"Keep quiet. Eyes open."
Ravik's voice was low, firm.
Each of them was packing quickly—throwing on cloaks, strapping weapons tighter, checking for supplies that barely existed. There was no armor. Just travel gear, worn blades, instincts, and tension.
"We're still far from the castle walls," Fen murmured as he tightened his boots. "But the way things are going... I don't think we'll even make it close."
"No heroics," Reva said. "We go quiet, fast, and if we see something—we don't stop."
They slipped into the alley behind Cael's house, the sun already low behind the haze. Smoke and ash clung to the rooftops like gray snow. The narrow paths between buildings were quiet, but not in a peaceful way. It was the kind of quiet that came after screaming.
The village wasn't a village anymore.
Women, children, soldiers—bodies lay scattered. Some were still moving.
At first glance, the shapes on the ground seemed lifeless, until one would twitch violently, or let out a raspy hiss and begin to crawl, even without legs. A child with blank eyes sat slumped against a wall, chewing on bloodied cloth. A knight in cracked armor was slumped forward, sword still clutched in hand—but when he turned his head, his mouth gaped wide, unnatural and twitching.
The crew stopped in the shadows of another house, crouched low.
Reva whispered, "We should've never come back."
Ravik stared out the cracked window of the ruined house. "It's the Grand Healing," he said finally. "It has to be. Some kind of demonic trick."
"Even the Grand High Priest?" Nyric asked from the back. "He was at the center of it."
Ravik hesitated. "Maybe... maybe he was one of them."
The others went quiet.
"You think the priest was corrupted?" Torric asked, eyes narrowed. "Possessed?"
"Could be," Ravik said. "Or... maybe he wasn't even possessed. Maybe he was like them. Just hiding it."
Cael looked up from the corner. "To make it worse... even when they turn, they still cast magic. It's different now. Twisted. But it's still magic. That's not normal. Not unless this really is something demonic."
A cold silence followed.
"Then where are the gods in all this?" Reva asked. "If this came from the demons, where's the response? The signs? The voices in the temples?"
Cael didn't answer right away. He exhaled slowly.
"When the war was raging, the gods didn't help then either," he said, eyes distant. "Maybe this isn't punishment. Maybe it's extinction."
They all looked at each other.
Fen broke the silence. "If it started during the Grand Healing, then it must've come from the Aetherstone, right?"
"Or maybe the priest was just used as a puppet," Reva suggested. "Corrupted from the inside, made to trigger all this."
"But if that's true," Nyric said, "why would the priest collapse in the middle of the ritual? Wouldn't a demon want to keep the act going?"
"Could've been a distraction," Torric replied. "Make it look like an accident."
Ravik's jaw tightened. "Even if it was a demon... how would one take over a Grand Priest? That never even happened during the war. Regular priests, maybe. But not him. Not someone so close to the divine."
They fell quiet again.
Then Cael spoke.
"If it really came from the Aetherstone... then maybe the problem isn't just the ritual. Maybe it's us. Maybe we mined it too much. Fought over it. Used it in everything—spells, faith, enchantments, healing, weapons."
"Overused it," Nyric said quietly. "Like pulling water from a well until the well turns black."
"Or maybe," Cael continued, "it was never meant to be used. Maybe it was sleeping. Or maybe it always hated us. And we just pushed it too far."
"Alright," Ravik said. "Let's say that's true. Then here's the real question…"
Everyone turned to him.
"…Why now?"
And no one had an answer.