It was dawn, the fire had extinguished into smoke and darkened stones. The forest was so quiet that even the sound of Leira's breathing felt loud. Kael sat by the now dead fire, his sword by his side, guarding the area they were resting. But also, there was the other thing… he couldn't get a wink of sleep, Leira's near confession last night had him thinking; does he have the woman he loves back? Should he wait to finish all the echoes to bring up what she said last night? Does she really love him or is she just grateful to him? Will they ever be together in the way he wants?
All these questions flooded his mind.
Leira turned, her voice still thick with sleep. "You've been up all night?"
Her voice interrupted his thoughts. He let out a faint smile. "Couldn't sleep, so I decided to keep watch."
Leira pushed herself up and stretched. "Keep watch? But we're not at the next echo yet."
"Yes but I felt something last night, I felt someone or something… watching.
Leira's eyes widened, her gaze unfocused and for a brief moment, the tiredness in her eyes vanished. "Watching?"
"No… no don't worry about it. I kept watch and I didn't see anything, it was just a feeling. I guess I'm just a little paranoid."
Leira calms down, her face full of relief and sarcasm. "What else is new?"
Kael let out a small smile.
Leira walks toward him and sits beside him. "So the next echo… what's it called again?"
"The Citadel below."
"That doesn't sound creepy at all…" she said, sarcastically.
Kael let out a small but nervous chuckle.
Leira whispered. "Do you think we're close?"
"Not yet. I heard tales that this echo is at the forest's end. No one has ever been there before. So we're heading to the other side of the forest, in search of it."
"The other side of the forest? That doesn't sound like a short trip."
"It's not."
"Well then, we should start moving." Leira said, pushing herself up.
Kael nodded and pushed himself up as well, and then their journey began.
They walked for hours and hours, having brief conversations here and there. The forest seemed to stretch for miles, with no end in sight. The further they went, the more they air thickened. The trees grew stranger, branches looked pale and curved, as if they were shaped by unseen hands. Even Kael's steps grew cautious. It felt like the forest wasn't just silent anymore, it was listening.
Leira swallowed hard. "Kael…"
"I know," he said without looking back. His eyes were unfocused, searching their path ahead.
"We're being watched."
"By what?"
He didn't answer. His hand brushed against the handle of his sword.
They kept moving regardless. At a point, mist began to form on their path, the ground dipped slightly, and a faint, distant sound of water trickling reached their ears.
As they walked further into the mist, a river appeared. The river looked like it hadn't been there before, the water looked very dark, it reflected nothing, not even the sun above.
At the edge of the water was a boat. It was small, wooden, it was broken on one side but it was still able to stay afloat.
Kael froze, confused by everything he was seeing. "This isn't right."
The mark on Leira's wrist began to pulse, slowly at first, then faster. Suddenly, a faint outline of strange and unknown symbol shimmered across the surface of the river… it was calling her.
Leira turned to him. "I think it's part of it. It has to be."
He shook his head, his jaw tightened. "Or it could be a trap."
Leira stepped closer to the water, and she saw her reflection. It moved strangely. For a moment, she thought she saw eyes staring back at her, they looked like her own but darker, colder. And in an instant, they vanished.
"I have to try," she whispered.
Kael frustrated at Leira's stubbornness but he followed. "Then I'm coming with you."
As they both stepped into the boat, the wood creaked and the water barely moved or rippled, as if it drifted forward on its own. Kael gripped his sword, his muscles were tense. Leira sat still, watching the water move slowly, almost hypnotising. The mist gradually covered the river shore they were previously standing on, slowly until they were surrounded by nothing but endless gray.
They began hearing a low hum, not from the water itself but as if it came from beneath it, deep under.
"Kael?" She whispered.
He didn't answer. His eyes surveyed their environment, searching for movement and waiting to attack, but there was nothing around them but thick, blinding fog.
The hum slowly turned into a whisper. At first, it was really low, so faint that they thought it might have been their imagination. But then it gradually turned itself into words, layered as a thousand voices spoke as once:
"Return…"
Leira froze. "Did you hear that?"
Kael's head turned sharply toward Leira. "Hear what?"
The water began to tremble.
"Return what was taken."
The voice was louder now, sharper, cold, aged. The both began to rock violently. Kael reached for Leira's arm. "Hold on!"
The river convulsed, then hands made of liquid shadow shot from beneath it, grabbing onto Leira's ankles. She gasped, kicking, trying to pull away but their touch burned cold through her boots.
"Kael!"
He ran to her and grabbed her by the waist. The golden mark on her wrist began shining, bright and blinding, Kael yelled as smoke rose from when his hand touched. But still he refused to let go.
"Leira, fight it!"
The voices grew even louder now, echoing through the fog:
"You broke it." "You remember what was not yours to keep." "Return what belongs to the Dark."
The shadows pulled even harder, causing the boat to told, water began flooding the edges, then Kael's hands… slipped.
"Leira!"
She was pulled under.
The last thing she saw was Kael's face, filled with panic, before the darkness swallowed her whole.
Water filled her lungs. Her body whirled and spun, she was dragged deeper and deeper into a cold that wasn't water at all, but an absence of everything.
The whispers became voices and the voices became screams.
"The Citadel waits, child of the Veil" "We have been patient." "Now… you will remember us."
Her eyes slowly opened for a moment, and she saw it… she saw the faint outline of a huge structure far below, it was carved with black stone.
Leira's mark flickered on and off… and once again… her eyes slowly, closed as she drifted off into unconsciousness.
Blink.
Blink.
Blink.
Darkness.