They walked for hours through the choking trees.
Kael moved like a blade through fog sure, swift, precise. The boy followed, uncertain but unwilling to be left behind. Around them, the forest groaned. Shadows shifted when nothing moved. More than once, he heard something crawling just out of sight, breathing in a way no living thing should.
He said nothing. Kael didn't ask questions.
When they finally broke through the thickest of the trees, the forest gave way to a clearing. Mist clung to the ground like smoke. In the center stood the broken skeleton of a church stone walls cracked and leaning, its steeple collapsed in on itself. Moss crawled up the sides like veins. Vines hung like ropes from the rafters. A great iron door leaned on rusted hinges, permanently ajar.
"This is it," Kael said, gesturing ahead. "The Restless Chapel."
It didn't feel like sanctuary. It felt haunted. But it was shelter.
They stepped through the crooked entrance into the main hall. Pews lay shattered across the stone floor. What remained of the altar was scorched black, as if something divine had been extinguished there long ago. Rain dripped through holes in the roof. Despite the ruin, a low fire burned in a stone basin near the wall, giving off just enough heat to fight the cold.
Two figures sat near it.
The first rose as they entered.
He was massive nearly a head taller than Kael, and twice as broad. His armor was patchwork: rusted plates over bare muscle, iron rings looped through scarred leather, old blood dried into every seam. His dark skin was dusted with ash, his hands calloused and wrapped in chaincloth. His face bore no helmet, no expression just a crude brand over one eye and a jaw clenched like a coiled fist.
A great axe rested against the wall beside him, chipped but terrifying.
"Kael," he grunted, voice like gravel. "You're late."
"Because someone decided to light a bonfire in the dark and attract every damn crawler for miles," Kael replied, kicking at a broken pew. "We've got company."
The second figure stood then, gentler, quieter.
She was tall, slim, with skin like pale marble and hair the color of silver moonlight. An elf though the boy had no name for that yet. Her eyes were a soft violet, glowing faintly in the dark. A tangle of charms and satchels hung from her belt, along with glass vials that clinked when she moved. Her robes were layered in white and grey linen, frayed at the edges but clean, with a cloak of feathers draped over one shoulder.
She looked at the boy. Then gently at Kael.
"Another survivor?" she asked.
Kael shook his head. "Not exactly."
The boy tensed as the two approached. His hands curled at his sides. That hum in his chest his strange heartbeat stirred again. He didn't trust this place. Didn't trust them.
But Kael turned to him and placed a steady hand on his shoulder.
"This," Kael said, "is Thorne." He nodded to the massive warrior. "He fights like a goddamn avalanche."
Thorne grunted, folding his arms.
"And this is Lysira," Kael continued, gesturing toward the elf. "She's the reason either of us are still breathing."
Lysira gave a small, graceful nod. Her gaze lingered on the boy's face curious, cautious, but not unkind.
"I found him near the Howling Tree," Kael said. "No memory. No name. Surrounded by crawlers and still breathing. He used… something. A force. Gravity magic, I think. Pushed them off like they were nothing."
Thorne raised a brow.
"Doesn't look like a caster."
"Doesn't remember what he is," Kael replied.
Lysira stepped closer, tilting her head slightly. "You don't know your name?"
The boy shook his head.
She studied his eyes the deep black irises. Then reached out slowly, her hand hovering near his chest.
"I can sense it," she whispered. "Something ancient is stirring inside you. Something… heavy."
The boy stepped back, uncomfortable.
Kael placed himself between them gently. "Give him space. He's been through hell."
Thorne shrugged and went back to the fire, muttering something about "lost souls."
Kael turned to the boy again. "For now, we'll call you Ash."
The name settled over him like a second skin. He didn't reject it.
Ash.
It felt right.
Kael gestured toward a spot by the fire. "Rest. You're safe here at least for tonight."
Ash sat slowly, knees weak, heart still pulsing with that strange, invisible weight. As he stared into the fire, the warmth biting through the chill of the forest, he realized something deeply strange:
For the first time since waking in the dark…
He didn't feel alone