After that everyone fell asleep.
***
I woke to the smell of salt and ash still clinging to my clothes. My eyes were gritty, heavy, but the gray light cutting through the trees made it clear,
It was morning.
I sat up slowly, wincing. Every muscle screamed, my body raw with burns and bruises that Vivi hadn't had the strength to mend. My blazer was stiff with dried blood and ash. The chain across my chest pressed against sore ribs with each breath.
The fire had burned down to nothing but a circle of cold, black ash. Mist still hung low around us, curling between the twisted roots, and the crash of the ocean was steady in the distance, like a heartbeat.
Lex was the first to make a sound, grunting as he stretched his arms. His gauntlets clinked, and he muttered, "Damn ground's harder than stone. My back's killing me." He cracked his neck, rolling his shoulders like he could shake off the stiffness.
Phoebe was crouched alongside me and was looking as if she had given up on everything.
Lily was no better.
Nolan was quieter. He sat close to his mother, who hadn't let go of his hand all night. She brushed some of his messy hair back, humming softly under her breath. I'd never seen him this still before. He usually filled silences with gentle words, or at least a hopeful smile, but now he just leaned against her like a kid again.
Vivi sat cross-legged beside them, yawning wide before blinking at the fire's ashes. "We should've kept it going… it's colder than I thought it would be." She rubbed her hands together and glanced at me. "Think we can find more dry wood?"
"Everything's damp here," I muttered. My boots were already soaked from the mossy ground.
And for a moment, sitting there in the misty quiet, with the smell of salt and ash, it almost felt like we were just travelers sharing breakfast on some long road. Almost.
But then I looked at the trees again, the bark like burned flesh, the roots tangled in bones, and I knew better.
Instructor Veyra had closed her eyes after everyone had woken up.
I suddenly remembered yesterdays ruin we ended up in.
I am certain, The seal has a pull on me, I don't know why, but I felt a really strong pull in that ruin.
'Am I connected to Netharis in someway?'
After a while everyone gathered again, Nolan also explained the situation with his mother.
Without wasting time Lily curtly asked
"Where are we? Because I don't think we are in the dirt path."
To which everyone looked at Instructor. Instructor looked at everyone for a minute and with a sigh answered.
"I think we are behind the mountain, Most likely a death zone"
To which everyone's faces paled.
"Wait Then, Why weren't we attacked?" Nolan asked with a puzzled face.
Veyra For a moment she was quiet, as though choosing her words carefully. Finally, she said:
"The salt winds from the ocean carried our scent away. Most beasts here track by smell. And this part of the forest… belongs to something greater. A predator no smaller creatures dare disturb. That's why they left us alone."
She continued.
"That's not all, honestly, I don't know how we survived the night, But basically we are surrounded by danger. We cannot be rescued by water because of various high ranked beasts and going along the Mountain range isn't an option"
"What about crossing the mountain?" Phoebe asked
To which she said
"Its basically suicide, It is Teemed with all sort's of Monstrosity going up to layer 5"
Giving a pause for few seconds
"But it's our best option"
I understood what she meant water is way more dangerous than land, And although going along the range is a safe bet, It is a long journey. We couldn't last more than two months, before everyone is tired, Then we are basically free food.
Crossing The Mountain might be dangerous, But if we are lucky we would cross it in a month.
Pulling me out of my thoughts was Lex's question.
"Does anyone knows why we ended up in that fortress? And what even is that place?"
Vivi also leaned forward "Yes, What was ruin?"
For a moment, no one answered. Then Veyra finally spoke.
Her tone was even, calm, but not dismissive. "I don't know what that fortress was. None of us do." She let the words hang there for a moment before continuing. "But I do know this, we shouldn't have ended up there at all. That wasn't where the gate was supposed to take us."
Nolan tilted his head. "Then why did it?"
Veyra's eyes swept over the group, then landed on me for just a moment, quick enough that most wouldn't notice, but sharp enough that I did. She looked away just as fast.
"Something interfered," she said simply. "The gate was pulled…. I felt it when we passed through. As if another thread pushed against mine."
Lily's brows furrowed. "Interfered? By who?"
"Or by what," Phoebe added quietly.
Veyra shook her head. "That, I don't know. And guessing won't help us. All I can tell you is that I Don't Know what the place was."
Nolan's mother who had been quite suddenly spoke
"I-I, I might know what it was?" She was still shivering while taking.
I narrowed my eyes
"It's probably a seal" She said unsure "I haven't seen it in person but, That place was very similar to the description priest's used about The seal.
"Seal of what exactly?" Instructor asked
"That I don't know, But I know that they severed my Thread for this very reason"
Instructor Veyra still stole some glances at me, Throughout the conversation.
After a while, We packed up and Started moving towards The Mountain.