Ash awoke from her slumber gradually, but she didn't stir. The trickles of a wonderful dream danced through her mind. At least, she believed it must have been a dream. How could she have truly met a Scion or truly have magic flowing through her veins?

But the bumpy ground, though softened by a tough cloth, wasn't her bed; a soft wind brushed against her cheek, carrying with it the scent of the forest; and someone walked quietly against stone around her rather than on a wooden floor.

Her heart beat quickly in her chest. Yesterday was real.

The reality of the situation chilled some of the warm excitement that hummed through her. Some of it may have felt like a dream, but there was a nightmarish reality to it she couldn't ignore. All the things she had done yesterday, she had done intending to take up Odella's life-threatening quest.

Stealing her nerves, Ash opened her eyes. No turning back. She would face this path of hers head on.

As she had heard, Roan walked through the cavern. The quiet murmur of his voice followed him as he packed the few belongings still scattered about the space. His rest had done him much good. Color filled his cheeks once more, and his eyes glinted with a sharp focus as his packing became more of a thoughtful pacing.

Something must have given her away, because Roan paused and looked directly at her. "I'm sorry. I hope I didn't wake you."

"No, not at all." Ash propped herself up with one arm, the other rubbing the remnants of sleep from her eyes. "I woke on my own. Besides"—she gestured to the growing amounts of light in the cave—"I'm sure our departure time approaches."

Roan shrugged. "There is no set time, though I will admit. The sooner we set out, likely the better."

Taking that to mean she may as well get a move on, Ash pushed herself up, ignoring the pops and groans of her body. The hard ground had not agreed with her. She bit her lip against the momentary whine in the back of her mind. She was fine. Odella had lasted without a warm bed, and so would she.

She caught sight of her hand as she started to re-roll her bedroll. A trill of excitement danced through her veins, and the mark she knew to be stretching over her heart seemed to itch. She had seen her magic at work only the night before, but the urge nagged at her. What if, out of everything from yesterday, that one bit had been a fabrication of her mind?

Licking her lips, Ash summoned to her mind something simple: the very ring on her opposite hand. She focused on her right ring finger, and there was a flutter in that same something as before, followed by a hard tug. Blue particles coalesced around her finger before forming the familiar silver band and diamond. She bit back a gleeful giggle and released the magic.

"Before long, it will become second nature."

Ash startled. Roan watched her with a small grin. He gestured to her hand, where the last sparkles of magic had yet to vanish.

"It will become something normal in your life rather than something of wonder," he said.

Pixies twirled in Ash's stomach at the notion. Magic as normal. She couldn't imagine it, but it would have to be that way for a Scion. Magic flowed through them as naturally as blood.

That thought brought her comfort as she finished packing. He would be by her side while she took on Odella's quest, after all. Though, beneath that, worry wiggled its way through her, because he had been there with her twin as well, and something had obviously gone wrong.

She didn't know how many times she'd had to remind herself that she just had to walk forward, regardless of any uncertainties, if it meant helping her sister by the time she and Roan stood before the teleportation sigil on the ground.

Roan offered his elbow, smiling reassuringly when she hesitated. Taking a deep breath, she slid her arm around his, and she followed him as he stepped forward into the middle of the circle.

"This won't hurt, but traveling through this means isn't quite pleasant," Roan warned. "Thankfully, it only lasts for a few moments."

Ash shot him a weary glance. "Didn't you say something similar about giving me magic?"

He patted her hand. "Trust me, Ash."

Not giving her time to voice any concerns, he faced forward again. His eyes flashed their vivid emerald green, and the lines of the circle did the same. He put his free hand out in front of them. Two strands of energy detached from each end of the circle and floated toward them. They drifted closer and closer until, finally, they almost touched each other right in front of Roan's hand.

He curled his fingers into a fist, capturing the strands. The glowing circle flared, forming walls of lights around them that came crashing down, swallowing them in a wave of light.

Roan had told the truth. It didn't hurt; Ash almost thought she'd prefer a touch of pain to the odd discomfort it caused, though. It was as if she were reaching a tad too far for something on a shelf too tall, except she felt it in every muscle. Stretched. Pulled.

