The rain began before dawn.It wasn't a storm, just that steady, thin kind of rain that never stopped, turning the road into a river of mud and colorless reflections.
Gemma walked behind Aros, her hood drawn low, listening to the dull rhythm of their boots against the wet ground. Every few steps, she glanced at the horizon, where the outline of Bondrea hid behind a wall of mist. The air smelled of salt and rust, and the sky felt too heavy to breathe.
Broko was whistling a song without melody. Diana had a small notebook in her hand, protected by a strip of oiled leather, sketching the shapes of bridges and mileposts as they passed. Candriela, as always, walked at the back, the rain sliding down her scars like tears that didn't belong to her.
"You ever seen Bondrea?" Broko asked, his voice barely rising above the rain."Once," Diana replied, not looking up. "The whole city smells like iron. You can taste it when you breathe.""Can't wait," he muttered, smirking. "I love choking on progress."
Gemma smiled faintly. Even Broko's cynicism had a kind of warmth to it.
Aros didn't speak. He hadn't since they left camp.Gemma watched him from behind, the way his shoulders tensed whenever thunder rumbled far away, the way his hand rested near his belt, as if the knife might need him at any moment.
He used to talk more. Not much, but enough. Now his silence pressed heavier than the rain.
She walked faster until she was beside him. "Are you thinking about them again?"He glanced at her, his eyes unreadable. "Always."The answer came too quickly. Then, softer: "You should keep your mind clear, Gemma. That's all that keeps us alive.""You mean quiet," she said.He looked at her again, sharper this time. "Yes. Quiet."
They followed the road until it narrowed into a stone causeway that cut through the marshlands. Wooden crosses lined both sides, hundreds of them, slick with rain, each tied with the same white ribbon marked by a sun-shaped symbol.The mark of the Priesthood.
Diana slowed down, drawing a small sun in the air with her finger. "They burned this place three years ago. Said it was full of dissenters. Guess it still is."Broko spat on the ground. "If the Light's so pure, why does it stink of smoke everywhere it goes?"
Gemma stared at the crosses.For a moment, she thought she heard something: whispers curling under the sound of rain, soft and familiar.Her name.It came like a breath against her ear.
She stopped walking.The others didn't notice at first. The whispers grew louder, circling her like a slow current. She looked toward the water beside the road, dark and restless. The ripples pulsed outward, glowing faintly from within.
"Gemma?" Aros turned, saw her staring. His face hardened. "Don't listen. Keep walking. Our objective is Bondrea."She didn't move. The light in the water shimmered, a perfect ring of white radiance widening around her reflection.She heard the voices again, hundreds this time, blending into one."Do you hear them too?" she asked quietly.
"No one's there," Diana said, uneasily scanning the marsh and looking at Aros: "Is she okay?""Someone is," Gemma whispered. "They're calling."
Then, the air shifted.The rain slowed, suspended for a breath, as if the world held itself still.
From the fog ahead, shapes emerged: three figures in gray armor, their movements too deliberate to be travelers. Custodians.Broko swore under his breath. "So much for a quiet walk."
Aros pulled Gemma behind him. "Stay close."One of the Custodians raised a metal staff, its tip pulsing with the same pale glow as the water. "In the name of the Light, identify yourselves."No one spoke. The sound of the rain returned, faster, louder.Then Candriela moved.
She crossed the distance between them in seconds, slamming her shoulder into the first Custodian with a sound like cracking wood. The others reacted too slow. Broko's knife flashed once, then again. Diana ducked and kicked a staff aside, but one of the men aimed the glow toward Aros.
The air snapped with force, like a thunderclap with no lightning. The pressure crushed her ears, the rain turning into static. Aros stumbled backward, clutching his arm.
Gemma screamed.The light in the water exploded upward in a blinding column, wrapping around her like a spiral of fire and glass. For a heartbeat, everything was silent. Then the wave of resonance burst outward, invisible but deafening.
The Custodians fell instantly. Their armor turned to ash without flame. The rain itself seemed to vanish midair, drawn into the pulse. When the light faded, all that remained were the marks on the ground, perfect circles carved into the mud, smoking faintly.
Gemma stood trembling, eyes wide, breath shallow. Aros ran to her, gripping her shoulders."What did you do?""I... I didn't..."He shook his head. "You can't lose control like that. Ever again. Do you understand?"
Diana stared, eyes wide. "That light—was that…?"Broko swallowed hard. "She has the power of the Light?"Gemma shook her head, terrified. "I don't know what it is."Aros stepped between them. "It doesn't matter. We're leaving."Broko blinked, still stunned. "Aros, did you see that? She...""I saw it," Aros snapped. His tone was sharp enough to cut through the rain. "And if they felt that pulse, we don't have long. We move."
For a moment, no one moved. Then Candriela picked up her staff from the mud, gave a single nod, and started walking. The others followed, silent but shaken.
As they left the causeway behind, the rain swallowed the sound of their steps.Gemma looked back once. The water had gone still again, but something deep beneath it shimmered faintly, as if the voices hadn't stopped, only gone quiet.
She felt them still, whispering her name like a promise.