The roar did not come again.
That was what frightened Eryndor most.
The forest had trembled.
The birds had fled.
The roots beneath the ground had shifted.
Yet afterward, there was nothing.
No second roar.
No approaching footsteps.
No attack.
Only silence.
Kael stared into the darkness.
“That wasn’t normal.”
Aldren looked toward the distant river.
“Nothing in this place is normal.”
Eryndor remained beside the fire.
His fingers were still wrapped around the silver coin.
The broken circle engraved upon it seemed ordinary now.
No glow.
No movement.
Nothing.
But the wooden leaf in his other hand continued to point deeper into the forest.
Its final word remained:
GO.
Kael noticed.
“So we’re really going deeper?”
Eryndor looked at him.
“Not tonight.”
Kael sighed with relief.
“Good.”
Aldren glanced at him.
“You were the one who wanted to follow the mark.”
“I’ve changed my mind.”
“You change your mind quickly.”
“I’ve learned.”
Eryndor almost smiled.
Almost.
Then he looked toward the darkness.
“We leave at first light.”
They slept beneath the roots.
Or at least Kael did.
Aldren remained awake for most of the night.
Eryndor couldn’t sleep.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the stream.
His missing reflection.
The unfamiliar face.
The young woman.
The silver coin.
And the sentence carved beneath the monument.
THE FIRST ONE WAS NEVER THE FIRST.
He kept wondering whether the words were connected.
Perhaps they weren’t.
Perhaps they were.
That was the problem.
Lunareth offered answers without telling anyone which questions they belonged to.
Eventually, Eryndor stopped trying to understand it.
He simply watched the fire.
The flames flickered.
For one brief moment, he saw something inside them.
A road.
A city gate.
A red banner.
Then—
nothing.
Eryndor blinked.
The fire was ordinary.
He decided not to mention it.
Morning arrived quietly.
The forest looked completely different.
The pale flowers from the previous day had closed.
Mist covered the ground.
The trees seemed taller.
Kael stretched.
“Did anything happen?”
Aldren looked at him.
“You slept through everything.”
“That’s a skill.”
Eryndor stood.
“Let’s go.”
They followed the path away from the campsite.
After several minutes, Kael stopped.
“My mark.”
Eryndor turned.
The symbol on Kael’s hand had changed.
It no longer pointed forward.
It pointed sideways.
Toward a wall of thick trees.
Kael frowned.
“That wasn’t there yesterday.”
Aldren looked at the forest.
“Could be another route.”
Eryndor walked toward it.
The trees were tightly packed.
There was no visible opening.
He placed his hand against one trunk.
The tree moved.
Not physically.
For a heartbeat, Eryndor felt as though his hand had passed through something.
Then the tree shifted aside.
A narrow passage appeared.
Kael stared.
“That wasn’t there.”
“No,” Eryndor said.
“It wasn’t.”
They entered.
The passage closed behind them.
They emerged into a valley.
Eryndor stopped.
This place did not resemble the rest of Lunareth.
The trees were smaller.
The grass was short.
Several stone pillars stood across the valley.
At the center was a ruined structure.
It looked like a temple.
But there was no door.
Kael’s mark pointed toward it.
Aldren looked at Eryndor.
“I don’t like that.”
“You don’t like anything.”
“I especially don’t like this.”
Kael walked toward the temple.
Eryndor followed.
Aldren reluctantly came behind them.
As they approached, they noticed something strange.
The temple was not ruined.
It had been deliberately dismantled.
Every stone had been carefully removed from certain sections.
The walls remained standing, but portions were missing.
Kael touched one of the exposed stones.
“Someone took them.”
Aldren examined the ground.
“Recently.”
Eryndor crouched.
There were footprints.
Several sets.
Some were human.
Some weren’t.
One set was very small.
Another was enormous.
Kael looked around.
“How recently?”
Aldren pointed.
“Those.”
A few broken branches still had fresh sap.
“Less than a day.”
Eryndor stood.
Someone had been here.
Recently.
And whoever it was had taken something from the temple.
They entered.
Inside was a circular room.
At the center stood a stone pedestal.
Empty.
Above it was an inscription.
THE HEART WAS REMOVED.
Kael frowned.
“Heart of what?”
Aldren looked at the empty pedestal.
“Probably the temple.”
Kael stared at him.
“Temples don’t have hearts.”
“Apparently this one did.”
Eryndor noticed another inscription beneath it.
Smaller.
Almost hidden.
DO NOT RETURN IT.
He touched the words.
Nothing happened.
Kael stepped back.
“So someone stole the heart.”
“Maybe,” Eryndor said.
“And we’re being told not to put it back.”
“Apparently.”
Kael looked confused.
“Why?”
Eryndor shook his head.
“We don’t know.”
Aldren pointed toward the exit.
“Then let’s leave it unknown.”
They turned.
A sound came from outside.
Footsteps.
Several.
Eryndor immediately drew his weapon.
Kael’s mark flared.
Aldren moved beside him.
Someone entered the valley.
Then another.
Then another.
Within seconds, more than twenty figures stood between the trees.
They were humanoid.
But none looked exactly alike.
Some were tall.
Some were short.
Some had scales.
Others had fur.
One appeared almost entirely made of pale stone.
Yet every single one carried the same black symbol.
Kael’s face tightened.
“The mark.”
