They left the Mourningwood at dusk.
Not because they wanted to,but because the forest had stopped trying to hold them.
And that meant it had learned what it needed to know.
Torin walked in silence, his lute untouched.
Dain stayed behind the group, sword still strapped across his back like a promise he no longer trusted.
Lira kept to the shadows, close but distant, blades sheathed but eyes sharp.
Only Elyra stayed beside Kael.
And only Kael could feel the thing above them.
A single feather floated through the trees.
It glowed faintly—silver light with veins of white fire.Not hot.Not wild.
Just… waiting.
It followed him.
"You're quieter than usual," Elyra said, voice soft.
Kael didn't look at her. "That's difficult to measure."
She almost smiled. "True. You're usually so quiet it feels like a threat."
Silence.
Then:
"I saw something," she said.
Kael kept walking.
"In the glade. When the echo was collapsing. I saw something behind you."
Now he turned.
Elyra met his eyes.
"There was a woman," she said. "Wings made of light. Hair like moonfire. She looked at me. Just for a second."
Kael's mouth was still.
But his soul flinched.
"You weren't supposed to see her," he murmured.
They stopped at a clearing just beyond the tree line. Stars peeked through the clouds above. Torin and Dain dropped their packs. Lira vanished again—probably scouting ahead. Or listening.
Kael stood apart.
Elyra followed.
"You said that thing was a memory," she said.
"It was."
"And you destroyed it."
"I ended it."
"Why didn't it fight back?"
Kael's voice was quieter now. "Because part of it… was tired."
Elyra stepped closer.
Her light touched him again. Not magic. Just presence.
It always felt warm. And heavy.
Like truth.
"Kael," she said.
He looked at her.
"What are you?"
And the feather fell.
Slowly. Gently. Like it had been falling through time just to arrive here.
It landed on Kael's shoulder.
It didn't burn.
It didn't vanish.
It stayed.
Kael closed his eyes.
When he opened them, he was no longer looking at Elyra.
He was looking at the past.
A dream:
A temple without a roof.A woman singing to a god who didn't yet know he could fall.Silver feathers caught in his hands.A kiss before the first war.
"I'll find you again," she had said.
He blinked.
And Elyra was there.
Watching. Waiting. Not demanding answers. Just standing with him.
The way Myr once did.
He turned away.
But said, for the first time:
"I was something once. Something terrible.And something loved."
Elyra nodded.
"I believe you still are the second."
Above them, the stars rearranged themselves again.
One formed the curve of a glyph:Echo.