The moon was high when Erynd reached the north road.
The village behind him was nothing more than a cluster of shadows, its lights long extinguished.
Mist curled low over the dirt path, wrapping the world in a pale haze.
He waited, leaning against his spear, the mark in his palm thrumming faintly — almost in anticipation.
Lira appeared without a sound.
She wore the same patched clothes, but now a short bow was slung across her back, a quiver hanging at her hip.
"You came," she said.
"You asked."
She studied him for a moment, then nodded toward the road.
"Stay close. The marsh doesn't like strangers."
They walked in silence, the dirt road giving way to damp earth.
The air grew heavy, carrying the smell of stagnant water and rotting vegetation.
Here, the mist wasn't soft. It clung to their skin, seeping into their clothes, cold and invasive.
"What's in the marsh?" Erynd asked.
"Things that watch. Some that follow. And a few that don't bother waiting before they strike."
The ground beneath them squelched. Pools of black water reflected the moonlight in broken shards.
Strange, reed-like plants rose from the mud, their tips glowing faintly blue.
"Stay out of the light," Lira murmured.
Erynd stepped back into the shadows without question.
It wasn't long before he felt it — that subtle pressure in the air, the same he'd felt in the First Circle.
The shadows under his feet shifted, restless.
"Something's here," he said.
Lira didn't answer. She simply raised a hand for silence.
A ripple passed across the nearest pool. Then another.
From the black water, a shape rose — long, sinuous, slick with mud.
Its head was nothing more than a smooth dome, but a slit opened across it, revealing rows of needle-like teeth.
"Marrow leech," Lira whispered. "Fast. Don't let it touch you."
The creature surged forward, water exploding around it.
Erynd's spear was in his hands before he realized it, the shadow coiling up the shaft.
The leech struck, and he met it with a sharp thrust. The point grazed its side, tearing through the slick hide — but the thing didn't slow.
It lunged again.
Erynd rolled aside, feeling the rush of air as it missed him by inches. His shadow lashed out instinctively, forming a jagged spike that stabbed into the creature's flank.
The leech screamed — a sound like boiling metal — and thrashed violently.
"Good," Lira called, already loosing an arrow into its side. "Again!"
Erynd moved with the shadow, letting it guide his strikes. The spear became an extension of that living darkness, the point finding gaps in the leech's hide.
One final thrust pierced deep. The creature spasmed, then collapsed into the mud, its body dissolving into a foul-smelling mist.
Erynd straightened, breathing hard.
The mark in his palm pulsed faster, as if feeding.
Lira approached, eyes flicking to his shadow. "You let it take the lead."
"It… wanted to fight."
"That's what makes it dangerous." She glanced toward the deeper marsh. "Come on. We're close."
They moved on, weaving between pools and patches of unstable ground.
Eventually, the marsh opened into a wide clearing. The soil here was black and cracked, as if burned long ago.
At its center stood a ring of stone pillars, each carved with strange, spiraling patterns.
Erynd felt the pull immediately — the same call that had dragged him into the First Circle.
"This is it," Lira said quietly. "Where I saw one like you vanish."
He stepped closer to the nearest pillar, tracing a hand over the carvings.
They pulsed faintly beneath his touch, like the beat of a distant heart.
The mark in his palm flared.
The shadows under his feet deepened, spreading outward in a slow circle.
"Erynd," Lira said sharply. "Don't—"
The ground cracked. Black light surged from the pillars, racing toward the center of the ring.
The air filled with whispers — hundreds of them, layered and urgent.
A shape began to form in the darkness.
Tall. Cloaked. Eyes like cold embers.
The book's voice spoke in his mind, calm and certain:
"The Second Circle stirs."
Erynd's breath caught. He wasn't ready — he knew it, and yet the pull was irresistible.
Lira stepped back, her hand on her bow. "Whatever this is, you'd better be ready to survive it."
The shadows surged upward, swallowing the clearing in black.
And the Second Circle opened its eyes.