Eryndor watched them carefully.
“They aren’t the same group.”
Aldren looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Their clothes.
Their weapons.
Their bodies.”
The figures were clearly different.
Even their formations differed.
Some stood like soldiers.
Others looked like hunters.
A few appeared confused.
Then one of them stepped forward.
A tall woman with silver eyes.
“Give us the marked one.”
Kael stepped backward.
Eryndor moved in front of him.
“Why?”
The woman stared at Kael.
“We were awakened for him.”
“By whom?”
She hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
Eryndor narrowed his eyes.
“You don’t know who awakened you?”
“No.”
Another figure behind her spoke.
“We woke beneath the earth.”
A different one said:
“We woke beneath the trees.”
Another:
“We woke in the water.”
The silver-eyed woman looked annoyed.
“Silence.”
The others obeyed.
Eryndor studied them.
They weren’t coordinated.
They weren’t even certain why they were here.
That made them more dangerous.
Or less.
He couldn’t tell.
The woman pointed at Kael.
“The marked one.”
Kael swallowed.
“Why me?”
“We don’t know.”
“Then leave.”
The woman shook her head.
“We cannot.”
“Why?”
She looked down at her own black mark.
“Because it hurts when we disobey.”
Silence.
Kael’s expression changed.
Eryndor lowered his weapon slightly.
“You don’t want to fight us.”
The woman looked at him.
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because something is making us.”
Before Eryndor could answer—
one of the creatures attacked.
A spear of black energy shot across the valley.
Eryndor deflected it.
The battle exploded.
Aldren charged first.
His sword struck a stone-skinned creature and sent it sliding backward.
Kael released a burst of energy from his marked hand.
Three attackers were thrown into the grass.
Eryndor moved through the battlefield.
He didn’t try to kill them.
Something felt wrong.
These creatures were fighting reluctantly.
Some attacked only when pressured.
Others deliberately missed.
One even shouted:
“STOP!”
No one listened.
The black marks on their bodies began glowing.
The creatures screamed.
Their movements became faster.
More violent.
The silver-eyed woman attacked Eryndor.
He blocked her strike.
She was strong.
Much stronger than the others.
But her expression was terrified.
“Please,” she whispered.
Eryndor pushed her back.
“Tell them to stop.”
“I can’t!”
Her mark burned brighter.
She screamed.
Then something unexpected happened.
Kael’s mark reacted.
A pulse spread across the valley.
Every black mark went dark.
The creatures froze.
All at once.
Silence.
Kael stared at his hand.
“I didn’t do that.”
The silver-eyed woman looked at him.
Then at Eryndor.
Her expression became one of pure fear.
“You…”
She took a step backward.
“I thought you were…”
She stopped.
Eryndor stared at her.
“Thought I was what?”
She said nothing.
“What?”
The woman shook her head.
“Nothing.”
She turned.
“Retreat!”
The creatures began running.
Some disappeared between the trees.
Others simply fled in different directions.
Within moments, the valley was empty.
Kael lowered his hand.
“What just happened?”
Aldren looked toward Eryndor.
“Good question.”
Eryndor looked at the place where the woman had stood.
She had recognized something.
But what?
And why had she been afraid?
He looked at Kael.
“Are you alright?”
Kael nodded.
“I think so.”
Then he looked down.
The black mark on his hand had changed again.
A thin line had appeared beside it.
It looked like a crack.
Kael frowned.
“It wasn’t there before.”
Eryndor examined it.
“Don’t touch it.”
Kael immediately lowered his hand.
“Wasn’t planning to.”
They left the valley.
Neither of them mentioned the strange reaction.
The forest eventually returned to normal.
The path widened.
Sunlight appeared through the branches.
Then they heard voices.
Real voices.
Not whispers.
Not visions.
People.
Eryndor raised his hand.
They stopped.
Ahead was a road.
A proper road.
Merchants were traveling along it.
A caravan passed between the trees.
Several wagons.
Horses.
Cultivators.
Ordinary people.
Kael stared.
“We’re out?”
Eryndor looked behind them.
The forest was still there.
But the road continued beyond it.
A wooden sign stood beside the road.
Three words were carved into it:
VALE OF VARETH
Kael looked at the silver coin.
The broken circle suddenly glowed.
Aldren’s eyes narrowed.
“So the woman wasn’t lying.”
Eryndor closed his fingers around the coin.
“Maybe.”
They stepped onto the road.
For the first time since entering Lunareth, they saw ordinary civilization again.
A merchant shouted at his horse.
Children ran beside a wagon.
A group of cultivators argued over directions.
No ancient statues.
No black armies.
No strange whispers.
Just people.
Kael smiled.
“I missed normal.”
Aldren nodded.
“Don’t get comfortable.”
Eryndor looked toward the distant mountains.
Beyond them was Vareth.
A place none of them had planned to visit.
A place connected to a stranger they had never met.
And somewhere beneath Lunareth, an ancient city had opened its gates.
But Eryndor didn’t know that yet.
For now, he only knew one thing.
The forest had let them leave.
And somehow—
that felt more unsettling than being trapped inside.
As they walked toward Vareth, the silver coin remained warm in Eryndor’s pocket.
He did not notice the faint symbol appearing on its reverse side.
A symbol that looked nothing like the broken circle.
A symbol that belonged to someone else.
Someone who had not yet entered their story.