West of Pyrehold, Two Days Later
The village lay ahead — its roofs bowed with snow, its windows hollowed by time. Smoke no longer rose from chimneys, and fences slumped like forgotten bones. The wind howled through the husks of what had once been homes.
They approached in silence.
Kaelith, vast and coiled, slithered quietly around the outskirts, his white scales nearly indistinguishable from the landscape. Lara walked close to Toy, her cloak trailing frost. Her strength had returned, but she moved with caution — not out of fear, but because she remembered this place.
"This was where I stayed after the first purge," she said. "The Empire burned my village. This was the next."
"Your friend?" Toy asked.
Lara hesitated. "If she's here, she'll know I'm close already. She was always better at sensing magic than I was."
Toy scanned the area. Something in the wind felt wrong. The silence wasn't empty — it was waiting.
Kaelith hissed.
A warning.
Toy spun just as a blade glinted from the rooftop ahead.
"DOWN!"
He pulled Lara to the ground as a figure dropped like a hawk from the snow-covered roof, landing with the force of a warhammer. The shock sent powdery snow flying into the air.
Toy stood quickly and faced the new arrival.
A man in full crimson armor, bearing the Imperial sigil and a half-mask of gold. His sword — Toy recognized it. Serrated. Black-edged.
"Renard," Toy said, voice low.
The man removed his mask, revealing a face Toy once knew better than his own. Sharp cheekbones. Pale green eyes. A cruel smile.
"I was wondering when you'd look behind you," Renard said. "You always had a soft spot for mercy."
"What are you doing here?"
"Tracking the Empire's most valuable fugitive." His eyes flicked to Lara. "And the most disappointing traitor to ever wear crimson."
Lara stood slowly. Kaelith emerged behind her with a low, thunderous growl.
"Funny," Toy said, drawing his sword, "I thought we were friends."
"We were," Renard said, raising his blade. "Then you decided to protect the woman who destroyed three cities and froze a legion alive."
"I decided to protect someone the Empire tortured," Toy snapped. "Someone they broke before she ever raised a hand."
Renard stepped forward. "You always wanted to die on your own terms. I'm here to give you that chance."
He struck without warning.
Toy barely blocked it, metal shrieking against cursed steel. Sparks flared between them as Toy's hand surged with shadow and pushed Renard back.
Kaelith lunged — but before he could strike, four more soldiers emerged from the snowbanks. All Crimson Guard. All armed with meteoritum-tipped spears.
Kaelith recoiled instinctively. The alloy burned even his spirit-flesh.
Lara began to chant, her voice low, ancient.
Renard barked, "Don't let her finish the spell!"
One of the guards lunged for her — and was promptly launched into a frozen wall by Kaelith's tail.
Toy fought with precision, not rage. He ducked low, parried twice, then drove his shoulder into Renard's chest, knocking him off balance. But the other guards closed in, boxing them in.
"We can't hold them here," Toy growled.
"Then we don't," Lara said.
Her hand flared blue — a ring of frost exploded outward, encasing three of the soldiers in a dome of unbreakable ice. Kaelith rose to full height behind her, roaring with a sound that cracked the old village's silence apart.
Renard fell back, cursing.
"You think you've won?" he shouted. "You can't run forever, Toy. You can't hide behind her magic. They'll keep sending us. They'll burn every forest, poison every lake, shatter every mountain."
Toy lowered his blade and pulled Lara close.
"I'm not hiding," he said. "I'm carving a path."
He turned and ran with Lara into the woods, Kaelith close behind. Behind them, the ice began to melt. Renard's fury echoed long after they vanished into the trees.
That night, at their camp beneath the stars, Lara sat beside Toy and whispered, "He used to be your friend."
Toy nodded. "He was."
"And now?"
"He's a warning," Toy said. "Of what I'd be if I'd stayed."