They came back.
Not because they were weak. Not because they had failed.
But because something was wrong.
Whether it was Martin who misjudged…Or they who misunderstood…They no longer knew.
The silence that hung over them was heavier than battle.
As they approached the edge of the ridge. The same one where shadows once danced at Martin's command, the old familiar voice broke the stillness.
"Welcome back, boys!!"Then a pause. A sharper tone."Malrick…! What happened to you?!"
Martin stepped forward from the cliff's edge, his cloak fluttering in the high wind, eyes sharp as ever. But when he saw the blood-stained tunic, the faint tremble in Malrick's hands, and the weariness carved into Rayan's eyes—his expression shifted.
Not to worry.
To awareness.
To doubt.
Orien's voice was steady but cold. "We encountered something beyond what we were prepared for."
Orien's voice was steady but cold."We encountered something beyond what we were prepared for."
Martin frowned."Was it a monster? A corrupted spirit?"
Rayan stepped forward, his voice hoarse."No. A man… or at least, he was once."
Malrick added, his tone flat, hollow."His name is Zayran."
The name struck nothing in Martin's expression. No recognition. No fear. Only confusion.
"Zayran?" he repeated, as if tasting the word for the first time. "Never heard of him."
Orien narrowed his eyes."You didn't send us to Ironspire, Martin. The path you gave us led elsewhere."
Martin blinked, caught off guard. "What are you talking about? That trail heads north Ironspire lies at the end of that route."
Rayan shook his head slowly."No. We checked the map again… after everything. Ironspire isn't in the north. It's to the southwest. You sent us to a place called Moonshade."
A silence fell again, sharp as broken glass.
Martin's brow furrowed in deep thought. Then he stepped back and muttered, half to himself,"Moonshade... That's not possible. I thought that path had long collapsed."
Orien's voice hardened."Well, it hasn't. And what lives there… isn't meant to be disturbed."
Martin looked shaken now, not by fear of Zayran, but by the weight of his mistake."I didn't know," he said quietly. "I swear it. That region was abandoned after the fall. I thought the path was sealed."
Rayan clenched his jaw."Your mistake nearly cost Malrick his life."
Martin's eyes darted toward the boy, who still clutched his side where the serpent's fangs had pierced him. The blood had dried, but the pain remained.
"I never would've sent you there if I had known," Martin said earnestly. "Moonshade… it was one of the cursed regions after the meteor. No one who went there ever came back."
Orien's voice dropped."Someone did. And he was waiting for us."
Martin stepped away, pacing, rubbing his forehead."Zayran… You said he fought with shadows? Controlled serpents?"
Malrick nodded."And he was powerful. Far more than any of us expected. He changed… during the battle. We thought we destroyed him. But he rose again. Transformed."
"I think", Martin surprised "he awake his darkness, but you said he died before use his power"
Now they about to go Ironspire at the
southwest.....