The silence returned to the clearing.
Not the common silence of the forest, nor the heavy silence of the Rift—but a tired silence, as if the entire world were exhausted from what had just happened.
Ren stood still, staring at the place where the Shadow had vanished.It was as if his eyes were still trapped in that direction, unable to look anywhere else.
Lyra held his face between her hands, but his expression didn't change.
It was not a boy's expression.
It was an expression divided.
"Ren…" she whispered, "you're with me, right?"
He blinked slowly.
And finally looked at her.
"I'm here."
But his voice…wasn't whole.
Something inside it sounded hollow.
Lyra felt a thin thread tighten around her heart.
Borin placed his heavy hand on Ren's shoulder.
"You need to rest. Now. No arguing."
Ren simply nodded.
Draven, still lying on the ground with wide, empty eyes, pointed weakly at the place where the Shadow had been.
"I… I still feel her watching… even though she's not there…"
Ren walked past him, and for the first time since waking, he stopped.
He placed his hand on Draven's shoulder.
A simple gesture.
But the shock was immediate.
Draven inhaled sharply, eyes wide.
"Dude… your aura… it's cold."
Ren withdrew his hand slowly.
"It's not my choice."
Lyra approached quickly.
"Ren, what exactly did the Shadow do to you?"
He hesitated.And that silence alone made the air in the clearing feel heavier.
"She… sat," he said.
Draven choked.
"And THAT broke you?!"
Ren shook his head.
"It wasn't her sitting."He touched his chest."It was what she said."
The memory weighed like a stone.
The whisper.
The one placed inside him—not with sound, but with intent.
"Not yet.""You're not ready.""Follow me."
Ren closed his eyes.
"It's like… something inside me was pulled forward."
Lyra stepped in closer, worry tightening her voice.
"Pulled where?"
He opened his eyes.
A faint gray line flickered across his iris for a fraction of a second.
"Toward her."
Silence.
Borin crossed his arms.
"We'll rip that thing out of you, even if I have to beat it out."
Ren smiled—weak, cracked.
"If you hit me… she hits back."
Draven fell on his rear.
"THEN DON'T HIT HIM, BORIN!"
Lyra held Ren's hand tightly.
"Ren… let me feel your aura."
He hesitated, but didn't resist.
She placed both hands on his chest.
And felt.
Ren's aura had always been strange for a boy his age—too deep, too calm, too steady.
But now…
Now it was split.
Half warm.Alive.Ren.
The other half…a thin, cold line—like a cut straight through his soul.
Lyra pulled her hands back slowly, as though burned.
"Ren… this isn't… this isn't normal…"
He nodded.
"It isn't."
"And does it hurt?" she asked.
Ren looked toward the forest.
"Only when I breathe."
Draven nearly fainted again.
"'ONLY WHEN I BREATHE,' HE SAYS—REN, THAT'S ALWAYS!"
Ren touched his chest.
The pain was there.Constant.Silent.
But there was something else too.
Something the Shadow had left inside him:a sense of direction.
A pull that wasn't from the Rift.
But from her.
The entity that sat on the root.The watcher.The patient one.
Ren felt the pull like a thread tied deep inside his soul, tugging slowly, always slowly.
Lyra noticed his gaze shifting.
"Ren… don't look over there."
He hadn't realized he was staring.
At the direction the Shadow had indicated.
At the path where the forest darkened.
"I can feel her step," Ren murmured."As if… she's walking slowly, and each step echoes in me."
Lyra shivered.
Borin crossed his arms.
Draven lay face-down on the ground.
Ren continued:
"She's going somewhere."He breathed deeply, the broken echo answering from inside him."And she's waiting for me to follow."A pause."Not today."His eyes twitched with pain."But one day."
Lyra held his face with both hands.
"When that day comes… you won't go alone."
Ren placed his hand over hers.
And for the first time since the Shadow appeared, he smiled… genuinely.
"I know."
But the smile faded quickly.
The broken echo pulsed again—heavy.Sharp.Painful.
Ren trembled.His back curved slightly, as if something inside him were expanding too far.
Lyra held him up.Borin rushed over.Draven hid behind a rock.
Ren opened his eyes—
Gray.
Cold.
Broken.
"She's calling me again…"
His voice was barely a breath.
And the forest fell silent.
A silence with weight.A silence shaped like warning.
Ren inhaled sharply and squeezed his eyes shut.
"But I'm not going.""Ren…" Lyra whispered."I'm not," he repeated, louder.
The pain eased.
The color returned.
The echo softened.
Ren collapsed, but Lyra caught him before he hit the ground.
He pressed his forehead to hers.
And whispered:
"Not yet."