Night fell unevenly after Lyra’s collapse.The air still smelled of scorched bark and sap, the ground blackened in a wide circle around where she lay wrapped in Mira’s cloak. Her breathing was shallow but steady now, each rise and fall a fragile promise that she had not burned away from the inside.Arin sat beside her, unmoving.His injured arm throbbed with a deep, insistent pain, skin tight and blistered beneath crude bandages. He barely felt it. Every sense he had was fixed on the small rhythm of Lyra’s breath, on the faint glow beneath her skin that pulsed like a restrained star.Elira stood watch a short distance away, silent and alert. Mira paced, restless, anger simmering beneath worry. Neither spoke.Arin did not trust himself to speak.The fear came in waves now that the crisis had passed, hitting harder because there was no action left to take. He had held her together by instinct and desperation, but instinct was not a plan. Next time, he might not be enough.There would be

Hope never lasted long.Arin felt it fracture the moment the River of First Light slipped behind them, its glow fading into memory. The land hardened again, colour draining back into the muted tones of the wildlands. Even Lyra’s steps, stronger now, carried a faint echo of unease.Something was following.He did not say it aloud at first. He watched. Listened. Counted heartbeats between sounds.Elira sensed it soon after. Her pace slowed, posture shifting subtly as her attention spread outward. Mira noticed last, when the air thickened enough to press against her lungs.“Don’t tell me,” Mira muttered. “I can feel it crawling.”Lyra’s fingers tightened around Arin’s sleeve. “They’re close.”The wind shifted.Chanting rolled through the trees.It was not the desperate cadence of the cultists they had faced before. This was measured, disciplined, resonant. Each syllable carried weight, layered with intent and control.The Spirit-Seeking Cult had returned.Figures emerged from the forest

The forest answered Arin’s stand with motion.The Spirit Envoy stepped out of the trees as if he had never left, robes unruffled, expression unchanged. The cultists followed at a measured distance, their formation looser now, confident. They had felt the resistance flare and judged it insufficient.The Envoy’s gaze fixed on Arin first.“So,” he said calmly, “you choose defiance.”Arin did not move. The faint shadow-armour shimmered across his shoulders and chest, breathing with him. It was thin. Incomplete. But it held.“I choose time,” Arin replied.The Envoy’s eyes flicked to Lyra, then back. “Time runs out.”Mira did not wait for another word.She roared and charged, injured leg screaming, but carrying her forward anyway. Her club came down in a brutal arc meant to shatter bone and certainty alike. The strike hit the Envoy’s barrier with a thunderous crack that rattled the trees.The barrier bowed.Not much.But enough.Mira grinned through pain. “Good. You feel it.”Elira moved at