The clearing stank of blood and iron. Dead wolves lay heaped in the mist, their blackened hides twitching as if even in death the corruption clung. Both squads were ragged—torn sleeves, bruises, Qi nearly drained. The air pulsed with silence, broken only by shallow breaths.
"Set camp," Joren ordered curtly, his serpent dissolving into motes of jade light. He didn't look at Kaelen, not directly, but the weight of his gaze lingered like a blade at the edge of vision.
Reluctantly, the two groups settled near opposite ends of the clearing. They had no choice—stray too far, and the Vale would swallow them whole. The mist was thick, and wolves were not the only beasts that prowled here.
Mira sat cross-legged, clutching her sleeve where a claw had torn through the fabric. Thalen muttered curses as he cleaned blood from his sword, every so often glaring toward Joren's squad. Kaelen crouched silently, running a hand over the dirt, feeling the pulse of Qi lines beneath. Even exhausted, his Insight stirred, sketching patterns in his mind.
Across the way, Joren's followers laughed quietly, bragging about their kills. Talis pulled a pouch heavy with cores from his belt and tossed it in the air. "Seventeen already," he said loud enough for all to hear.
"Twenty-one," Ren corrected smugly, "if you count the strays."
Their voices carried, sharp and deliberate. Thalen's jaw tightened. Mira's shoulders tensed.
Kaelen only listened. In the faint reflection of firelight, he could see Joren watching him—expression unreadable, serpent coils faint at his back. A test of patience, a silent contest to see who would crack first.
The night stretched thin. Wolves howled again in the distance, though none came close. Each squad pretended to rest, but no one truly slept. They were bound by exhaustion, but also by rivalry, the clearing holding them like a cauldron ready to boil over.
When dawn came, the mist had not lifted. Both squads rose, blades sheathed but tension unbroken. Joren finally let his gaze meet Kaelen's.
"Try not to fall behind," he said softly, just for him, before turning into the fog.
Kaelen's faint serpent shifted within his Soul Palace, its eyes gleaming as if it, too, had heard the challenge.