FENRER

Bubbles filled his lungs as he dragged himself to the edge of the pond, out of the tangles and weeds. Mud shaken off his boot, he reached out to help Adara out in turn, though he frowned at the dim colors within the tiny crystals which grew between the rocks. One moment, silver flames burnt at Adara's pupils, the next, the warm browns returned as confused and lost as he was. The bark on the trees painted itself black and flaked, and as he drew his attention to the tall treetops, the unease on his shoulders grew with the molding shadows. Starry twine remained to him, the one good sign. His fingers traced the scar from his foolishness, and the air around them tasted stale. Stagnant. He brought magick to his fingertips, but the embers held a monochrome dreariness. Shaken away, he checked on Adara, who squeezed water out of her hair with a huff.

He sent a glyph into the depths of the pond, but all it did was scatter droplets of water around.

"We were teleported," he whispered.

"I guess we know how Neven really got back."

"Little Wolf."

Pyren. Kon. Though his voice was far off in the distance. Fenrer shook his head. What? I can barely hear you. Fenrer reached the treeline and the undergrowth with Adara following behind him from her quiet, but confident footsteps. Kon? The silence stretched on in his ears. Adara's warm hand squeezing his shoulder broke him out of his daze. "It's interesting that Neven didn't mention it." Or maybe he can't remember it — the memory was burnt away by the Madness. He listened close to the sounds within the woods, but the distant sea was farther away until he heard nothing but the birds in the trees. "This is... a problem."

"Yuven would come looking for us if we take too long," Adara pointed out. Her own silver flames bloomed into lilies when she threw it into the water, and it was nothing more than what it always was. A pond. The reeds hushed with the force of her power, and she drew back her hand with a frown. "What do we do? Should we try to find the coast?"

Fenrer nodded. "If only I knew where to start..." He tried to find anything which fed the pond with water if it existed. "If we take too long we'll have to find some sort of shelter before night falls. We have no idea where we are in relation to where we were — how far it took us." Air sucked between his teeth, he motioned for Adara to follow in line with him into the thick woods. The stagnation ebbed and flowed, burning into his eyelids or dousing it in ice water. Every corner they turned, his temples threatened to explode. Up until they found themselves right back where they started.

"Did we double back somewhere?"

Over his shoulder, the stale haze rested on his brow. "I... don't think we did," he said, breathless, and he found himself being guided to sit against the roots. "Sorry. Migraine." He pushed both thumbs into his eyes in a vain attempt to squeeze out the pressure. "We need to get moving though, if not to find the coast, then to find shelter or... something. We can't have gotten far." He studied the nearest tiny crystal. "I think whatever happened expended the crystal's energy to bring us here."

"Then we fill it with magick?"

Fenrer frowned. "That would be the logical conclusion, but... something isn't right." He reached out to the stillness in the air, and his magick responded with sluggish desire. "How does your magick feel?"

Adara sat beside him and silver flames burst to life in her hand. "It doesn't feel like anything... isn't that a good thing? I have more control over it now." In show, she spun it through the air with a smile, though he longed to find solace in it, he chewed on the uncertainty. It returned a shred of color to the world, the leaves glowed in the light, and the grass swayed around them with the breeze of fire. When her smile drew to him, he returned it, wanting to hold onto the calm mind.

"It is a good thing that you're more confident," he said and flicked embers out of his hand. "At least the stagnation isn't so terrible that the flow of magick has necrotized here." On his feet again, he took her offered arm. "Let's go in a straight line this time, and if we end up back here, we have to assume we're being tricked in some fashion. Or in some sort of illusion."

"Yuven's going to kill us."

Yuven's the last thing I'm worried about. Fenrer took her hand into his and led the way deeper into the forest, trying to listen for running water or the sounds of civilization. The only fleeting comfort given to him were the chirping birds in the thick, tall boughs of the trees. It meant a greater predator wasn't waiting in the wings for them to stumble upon, but he knew how fast it could change with the layer of dark stagnation in his view though no Derelict formation swelled in his nostrils. "I'd rather take Yuven than this. At least we have some information for him once we do get back." He crawled over fallen logs, helping Adara over them with a hand outstretched before continuing on, balancing on the wood as the thick forest ebbed into scattered remnants. He listened for silence, but the normal noise of forestry and nature continued. But why do I feel so wrong? Confusion weighed heavy on his brow when he hopped off another log while Adara went around, her eyes wide with wonder at the hanging vines wrapped over branches. Hope flared in his heart when the dirt undergrowth formed into a gravel path, then a cobbled road which weaved its way through the woods. A single signpost rested on the edge.

"Look!" Adara rushed over to it and grabbed onto the post. "This is a good sign."

Fenrer tried to rub the grime off — for what it was worth, Navei and Elvki were entirely different languages with a similar alphabetic structure. Hand back at his side, he looked off to where it pointed east. "I hope so," he muttered, trying not to let his uncertainty become too loud and ruin her wanderlust for the wider world. With a road to follow, it got easier to smile. Yuven will be satisfied though, we might be following what happened to Kemal's team. We're all much closer. We're going to find them. He raised his gaze to the distant, cloud covered mountain peaks barely hidden by the treetops. Hand on the hilt of his blade, he tried to keep his pace steady and even along with his breathing.

