Chapter 19
The air was different now.
It wasn't heavier or lighter — just… wrong.
Colors seemed richer, sounds sharper, and the shadows stretched just a little too far, like they were reaching for someone's ankles.
"Tell me again," Myros muttered, stepping over a twisted root that definitely wasn't there two seconds ago, "why we brought her."
Selvaria walked a few paces ahead, her long hair swaying with a lazy elegance. "Because," she said without looking back, "your leader decided he couldn't live without me."
"I didn't say that," Kael replied flatly.
"You didn't need to," she said, smiling faintly. "I'm good at reading people."
Nyx chuckled from somewhere in the shadows — it was never clear exactly where. "Oh, I like her. She's got the same smug energy as Kael, but with better hair."
Kael shot her a look. "Your hair is literally smoke half the time."
"And it still looks better than yours when it rains," Nyx said sweetly.
Astrili, who had been walking in silence, finally spoke. "We've been walking for three hours. Can we focus on the actual mission instead of insulting each other's hairstyles?"
"Technically," Nyx said, "this is mission-related. Group morale."
"Group morale?" Myros scoffed. "Feels more like group chaos."
They walked in relative quiet for a while — or at least, as quiet as you could get with Selvaria occasionally humming some tune that didn't seem to belong to this world. Every so often, she'd tilt her head and smile at empty space, as if listening to someone whispering in her ear.
Finally, Kael asked the question he'd been holding back. "Are you doing this?"
"Doing what?" Selvaria's voice was all innocence.
He gestured vaguely at the path ahead. "The fact that the road keeps changing. The forest didn't have cliffs yesterday. And I'm pretty sure the sun just… set twice in five minutes."
"Oh," Selvaria said lightly, "that's not me. Well… mostly not me. The forest remembers me. It likes to… play, when I'm awake."
Nyx grinned. "Play? Because I'm pretty sure that rock just tried to eat Myros's boot."
"That was an illusion," Selvaria said, still smiling. "Probably."
Hours passed. At one point, Astrili swore she saw a golden palace in the distance — only for it to dissolve into mist when she blinked. Myros nearly walked off a cliff that turned out to be just a shadow.
Selvaria's illusions didn't just confuse — they revealed. Kael saw flashes of places he didn't recognize: a ruined temple floating in the sky, a city made entirely of crystal, and… a throne of bone, with someone sitting in it whose face he couldn't see.
"Stop that," he said quietly.
Selvaria gave him an almost playful look. "I can't help it. You're interesting."
By nightfall, they made camp. The fire crackled, Nyx roasting some strange meat she claimed was edible. Myros didn't look convinced.
"Eat it," Nyx said, holding out a piece.
"What is it?" Myros asked.
"…Yes."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one you're getting."
Astrili sighed. "If he dies, I'm not carrying him."
When everyone had eaten — or pretended to — Kael sat slightly apart from the group, watching the flames. Selvaria sat beside him without asking.
"You're quiet," she said.
"I'm thinking."
"About the god in the next zone?"
Kael's eyes narrowed. "…You know about him?"
Selvaria didn't answer immediately. "I know enough to say this — the moment we step into the Second Zone, we stop being the hunters."
He glanced at her. "And become the prey?"
She smiled faintly, eyes reflecting the firelight. "Exactly."
The next morning, the forest ended abruptly — like someone had cut it clean away with a blade. Before them stretched a vast, windswept plain, dotted with colossal bones half-buried in the earth.
Nyx whistled low. "Well. This looks welcoming."
Astrili's wings flexed nervously. "We're in the Second Zone."
Selvaria stepped forward, her hair catching the wind. "Welcome to the Domain of the Wandering God."