The message refused to leave Kael's mind.
Even after returning to his cabin, even after examining the paper several times beneath the light of an enchanted lamp, the five words remained exactly as unsettling as before.
Turn back before it wakes.
There was no signature.
No symbol.
No clue regarding its origin.
Just a warning.
Or perhaps a threat.
That uncertainty bothered him most.
The paper itself appeared ordinary. No magical traces lingered upon it. No hidden markings revealed themselves when mana was infused into the parchment. Whoever had delivered the message had either been extremely careful or extremely experienced.
Neither possibility was reassuring.
A soft knock interrupted his thoughts.
Before he could respond, the door opened.
Aren entered.
Naturally.
The boy took one look at Kael's expression and immediately frowned.
"Okay."
He closed the door behind him.
"That's your serious face."
Kael raised an eyebrow.
"I have a serious face?"
"You have several."
Aren pulled a chair across the room and sat down.
"There's the normal serious face."
He raised one finger.
"The annoyed serious face."
Another finger.
"The 'something terrible is happening' serious face."
A third finger.
"And whatever this is."
The boy pointed directly at him.
"I don't like this one."
Despite the situation, Kael almost smiled.
Almost.
Instead, he handed over the note.
Aren took it.
The boy looked confused.
Then he read the message.
His expression immediately changed.
"Oh."
A pause.
"Oh, that's bad."
Kael nodded.
That was more or less his assessment as well.
Aren looked at the note again.
Then a third time.
Then a fourth.
The hope that additional information might magically appear was admirable.
Unfortunately, it failed.
The boy eventually sighed.
"Do we know who delivered it?"
"No."
"Do we know why they delivered it?"
"No."
"Do we know what it means?"
"No."
Aren leaned back in his chair.
"Wonderful."
A moment passed.
Then another.
Finally, the boy frowned.
"Actually, no."
Kael looked up.
Aren pointed at the note.
"This part."
"What part?"
"'Before it wakes.'"
The boy tapped the paper.
"That's important."
Kael waited.
Aren continued.
"If someone wanted to scare us, they could have written anything."
Another tap.
"'Turn back now.'"
A third tap.
"'The frontier is cursed.'"
Another.
"'Everyone dies.'"
The boy shrugged.
"Normal mysterious warning stuff."
Kael hated that Aren had a category for mysterious warnings.
"What are you trying to say?"
Aren became unusually serious.
"They specifically said 'before it wakes.'"
The room fell silent.
Because the observation wasn't stupid.
Annoyingly.
The wording implied something.
Something sleeping.
Something dormant.
Something that hadn't awakened yet.
The realization settled heavily in the air.
A second knock interrupted them.
This time, Lyra entered alongside Draven.
One look at Aren's face told her everything.
"Still discussing the note?"
Aren nodded.
"We've reached the terrible conclusions stage."
Draven folded his arms.
"What conclusions?"
The boy handed him the paper.
Draven read it once.
Then again.
Unlike Aren, he didn't immediately begin theorizing.
Which was probably healthier.
"Someone got close enough to deliver this."
That was the first thing he said.
Kael frowned slightly.
Draven handed the paper back.
"We've been surrounded by soldiers, instructors, and academy students since leaving."
A pause.
"Yet somebody entered the passenger quarters, found Lyra's cabin, left a message, and disappeared."
The room grew quiet.
That was another unpleasant observation.
Aren pointed dramatically.
"Exactly."
Nobody knew what that meant.
The boy looked offended.
"It means that's creepy."
That was fair.
Lyra moved toward the window and looked outside.
The stars remained visible beyond the glass.
The fleet continued moving north through an ocean of darkness.
For several moments, nobody spoke.
Then she asked quietly:
"What if the message is genuine?"
Draven looked toward her.
"What do you mean?"
She turned around.
"The person who left it."
A brief pause.
"What if they're trying to help?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Because nobody knew.
The possibility existed.
Yet it created its own problems.
Aren sighed.
"Great."
"What?"
The boy pointed at the note.
"Now we have two options."
He raised one finger.
"Mysterious enemy."
A second finger.
"Mysterious ally."
A third finger.
"Both are terrible."
The discussion continued for nearly half an hour.
Unfortunately, it produced no answers.
Eventually, exhaustion began winning.
The expedition would arrive at Frostwatch in the morning.
Everyone needed sleep.
Even Aren.
Especially Aren.
The boy stood and stretched.
"If we die tomorrow, I'm blaming whoever wrote this."
"That's not how blame works," Lyra said.
"It is emotionally."
Nobody bothered arguing.
One by one, they left.
The cabin eventually became quiet again.
Kael remained awake for a little longer.
The note rested on the desk beside him.
Five simple words.
Five words that somehow felt heavier than entire reports.
Eventually, he extinguished the lamp.
Darkness filled the room.
Outside, the airship continued its journey north.
Toward Frostwatch.
Toward the frontier.
Toward whatever waited beyond the snow.
---
The fleet arrived shortly after sunrise.
A loud bell echoed throughout the vessel, pulling students from their cabins and sending them toward the observation decks.
The moment Kael stepped outside, he understood why.
The landscape had changed.
Completely.
Gone were the green valleys and mountains of the central continent.
Gone were the forests.
Gone were the rivers.
The world below had become white.
Endless white.
Snow-covered peaks stretched toward every horizon while vast frozen plains expanded between them. Ancient forests filled the valleys, their branches buried beneath layers of ice. Glaciers carved through mountain ranges like scars left behind by forgotten gods.
The frontier felt enormous.
Wild.
Ancient.
Aren stepped onto the deck beside him.
For once, the boy didn't say anything.
That alone revealed how impressive the view was.
Lyra emerged a few moments later.
Then Draven.
Then half the expedition.
Everyone seemed captivated.
Even the soldiers.
The fleet continued moving forward.
Slowly.
Steadily.
And then Frostwatch appeared.
At first, it looked like another mountain.
A dark shape rising from a ridge overlooking a frozen valley.
As the airships approached, however, details became visible.
Walls.
Towers.
Gates.
The outpost was massive.
Far larger than Kael had imagined.
The fortress stood alone amidst the endless snow, its stone walls reinforced by centuries of enchantments. Defensive towers overlooked every approach while thick layers of ice covered portions of the outer structures.
Yet something immediately felt wrong.
The fortress was silent.
No banners moved.
No patrols stood upon the walls.
No smoke rose from chimneys.
No lights burned behind windows.
Nothing.
The silence was absolute.
The airship deck gradually became quiet.
Students exchanged uneasy glances.
Soldiers checked weapons.
Officers frowned.
Even from this distance, the absence of activity was impossible to ignore.
Aren swallowed.
"That's bad."
Nobody disagreed.
The fleet slowed.
The fortress continued growing larger.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer.
Until individual windows became visible.
Then the walls.
Then the gates.
And finally—
The entire expedition saw it.
The main gate of Frostwatch stood open.
Wide open.
As though someone had left in a hurry.
Or something had entered.
A chill ran down Kael's spine.
The note.
The disappearances.
The monument.
Everything suddenly felt connected.
Far below, the silent fortress waited.
And for the first time since the expedition began, the feeling of anticipation vanished.
In its place remained only a single question.
What happened to the four hundred people who lived there?