The fire crackled low, casting long, flickering shadows across the clearing. Nyra sat alone, legs crossed, her crimson eyes fixed on the embers as if the flames might whisper answers she couldn't voice aloud. The others were nearby, scattered among the trees or resting under makeshift shelters but she remained rooted by the fire, unmoving.
Her jaw was tight. She hadn't said much since they stopped to make camp. Her axe rested at her side, untouched, its edge dull with dried blood but Nyra didn't care. She couldn't stop thinking about Thal about the way he woke, shaking and muttering, his eyes not seeing any of them. About the way he walked through the trees like a force of nature, splintering trunks like they were reeds. He had always been strong. Unshakable but she had never seen him broken. Not like that.
She swallowed hard.
"He always seemed like he could hold the world together..." she murmured, almost to herself. The fire gave no answer.
Boots pressed the grass behind her, light but familiar. Nyra didn't look up.
Neo sat down beside her with a quiet grunt, his arms resting over his knees. The silence between them was heavy but not uncomfortable. It had been like this since they were kids when words failed, they sat in silence, and sometimes that was enough.
He glanced at her but didn't speak. The flames danced in his eyes, catching the glint of something deeper, something distant.
Finally, Nyra exhaled. "I don't understand what happened to him. He looked at us like we weren't even there. Like we were... ghosts."
Neo nodded slowly. "I saw his eyes before he walked off. They weren't angry. They were scared. Not of something out there of something inside."
Nyra blinked and turned to look at him. "You think he was afraid of himself?"
Neo shrugged but didn't meet her gaze. "He's carried everything for so long. Maybe he finally couldn't carry it anymore."
She stared into the fire again. "I thought... he'd never break. Not really. Not him."
Neo shifted slightly, his voice lower, almost cautious. "I haven't seen him like this since..." He stopped himself, jaw tensing. "Since a long time."
Nyra turned her eyes toward him, searching but he didn't continue.
Across the camp, Valen's laughter rang out, loud and careless as always, though muted by exhaustion. He was with Tar and Luken, the three of them sharing a skin of whatever drink they'd managed to scavenge. Tar gave a low chuckle, Luken smiled faintly but none of them looked truly at ease. The night had swallowed too much for that.
Back by the fire, Nyra reached for her axe, gripping the handle just to feel something solid.
"Do you think he'll come back?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Neo didn't answer immediately.
When he did, it was soft, unsure. "I think... when he's ready."
Nyra closed her eyes and for a moment, she wished the fire would burn bright enough to reach him wherever he was, however far he had fallen.
Neo's voice came again, quieter this time, almost a thought slipping out. "Maybe that's why Nephilim don't sleep. Dreams like that... could tear them apart."
Nyra sat still for a long moment. Then she whispered, more to herself than to him, "Do I even know him? After all these years... do I really know who Thal is?"
Her voice trembled slightly as she went on, barely louder than the fire's crackle. "When we were first near the gates of Lions Gate... I saw how he looked at them. Like he hated them. Like he wanted to see it all fall."
Neo didn't speak. He just stayed beside her, watching the fire burn lower as the night deepened around them.
Neo sat still beside the fire, its low flicker reflecting in his eyes, though he didn't seem to notice it anymore. The silence between him and Nyra lingered after her words, as if neither of them wanted to break it first but then, his voice came quiet, steady but carrying a weight it rarely held.
"Even though I've known him all my life... maybe even since I was a baby... I don't really know him either. Not really. Not how he thinks. Not how he sees things."
Nyra looked over, her crimson eyes sharp but tired, searching his face.
Neo didn't meet her gaze. He stared into the flame, his expression unreadable. "Whatever plays in his head... it's something I can't comprehend. Like he's watching a different world than the one we see. Carrying something we don't have the strength to even name."
He paused, then picked up a charred stick and pressed it into the dirt, dragging idle lines.
"He's not just strong. He's... old. Not just in years. In weight. In silence. Sometimes I think he forgets we're not like him and maybe he wishes we were. Or maybe... maybe he's glad we're not."
Nyra furrowed her brow, turning her gaze back to the fire. "He never talks about it. About what he's seen. About what he's done."
Neo let out a quiet breath. "Because if he did, we'd never sleep again."
The wind stirred the fire, sending a few sparks upward into the dark canopy above. The woods around them were still but the silence didn't feel peaceful. It felt like something waiting.
