The embers in the cave were still warm, and the stone walls retained the melancholic echoes of Karrion's story about the fallen city-state.
The morning light filtered through the twisted branches of the Corrupted Forest, casting pale, broken rays.
The air remained heavy, filled with the chill of dew and the scent of decaying plants.
Karrion hummed a disjointed dwarven song, sharpening the edge of his warhammer with a whetstone.
His voice was rough, but there was an unmistakable forced lightness in it.
His confessions from the previous night had been like lifting a thousand-pound burden, yet they also felt like exposing a wound that had never healed.
Raine quietly organized his pack, his left arm still aching faintly.
The starlight backlash hadn't faded, and each deep breath tugged at the weariness in his limbs.
He glanced over at Thalia in the corner.
She had already risen, her cloak fully enveloping her.
Her movements seemed normal, but there was a subtle stiffness in her posture.
She turned her back to them, seemingly checking the bushes near the cave entrance.
"Let's go." Karrion hung his warhammer at his waist and picked up his shield.
"While it's still not fully light, the monsters in the forest are probably still napping."
He patted Raine's shoulder. "Keep up, kid."
Thalia didn't respond, stepping out of the cave first.
Her footsteps were nearly silent as they fell on the thick layer of rotting leaves.
Raine followed closely behind her, with Karrion bringing up the rear.
The malice of the Corrupted Forest had not diminished with a single night's rest.
The twisted trees loomed like ghostly shapes, black vines coiled like serpents.
The ground beneath their feet was soft and slimy, exuding a sickeningly sweet stench.
About fifteen minutes into their journey, they encountered a steep slope.
It was covered in slippery moss and loose rubble.
Karrion led the way, using the end of his warhammer's handle to test each foothold.
"Be careful, this damn place looks like it's trying to trip us," he muttered.
"Falling down here won't end well."
Thalia didn't speak, slightly shifting to let Karrion pass.
She reached out a hand to steady herself on a twisted, dead tree.
Just as she adjusted her weight to step forward, a sudden, repressed coughing sound came from beneath her hood.
It was a faint sound, as if being forced down her throat.
But in the silence of the forest, it rang out clear.
Raine's heart skipped a beat.
He saw Thalia's shoulders tremble violently.
Her fingers tightened on the tree until they turned white.
A faint, almost imperceptible shadow energy flickered around her fingertips, briefly twisting and vanishing.
All of this happened in an instant.
Thalia quickly regained her balance as though nothing had happened.
She stepped lightly over the slippery slope.
Raine stopped, his brow furrowed.
He had seen it clearly.
That wasn't a normal cough, nor was it just fatigue.
And the uncontrolled shadow energy...
"What's the matter, kid?" Karrion turned back, seeing that Raine hadn't followed.
"Are you afraid of the slope? Doesn't seem like you."
Raine shook his head, his gaze fixed firmly on Thalia's back.
She seemed to walk faster now, her cloaked figure growing ever more solitary.
"Nothing," he murmured, moving forward to catch up.
The group continued moving.
The forest grew even darker, the light struggling to break through layers of sickly foliage.
The stench of decay in the air seemed stronger.
But Raine's mind was far from the surroundings.
He kept replaying the moment when Thalia coughed, and the brief loss of control over the shadow energy.
He himself had suffered from the starlight backlash, and he was especially sensitive to signs of energy slipping out of control.
What was happening to Thalia?
She had always been mysterious—powerful, yet there was always a lingering sense of detachment... and vulnerability.
Was she, too, suffering from the cost of some power, just like he was?
They walked for a while longer, until a murky creek appeared ahead.
The water was dark brown, emitting a foul smell, clearly tainted by corruption.
They would need to cross it.
Karrion leapt across first, landing firmly on the opposite bank.
Raine followed closely behind.
When it was Thalia's turn, she hesitated for a moment.
She stood at the edge of the creek, her head bowed, her hood shadowing her face.
Raine noticed her breath was a bit heavier.
She raised a hand and lightly pressed it to her chest.
"Thalia?" Raine couldn't help but speak up.
"Are you alright?"
Thalia seemed startled, her body stiffening for a moment.
She lowered her hand and lifted her head, her face hidden in the shadow of her hood.
"I'm fine," her voice was still cold, but now tinged with a faint hoarseness.
Without hesitation, she leapt gracefully across the creek, landing next to Raine.
Her movement was as fluid as ever, but Raine caught a very slight stumble when her feet hit the ground.
She quickly regained her balance, as if it was just an illusion.
But Raine didn't miss it.
As she steadied herself, he saw her quickly wipe her mouth with the back of her gloved hand.
A faint, almost imperceptible dark red stain appeared on her black leather glove.
Blood!
Raine's heart sank.
The cough, the uncontrolled shadow energy, the blood...
All of these things together formed a disturbing image.
"You're hurt?" Raine's voice was laced with suppressed concern.
He stepped closer, trying to get a glimpse of her face.
Thalia suddenly took a step back, putting distance between them.
Her hood lowered even more, almost completely hiding her face.
"No," her voice became even colder.
"The air in this forest is just too foul. It's making me uncomfortable."
Her tone was firm, as though rejecting any further questions, as if any deeper concern was an offense.
Raine stopped in his tracks.
