…"
She caught him watching her as she sang and stuck out her tongue with a small, defiant grin, and he laughed, the sound catching in the mist like a promise.
Part 2: The Bleeding Forest
The forest changed as they pressed on. The air grew colder, and the trunks of the trees darkened, streaks of red running down their bark like old wounds that would not close. The Blight's presence here was heavy, pressing against Aeris's skin, making the ember inside him flicker uneasily with every breath.
They found animal tracks twisted by the Blight, claw marks on trees too high for any natural beast, and places where the moss had turned black, cold ash scattered like snow.
They stopped at a stream where the water ran red with rust and earth, and Liora dropped a leaf into it, watching it spin in the slow current before catching against a stone.
"Will the water ever be clean again?" she asked.
Aeris crouched beside her, the ember pulsing softly in his chest, warm against the cold air. "Someday," he said, though he did not know if it was true.
"Promise?" Her storm-grey eyes looked up at him, so small, so fiercely bright in this dying place.
He hesitated, then nodded. "Promise."
She smiled, and the ember inside him glowed brighter for a moment, enough to ease the tightness in his shoulders as he rose.
Part 3: Nightfall Visions
They made camp beneath a twisted oak, its branches arching like the ribs of some long-dead beast. Mira brewed tea with the last of her lavender and mint, the scent rising like hope in the cold.
Evin cleaned his blade by the fire, the steel catching the light as he worked with patient, deliberate movements. His eyes lifted to Aeris across the flames.
"You saw something, didn't you," Evin said quietly.
Aeris met his gaze, the ember in his chest pulsing in rhythm with the crackle of the fire. "The Tree is close. I feel it calling."
Evin's jaw tightened. "And the Blight?"
"It's waiting, too," Aeris admitted, staring into the flames. "But it's afraid."
Liora curled against Aeris's side, the bell on her cloak jingling softly as she fell asleep. Mira hummed softly as she cleaned and wrapped Aeris's hand, where a cut had reopened during the day's march.
"You need to rest, Aeris," she said, her voice low.
"I will," he promised, though he knew the dreams would come.
That night, as the fire burned low, the dreams found him.
He stood in a forest of ash and fire, the Tree of Embers rising before him like a blackened star, its branches aflame with cold blue fire. Whispers crawled through the air, voices like wind through dry leaves:
"Come closer, ember-bearer…"
He took a step forward, feeling the ember in his chest pulse in answer, a thread of warmth leading him toward the Tree.
"Why do you call me?" he demanded.
The Tree's branches shifted, and a figure stepped from its shadow—a child with storm-grey eyes and a silver bell at her waist, the same as Liora, but her hair was streaked with white, her eyes glowing with cold flame.
"Because you are the light we need," she whispered.
The ember inside him flared, and Aeris fell to his knees as the fire washed over him, searing, cold, endless—
He woke before dawn, breath ragged, sweat chilling on his skin. Liora's small hand was resting on his chest, right over the ember, her storm-grey eyes watching him in the pale light.
"You were there," she whispered.
"So were you," he said, voice hoarse.
She nodded, tears gathering in her eyes. "It's so sad there."
"I know." He drew her into a gentle embrace, the ember inside him warm against the cold dawn.
They held each other as the first light touched the forest, the promise of another day pressing forward.
Part 4: The Path Ahead
They broke camp in silence, the cold air crisp with frost, the leaves crunching softly underfoot as they resumed their journey.
The path sloped upward, the mist parting to reveal a distant ridge where the trees burned with a strange, cold light. Even in daylight, the Tree of Embers was visible now, a black shape against the pale sky, flames dancing along its branches like ghostly lanterns.
Evin placed a hand on Aeris's shoulder as they paused at the ridge. "Whatever happens, you won't face it alone."
Aeris met his gaze, the ember pulsing warm and steady. "I know."
Mira stepped forward, pressing a small sachet of herbs into Aeris's hand. "For strength," she said softly.
Liora took Aeris's hand, the bell on her cloak jingling as she looked up at him, storm-grey eyes bright with determination. "We're ready," she said.
Aeris nodded, turning to face the path ahead, the Tree of Embers calling to him with its cold, endless fire.
The ember within him flared, steady and strong, and for the first time in days, Aeris smiled.
They began to walk, leaving the ridge behind as they moved toward the Tree, toward the heart of the Blight, toward whatever waited for them in the ash and flame.
And as they went, the ember's warmth guided them, a small, bright light in the grey dawn, a promise that even in a world of dying leaves and cold fire, the light could still endure.