The air was colder now.
Alain walked the narrow trail back where he came from. The town around him, still bleak and decrepit.
His fingers turned the pendant over and over, the shard of obsidian now cool against his touch.
He didn't know why he'd taken it. Out of curiosity? Responsibility? Sympathy?
Alain lifted it again, watching the way the faint light inside the stone caught against the snow. The rune carved into its surface seemed to shimmer, as if the reflection were breathing.
"It's just a rock," he muttered. But even he didn't believe it.
After a moment, he looped the thin cord over his head. The pendant settled against his chest, colder than the air, yet strangely comforting.
He turned towards another house, heading towards it until—
—A scream cut through the quiet town.
Alain snapped his head towards the direction of the sound. It was where his comrades were.
Another cry followed, hoarse and broken.
The narrow trail twisted through the ruins, until the faint orange flicker of firelight came into view.
When he reached the camp, Theo was shouting over the crackle of the flames.
"What's going on?" Alain exclaimed.
"It's getting worse! We…we have to do something!" Theo yelled in reply.
Kai'el was on the ground, half-covered by his bedroll. His breathing came in short, sharp gasps. The bandages wrapped around his side were soaked through, not with blood, instead a thick, black, semi-liquid substance.
"He said it started itching," Theo said, his voice tight. "Then it—just—grew."
Alain pulled back the fabric. His stomach turned. The veins near Kai'el's wound were blackened, throbbing with faint dark red light. It was the same as he'd seen before....the envoy back during the Revelation.
Blight.
"No, no—" He pressed a hand to Kai'el's chest. The skin burned cold.
Kai'el's eyes flicked open, glassy and unfocused. "It's—inside… it hurts—" His words broke into a ragged cough.
Theo grabbed Alain's arm. "We have to cut it out. Burn it, anything—before it spreads!"
The fire in the pit flared, reacting to his own panic.
He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. "Theo, hold him."
Theo hesitated, then nodded.
Alain drew his dagger, the edge reflecting the trembling firelight. His other hand hovered over the wound, flame flickering between his fingers.
He'd done this once before, burning impurities out of steel, never flesh.
"Open your mouth," he whispered.
Kai'el's lips parted, just enough for Alain to shove a thick piece of fabric in between.
Theo pressed down on Kai'el's shoulders, knuckles white.
The younger boy's body convulsed once, then stilled—his breath coming out in short, rattling bursts.
Alain drew a sharp breath. Then he drove the blade in.
A muffled scream tore through the fabric in Kai'el's mouth, his whole body arching off the ground.
The smell hit first, not the usual metallic blood smell. It was as if his body was decaying while still alive.
He couldn't go for a second cut. Even through Theo's hold, Kai'el's body squirmed.
"Stay with me, Kai'el, stay—"
The words caught. Kai'el's body was tightening. Muscles locking, chest drawing inward as if something beneath the ribs was pulling the rest of him down.
Theo's hands were shaking. "Alain—stop, you'll kill him!"
"I have to get it out," Alain rasped. His own voice desperate, but he stayed focused.
Placing a hand on Kai'el's torso, he remembered the feelings of frost, uttering,
"Realize…Isa."
The Rune shifted on his hand. Ice crawled across Kai'el's limbs, locking him in place.
"Alain—what are you—"
"Hold him," His voice barely rose above a whisper. His composure was cold—because if it cracked, everything would fall apart.
He picked the dagger back up, wiped the edge clean against his sleeve, and without hesitation drove it deeper this time—straight into the center of the corruption.
A muffled cry tore from Kai'el's throat, but Alain didn't flinch. He forced his hand steady, he couldn't afford to be afraid.
Raising his blade, Alain cut a clean line through the corrupted flesh.
"Realize…Kenaz."
The frost hissed as flame bloomed through it, Isa giving way to Kenaz.
The flames came back to his hand, bright hot. He quickly placed it over the wound.
"Forgive me," he murmured.
Flame roared.
The smell of burning flesh filled the air. The black veins writhed, retreating like shadows under sunlight.
Theo couldn't look away. There was something in Alain's face—no panic showed, like he was caught in-between hesitation and desperation.
When the light finally dimmed, the wound had sealed into a glossy black scar.
Alain withdrew his hand. His palm was charred, fingers trembling faintly.
He stammered and fell on his back, breathing hard. Kai'el was unconscious again, presumably from the shock caused by excessive pain.
Theo swallowed, his voice cracking. "You're terrifying when you're like that."
Alain exhaled, his voice barely audible. "If I stopped…he would've died."
The air in the tent had gone still.
Only the sound of Kai'el's shallow breathing remained, a faint rasp that fogged the cold air.
Theo crouched beside him, checking his condition. The color had drained from Kai'el's skin, veins faintly tinted with the residue of the blight.
Then Alain felt it, a hum, vibrating through the ground.
Alain rose slowly, every muscle tight. "Stay here," he said, but Theo was already moving.
He pushed open the flap, and the world outside bled red.
Alain stepped out beside him. Red fog crept uphill, encasing all it touches in a strange substance.
"Pack everything. Now."
Theo didn't argue. He tore through their supplies, shoving what he could into his satchel. The fire pit guttered and died, smothered by the thickening air.
Alain turned toward Kai'el, slinging him over his shoulder. The boy's feverish heat burned against his chest, his breath shallow but steady.
"Where are we going?" Theo demanded, voice cracking.
Alain looked around. The town had already vanished beneath a crimson veil; every street led into fog. His thoughts blurred, heartbeat syncing to the same rhythm echoing beneath the earth.
Then the pendant hummed against his chest.
Thurisaz burned bright through his clothes, pulsing toward the far slope where the ground rose like a spine.
Alain didn't think. "This way!"
They ran.
Snow crunched underfoot, red mist closing in on all sides. The ruins blurred past them, shapes twisting in the fog.
Theo gasped, "You're following that thing?"
"Do you have a better idea!?"
The pendant's glow cut through the haze ahead, faint but steady, until the slope broke into a wall of blackened stone—an entrance carved into the mountain itself.
A door. No, a vault.
Thirty spans high, runes carved deep into its frame.
The rune on Alain's pendant pulsed once more, answering the same mark engraved in the center.
He pressed it forward. The mountain rumbled in reply.
The runes flared to life, one by one. The mist lunged forward.
"Go!" Alain shouted.
They crossed the threshold just as the crimson flood reached the base of the door. Light burst outward, the vault sealing shut behind them with a sound like thunder.
Silence.
Only their breathing remained, echoing faintly in the hollow dark.
The sound of the door's echo lingered long after it had stopped.
Alain's breathing came ragged, his throat raw from the cold air. The pendant at his chest had gone dim again, the glow fading to a faint ember beneath his shirt.
His eyes adjusted slowly to the dark. The tunnel ahead stretched far into blackness, lined with walls of carved iron and stone. A faint heat pulsed through the floor, steady, rhythmic…like the heartbeat of the mountain itself.
Kai'el stirred weakly on his shoulder, a faint groan escaping his lips. The sound barely carried.
"We're inside," Alain whispered, more to himself than to the others. "Wherever this is."
Theo glanced at him, his voice low. "Do you think it's safer in here?"
Alain looked down the endless corridor, the red light of his rune flickering across the walls
"…No."