Dusk settled over the dense woods as Ren, Leo, and I slipped between the tree trunks, shadows among shadows. We moved quietly, speaking only in hushed whispers when necessary. The canopy above was awash in the deep purple of twilight, and the first chirp of crickets began to pierce the silence.
Up ahead, just barely visible between the gnarled oak boughs and thick undergrowth, a solitary figure treaded a narrow path: Boran. Even at a distance I recognized his hunched outline, the distinctive sway of his lantern and the crude spear he carried more for comfort than skill. My jaw tightened. There he was, slinking off under cover of semi-darkness. On the surface Boran had always acted like a decent, if somewhat timid, fellow. Who would have thought he would sell out his own people?
Leo, creeping just behind me, struggled to contain himself. "I can't believe him," he muttered, voice quivering with anger. He gripped a small talisman that glowed faintly with detection magic to track Boran's movement in the gloom. His freckled face was scrunched in disbelief and fury. "How could he betray everyone like this?"
At the front, Ren turned and put a finger to his lips. His eyes were alert and cautious. "Keep it down," he whispered. "We do not know if he is alone. Best not to alert anyone."
Chastened, Leo nodded and fell silent, though the scowl stayed. Even in the dim light, I could see how deeply he was affected. Usually awkward and shy, he now carried a raw fury I had never seen in him.
I placed a calming hand on his shoulder as we crouched behind a cluster of ferns. "Easy. We will get to the bottom of this. But Ren is right, we need to stay cool."
Leo opened his mouth, then closed it, swallowing hard. He adjusted his round spectacles, his anxious habit. "It's just… Mira," he whispered.
I understood at once. Mira, the young temple caretaker who had become the village's pillar of hope after Father Aram was taken. Mira, whom Leo clearly admired, no, adored, even if he would never say it out loud. The thought that Boran's treachery had endangered her and the village was stoking a protective anger in Leo he was not used to feeling.
"He will pay for it," he added under his breath, voice hard. "For everything, betraying her, betraying everyone."
I squeezed his shoulder. My own feelings were mixed. On one hand, I agreed. If Boran truly sold out his own, he deserved what was coming. On the other…
I breathed in slow, letting the forest's damp earth steady me. The real part of me, the one I dare not show to anyone, was already whirring, and it made me feel a little guilty. This mission, our Trial, was becoming more complicated than we expected. Undead in the woods, a necromancer pulling strings, and now a human traitor. Stakes rising. My overriding goal was still to survive and succeed. No matter what, I reminded myself. I did not much care about the situation as long as we completed the Trial and were done with it. Seeing Leo so righteous pinched at me, but I pushed the guilt away.
"Leo," Ren whispered from ahead, cutting off my thoughts. He beckoned from behind a large trunk. Boran had slipped out of sight around a bend in the game trail. "Come on, but keep low."
We pressed on, moving from one patch of cover to the next. My senses sharpened as adrenaline crept in. This stretch of forest felt eerily quiet. Only the occasional hoot of an owl echoed in the distance. Bad omen, some cultures said. I had heard in certain folklore that an owl's cry thrice at dusk foretold death. I shivered and told myself it was superstition.
I kept sweeping left and right, searching for any sign of an ambush. If Boran was meeting someone, it was likely the enemy, an undead servant or another traitor. We had to avoid blundering into a trap.
Ren signaled a halt behind a fallen log. We crouched, and he leaned back to whisper, "We do not know his situation yet. He could be forced into this."
Leo frowned. "Forced? You saw how he has been acting. Sneaking off, lying. That is not force, that is choice." Bitterness edged his voice.
Ren stayed level. "Observe first, act later. We need the full picture. If there is more to learn about the necromancer's plan or Father Aram's whereabouts, we get that before confronting him."
I nodded. "Ren is right." Inwardly I marveled at his cool head. If Leo had his way, we would tackle Boran now and shake out answers at sword point. And if I had my way, I might trail Boran to any co-conspirators and remove them quickly to simplify the board.
My stomach twisted. When had I gotten so calculative? The old me, the listless twenty four year old scraping by in the real world, was never this calculative. Maybe the circumstances are forcing us to adopt or maybe our real nature is surfacing. But inside this Trial, my priorities had realigned. Survival first. Achievement first. Morals later.
Not heroic, I knew. I envied Leo's righteous anger and Ren's honorable diligence. They cared, Leo out of compassion, Ren out of duty. Me, I had to admit I cared more about not failing this Trial than about the villagers. I would not say it aloud, but I had reached the conclusion that we just had to resolve the situation to pass. It would not matter if only a few villagers were left standing. But if it did not…
I shook off the thought. I had already chosen to see this through with them. And as much as I tried to stay detached, I could not smother the tug of empathy anymore. Mira's brave smile, red rimmed eyes holding back tears while she steadied others, floated up. She had lost her adopted father and still comforted everyone. That hit somewhere I thought was shut.
I huffed softly. If I let myself care too much, I might hesitate when it counted. I had to stay rational. Treat this like the game it is, a deadly game, but a game. These villagers were NPCs, very lifelike NPCs. If I started seeing them as people I had a stake in, guilt and second guessing could get me killed. Focus on the mission, I told myself. Complete the objective, get out alive with Ren and Leo. That is what matters.
Yet even as I said it, I could not banish the spark of protectiveness that Mira's trembling resolve had lit in me, or the respect I felt watching Leo risk everything for the innocent. I exhaled slowly. Not the time for a moral crisis. I would sort out my conscience later, if we lived that long.