"He raised us," Neo continued after a long pause. "Tried to give us something better. Safer but I think the world never let him forget what it really is and maybe... maybe that's what's breaking him now. That he dared to hope it could change."
Nyra was quiet for a moment, gripping the handle of her axe. Her voice was soft. "I saw how he looked at the city. At the people. Like he hated them. Like they reminded him of something he couldn't forgive."
Neo finally looked at her, and there was a flicker of understanding in his gaze. "He did everything he could to live differently. For us but when he looks at the world now, I think he sees the same cycle starting again and he's tired, Nyra. Tired in a way we can't fix."
She didn't reply. The fire reflected in her eyes, and the silence returned, stretching long across the clearing.
Neo's voice broke it one last time. "There's something in him... something deeper than even rage. I don't know if it's grief or guilt, or just the sheer weight of time but whatever it is, he's still fighting it. Every day. That's why he walks off alone. That's why he won't let us see. Because if we did... we'd understand why Nephilim don't sleep."
Nyra's thoughts wandered as the fire cracked softly. She wondered if there were others others he had raised, others who had come before them. How many more had looked up to him as they did? How many more had been shaped by his silence, his strength, his sorrow?
She knew Nephilim lived long but how long? And what did it mean to carry that much time, that many memories? Thal wasn't just a warrior or a guardian. He was a mystery wrapped in centuries of pain and purpose, and every time she thought she understood him, she caught another glimpse of how far from the truth she really was.
In the distance, the faint echo of laughter and voices drifted from the others, muffled by the trees but here, in the circle of flame and shadow, it was just the two of them, trying to piece together the man who had raised them, and wondering if they ever truly knew him at all.
Before they could say another word, Valen's voice broke the quiet, low but sharp. "He's back."
Nyra turned so fast it nearly unbalanced her, her hand instinctively brushing the axe at her side. Her crimson eyes locked on the tree line beyond the firelight, and there emerging from the shadows was Thal.
He wasn't walking slowly. He wasn't limping. He was striding forward with too much force, feet striking the ground like the weight behind them didn't know how to lessen. His towering frame cast long shadows as the flickering flames reached toward him. Alinda followed just behind, not quite matching his pace, her expression unreadable.
Thal's steps were wrong too sharp, too fast. Not the return of someone at peace but the arrival of someone barely holding something back. His broad shoulders rose and fell with uneven breath, his eyes dark beneath the golden glow, his jaw locked in tension.
No one moved.
Even Tar, halfway through tearing a strip of meat, froze mid-motion.
Nyra didn't rise. She sat still, chest tight, watching the man she had followed into fire and death walk like something cracking beneath its own mass.
Thal stopped near the fire, standing too close. The warmth licked at his bloodied clothes and scarred skin. For a moment, it looked like he might speak then he didn't. His hands clenched, and unclenched. One twitched once, then twice.
Alinda was close now. Her eyes stayed on him, not moving to the others, not offering comfort only presence.
"You alright?" Neo asked quietly, stepping forward a half-step.
Thal didn't answer right away. His golden eyes flicked toward Neo, then past him. He gave a faint shake of his head barely visible.
"I had a nightmare," he said eventually, voice low and raw. "Or something like it."
He didn't sit. He paced a step, then stopped. Looked at the fire. Then at the trees. Then back again.
Luken moved like he might speak but Alinda caught the glance and gave the faintest shake of her head.
Valen leaned back slightly. "Was it "
"Let it go," Alinda cut in, sharp and immediate.
Valen's words halted in his throat. He raised a hand slightly in surrender, backing down without another word.
Thal let out something like a laugh but it was a dry, sharp exhale. He ran a hand down his face.
"You ever wake up and wonder if the thing you dreamed was trying to wake you up? Or keep you there?"
Nobody answered.
"Didn't matter," Thal muttered. "I left because I didn't trust myself to stay still. Not when my head's like this."
He finally looked at them. Just for a second. Then his gaze dropped.
"You should sleep. I'll take watch."
He turned slightly, like he might step away from the fire.
"You should sit," Nyra said suddenly, her voice calm but firm.
He paused.
Alinda's hand touched his arm not commanding, just there.
"Please," Nyra added, quieter.
Thal didn't move.
"I'll keep watch," he said, voice quiet but resolute. "I won't sleep again tonight."
