Night descends on the forest with a deceptive calm.
Lunaya is not sleeping.
Neither is Kael.
Erynd even less so.
They have set up a makeshift camp in a clearing that is too quiet, as if even the leaves hesitate to rustle.
Kael watches the shadows, his back straight, his hands clenched.
Erynd remains motionless, his wings folded like a blanket at night.
Lunaya, sitting between them, listens to her own heart... which no longer beats at the same rhythm as yesterday.
Something inside her has been set in motion.
Something she did not ask for.
Something ancient.
A morning unlike any other morning
The sun has not yet broken the horizon when Erynd suddenly opens his eyes.
"They're moving."
Kael immediately jumps to his feet.
"Who?"
Erynd does not answer.
He listens.
His pupils contract.
"The Corbins."
Lunaya feels a chill run down her spine.
Kael:
"Have they spotted us already?"
Erynd nods.
"They sensed the awakening in her."
Lunaya jumps.
"The awakening?"
The corbin turns its head slightly toward her.
"That fragment that awoke when you saw... yourself."
His voice is soft, but something in it cuts through her like a blade.
"What does that mean?" she asks.
Erynd looks at her for a long time, without speaking.
Then:
"That your name is beginning to rise.
And that they feel it like heat through the forest."
Kael growls.
"Then let's move. Now."
Erynd nods.
"The Sanctuary is half a day away.
But we'll have to go through the Echo-less Pass."
Lunaya frowns.
"Is it dangerous?"
The two remain silent.
Too silent.
Kael finally replies, reluctantly:
"It's a place where even howls are lost.
Where all sound is swallowed up."
Erynd adds calmly:
"And where memories come back without permission."
Lunaya feels her throat tighten.
"I have no choice, do I?"
Kael places a hand on her back.
"I'll be with you. Every second."
Erynd whispers, almost imperceptibly:
"And so will I."
The Crossing
The path to the Pass is narrow, lined with trees so ancient that their roots seem to breathe.
Kael leads the way, vigilant, muscles tense in the pale morning light.
Lunaya follows, focused on each step.
Erynd brings up the rear, silent, his wings occasionally brushing the branches like a protective shadow.
As they advance, something changes.
The noise.
Or rather... its absence.
The wind stops.
The leaves no longer rustle.
Even Kael's footsteps become silent.
Lunaya steps into the entrance of the Pass.
And suddenly:
Nothing.
Not a sound.
She turns around, panicked.
"I... I can't hear anything."
Kael opens his lips.
She sees his words.
But she doesn't hear them.
Erynd places two fingers against his own lips, then tilts them toward her:
Look, feel.
She swallows, her heart beating too fast in a space where even her own breath seems swallowed up.
Then,
She feels it.
A vibration in her chest.
A warmth in her palms.
A tingling sensation on the skin of her neck.
Erynd approaches, his eyes fixed on hers.
"Don't be afraid," he articulates silently.
Kael takes her by the hand.
She focuses on the contact.
On the strength of his fingers.
On the warmth of his skin.
It is the only sound she has left:
her body.
The return of the fragments
They had been walking for several minutes when Lunaya stopped dead in her tracks.
Something... tore through her mind.
An image.
A breath.
A nameless sound.
Erynd froze.
Kael too.
Lunaya raised a hand to her temple.
One beat.
Two beats.
Then,
A memory.
Incomplete.
A sensation.
She runs.
She laughs.
She is being pursued, no.
She is accompanied.
A winged shadow.
Silver feathers.
Erynd.
But young.
Free.
Smiling.
She chokes.
The vision slips away from her like water through her fingers.
She takes a faltering step forward, immediately caught by Kael.
Her gaze is panicked, even though no sound comes from her lips.
Erynd approaches slowly.
His gaze is distraught.
He articulates:
"You remember. "
Lunaya shakes her head.
No.
Yes.
She doesn't know.
Kael pulls her close.
Erynd looks away, as if the scene is breaking him inside.
The exit from the Pass
Suddenly, a sound bursts into the air.
One.
Alone.
The first in hours.
A flapping of wings.
Erynd freezes.
"They're coming."
Kael growls, his fangs almost showing.
"Let's run."
He picks Lunaya up in his arms, not giving her time to protest,
and leaps out of the silent chasm.
The sound returns with a violent rush,
as if the forest were suddenly breathing after a long hold of its breath.
Lunaya inhales, breathless.
Kael puts her down but keeps one hand on her.
"Are you okay?"
She nods.
Then she turns around.
Erynd stands at the entrance to the Pass, wings spread.
Behind him, a black silhouette appears.
Then a second.
Then... ten.
Kael pulls Lunaya behind him.
"We're retreating to the Sanctuary!"
Erynd shakes his head.
"Too late."
The corbins advance in a semicircle.
Their eyes shine like shards of night.
One of them opens its beak and utters a word that chills Lunaya to the bone:
"The Blood-Woven must return."
She instinctively steps back.
Erynd, however, takes a step forward.
"She does not belong to you."
The leader of the crows stares at him.
"Are you opposing your own order?"
Erynd spreads his wings, immense and menacing.
"The order they have become, yes."
Kael growls, ready to tear apart the first one who approaches.
Erynd turns to Lunaya.
His eyes shine.
"Run."
"But..."
"Run, Lunaya."
"The Sanctuary will accept you.
Me... not necessarily."
She understands too late what he means.
"No. Erynd, no!"
But he is already lunging forward.
Not to flee.
To strike.
The sky explodes in a deluge of silver and black feathers.
Kael grabs Lunaya by the hand.
"Let's go!"
"But he's going to die!"
Kael squeezes her hand tighter.
"Not if you reach the Sanctuary.
Not if you get your name back."
Behind them, a raven's cry pierces the air.
Then a second.
Then,
A cry she recognizes.
Erynd.
Lunaya turns around.
A raven has just grabbed him by the throat.
A black rune glows in its feathers.
Erynd is choking.
Kael pulls her forward.
"If you turn around again, they'll get you."
Lunaya runs.
But her heart stays behind.
With him.
With the one who bleeds for her.