Part 5: Three Shadows at the Door
The knock wasn't polite.
It came like a battering ram restrained only by manners—three firm strikes that shook the doorframe, followed by silence.
Yuji rose instantly, still shirtless, mana coiling just beneath his skin. Sylvia was already on her feet, hand near the dagger she kept tucked beneath the pillow. The silver vines on her spine dimmed, but pulsed once—an echo of his tension.
Amelia didn't move. She merely looked up from her seat and said, "That's not a merchant."
Yuji opened the door slowly.
A boy stood there.
Not more than twelve, skinny, with burn scars across one arm and a courier's sash too large for his body. His eyes were wide. His breath smelled like sour mead.
He held out a wax-sealed scroll with trembling hands.
"From the Guild," he said. "Urgent."
Yuji took the scroll. The boy vanished down the stairwell before he even broke the seal.
He unrolled it.
Sylvia stepped beside him, eyes scanning.
"Missing persons," she read aloud. "Three adventurers. Last seen near the Hollows east of Ironhorn. One marked as ex-clergy. 'Petitioner-class priest. Formerly of the Order of Luminance.'"
Yuji's jaw tightened.
Amelia stood now, her robe whispering around her.
"Luminance," she said slowly. "Now there's a name I haven't tasted in centuries."
"You know them?" Sylvia asked.
Amelia didn't blink.
"They're the ones who sealed me. The first time."
The temperature in the room shifted.
Yuji looked at the scroll again. "Why would the guild care about a missing priest?"
"They don't," Amelia said. "Not unless that priest was looking for something dangerous."
Her eyes met his.
"Or someone."
Yuji rolled the scroll and tossed it to the floor.
"Guess they smelled me."
Amelia nodded. "You're the god's echo now. His scent rides your soul. The old Church dogs can't help but notice."
Sylvia bared her fangs. "Let them come."
Yuji looked between them.
His party was growing.
So were the enemies.
He stepped to the window and looked out into the night.
Somewhere beyond the forest, three corpses waited to be found—or three blades were waiting to be drawn.
Either way, the hunt had begun.