The blade glimmered faintly in the stranger's hand, a muted reflection of the glowing veins that spread from the Veinspire into the soil. Kael's staff, cracked and still sticky with blood from the Chitterkin, felt pitiful in comparison. His arms shook from exhaustion, his legs barely held him upright, but instinct kept him steady.
Neither moved.
The forest held its breath.
"Say something," Kael rasped, his voice raw from too much silence. "If you're going to strike, then strike. Or do you plan to stare until I collapse?"
The stranger's hood shifted slightly, just enough for Kael to glimpse the line of a mouth—tight, unsmiling. "You're corrupted," they said flatly. "Your veins hum with it. That's reason enough to end you."
Kael forced a bitter laugh. "Then you'd better make it quick. Because the forest seems eager to finish the job for you."
The blade lowered an inch but did not waver. The stranger's stance was perfect, coiled like a predator—trained, not a scavenger who stumbled here by chance.
"You resisted touching the stone," they said slowly, as though testing his sanity. "Most don't. They hear the call and fall willingly."
Kael clenched his jaw. "Maybe I've learned not to listen to voices that promise salvation. They never give it freely."
The silence stretched again. In the distance, a branch snapped, though no wind stirred the leaves. Both of them turned slightly toward the sound, instinct aligning for a moment before they remembered each other.
Finally, the stranger lowered the blade completely. Not sheathing it, not trusting, but conceding enough to avoid immediate bloodshed.
"You're not wrong," they admitted. "But that doesn't make you safe."
Kael let out a shaky breath, half relief, half frustration. He wanted to collapse, but pride wouldn't allow it. "Safe died with my old world. Out here… survival's the closest thing left."
The hooded figure tilted their head, studying him. "You're not native."
The words weren't a question.
"No," Kael said. His voice cracked slightly at the admission. "And I'm guessing you're not either."
A pause. The faintest twitch at the stranger's jaw. Then they sheathed the blade, though their hand remained on the hilt.
"Names," they said curtly. "If you want mine, give me yours."
Kael hesitated. He thought of lies, of false shields—but something in their tone told him it would fail. The forest punished dishonesty in ways he had already tasted.
"Kael," he said at last.
The stranger inclined their head. "Liora."
The name lingered in the clearing, heavy as any blade.
---
They moved to the edges of the clearing, away from the Veinspire's hungry pull. Even at this distance, Kael felt it thrum in his blood, the whispers fading but never gone. The monolith seemed to watch them, runes pulsing faintly like a heartbeat.
Kael slumped against a half-buried root, dragging air into his lungs. Every part of him ached. His veins still flickered with dark glow, remnants of the Veil feeding like parasites.
Liora crouched several feet away, far enough to keep him in reach of her blade, close enough to study him openly.
"You've lasted longer than most," she said.
Kael let out a dry laugh. "You mean I'm too stubborn to die?"
Her expression didn't change. "Most who touch the Veil burn out in hours. Days, if they're lucky. Yet you wielded it in combat and still breathe. That makes you dangerous."
Kael's gaze darkened. "Dangerous to who?"
"To everyone," she said simply.
The words cut deeper than her blade could have. He wanted to argue, to deny it—but the memory of his reflection smiling in the stream clawed back into his mind. He pressed his fists into the dirt until his knuckles bled.
"Then why not finish it?" he demanded. "If I'm such a threat, end me now. Save yourself the trouble later."
Liora's eyes narrowed. "Because I don't waste potential. And because something tells me you haven't chosen a side yet."
Kael blinked at her. "A side?"
Her gaze flicked toward the Veinspire, then to the forest stretching endlessly around them. "This world doesn't tolerate neutrality. The Veil spreads because people feed it. Some willingly, some through desperation. And then there are those who resist. Who fight to keep what little remains uncorrupted."
Her jaw tightened. "The question is which one you'll become."
Kael laughed bitterly. "I didn't ask to be dragged here. I didn't ask for your war."
"No one does," Liora said sharply. "But once you're here, choice doesn't matter. You either survive long enough to matter, or you die feeding the soil."
Kael met her gaze and, for the first time, saw something beyond the steel. Tiredness. The weight of years. This wasn't a zealot or a monster. She was someone who had bled in these woods too long, carrying scars the forest refused to heal.
He leaned back, closing his eyes. "Then maybe surviving is the only side I can afford."
Liora didn't answer, but he felt her watching him. Measuring. Weighing.
---
Hours slipped past in uneasy silence. Neither slept. Kael's body begged for it, but the forest's hum kept him on edge. Strange calls echoed in the distance, like chimes warped into screams. Once, the ground itself quivered, as though something massive moved beneath it.
When dawn—or what passed for dawn in this eternal twilight—crept across the sky, Liora rose.
"We move," she said simply.
Kael groaned, pushing himself upright. "Move where?"
"Away from here. The Veinspire draws things worse than Chitterkin. If you stay, you won't last the night."
Kael eyed her suspiciously. "And you're helping me because…?"
"Because I'd rather not find your corpse reanimated and sent to kill me later," she said bluntly. "And because—" she hesitated, just for a moment—"I've been searching for others who resist. You may not want this war, Kael. But it's already looking for you."
The words sat heavy in his chest. He hated how true they felt.
He gripped his staff, using it to stand. His legs trembled, but he forced strength into them. "Fine," he said quietly. "But if this is some kind of trap—"
"You won't live long enough to regret it," Liora finished for him. Her lips curled in the faintest hint of a smile, though her eyes remained sharp.
They stepped into the forest together.
Behind them, the Veinspire pulsed once, brighter than before. A low hum spread through the trees, like laughter carried on roots.
Kael shivered.
The stone hadn't finished with him. Not yet.
---