The sun had barely lifted above the dunes when the trio left the ruined outpost behind. Their boots pressed into the cooling sand, footsteps slow at first—silent, even.
Ajax walked at the front. The green glow of his Spiral had faded, but his presence still felt different—denser, quieter, like the air around him had changed permanently. Reva limped beside him at times, her gait uneven from bruised ribs, but she didn't complain. Elyr trailed just behind, his bow slung across his back, eyes distant as they passed the scorched remains of the battlefield.
No one spoke for the first hour.
The silence wasn't heavy.
It was… processing.
The outpost had been a grave without headstones. The two creatures they'd killed were unlike anything Ajax had seen in this life. But it wasn't just the monsters that lingered in his thoughts.
It was the moment before the second one fell—the look in Elyr's eyes.
Pure fear. And something else.
Ajax glanced back once. The boy walked stiffly, arms close to his sides, gaze forward. He didn't look afraid now.
But he didn't look fine, either.
By midday, the heat had risen. They paused beneath a sandstone arch, the red rock curving above them like a gate to a deeper world. Reva dropped her gear with a soft grunt and pulled out a flask.
"Can't believe I'm saying this," she muttered, "but I think I'd rather be stabbed again than walk in this heat."
Ajax gave a dry chuckle and sat beside her, wiping his brow. "We'll make camp before the spine cliffs. Shade there."
Elyr didn't sit. He stood at the edge of the arch's shadow, eyes scanning the ridges.
"You okay?" Ajax asked.
The boy nodded. "Just making sure nothing follows us."
Reva raised an eyebrow. "Still on edge?"
Elyr didn't answer right away. He dropped into a crouch and drew something in the sand with a stick—an outline of the Screaming Death.
"I keep seeing it," he admitted. "Every time I close my eyes. That thing—how it moved… how am I supposed to forget it?"
Ajax leaned back against the stone, his voice soft. "You don't forget monsters like that. But you survived it."
"I didn't fight it."
"No," Reva said, "you didn't. You did what you were supposed to do. You stayed alive."
Elyr looked at her. "That doesn't feel like enough."
"It is," Ajax said firmly. "Especially when you're just starting out. You listened. You moved. You didn't panic. That's more than some veterans can say."
Elyr stared at the sand drawing for a long moment. Then he stood and kicked it away.
"I want to be better."
"You will be," Reva said, offering her flask. "Drink."
They moved again when the sun softened. The desert lit with rose-gold light, shadows stretching long and cool across the dunes.
They didn't talk much, but they didn't need to.
That night, they found a ledge above a dry streambed—rocks shaped like fangs, wind-carved and worn. Ajax conjured a small fire and lit it over a stack of logs, a simple campfire.
The flames glowed low, steady. They sat in a triangle around it, backs to the stone, gear piled nearby.
Reva leaned her head against the wall. "This feels like the first moment we've breathed in days."
Elyr poked at the fire with a stick. "Is this what it's always like out here?"
Ajax shrugged. "Sometimes worse."
Elyr grinned faintly. "That's not comforting."
"I wasn't trying to be."
Reva chuckled.
"Hey, Ajax," Elyr said, straightening a bit. "That move you did… when you created the massive spear out of nowhere and threw it through that monster's skull—how did you time it so perfectly?"
Ajax stared into the fire, letting the silence hang a second longer before answering.
"I didn't," he admitted. "It wasn't planned. I was just reacting."
"But it looked so—"
"I've fought for a long time," Ajax said. "Longer than I can remember. And if there's one thing I've learned, it's that planning stops working the second real fear hits. You stop thinking. You move with instinct."
Elyr looked down. "And if your instinct says run?"
"Then you run."
Reva looked across the fire. "But you keep training so one day, that instinct says fight. And when it does—your body follows."
Elyr said nothing, but he smiled faintly.
The fire crackled. The wind shifted slightly, cold brushing through the sandstone gap. Ajax reached for his satchel and began conjuring small orbs—floating lights that hovered between them like stars plucked from the sky.
"Woah," Elyr whispered, sitting up straighter. "You can make them just float like that?"
Ajax guided one toward him with a fingertip. "Try to catch it."
Elyr reached out. The orb danced just out of reach, then zipped behind his back.
"Hey!"
Elyr laughed for the first time that day.
Ajax smirked. "Still got a little mana left."
And for that night, in the quiet canyon of broken stone and starlit flame, they weren't just soldiers or scouts.
They were a family.
Ajaxs family.
The second day of the return was cooler.
The sun hid behind thin clouds, and the desert wind came softer than usual, brushing across the sand like a memory. They moved at a steady pace, taking shallow slopes and narrow ridges rather than fighting the open dunes.