All while her stomach dipped as if it thought she were falling, but she wasn't moving. At least, she didn't think she was. Or was she? She didn't know. There was only light. So much light. Her chest tightened, and panic bubbled forth, choking her lungs—

The light vanished, and she stumbled on solid ground. She caught a flash of a dull stone with the same white teleportation sigil beneath her before Roan used their interlocked arms to right her.

"Easy," he murmured. "It's disorienting upon your first landings, I must admit."

Ash placed a hand on her stomach. Her breakfast from that morning stirred unhappily, but thankfully, she didn't think it was so upset that it would find its way back up. "Yes, you can say that again."

"Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths," Roan instructed. "Listen to my own and follow my lead. Come on. Yes, that's it. In, and now out."

Ash did as he said, and after five lung-filling breaths, she nodded. "Thank you. I think I am alright now."

She opened her eyes in time to see the white design on the ground finish turning into smoke. She blinked. "It's disappearing."

"The spell has been used up."

The spell. A teleportation spell. That meant...

Shivering with the truth of her situation, Ash looked around her—at her first glimpse of Caeleria.

As Roan had said, he placed their destination in another cave. This one had much more space than his hiding hole near her village. An expansive patch of land, sliced in half by a large cave river, stretched in front of them. Roan had hidden the teleportation spell in a small alcove close to where water lapped against the dipping land. Light streamed in from the left, spilling through the large mouth above them. A stable enough path along the side of the cave led up to the exit.

She stared up at the exit, catching a flash of greenery and blue sky. Involuntarily, she took a half-step forward.

Roan chuckled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "As much as I appreciate the enthusiasm, it may be best for me to go first. This cave is out of the way, but you never know if travelers have strayed from the nearby path."

"Oh, yes, of course. Sorry." Warmth spread up Ash's neck and into her cheeks. "I didn't mean... It's just strange, is all. To think I'm really no longer in Eloina."

"Then it is a good thing we have a few days of travel," he mused. "We will need you to be able to better hide your wonder at all the new experiences when Odella was Volant for a little over a lune."

More than a lune? Ash struggled not to gape at Roan's back as he slipped from their alcove and began the trek up the rocky path. "It has been a long undercover mission."

He turned his head partially to direct his voice her way, but his eyes remained forward. "Yes. We want to minimize the threat as much as possible, which requires integrating ourselves into the town fully and gaining the priest's complete trust. Through him, we hope to lower the Terror's guard."

Ash nodded along as he spoke, seeing the sense in his words. Her hand found its way to the wall for balance as they made their way upward. "That is a lot of information gathered that I will be missing out on," she pointed out.

"Don't worry. As I said, we are still a few days away from Volant, and I plan on using those days fruitfully. That time will be dedicated to practicing your magic and filling you in as much as I can on what you will need to know."

The more Roan spoke, the less impossible this mission seemed to become. He placed all the planks of the bridge before her, and he would guide her across, her hand in his. He wouldn't let her fall. Both of them wanted to get to the other side, to see the Terror slain and Odella restored to her true self.

She didn't let herself indulge the flicker of doubt that they were wrong. That fulfilling the gods' mission wouldn't free her sister.

Ash brushed a finger across her ring. "Thank you, Roan. For everything."

For a moment, only his steps answered her, and then he said, "You have nothing to thank me for. You are helping me just as much as I am helping you."

As hard as she found that to believe, Ash didn't argue, simply let the warm silence fall between them as they climbed the rest of the way out of the cave.

The cool morning breeze nipped at Ash's exposed face as they stepped out of the cave's protective walls. The wind brought with it smells both familiar and unfamiliar. Like the forests she roamed as a child had grown new plants overnight and new animals roamed its paths.

Because these were not the trees she would have wondered. These sprouted from the Godless Land. From Caeleria. She shivered, and it had nothing to do with the chilly morning.

Misinterpreting her reaction, Roan said, "Worry not. With the walking we have ahead, you will warm up soon enough."

Ash didn't bother correcting him. She sighed and readjusted the position of her pack. "Will we at least be on the path?"

He answered with a smile over his shoulder and pushing onward. She really hoped that was a yes, but she didn't complain about his lack of directness as she followed along behind him.