He looked at the woman before him, cloaked and shadowed, feeling an enormous distance between them despite being so close.
Her avoidance was too obvious, almost making it worse.
"Hmph, the air in this damn place does choke you," Karrion approached, trying to smooth things over.
He'd clearly noticed the oddity earlier, though perhaps he hadn't seen the blood.
"Even dwarven lungs can't take it, much less you delicate humans... and, uh, witches."
He scratched his thick beard, his eyes flicking between Raine and Thalia.
"But if you're really not feeling well, we can take a little rest."
Karrion, rarely serious, spoke with a clumsy concern.
"After all, there's no rush, safety first."
"No need." Thalia's voice was even colder now.
"I said, I'm fine."
Without waiting for further words, she turned and continued walking ahead.
Her back was straight, as though she was forcing herself to maintain some semblance of composure.
Raine watched her retreating figure, a growing sense of unease gnawing at him.
He knew she was lying.
But why was she hiding it? What was she afraid of?
Was it to maintain her mysterious, powerful image? Or was there something deeper at play?
He remembered last night, when Thalia quietly listened to Karrion's story of Stoneheart's fall.
At that time, her cold aura had seemed to soften a little.
He thought the distance between them had shrunk slightly.
But now, that invisible barrier seemed to have thickened again.
Karrion walked beside him, nudging him with his elbow.
"Kid, stop overthinking." The dwarf lowered his voice.
"Witches, right? Always so secretive. Maybe it's just some... magic side effect?"
He clearly noticed something was off, but his straightforward thinking didn't know how to handle the subtle tension.
"She does look a bit... off. But she said she's fine, so we shouldn't worry too much."
Raine didn't speak.
He knew Karrion meant well, but the dwarf's words couldn't ease his growing anxiety.
Thalia's condition was clearly more than just "feeling a bit off."
The uncontrolled shadow energy, the blood at the corner of her mouth... all pointed to something deeply troubling.
He thought back to when he first met her in Darkstar City, how her blood had soothed the pain of his starlight backlash.
Later, at the edge of the Corrupted Forest, his blood seemed to have some effect on her as well.
There seemed to be a strange connection between them.
Her weakness, was it related to this connection? Or perhaps to the source of her mysterious power?
The group continued through the silent forest.
The atmosphere grew heavier.
Raine's gaze frequently shifted to Thalia's back, trying to find more clues from her subtle movements.
Karrion had grown silent too, warily scanning the surroundings, occasionally furrowing his brow as he glanced at Thalia.
Thalia continued leading the way, maintaining her distance.
No one spoke anymore.
The only sounds were the soft crunch of their footsteps on the rotting leaves, and the occasional, spine-chilling monster screech from afar.
Thalia could feel the eyes on her.
Raine's worry, Karrion's suspicion, pricking her back like needles.
She clenched her fists tightly, her nails almost digging into her palms.
A deep ache coursed through her chest, as if flames were burning within.
The power of the star core fragments was growing increasingly unstable.
Every time she suppressed the corruption, every time she used the shadow power, even every breath of this polluted forest air, it accelerated the decay, hastening the end of her life.
That cough earlier had been her forcing down the sickly sweet taste rising in her throat.
The uncontrollable shadow energy had been a sign of her power slipping out of control.
The blood at the corner of her mouth... She thought she'd wiped it off fast enough, but Raine had still noticed.
She felt a wave of panic.
It wasn't the fear of death itself, but the fear of... fading away before she completed her mission.
She was the last guardian of the Starborn, her heart carrying the fragments of hope to suppress the corruption.
She had to protect Raine, guide him to Starfall City, uncover the secrets of the star core, and stop Marcos.
But helping Raine seemed to be accelerating her death.
His Starborn blood was resonating with the fragments of the star core within her.
Every time they got close, every time their energies intertwined, it unknowingly increased her burden.
It was a cruel irony.
She couldn't tell them the truth.
She couldn't tell Raine that every time she helped him, every time she stabilized his emotions or healed his wounds (even if only indirectly through energy guidance), she was burning her own life.
She couldn't let Raine carry that guilt.
And she couldn't let Marcos discover her true weakness.
So, she had to keep pretending.
Building walls of coldness and detachment to hide all the pain and fear.
Even though the facade was becoming harder to maintain, more fragile by the day.
She took a deep breath, forcing herself to straighten her back, quickening her pace.
The road ahead was still long, and dangers lurked in every shadow.
She had no time to be weak, and no right to fall.
At least, not until it was all over.
Raine stared at the stubborn and solitary figure in front of him, his unease growing stronger.
He knew he had been deflected, but the seed of doubt had been planted.
Thalia was hiding something important, something that might cost her life.
And this secret seemed to be intricately tied to their goal, to the fight against corruption, and even to him.
Karrion walked beside him, occasionally glancing at both of them.
The dwarf's face remained impassive, but his grip on his warhammer tightened.
He might not fully understand the intricacies, but he could smell the danger.
Not just from the forest, but from within their makeshift team—an impending crisis lurking in the shadows.
The Corrupted Forest's darkness deepened.
Silent cracks were slowly spreading between the three of them.
The road ahead led not only to the unknown Starfall City but also to each of their destinies' crossroads.
And the cost hidden in the shadows was waiting for the moment it would be revealed.