The first dawn without the group felt strange.
Ash watched as the pale, sickly light of the Nameless Sun spilled over the horizon, dyeing the ruins of the Dark City in gray and dying tones.
Behind him, the camp of Nephis's followers remained asleep. No one had come to say goodbye, or knew he was leaving, but that was fine.
He summoned his echo.
The Steel Raven emerged from the Soul Sea in a cascade of gray sparks. Its five-meter wingspan unfolded like a contained storm, its metallic feathers rustling as they brushed against each other. The creature inclined its head toward him, its red eyes gleaming with animalistic yet loyal intelligence.
"South," Ash said, mounting its back. "Toward the mountains."
The echo spread its wings and launched into the sky with a beat that kicked up a cloud of dust.
The wind struck Ash's face with a coldness that made him narrow his eyes. As the city receded below him, he allowed himself one last look back. The Bright Castle stood on the hill like a fist of stone and steel, while at its feet, the shacks of the outer settlement looked like dark stains against the white marble.
Nephis will be starting to plan the next move, he thought. Sunny is probably already snooping through the city ruins. Cassie... Cassie will be fine.
He turned and faced the horizon.
---
The first hours of flight were monotonous.
Ash had flown over the Dark City numerous times since obtaining the Echo, but always at low altitude, moving among the ruins like a ghost. From the sky, the city revealed its true magnitude: kilometers and kilometers of collapsed buildings, temples devoured by time and destruction, streets that snaked like dead veins through the gray stone.
To the north, the Crimson Spire rose like an accusing finger against the sky, its summit lost among the low clouds. To the south, his destination: the Hollow Mountains.
At this pace, I'll arrive in a few weeks, he murmured to himself.
The echo didn't respond, but adjusted its flight slightly, gaining altitude to take advantage of an air current blowing from the east.
Ash let his mind wander.
He thought about the presence within his Soul Sea. Since that night when he had tried to go beyond the mist, the thing had become... quieter. As if it knew he was looking for it and had decided to hide better.
Or maybe it was waiting for the right moment.
He also thought about the story he had told Nephis. The girl from the lighthouse. He didn't know why he had chosen that particular story, only that it had felt right. Changing Star carried a weight that would crush her if she didn't find someone to share it with.
He knew that weight.
He had carried it alone for years, in the void where emotions didn't exist.
The wind whistled between the echo's metallic feathers as the city ruins fell behind, replaced by a gray, barren plain where abominations moved like black dots against the stone.
---
Twilight found him flying over the crimson coral until he found a spot safe enough to spend the night.
Ash ordered the echo to descend toward a rock formation that rose from the coral. It was high enough to keep them safe from creatures prowling in the shadows, but flat enough on top to camp.
The landing was smooth. The echo folded its wings and perched like a giant bird of prey, its metallic claws scraping the stone as Ash dismounted.
"Rest," he said, and the creature dissolved into sparks that returned to his soul.
Ash sat at the edge of the cliff, legs dangling over the void. Below, the Dark Sea stretched like an ink stain, dotted here and there by the movements of monsters that never stopped hunting.
He summoned the Endless Spring and drank. Then, from his inventory, he took out a piece of monster meat he had saved from the last hunt. Since it was night and any trace of light would bring dangerous horrors, he ate the meat raw directly. After finishing eating, he looked up and saw a great darkness devoid of moon and stars.
Finishing his meal, he decided to check for any nearby threats. Not a second passed before dozens upon dozens of presences were in the Dark Sea, moving continuously, unable to reach him.
He lay back against a rock, allowing himself light sleep.
---
The second day dawned with the sky clearer than usual.
Ash breakfasted quickly, summoned the echo, and resumed flight before the Nameless Sun reached its highest point. The Hollow Mountains were still not visible; although he had covered a good distance thanks to the Echo, he hadn't yet traveled even a tenth of the journey ahead.
He calculated that at this pace, it would take him one or two weeks of continuous travel to reach the Hollow Mountains, and once inside, it would take several days to get what he was looking for.
He could speed up and arrive in a matter of days, but he wouldn't.
Although he didn't want to spend an entire year trapped in this place, he wasn't desperate enough to leave, so he would enjoy the journey.
He used his ability, noticing that a large number of creatures were approaching. Looking into the distance, he observed a pale dot, then two, then three, and successively the number increased alarmingly and rapidly.
In less than a minute, the horizon was covered by an enormous mass of flying abominations that formed a massive black cloud.
"Damn," he murmured.
Ash observed a massive swarm that looked like a stain on the horizon approaching.
Not dozens, no; hundreds, if not thousands, of flying creatures, each the size of a large dog, with membranous wings and bodies covered in tiny eyes that gleamed in the twilight. Their jaws were circles of rotating teeth, designed to tear flesh in seconds.
Ash had heard of them. They were the reason no one flew over the Dark City. A swarm could reduce a Sleeper to bones in the time it took to fall.
The echo emitted a deep sound, like metal being scraped.
"I know," Ash replied, his fingers closing around the hilt of the Pale Needle.
He evaluated his options.
He could descend. Lose himself among the crimson coral and wait for the swarm to pass. That was the safe option in this situation, but there was a detail.
The blood flower, a parasitic fungus whose released spores were deadly if inhaled.
"No time for detours," he said, and his voice sounded calm even to himself.
He activated the Mantle of Mist.
Thick fog burst from his body like a white explosion, enveloping him and the echo in a veil of smoke that distorted light and sound. Within that mist, Ash was the absolute master. It was his natural domain.
The swarm was less than a kilometer away now. He could see them: a writhing mass of bodies and wings and infinite teeth, moving with a hunger that seemed to have its own will.
The echo emitted another sound, this time higher. A question.
"We go toward them," Ash ordered, and in his voice was something he hadn't heard in months.
Emotion.
It wasn't fear. It wasn't anxiety.
It was anticipation.
The Steel Raven let out a metallic shriek that reverberated in the empty sky and lunged forward with a wingbeat that shook the mist. The wind whistled in Ash's ears as the distance closed vertiginously.
Three hundred meters.
Two hundred meters.
One hundred meters.
He could see the details now: the rotating jaws, the eyes covering every centimeter of their bodies, the way they moved as a single entity, a single organism composed of hundreds of hungry pieces.
The Pale Needle gleamed in his hand, its tip perfectly aligned with the heart of the swarm.
The mist expanded around him, ready to disorient, to confuse, to kill.
The echo spread its wings to the maximum, electricity beginning to dance among its metallic feathers.
The swarm, finally aware of his presence, twisted toward him like a black wave.
Ash smiled. It wasn't a kind or warm smile. It was the smile of a predator who, after days of boring travel, had finally found prey worthy of his time.
"Let's go," he whispered, and his voice was lost in the roar of the wind.
The echo lunged forward.
The mist unfurled like a deadly mantle.
And Ash, with the Pale Needle raised and yellow eyes gleaming with a light that wasn't entirely human, plunged into the darkness.
The swarm welcomed him with a thousand open jaws.