Thankfully, a few minutes later, they arrived at a dirt path snaking through the forest with no issue. "We will have to switch back and forth, though," Roan said, spotting Ash's lit up face. "We cannot rest here, nor will we find food or fresh water. And, though we can speak freely while nobody is passing by, there are some things I'd like to practice away from prying eyes."

Her chest tingled as she became very aware of the mark there. She held her hand over it, expecting heat or a surge of energy or something. It felt no different than the day before. Her fingertips brushed across the cloth of her cloak, no indication of what hid beneath.

She shook off the oddness and dropped her hand. "Speaking of which, you said we have a few days of travel. That is much time to fill, and you have much to tell me."

His eyes twinkled. "I did say that, didn't I?"

"You did."

"Well then, Miss Crest, I recommend you make yourself comfy in that cloak and brace your feet for the journey to come, because we have a long journey, and you have a long tale to hear."

Unable to stop herself from grinning at his dramatic wording, Ash pulled her cloak closer around her. She had a feeling she would need its protection because, as lighthearted as his tone was, she knew what this story would be. Odella, the Dreamwoven, chosen of the gods, and her journey on a life-threatening quest.

She settled in as much as one could while walking, and she listened.

Roan, she discovered, was not the first Watcher to accompany Odella and her group. The first had been called back when her skills were needed for other tasks, and Roan had taken her place. By that time, Odella had already established her group for her quest: an ex-soldier named Sanford and Terror-hunting siblings named Willow and Linden.

The four of them had been traveling with the other Scion, helping towns and slaying minor Terrors throughout Eloina. That, apparently, was the typical strategy of the Dreamwoven. They would gain enough reputation and experience to be able to face whatever awaited at their final destination.

The gods had used Roan to deliver the new orders of infiltration to vanquish to Tempest Serpent. So, when he joined their group four lunes ago, they began their trek to Caeleria.

Roan told Ash this part of the story with ease. It was the details that he delved into after—life in Volant, the way they had integrated their group as they stayed there, what would be expected from her—that took much more to digest. They spent much of the afternoon and night going over these details, and it wasn't until they had found a place to camp and she was practicing her magic, Roan tossing out further details, that she caught something.

"We aren't going to tell the others."

Roan stopped mid-sentence. "Excuse me?"

Ash dropped the glamour she'd been casting over her face, trying to tweak her own appearance so it matched Odella's more angled features. "The ones who journeyed with Odella. You are telling me their expectations of me and what I should expect of them. We aren't telling them the secret?"

"Ah." Roan was silent for a moment, staring at their small fire with creased brows. "You see, they may have been guided to your sister's side by the gods, but I fear if they learn the truth, they will abandon us."

"But you make them sound like such good people." Ash twisted her ring, suddenly uncomfortable. Lying to the Caelerians had been one thing, but these would be her sister's trusted companions. Friends, even, by the way Roan spoke. "Do you really think they'd do that?"

He gave a helpless shrug. "I am unsure, Ash, but you must remember the risk we are up against. Right now, they believe we have the gods' backing on this quest. If they believe something has gone wrong with Odella, something the gods may have even allowed..."

Roan was right. Only a fool would remain in such a situation.

She took a deep breath and refocused on the swirling of magic deep within her. "I understand. Now, keep telling me what I need to know, and help me perfect my Odella mask while you do."

The creases in Roan's face smoothed out, and he smiled at her. He resumed his chatter, punctuating his exposition with slight critiques of her glamour. His eyes glinted the entire time, not because of magic, but because he was pleased.

Maybe she wouldn't be able to tell the others that Odella had traveled with, but at least Ash had him.

Her first night in Caeleria ended in exhaustion from magic practice and information intake. Even surrounded by the unknown, she felt a hum of contentment at the small well of confidence beginning to build within her. Bit by bit, she was gaining the tools it would take to save her sister.

Odella, wait for me, she thought, and sleep claimed her.

*****

And they are officially in the Godless Land, and they're fast approaching the last place Odella was known to be herself.  All the things that Ash has to learn!  But hey, Roan is by her side, so I'm sure nothing can go awry!  Just like it so totally didn't for Odella :D 

Let me know your thoughts on the chapter down below, and if you enjoyed it, don't forget to vote and comment! I also have a discord open to anyone who wants to join, and we have a section there to discuss the book :D Let me know if you want to join!