The dawn did not bring peace. It brought Theron.
He entered their hollow without ceremony, the great gray wolf at his heels, its presence filling the small space. His tarnished silver eyes swept over them, missing the new, fragile tension in the air, or perhaps simply not caring.
"Your consideration period is over," he announced, his voice leaving no room for argument. "You have sampled our training. You have seen the value we offer. Now, you will prove your value to us."
Kael got to his feet, Sera rising fluidly beside him. The moment of vulnerability was gone, sealed away behind a wall of shared resolve. "We are listening," Kael said, his voice neutral.
"There is a Temple outpost, two days' journey from here," Theron said. "A minor listening post, used to monitor the energy fluctuations from the Umbral Tear. They have a diviner. She is becoming... perceptive. She must be removed before she pieces together the existence of the Graywood."
The air went cold. This wasn't training. This was an assassination mission.
Sera's voice was like ice. "You want us to kill a Temple diviner."
"I want you to eliminate a threat," Theron corrected, his gaze sharp. "This is the reality of the war you wish to join. We do not have the luxury of clean hands. This is your trial. Succeed, and you will have earned your place here. You will have access to our deepest archives, our most skilled trainers. Fail..." He let the word hang. "Do not fail."
He turned to leave, but paused at the entrance. "The diviner's name is Elara. She is young. Idealistic. She believes she is protecting the world from monsters." He looked back at Kael, a grim smile on his lips. "Show her what a real monster looks like."
With that, he was gone, leaving them with the weight of the command.
Kael felt sick. The image of the Diviner from the city—her colorless eyes, her purifying light—flashed in his mind. But this was different. This was a cold, premeditated kill. An "elimination."
"We can't do this," he whispered, turning to Sera.
Her face was pale, but her jaw was set. "We do not have a choice. Refusal is not an option they have given us. They would see it as betrayal, and they would deal with us accordingly."
"So we just become their assassins?" The anger in his voice was a new thing, hot and sharp. "We trade the Temple's leash for theirs?"
"We survive," Sera said, her eyes blazing with a fierce light. "We take this mission. And we use it." She stepped closer, her voice dropping. "We do not kill her, Kael."
He stared at her. "What?"
"Theron expects the Mistress Path to unleash its fury. He expects a brutal, chaotic end that will send a message. So, we will send a message. But it will be our message." A plan was visibly forming behind her eyes, a dangerous, brilliant spark. "We do not kill the diviner. We break her out."
The audacity of it stole his breath. "Break her out? Sera, she's the enemy. She would rather see us purified than helped."
"Perhaps," Sera conceded. "But think. What is a greater defiance? Mindlessly destroying a cog in the Temple's machine? Or turning that cog against them? If we can free her, show her the truth of the Remnant, of the tyranny she serves... she could be a valuable ally. Or, at the very least, her disappearance will sow confusion and fear. It is a move Theron would never anticipate. It is chaos. It is... rebellion."
It was the most Lilith-like plan he had ever heard. It wasn't about raw power; it was about breaking the system in a way no one saw coming.
A slow, grim smile spread across Kael's face. The anger cooled, forged into a blade of resolve. Theron wanted to see the monster? He would see the heretic.
"Alright," he said, the weight lifting, replaced by a clear, sharp purpose. "We do it your way. We don't play their game. We change the rules."
For the first time since they entered the Graywood, Sera's smile reached her eyes, a flash of brilliant, defiant light in the gloom. "Then let us prepare. We have a diviner to kidnap."
The leash Theron had offered was still there. But now, they had a plan to chew through it.