Hours later, the fire had dwindled to a slow and steady glow. The woods were quiet. The others had long drifted into sleep. Seraphine curled beneath her cloak, Elira breathing slow and even, and Eryx still as carved stone.

Kael stirred awake, looked around and got up without waking the others.

Kael approached with his usual half-smile, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “You’re still awake,” he said, settling down beside Cassian. “You’ll wear yourself out before sunrise at this rate.”

Cassian sat at the edge of camp, sword across his knees, staring into the flames. When Kael approached to take the watch, his boots crunched softly on the cold ground.

“Your turn,” Cassian murmured.

Kael didn’t answer right away. He sat beside him instead, the firelight painting faint gold along the side of his face. For a long moment, they both watched the fire, saying nothing. Kael picked up a log of wood they had chopped earlier and threw it into the fire. The sound of the Nyraxes nearby gave a feeling of safety to the windy place they were in.

Finally, Kael said quietly, “You remember the Wyvern hunt?”

Cassian’s eyes flicked toward him, then back to the flames. “How could I ever forget,” he said, almost sorrowfully.

Kael gave a faint, humorless smile. “I still see it sometimes.The cliffs, the smoke, and the terror that gripped me when those beasts dismembered more than half the group.”

Cassian’s hand tightened around his sword hilt. “We were just kids. We didn't know what we signed up for.”

Kael nodded. “We definitely didn't. Although, we would still have had to do it anyways."

There was silence for a little while.

Cassian’s voice came softer this time. “Darion tried to draw it away from us. Never even hesitated.”

“Didn’t stand a chance, the idiot thought he was fast enough". Both of them laughed a little.

Cassian gave a small nod. “And Silas.”

Kael’s jaw tightened. “Yeah. Silas.” He exhaled through his nose. “He was faster than all of us. Should’ve been the one who made it.”

Cassian’s voice was distant, more thought than sound. “Only ten of us went on that journey.”

“And four came down,” Kael finished for him.

They sat in silence again, listening to the wood pop and crackle.

After a while, Cassian spoke, low and steady. “I think about it sometimes. If it wasn’t luck that we lived. Maybe it was something else.”

Kael glanced at him. “You mean a reason?”

Cassian shrugged slightly. “Maybe, I don't know."

Kael leaned forward, poking the fire with a stick. “If there was one, I hope it’s worth it. Cause the world’s been taking its payment ever since.”

Cassian almost smiled, a sad, knowing curve of the lips. “It always does.”

He stood then, handing Kael the watch cloak. “Wake me at dawn.”

Kael nodded, pulling the cloak around his shoulders. “Get some sleep, Cass. I’ll keep the ghosts company.”

Cassian paused, just long enough to meet his eyes. “Don’t let them talk too much.”

Kael smirked faintly. “They never do. They just listen.”

Cassian gave a small nod and lay down beside the others. The fire crackled on, a lonely tune. 

Dawn broke like a blade through fog, cutting silver lines across the valley floor. Cassian was the first to rise, the air cold enough to sting his breath. Kael sat nearby, sharpening his sword on a flat stone, the faint rasp carrying through the stillness.

“Sleep well?” Kael asked without looking up.

“As much as a man can in this cold,” Cassian muttered, slinging his cloak over his shoulders. “Where’s the rest?”

“They're still asleep. Even Eryx. He sleeps like he’s trying to make up for the whole continent.”

By the time the others stirred, the camp was already packed, Seraphine binding her hair, Elira checking her traps, and Eryx rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Eryx checked on the Nyraxes and gave them water. Cassian and Seraphine had a moment of privacy where they spoke about their feelings for each other and how they can't wait to be done with this mission before getting married. It was a secret they were keeping from the group. 

The group set off eastward toward  Willybroke, the ancient road that wound between cliffs like the scar of some long-forgotten battle.

The air grew drier as they walked. The rocks were black and splintered, carved by centuries of storms. And then, as they crossed a narrow ledge, a shrill screech broke the silence.

Cassian froze for a little while. His instincts had always warned him. “Wyverns.”

Out of the haze, three small wyverns swooped down. Lean, scaled creatures no larger than horses, with spined tails and wings like torn parchment. Their eyes gleamed red in the sun. They looked like they hadn't eaten in days. Their bodies gaunt and exhausted, their wings still healing from molting. Kael stepped forward as the first dove into the group. His blades flashed, catching the sunlight almost blinding the beast. The creature hit the ground hard. The cut was swift and clean.

Another swept in low from the side; Seraphine’s spell book flared gold as claws scraped harmlessly across it.

