Brineholt did not sleep after the lion died.
It held its breath.
Lanterns burned through the night in every quarter of the city, casting long shadows that twisted familiar streets into something uneasy and half-remembered. People gathered in doorways and on rooftops, whispering, pointing toward the market district where the stones were still cracked and stained dark.
The lion's body had been dragged to the outer square and covered with tarps, as if hiding it might make the truth smaller.
It didn't.
Kael stood at the edge of the square, watching guards argue quietly with Registry riders. His bow rested against his shoulder, the string slack now, the fight over—but the Mark beneath his skin still pulsed faintly, like an echo that refused to fade.
Behind him, Nyx sat on a crate, boots dangling, methodically rewrapping a bloodied forearm. Borin leaned against a wall nearby, shirt open at the shoulder while a city medic finished binding his ribs with practiced hands. Elyra sat cross-legged a little apart from them, staff laid across her knees, eyes closed.
For a long moment, none of them spoke.
Then Borin broke the silence with a hiss as the medic pulled a knot tight. "That was unnecessary."
The medic snorted. "So was standing in front of a lion."
Borin grinned weakly. "Didn't hear anyone else volunteering."
Nyx glanced up. "I volunteered. You just beat me to it."
Borin's grin softened. "Fair."
The medic finished and stepped away, muttering something about hunters and insanity. Borin rolled his shoulder carefully, testing it.
"Still attached," he said. "That's a win."
Kael turned back to them. "You shouldn't have taken that hit."
Borin shrugged, the motion stiff. "Someone had to. You were… occupied."
Nyx tilted her head, studying Kael. "You went somewhere else when it spoke to you."
Kael hesitated. "I heard it."
Elyra opened her eyes. "Not just heard. It recognized you."
Nyx's voice was quiet now. "Like the others."
Kael nodded once. "Yes."
A heavy silence followed.
Borin looked between them. "Alright. I'm going to say something stupid, and then we can all pretend I didn't."
Nyx smirked faintly. "That's usually my job."
Borin ignored her. "When that thing charged, I didn't think about the Mark. Or breaches. Or the world ending."
He swallowed. "I just thought… if it gets past me, one of you dies."
Elyra's fingers tightened slightly around her staff.
Borin continued, voice rough but steady. "And that was unacceptable."
Nyx stared at him for a moment longer than necessary, then looked away. "You're bad at speeches."
"Good," Borin muttered. "Because I'm not done."
Kael frowned. "Borin—"
Borin raised a hand. "No. You listen."
He looked at Kael directly. "You mean something to me. All of you do. And I would risk it all again for you."
The words settled into the night, heavy and unpolished and real.
Nyx blinked, caught off guard. "You don't get to just—"
She stopped.
Her voice dropped. "You don't say things like that unless you mean them."
Borin met her gaze. "I do."
Elyra looked at Borin as if committing the moment to memory, knowing it might be all she had left of it someday.
Kael felt something tighten in his chest that had nothing to do with the Mark.
"Thank you," he said quietly.
Nyx scoffed, but her voice wavered just slightly. "Next time, give me half a second more warning so I can pretend I planned it."
Borin chuckled, then winced. "Ow."
For the first time since the fight, a fragile sense of normality crept in.
It didn't last.
A shout echoed from the far end of the square.
Not panic.
Urgency.
A Registry rider pushed through the gathered guards, face pale beneath travel grime. He spoke quickly to Magistrate Seln, who had arrived moments earlier and stood watching the covered body of the lion with an expression that mixed control and dread.
Seln's posture stiffened.
She turned sharply toward Kael.
"Grey Hunt," she called. "Now."
Nyx rolled to her feet. "I hate that tone."
They crossed the square together, Borin slower than usual, Elyra steadying him without comment. Seln didn't bother with pleasantries.
"The lion was not alone," she said.
Kael's stomach tightened. "It didn't arrive with others."
"No," Seln replied. "But it wasn't the first."
She gestured to the rider, who unrolled a map across a crate.
"Two hours ago," the rider said, voice tight, "a caravan east of Brineholt failed to arrive at its destination. No attack sounds. No survivors. Just… absence."
Nyx frowned. "That's not escalation. That's disappearance."
Elyra's breath caught. "That's worse."
Seln nodded. "We sent scouts. They found something."
She met Kael's eyes. "Tracks. Not beasts."
Borin straightened slightly. "Then what?"
The rider swallowed. "People. Walking into the ground."
Silence fell hard.
Nyx stared at him. "Say that again."
The rider did. Slower this time. "Footprints leading to open earth. No tunnel. No collapse. Just… gone."
Elyra stood abruptly, swaying for a moment before steadying herself. "The breaches are stabilizing."
Seln's jaw tightened. "Explain."
"They're not tearing anymore," Elyra said. "They're forming."
Kael felt the Mark pulse sharply, like it agreed.
"Where?" Kael asked.
The rider pointed to the map. "Old quarry. Half a day from here."
Nyx sighed. "Of course it is."
Borin flexed his hand around the hammer. "People walked in willingly?"
The rider shook his head. "No signs of struggle. Just… followed."
Elyra's voice dropped to a whisper. "Something is calling."
