The night had already embraced the sky when the dirt road echoed the horses' hooves. A modest caravan, consisting of five wagons and a dozen pilgrims on foot, headed towards the small village of Porthaven, seeking rest and refreshment for the journey that would take them further east. Religious songs mixed with the creaking of wooden wheels and the occasional murmur of conversations. The atmosphere was one of weariness, but also of expectation for the arrival at its temporary destination.
In command of the first wagon, Elara, a middle-aged woman with a scarf covering her brown hair and a face marked by travel, squeezed the reins with firm hands. Beside her, young Linus watched the road with dreamy eyes.
"Grandma... apple pie is still famous in Porthaven?" he murmured.
Elara smiled, but did not take her eyes off the path ahead.
"That's right, my boy. The best in the region. But you'll only prove if you stay quiet and don't leave my side."
"Even if I just take a little walk?"
"Especially if you gives a little walk" she replied, pulling the blanket that wrapped him up to the neck "Promise me?"
Linus agreed with his head, the sleepy eyes weighing more and more now that he was warm.
Elara paid attention again on the way. She needed to focus on leading that group, not being a catch like the others. That route was safe, at least that's what the merchant said when he sold the map to her.
"Elder, I still think we should wait for the return of the scouts. What if we are expelled from another city?" asked Karl, in a whisper.
"We don't have time to wait. Not when our god said with such urgency that we can go home."
Karl looked at her worried. Looking back, he saw only the other five wagons and the other pilgrims following them with caution and anxiety.
"Will we really be able to return to our home after it was destroyed by the usurpers?"
The old woman pressed her fingers on the ridges, but did not answer. If she, the priestess, lost faith, then what would be left for the others? Only despair and rancor. No... they were already covered with grudge against the usurping gods. They did not need more yet.
The song of a bird suddenly stopped. Then, another. Then, without warning, the sounds of the road — the horses' hooves, the creaking of the wheels, the rattling of the harnesses — began to become muffled, as if the world around it was being covered by a too thick blanket.
Elara frowned and pulled the reins. The front horse growled restlessly. The other animals began to shake too.
"Karl?" she called, looking over her shoulder at the sturdy man walking beside the second wagon.
But Karl didn't answer. He was standing, staring at the forest on the right side of the road.
That's when she saw.
Among the trees, there was something. Various figures. Immobile, covered from head to foot by dark cloaks, hoods hiding their faces. They stood, each one between the logs, spaced like sentries in a precise formation. There was no sound coming from them, no movement — just that overwhelming presence that made Elara's stomach turn.
"Everyone stop. Now!" she ordered, but her voice came out weaker than she would like.
The caravan slowed down. One of the young people in the last wagon made mention of asking something, but was interrupted by a woman's scream further back.
"Over there! They're coming!"
The chaos was established in a blink of an eye. The hooded figures came out of the forest without haste, but firmly. Some pilgrims abandoned the wagons and tried to run when they saw the swords being drawn. Terror and shouts echoed through the open field.
"Help us!!!" shouted someone.
However, the hooded guys used their skills to chase each one who tried to run away and hide. The panic was established in such a way that it turned that quiet road into a real hunting ground. Elara pressed Linus against her chest, her mind searching for a way out. The travelers shouted, pushed each other, but could not escape from the clutches of those hooded guys.
One by one they were bound and gagged with cloths, and thrown into an open space between the trees. Linus covered his mouth, aroused by terror and trembling. Elara asked the boy to be silent, peeking behind one of the fallen wagons.
"Look for them! There are missing people!" ordered one of the hooded.
The rest dispersed, while others remained surrounding those already caught. Elara turned to Linus, holding his face firmly.
"My child, listen carefully. Run through the forest until you reach the next village. Hide as much as you can."
"But grandma..."
"Wait for the purple dawn. Don't rest until you reach the purple dawn."
The boy trembled without fully understanding those words. However, the priestess pushed the boy into the flowers and then stumbled out to the opposite side attracting the attention of her pursuers.
"There she is!!!" shouted one of them.
Elara was caught without being able to run far away. She was dragged to the other pilgrims, forcing them to be stacked in a circle.
In the center of the group, something began to open. A circle. The dirt road cracked, and a bottomless darkness arose there, spinning like water about to go down a drain. The earth moved as if breathing, and the pilgrims, already disoriented, were pushed near the hole. Many shouted, but others seemed numb, as if their eyes lost focus when facing the darkness.
Elara tried to back down, but couldn't. The cart was already overturned. Linus, in the impulse, slipped from under the loose planks and fell into the high bush on the edge of the road.
She saw him for a second. The boy looked at her, eyes wide. Elara reached out to him.
"Run" that's all she could say.
The voice was swallowed by the loud noise coming from the portal.