Nyra's lips parted like she wanted to protest but she stopped. Something in his eyes something hollow and smoldering told her it wasn't a request for space. It was a need.
Valen opened his mouth again, softer this time. "What was it "
"Let it go," Alinda said again, sharper than before.
The look in her eyes left no room for argument. Valen closed his mouth.
The group stayed quiet.
Thal didn't speak again. Didn't need to. The firelight flickered, and for the first time, he wasn't the one casting the biggest shadow.
They all knew something had shifted.
Nyra sat straighter. Neo didn't leave her side. Tar leaned back but never looked away. Even Valen had nothing clever to say.
Thal turned away from the fire at last. His steps were slow but steady, each one more composed than the last. Without a word, he approached a small rise beyond their camp. Then, with a single effortless motion, he bent his knees and leapt.
He soared across the short gap, landing silently on the ridge above them one of the small cliffs surrounding their clearing. There he stood, overlooking them, a lone sentinel.
The cliff held his weight without protest but the trees nearby bent slightly as if acknowledging his presence. He didn't glance back. His silhouette lingered against the sky, half-shadowed and half-lit by the flickering fire below.
He would keep watch but from a distance where even the ghosts in his head couldn't reach the ones he still had the strength to protect.
The fire crackled softly, its warmth doing little to ease the weight pressing down on Nyra's shoulders. She stared into the embers, unmoving, as though searching for answers in the shifting glow. Her hands rested in her lap, fingers clenched together tight enough to turn the knuckles white.
Neo sat silently beside her, his posture awkward, his mouth half-open like he wanted to say something anything but couldn't find the words. The usual confidence that lingered in his voice was gone, replaced by a hesitant stillness. Every time he looked at Nyra, he saw the question in her eyes, the one she hadn't spoken aloud: Who is Thal, really?
Alinda approached quietly, her steps slow and measured, and eased herself down beside them. She said nothing at first, merely sitting close enough for her presence to be felt. Her crimson eyes glanced at Nyra, then the fire, and back again.
"You alright?" she asked gently, her voice low and softened, almost motherly.
Nyra didn't answer. Her gaze remained locked on the fire, as if afraid that blinking would let the thoughts escape. Her lips parted slightly but no sound came. Instead, her mind churned, replaying the last few days no, the last few years with Thal. Every lesson. Every moment of comfort. Every time he protected her, trained her, guided her and now, every time he looked distant. Lost. Like he wasn't really seeing her, or anyone.
"I thought I knew him," Nyra said at last, her voice barely above a whisper. "But I don't think I do. Not really."
Alinda's lips pressed into a line. She reached out slowly, laying a firm hand on Nyra's shoulder. "No one does. Not fully."
"That's not supposed to be true, though," Nyra said, more to herself than either of them. "He raised me. He trained me. I watched him fight, bleed... smile but today he looked at us like we were strangers. Like we were enemies."
Neo lowered his head, saying nothing. The unspoken truth was heavy between them: even he, who had known Thal since he was a child, felt like a stranger to the man who had once been their unshakable pillar. The fire snapped again, scattering sparks into the air but Nyra barely noticed.
Alinda's voice was quieter now, thoughtful. "He carries more than he ever says. Enough to bury most people ten times over and he's not supposed to care like this not someone like him. A Nephilim getting this involved in mortal affairs... it's not what they're meant to do. They stand above, watch from a distance but Thal he stepped into our world and made it his. That kind of weight doesn't leave you untouched."
Nyra turned her head slightly, just enough to glance at Alinda from the corner of her eye. "Then why carry it alone? Why not tell us anything?"
Alinda didn't answer right away. Instead, she looked up at the cliffside where Thal had disappeared. "Because some things hurt more when spoken aloud and for someone like him, pain isn't new it's normal."
Nyra's brows furrowed as she turned back toward the fire. "Why would a Nephilim even care enough to get involved in the first place? Why him?"
Even Alinda was quiet for a long moment. When she finally spoke, her voice was softer than before. "I've asked myself that more times than I can count. I don't think I ever found a real answer. Maybe he saw something worth saving. Or maybe he just wanted to feel something again. I don't know."
Nyra closed her eyes, letting the warmth of the fire wash over her face but it didn't chase away the cold creeping into her thoughts. She didn't know who Thal was before her. Or how many others had called him father, teacher, friend. How many he'd buried. How many memories he kept locked away behind those golden eyes. Maybe she never would.
And that scared her more than anything.