We ran.
I don't even remember deciding to. Just… kept going until my legs said no. They gave out, and I slammed into a tree. Nearly knocked the breath right outta me. She came in beside me, coughing like her lungs were gonna tear. Couldn't get any air in.
Everything still burned. My chest. My throat. My lungs. The air was hot as hell, thick with ash. Every breath was like sucking in broken glass.
Horses were still back there somewhere.
Could hear 'em. Armor clanking. Men shouting. Didn't care what they said.
One of 'em yelled, "Crown wants it gone! Every trace!"
Another, deeper voice: "Aurexiel burned it first. We finish it. No one lives."
Then it was just wind. And us. Trying not to pass out.
She spoke first. "What's your name?"
I wiped my lips, tasted dirt. "Don't have one," I said. "Or if I did… don't remember it."
She blinked slow, like keeping her eyes open hurt. "Lilith," she said.
I nodded. "Lilith." Needed to say it out loud.
Her arm was bad. Burnt black, shaking like each twitch kicked pain through her whole body. "Hurts?" I asked.
She just nodded. Jaw tight.
"What happened?"
Her eyes stayed on the ground. "Fire. Everyone burned. Everything."
"Yeah," I said. "Same."
We sat there for a bit. Nothing but ash moving in the wind.
Then she asked, real quiet, "Why are you still alive?"
I shook my head. "Maybe I wasn't supposed to die. Or maybe I just don't quit."
The Mark under my skin thumped once. Not hard. Just enough to let me know it was listening.
I looked at her. "Call me Draethor," I said. Waited a second. "Draethor Nightfall. Stupid name, yeah… but it's mine."
She gave this tiny twitch that could've been a smile. "Alright, Draethor."
That was it.
No more words. Just two burned, half-dead people breathing smoke, trying to remember what it felt like to still be living.