Linus didn't have time to think. He crawled between the leaves, held his breath and hid among two rocks covered with moss. A few meters away, the cloaked vultures began to push the last pilgrims into the black vortex. There was no fight. It was as if all had already been defeated. When the last body fell, the portal closed. Not a trace of the earth turned.
Silence.
The hooded figures began to move away, scattering through the forest. But then one of them stopped.
He turned his head slightly. His shoulders raised. And he looked directly at Linus.
The boy froze.
The hooded man started to walk. Not fast. No hurry. As if he knows that his prey has nowhere to run.
Linus covered his mouth with his hands. The leaves flashed under the feet of that being. One... two... three steps. He was getting close.
Then another hooded whistled, a dry sound that cut off the air. The pursuer stopped. He turned his face back. And without saying a word, disappeared in the middle of the vegetation like a shadow that fades.
Linus did not move.
Did not cry.
Did not breathe.
He stood there, hunched over, alone in the middle of the night, surrounded by an empty road, destroyed carts and a silence that seemed to scream.
▰▰▰
Far from there, in the imposing Academy of Othea, the first rays of sun began to touch the spires of the Training Tower. On the first floor, the air was still loaded with cursed energy that Cale struggled to control in his exercise. His determination prevented him from stopping for a second to rest. Not when the illusion of Krynt fed the flame of revenge.
Yvaine, who had already switched shifts with Aries a few times, watched the training closely. She continued to evaluate his performance, although she knew that soon she would have to stop the exercise because the demigods would come to train.
The sound of footsteps echoing through the floor broke Yvaine's concentration, who turned to see Norril approaching.
"Oh, it's you. Back from your meeting with the dean?"
Norril stopped a few steps back, and Yvaine went to meet her. They talked in whispers as if not to distract anyone.
"The dean gave me full permission to assist you in... your process."
Yvaine raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms, interested in the subject.
"And how do you intend? Do you want to do some other experiment with him? I don't intend to let him go through other disturbing experiences."
"It seems to me that he is already in another" Norril looked at the center, where Cale was still trying to face his weakness.
"We are trying to find some way to strengthen your body and abilities despite the curses. As you can see, it's a bit difficult."
"Well... anyway, there's a mission waiting for you."
Quickly the young woman looked at Norril, surprised.
"Me? I am not fit to receive missions since I abandoned my divine duties five hundred years ago."
"It was a request for assistance" Norril handed a scroll to Yvaine, who immediately unrolled it to read "To keep guard on Jandiana's ascension ritual. Her ceremony will celebrate the opening of her central temple as a new goddess."
"It's from Alinys..." Yvaine whispered clenching her fingers on the scroll "Being the Theiodesmos of Cale, that means..."
"That the boy will go with you to the ceremony. Unless you trust the handsome one there to take care of your master alone."
Both of them stared at Aries, who continued to keep guard outside the room. His concentration was so much, that he seemed to ignore the presence of the two talking a few steps back.
Could trust Aries, probably the two would spend all their time inside the Training Tower trying to find a way to strengthen Cale.
"It would be safer for him to stay here, since the gods may not react very well."
"But if he knows that his sister will be there, it's likely he'll want to go see her" Norril continued, as if she knew what Yvaine was thinking.
The two exchanged significant looks, Yvaine sighed before the dilemma. Staring at the scroll in hand, she read the details of the mission that Melli himself had written. It seemed something as specific as if it was... planned.
Just now, when they have just returned.
"Was it Alinys who asked for my help or was it something from your father?"
"I heard that Gaspar returned from his trip" Norril sighed "Perhaps, they want to know if you have succeeded in your rescue mission. That's assuming you haven't notified them so far."
Yvaine remained impassive to leave no loophole for Norril to catch a response. However, it was true that neither she nor Aries would have sent a message to the Arkalis regarding the rescue of Cale.
"I'll discuss it with Aries, and then... see what I can do."
Norril just shook her hand, disregarding the details of Yvaine's decisions. She took another look at the center of the floor, before turning around and letting the space echo her footsteps.
Yvaine and Aries saw the magical barrier disappear, revealing Cale on the ground, exhausted and conscious.
"He almost got it?" Aries said softly, running to him.
"It's a significant progress if we consider the time and conditions" she added, offering Cale a hand to stand up.
Cale accepted the help, his purple eyes shining with a newly discovered determination.
"I can feel the energy of the curse. It's something... disgusting. But ridiculously familiar and comfortable."
Aries covered him with the cape and looked over his shoulder.
"The classes will start. Let's go back and rest. We can discuss about the next steps when we are away from these useless ones."
Watching Aries and Cale leave quickly, Yvaine looked at the scroll in hand. She needed to make a decision that did not weigh more on the shoulders of her master.