"Valor's resonance" she shouted out the name of the spell the group was most familiar with. The spell boosts the teammates strength, speed and damage. 

Elira moved fast, firing a bolt from her wrist launcher that sank deep into a wing joint. Cassian picked up his shield and sword and began taunting it. He was barking orders left and right and the group was moving with beautiful coordination. Eryx was in awe of the team. Almost proud of them. 

Elira reloaded her launcher, eyes darting between the shadows. The injured wyvern landed a few paces from her, tail snapping across the ground. The sound, the sharp crack of air and bone froze her mid-motion.

For a second, she wasn’t in Willybroke. She was back on that hunt four years ago smoke, screams, and wyverns raining from the sky.

 

“Elira!” Kael’s voice pulled her back.

She blinked hard and raised her launcher, firing a bolt that clipped the wyvern’s second wing. It shrieked and staggered. Cassian moved in, finishing the strike cleanly.

Elira stood still, breathing unevenly.

Kael glanced over.

“You all right?” he asked, wiping his blade.

“Yeah,” she said quickly, reloading. “Its nothing.”

The team understood. There was a reason she usually avoided missions with wyverns. She had never truly gotten over the terror she faced that day.

 

Eryx hand rose, ready to unleash the same spell that had proven effective against the wildross but then hesitated as the third wyvern veered toward him.

It didn’t strike. It just stopped half way.

The creature’s wings beat once, lifting dust into the air, and it curved away sharply, shrieking as it fled toward the rocks.

Cassian saw the scene and muttered to himself, "Mages, one can never tell with them."

The fight ended moments later. The beasts lay still, the air thick with the scent of blood and stone.

Kael wiped his blade on the grass. “They’re nesting close,” he said.

Cassian knelt beside one of the bodies. “Fresh hatchlings. We should split before the mothers come looking.”

The sun was out now. The group rode in a loose line. Cassian and Kael leading up front, Seraphine just behind them, trying to memorize new spells. A soft wind brushed past the group, whispering like tired breath.

Eryx and Elira rode a little apart from the rest, their Nyraxes keeping an easy, steady pace side by side. For a while, they didn’t talk. The rhythmic clop of hooves filled the silence between them, steady and unbroken. Elira’s gaze was distant, unfocused. She had barely spoken since the skirmish with the small wyverns earlier.

“You’ve been quiet. Quieter than usual,” Eryx said at last, keeping his tone light. “That’s… new.”

She huffed a soft breath that could’ve been a laugh or a sigh. “Just tired.”

He glanced at her. “Tired doesn’t look like that.”

Her hands tightened slightly on the reins. “The wyverns brought back memories,” she admitted. “From the old hunt… four years ago.”

Eryx nodded slowly. “You lost people then?”

“Too many,” she said quietly. “And we thought it was over — that those memories would fade. But today…” She exhaled through her nose, her voice trembling faintly. “It felt like being there again.”

The road stretched ahead, long and silent.

“I get it,” Eryx said after a pause. “Monsters have a way of staying with you. Even when they’re gone.”

Elira looked over, a touch of disbelief in her expression. “You? The fearless one? The rune warden? You don’t seem like someone who scares easily.”

He gave a faint grin. “That’s because I had excellent training in terror management.”

“Oh really?”

“Mhm.” He nodded solemnly. “When I was younger, I used to think monsters hid in my closet. So one night, I marched right in there with a torch to prove myself brave.”

She raised a brow, half curious, half amused. “And?”

“And I set the curtains on fire.”

Elira blinked — then laughed softly, shaking her head. “You’re joking.”

“Dead serious,” Eryx said with a grin.

“My mother nearly threw me into the well to put me out. The monster got away unharmed, though.”

Elira covered her mouth, trying to hide her smile. “That’s the most ridiculous story I’ve ever heard.”

“Yet completely true,” he lied smoothly. “After that, I realized the trick to courage is not letting your fear light the drapes.”

She laughed genuinely this time. The sound was soft but warm, carried away by the wind.

“Thanks,” she said after a while, her voice quieter now. “For… saying that. Even if it’s stupid.”

“It is stupid,” he admitted. “But it’s the kind of stupid that helps, sometimes.”

Elira smiled faintly, her eyes glinting under the dimming sky. “You’re not half bad, Eryx.”

He studied her for a second before continuing.

“Don’t spread that around,” he said lightly. “I’ve got a reputation to keep.”

They rode in silence for a while longer.

Then Elira spoke again, softer this time.

