The dawn arrived like a hesitant guest, its pale fingers creeping through the dense canopy of the forest, painting the world in muted shades of gold and gray. Eryk Thorn stirred from his restless sleep, his body stiff from the hard ground and the lingering chill of the night. His dreams had been a chaotic swirl of fire and void, of his father's burning gaze and the endless hunger gnawing at his ribs. He blinked away the remnants of sleep, his eyes adjusting to the dim light, and found Sera already awake, her silhouette was sharp against the morning haze.
She was packing their meager supplies with practiced efficiency, her movements precise and devoid of wasted energy. Her knife, ever-present at her hip, caught the faint light as she secured it. She didn't look at him, but he knew she was aware he was awake.
"We're moving," she said with her flat voice. No greeting and no pleasantries. Just a statement.
Eryk groaned as he pushed himself up, his muscles protesting.
"Do we have to?"
Sera shot him a look that could have withered stone. "Unless you'd rather wait for the Black Tongues to catch up."
That shut him up.
They set off again, the forest swallowing them whole. The map Sera clutched was worn at the edges, its ink faded in places, but she navigated with a quiet confidence that Eryk envied. He trailed behind her, his boots crunching over twigs and damp leaves, his mind wandering as the monotony of the journey settled over him.
The trees blurred together, an endless parade of bark and shadow. Eryk's thoughts drifted, circling back to the same questions and to the same fears. What would happen when they found Riven? Would the man even help him? Or would he see Eryk as nothing more than a weapon, a vessel for the Null Grimoire's hunger?
And then there was his father.
Kael's face haunted him. The betrayal in his eyes, the way his fire had guttered out beneath Eryk's touch. The memory was a knife twisting in his gut. He hadn't meant to do it. He hadn't wanted to. But the void had taken his power anyway.
Monster.
The word echoed in his skull relentlessly.
A sharp pain flared in his shin. Eryk hissed, stumbling, and looked down to see a gnarled root jutting from the earth, as if the forest itself had reached up to trip him.
Sera didn't stop.
Eryk scowled and hurried after her. "You could've warned me."
"I did."
"No, you didn't!"
"I said, 'Watch your step.'"
"When?"
"Five minutes ago."
Eryk opened his mouth, then closed it. Had she? He couldn't remember. The forest had a way of dulling his senses, lulling him into a daze.
They walked in silence for a while longer, the only sounds the rustle of leaves and the occasional distant call of a bird. The air grew heavier, thick with the scent of moss and damp earth. The trees here were older, their trunks wider, their roots twisting above the ground like the bones of buried giants.
Then, the cave appeared.
It wasn't dramatic. No gaping maw or ominous shadows. Just a dark hollow in the side of a rocky incline, partially hidden by a curtain of ivy. Eryk stopped dead in his tracks with his skin prickling.
Something about it felt… wrong.
"We're not going in there," he said.
Sera didn't even pause. She strode forward, brushing aside the ivy with one hand, her other resting on her knife.
"Why not?"
"Because it looks so—" Eryk struggled for the right word. "—bad."
Sera shot him an incredulous look. "Bad?"
"Yeah. Bad. Like, something-wants-to-eat-us bad."
She rolled her eyes. "You're imagining things."
"I'm not!" The unease in his chest was sharp, insistent. The cave wasn't just dark—it felt hungry. Like the void inside him recognized something familiar in that darkness.
Sera studied him for a moment, then he sighed. "Look, I had an earth core once. I know caves. They're shelters. They're places to find resources. And right now, we need both."
Eryk opened his mouth to argue, but the sky chose that moment to rumble ominously. A fat raindrop splattered against his nose. Then another. And another.
Within seconds, the heavens opened.
The rain came down in sheets, icy and relentless, soaking through their clothes in an instant. Sera didn't wait for his agreement. She ducked into the cave, vanishing into the shadows.
Eryk hesitated, the rain plastering his hair to his forehead, his clothes clinging to his skin. Then, with a muttered curse, he followed.
The cave was colder than he expected. The air inside was damp and still, carrying the faint scent of wet stone. The darkness pressed in around them so thick and suffocating.
Sera conjured a small flame in her palm—not magic, just a trick with flint and tinder—and the flickering light cast long, jagged shadows against the walls. The cave wasn't deep, but it stretched far enough that the light didn't reach the back.
Eryk shivered. "Told you this was a bad idea."
Sera ignored him, moving deeper inside.
"We'll wait out the rain here."
Eryk folded his arms with his unease growing inside his thoughts. The walls seemed to pulse in the firelight, the shadows shifting in ways that made his skin crawl. He rubbed his arms, trying to dispel the chill.
"How long do you think the rain will last?" he asked, just to fill the silence.
Sera shrugged. "Could be hours. Could be minutes."
"Helpful."
She shot him a glare, then turned her attention to the cave walls, running her fingers along the stone.
"This place is old," she murmured.
Eryk frowned. "What makes you say that?"
"The way the rock is worn. The patterns in the sediment." She paused, her fingers lingering on a groove in the stone. "And this."
Eryk leaned closer. Carved into the rock were faint markings—symbols, worn smooth by time. They weren't runes he recognized, but something about them made his stomach twist.
"What is that?"
Sera's expression was unreadable. "A carving."
Eryk swallowed. "A carving for what?"
She didn't answer, instead she just rolled her eyes on him.
The silence stretched, heavy and oppressive. The rain outside was a distant drumbeat, muffled by the cave's walls. Eryk's breath came quicker, his pulse a frantic rhythm in his ears.
Then, Sera spoke again, her voice softer than he'd ever heard it.
"You asked about my family."
Eryk blinked, caught off guard by the shift in topic. "I—yeah. Earlier. Where are they? And how are they?"
Sera exhaled slowly, her gaze fixed on the carvings. "After the Academy dumped me in the Ashen District, I never saw them again."
Eryk hesitated.
"Do you… miss them?"
Sera's fingers tightened around the hilt of her knife. "Does it matter?"
"I think it does."
She was quiet for a long moment. Then, so quietly he almost missed it.
"Yes."
The admission hung between them was as fragile as glass. Eryk didn't know what to say. He'd spent his whole life aching for his parents' approval, for the magic that would make him worthy of the Thorn name. But Sera had lost everything. Her core, her family, her place in the world. And yet, she was still here. Still fighting.
"What were they like?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Sera's jaw worked.
"Kind," she said finally. "Stubborn. My mother could grow flowers in dead soil. My father…" She trailed off, her throat bobbing. "He used to tell me stories about the earth's heartbeat."
Eryk watched her, the way her shoulders tensed, the way her fingers trembled ever so slightly. He wanted to reach out, to offer some kind of comfort, but he didn't know how.
"Why didn't you go back to them?" he asked instead.
Sera's laugh was bitter. "And do what? Show up at their door, empty and broken? They gave me to the Academy because they believed I'd be great. I couldn't face them as… this."
This. A girl with no magic. A girl with nothing but a knife and a lifetime of scars.
Eryk understood that shame. That fear of being seen as less.
"They might have still wanted you," he said softly.
Sera's expression hardened.
"You don't know that."
"I know I would have."
The words slipped out before he could stop them. Sera went very still, her eyes flicking to his, searching. Eryk held her gaze with his chest so tight.
For a heartbeat, something unspoken passed between them.
Then, the moment shattered.
A sound echoed from the depths of the cave—a low, guttural growl, vibrating through the stone beneath their feet.
Eryk's blood turned to ice.
Sera was on her feet in an instant, her knife drawn, her body coiled like a spring. "We're not alone."
The darkness at the back of the cave shifted.
Something moved.
And then, two glowing eyes flickered open in the black.