Seln folded the map. "We lock down the city. We control information."
Nyx laughed bitterly. "You always say that."
"And it usually works," Seln replied. "Until it doesn't."
Kael looked at his group. Nyx met his eyes. Borin nodded once despite the pain. Elyra didn't hesitate.
"We go," Kael said.
Seln studied him for a long moment. "You don't rest."
Kael's voice was calm. "People don't get the luxury of resting from this."
Seln exhaled. "Very well. Quietly."
Nyx smirked. "When aren't we?"
They left Brineholt before dawn.
The road to the quarry cut through rolling hills and abandoned farmland, the kind of land that had once fed cities before trade routes shifted and left it behind. The silence out there was different from the city—wider, heavier.
Nyx scouted ahead, returning often with short reports.
"No ambushes."
"No movement."
"Nothing normal."
Borin lagged slightly, breathing controlled. Kael slowed to match him.
"You don't have to—" Kael began.
Borin shook his head. "Yes. I do."
Kael didn't argue.
Elyra walked beside them, quiet. After a long stretch, she spoke.
"The lion wasn't meant to kill randomly," she said. "It was meant to test."
Nyx appeared beside them. "Test what?"
Elyra looked at Kael. "Us."
The quarry came into view just as the sun crested the hills.
It was a wide scar in the earth, stone walls dropping away into shadow. Rusted machinery stood frozen in place like skeletons of a forgotten age. At the center of the quarry floor, the ground looked… smoother than it should have been.
Like polished stone.
Or skin.
Kael stopped at the edge.
The Mark flared—not violently, but insistently.
"Something's wrong," Borin said quietly.
Nyx crouched, examining the ground. "No drag marks. No blood."
Elyra stepped forward, staff trembling faintly. "They didn't fall."
A low hum filled the air.
Not sound.
Pressure.
Kael felt it in his bones.
From the center of the quarry, the air bent.
Not tearing.
Opening.
Slowly.
Nyx rose, blades ready. "That's new."
A shape formed within the distortion—not a beast, not fully human.
A silhouette.
It spoke—not aloud, but directly into the space between them.
YOU COME QUICKLY.
Borin growled. "I don't like that."
Elyra's voice shook. "It knows time."
Kael stepped forward despite the instinct screaming at him not to.
"What do you want?" he asked.
The shape shifted, becoming clearer—tall, indistinct, as if made from overlapping shadows.
WHAT WAS PROMISED.
Nyx's jaw tightened. "We didn't promise anything."
The presence seemed to smile.
YOU DID. LONG AGO.
The Mark burned—not pain, but memory.
Kael staggered, images flashing behind his eyes: hunters standing in a circle, hands bloody, a vow spoken into the earth itself.
Borin caught him. "Kael!"
Nyx moved instantly, positioning herself between Kael and the shape. "Back."
The presence regarded her with something like curiosity.
YOU WOULD DIE FOR HIM.
Nyx's answer was instant. "Yes."
Borin's voice followed, raw. "Without question."
Elyra's grip tightened on her staff. "Again and again."
The presence paused.
The air trembled.
INTERESTING.
Kael forced himself upright. "You don't get them."
The presence turned back to him.
YOU CARRY THE OATH.
Kael swallowed. "Then listen to me. We will not open doors for you. We will not trade lives."
The shape considered this.
Then the ground beneath it rippled.
A scream echoed from somewhere deep below the quarry—human, terrified.
Nyx's face hardened. "It already took someone."
Kael's voice dropped. "Let them go."
The presence tilted its head.
CLOSE THE DOOR.
The Mark surged.
Kael raised his bow—not aiming, but grounding himself.
"Elyra," he said. "Together."
She nodded, already whispering words that scraped against her soul.
Nyx and Borin moved without being told, flanking, guarding, anchoring.
For a moment, the world held its breath again.
Then the quarry shook.
The distortion wavered, shrank, resisted.
The scream cut off abruptly.
Silence slammed down.
When the air settled, the shape was gone.
The quarry floor was cracked, but solid.
Borin dropped to one knee, breathing hard. "Did we—"
Elyra nodded weakly. "We pushed it back."
Nyx looked around, jaw tight. "And the person?"
Elyra's eyes filled with quiet grief. "Gone."
Kael closed his eyes briefly.
When he opened them, resolve had replaced doubt.
"This is accelerating," he said. "They're testing responses now. Not just breaches."
Nyx wiped blood from her blade. "Good. I hate guessing games."
Borin stood slowly, pain etched into every movement. "You know what scares me?"
Kael looked at him.
Borin met his gaze. "I don't feel like running."
Nyx smirked faintly. "Careful. You're starting to sound like a hero."
Kael shook his head. "No. Just someone who knows what he's willing to lose."
He looked at each of them.
"I meant what I said before," Borin added quietly. "I'd risk it all again."
Nyx's voice softened, rare and honest. "So would I."
Elyra smiled faintly, sadness and warmth intertwined. "Then whatever this becomes… we face it together."
Kael nodded once.
Above them, the sun climbed higher, shining on a world that still pretended nothing was wrong.
But the ground remembered.
And so did they.