He found no comfort in the sound, the subtle scent of rot far too pronounced — the burn in his eyes far too prominent. It seared across his brow as they continued on. Fingers against the bridge of his nose, it was barely a comfort when he spotted the soft glow of a couple lamps hanging off orchard trees. Talismans hung off the bottom of them, wards against predators of the magick variety. Blood salted his tongue when he came closer to one of the star trees, whose sap provided his Oathbound with the relief from his once bloody expulsion flashes.

"Fen?"

Adara's voice broke him out of his contemplation for the odd taste. "We're close," he muttered. Memories weighed his knees — a journey deep into the far off storm; a fallen, roadside shrine and a decayed cow in the pasture. That's what this is reminding me of. Fenrer clutched Adara's forearm for his own selfish comfort, though he relaxed when she twisted her hand to grab his in turn. Sunlight scattered across the leaves when they thinned with the widening of the road, and his heart pounded against his ribcage at the sight of a small, Elvkin town. Though uncertainty reigned, he pushed it out of his mind at the sight of life and activity. The small, marble palisade which encircled the nearest buildings and kept the town safe.

Or... was supposed to.

"Come on," Fenrer said with a small tug of Adara's arm, and they approached the small gates. An Elvkin perked up from where they worked at their garden, though did nothing to prevent them from entering the borders. Fenrer gave a small wave of acknowledgement, and got a nod in return when their gaze drifted to his crescent blade, then the necklace. Assured of their welcome, he went deeper into the little town. It was then Adara released a soft huff, inching closer to him. "What?"

"I just got a chill."

Fenrer furrowed his brow, but came to a stop when an Elvkin with greying hair sidled up to them. "Storm Wardens," he wheezed out his age. "It's been too long since your kind came around here." Fenrer faced him with a slight head bob of respect to the elder. "That is why you've come, right? Are you hunting for Derelicts? Or are you like your predecessors and hunting for those who find solace in the abyss?"

Fenrer paused at his wording while Adara looked between both of them. "...Did other Storm Warden's come?"

"Oh yes... though I have lost track of when," the Elvkin Elder remarked with a hum of thought. "Four in number. One addition much later. Another who didn't acknowledge us as he ran past, crying out a name, wanting for it to be powerful." His wrinkled hands curled through his own fingers. "So you do not seek either Derelicts or the dark, but your own. Yes?"

Fenrer stared at the old man. "Can you... tell me about those who came through here?"

"Most certainly," the Elder said while some Elvkin loitered closeby to listen in. "First, the original four, those who came with a concern. Much did they not realise, I pointed them in the direction of a magick confluence, and the leader asked his questions. Many of them."

Kemal. Fenrer's breath lodged in his throat. "What did he ask?"

"If we are alright. If we are safe. If we saw any Derelicts or suspicious activity," the Elder tapered off, then frowned. "And then he... appeared to withdraw on himself the longer he spoke with us. He thanked us, and moved on with his team of three. Loto. Julis. Tyber. The four disappeared in that direction—" The Elvkin Elder pointed through a small break in the runefence, closer to the distant mountains. "And now the later addition, a man of many clad in black. He had questions of his own, though he did not follow the Storm Wardens. After he gained his information... he turned back the way he came."

Fenrer widened his eyes. What was Blackwall doing here?

Adara's silence unnerved him when she turned her attention to him in full. He swallowed bile, then continued on, "And... the last?"

"An inheritor of the wyvern flame," the Elvkin Elder replied. "He was quite distraught. He ignored us, too determined and driven to call out the name on his lips. A Storm Warden like you... and days later... he stumbled back through here. Only then did he talk to us." The Elvkin Elder sat down on a bench closeby, and Fenrer followed, with Adara's expression of concern deepening. "Incessant apologies are all that he said. He was lost, confused, hurt. I could not give him reprieve."

So... we are on the right track, but wouldn't Nev have mentioned this? Fenrer sucked in his lips, then gave a sharp nod. "Thank you. Yes, I am looking for the four Wardens who came through here. Did they stay anywhere? Or did they move on?"

"One day they stayed, the next they were gone."

"Can myself and my companion rest here, then?" Fenrer asked as the Elder studied him. "We are a bit lost ourselves. If we could take some time to compose ourselves, I'd also like your help finding the direction of the coast. We came from Asairai," he explained when the Elder tipped his head. "We believe the four Warden's who came through here were taken by those they were seeking."

The Elder looked him in the eye with his empty ones. "They stayed within an old lodge, off to the west of here. Stay on the path, and the forest will not lead you astray."

Fenrer bowed deeper to the Elder, who raised his hand. Information for Yuven in hand, he led Adara in the western heading, and the Elvkin resumed their days, as if he hadn't spoken at all. His pace quickened the moment they were out of the town's boundary, but as directed, he stayed on the path until their only hints of civilization were the soft glow of the lamps hanging off the star-speckled trees. Adara's hand squeezed his when they came upon the clearing, an old, rundown building, though from the remains of the campfire outside, the Elder's words were true.

"Come on—"

Adara dug her heels in.

Fenrer stopped. "What?"

Adara looked ashen, pale, and terrified. "...who were you talking to?"