Ajax walked ahead this time with Elyr close behind. Reva, slowed by her injuries, kept pace just a few paces back, watching them with calm eyes.
"Don't drag your left foot," Ajax said quietly over his shoulder.
Elyr blinked, then adjusted his step.
"You always notice that stuff," he muttered.
Ajax glanced back. "That's the job."
Elyr tried to mimic his pace more deliberately, his arms looser, breathing controlled. After a while, he asked, "When did you know you were ready? For missions like this?"
Ajax didn't answer at first. His gaze remained on the sand ahead. Then: "You're never ready. Not really. You just stop hesitating."
Elyr nodded, lips tight.
They didn't stop to rest until early afternoon. The sky had turned the color of faded parchment, and the distant cliffs of Vorthryn shimmered on the horizon like a mirage. They set camp near a cluster of jagged stones, just tall enough to cast short shadows.
Ajax conjured a blade to cut kindling again—this one smaller, sharper, designed more for ritual than need.
Elyr sat near the edge of their makeshift circle, fiddling with a stone between his fingers. Reva was resting under a lean-to Ajax had conjured earlier, eyes closed but clearly listening.
"Can I ask something?" Elyr said.
Ajax gave a slight nod without looking up.
"What if I never get over my fear of fighting?"
This time, Ajax paused in his carving. He set the mana blade aside and leaned back on his palms, staring at the sky.
"It won't be forever," he said. "You learn your limits by hitting them. You hit yours yesterday. That's not a failure."
Elyr rolled the stone across his palm. "I felt like dead weight."
"Then carry it. Don't pretend it wasn't real. Just don't let it anchor you."
Reva stirred at that. "And next time," she added, "remember you're not alone out there. We saw what you did. How you kept moving. How you kept thinking. That matters."
Elyr looked between them, voice smaller. "I didn't cry or scream. But I still… I don't know. I felt small."
Ajax finally met his eyes. "You were. We all are when we start."
"And now?" Elyr asked.
Ajax smiled. "You're growing."
There was no more talk for a while. The quiet stretched easy and natural between them. Elyr leaned back, closing his eyes. The stone in his hand rested against his chest.
Eventually, Reva spoke again, her voice dry.
"You know, you're overdue on footwork practice."
Elyr cracked one eye open. "Thought you were resting."
"Teaching is rest."
Ajax smirked. "Her way of saying she's bored."
Reva sat up with a faint wince, then pushed to her feet and drew a small practice circle in the dirt with her boot. "Come on, archer boy. Show me what you've got."
Elyr groaned but stood, stretching. "If I get tripped, I'm blaming you both."
"You'll be fine," Ajax said, conjuring a soft mana pad beside the ring. "That's what that's for."
Their laughter echoed over the stone as the sun began its slow descent.
Later that evening, as dusk blanketed the sands and the trio curled around the fire once more, Elyr glanced toward Ajax again. "I'm not scared of it anymore," he said quietly.
Ajax didn't reply right away. He just smiled faintly and tossed another log onto the fire.
"Good," he said. "But it's okay to be scared. Just don't let it stop you."
The boy nodded once.
And fell asleep.
Vorthryn shimmered ahead, its obsidian towers rising like fangs against the pale blue sky. The shimmering dome that protected the capital flickered gently in the heat, visible now with every step they took.
The three of them walked without urgency. The sand had turned to stone, the wind had grown kinder.
Reva pointed toward a glinting ridge. "That trail curves down into the trade route. We'll hit the main gates before sundown."
Ajax gave a soft hum of acknowledgment. Elyr walked beside him, quiet, but no longer heavy with thought. His movements were lighter. At one point, he kicked a stone ahead with his foot and tried to hit it while moving by throwing another stone. He missed. Reva snorted.
"Stick to the bow."
Elyr grinned. "I was just warming up."
They passed a withered tree—just a husk, really—but Elyr paused long enough to touch the bark, as if marking the end of his first adventure.
The capital's banners came into full view. Black and red, fluttering.
Reva moved ahead to speak with the outer guards.
Ajax stopped just short of the gate and turned to Elyr.
The boy halted, blinking.
"You did well," Ajax said.
Elyr looked unsure how to respond.
Ajax stepped closer, lowering his voice just enough that it felt like something meant only for him.
"Next time you're out there," he said, "don't think about being perfect. Just keep moving forward. Even if it's only a little."
Elyr nodded. "Got it."
Ajax held his gaze a moment longer, then added, "And sharpen your arrows. Some of them were dull."
That earned a laugh.
Elyr jogged to catch up with Reva.
Ajax watched him go for a beat.
Then turned toward the keep, where Karian waited.