“Maybe one day I’ll stop seeing that hunt every time I close my eyes.”

“You will,” Eryx said, looking straight ahead. “And if you don’t… I’ll make enough noise beside you that the memory gets bored and leaves.”

That earned another quiet laugh. “You really don’t know when to quit, do you?”

“Not when it comes to people I ride beside.”

The day slowly surrendered to dusk.

The night was heavy with silence. The kind that settles after a long day of travel. A small fire was lit, and the sound of nyraxes being unsaddled filled the air.

A ring of faint orange light flickered across the campsite as the fire licked at the wood, throwing sparks into the darkness. Beyond the glow, the Nyraxes grazed quietly in the dark, their breath misting in the cold air.

Cassian sat nearest to the fire, one arm draped over his knee, his cloak drawn tight against the cold. He had a lot on his mind. His eyes were distant, as if watching something old burn in the flames.

Kael lay sprawled on a flat stone, his dagger glinting in the fading light as he honed the blade with deliberate care, the scrape of metal echoing through the stillness.

Seraphine knelt by the fire, her hands hovering near the heat, her eyes reflecting the embers like molten glass. She was sat near Cassian, putting her head on his shoulder.

 

Elira leaned against her Nyrax’s saddle, hugging her knees. She looked tired. Not from the journey, but from the weight of her thoughts. She was a bit cheerful now, but she still had lingering feelings. Eryx sat a little apart, his posture calm but his eyes alert, watching each face, each flicker of firelight.

It was Kael who broke the silence first.

“You know,” he said, a grin tugging at his mouth, “if we keep traveling through these cursed lands, we might as well start sharing ghost stories. Makes the night feel less empty.”

Seraphine shot him a look. “Ghost stories? With Elira barely holding her nerves after the last village? You’re cruel, Kael.”

“I’m fine,” Elira muttered, but her tone lacked conviction. “Go on. What story?”

Kael’s grin widened. “Not a ghost story, then. A legend. One older than a lot of civilizations in this world. A legend about the day fire nearly consumed the entire sky.”

Cassian’s gaze shifted toward him. “Durandor,” he murmured.

The name hung in the air, ancient and dangerous. It had been ages since the name had crossed their lips or even been whispered in rumor.

Kael nodded. “Aye. Durandor the Boundless Flame. They say when he flew, even the sun hid in shame. He was no ordinary dragon. Rage. Creation itself, unrestrained.”

Elira looked up. “ But they eventually killed him didn't they?”

“They tried,” Seraphine said, her voice soft but edged. “But Durandor couldn’t be slain. So the Pentacircle, the greatest mages of that time decided to seal him instead.” She raised her head from Cassians shoulder.

 

Cassian spoke the names slowly, reverently.

“Valmir White Handed. Elios the Dawnbringer. Solen of Mirrors. Maedra the Black Veil. And Tharos the Earthsinger. Together, they wove the world’s cruelest spell.”

Kael tossed another branch into the fire, and sparks rose.

 “They used an artifact, the Coretheft. They tore Durandor’s essence from his body, trapped it in the artifact and split it in five.”

Seraphine’s hands tightened near the flame. “And then?”

“They hid it around the world ” Kael said. “Five shards, five fragments of Durandor’s being. But the world doesn’t forget what it fears. The pieces of the artifact grew restless, almost as if gaining consciousness”

A hush fell again. The fire cracked, almost violently.

Eryx leaned forward, the light tracing the sharp lines of his face. “And has anyone figured out the locations?” he asked quietly.

Cassian sighed. “Lost. Or hidden. The legends say the mages scattered its remnants so none could ever find them.”

Eryx nodded slowly, his expression thoughtful. “If the fragments call to one another… could Durandor ever return?”

Seraphine’s eyes snapped toward him. “You talk like someone who’s hoping he might.”

Eryx smiled faintly, a calm, unreadable smile. “No. Just someone who likes to understand the stories he hears.”

Cassian looked at him for a long moment before glancing back at the fire. “Let’s hope it stays a story,” he said softly. “Because if Durandor ever does return, no spell in the world could cage him twice.”

The group grew quiet again. The fire burned low. Hours later, the group separated and went to sleep. Elira drifted into sleep first, Seraphine followed, her staff resting across her knees. Kael layed back with a sigh, staring up at the dark.

Eryx volunteered to keep watch. Kael and Cassian laughed at him a little before agreeing. Cassian stayed awake a while longer, his eyes half-closed, watching the embers pulse like the beat of a heart. Then, slowly, sleep claimed him.