They didn't waste time. By morning, the Emperor's orders had spread through the castle like wildfire. Servants, dressed in deep blue, rushed through the halls, packing crates and whispering prayers. Soldiers, in armor with purple accents, loaded supplies into packs.
I stood by one of the gates, watching it all. I still didn't understand how I'd gone from street fighter to divine courier, but apparently, destiny didn't wait for consent.
Ami appeared beside me, her shoulders steady. "You should eat before we leave," she said.
"Leave?" I asked.
She smiled faintly. "You didn't think they'd let the carrier of Kathera's soul stay behind, did you?"
I groaned. "Perfect. Another day, another death wish."
"Wait! Wait for me!" someone yelled.
The owner of the voice appeared, a man running around the corner carrying long pieces of paper. They trailed behind him as if he'd left in the middle of reading them.
"Who?" I asked.
"That's Cyrus. He is our guide. He knows the land of Celentra better than anyone I know."
"How many people do you know?" I responded and was rudely jabbed in the ribs for my trouble.
"Watch where you're poking, Seer," I grumbled, rubbing my side.
Cyrus finally skidded to a stop in front of us, nearly tripping over his own boots. His papers fluttered around like startled birds before he scooped them back up in uncoordinated panic.
"Apologies!" he blurted, breathless. "Didn't want you leaving without me. That would've been disastrous. Catastrophic. I mean, you wouldn't even know which direction the wind used to blow!"
I stared at him. "Used to?"
He beamed, as if I'd just asked his favorite question. "Ah, yes! The wind doesn't move anymore, not really. It stirs in small pockets, but it's more memory than motion now. You'll see."
I glanced at Ami. "You brought a lunatic."
Cyrus pointed one of his rolled maps at me like a sword. "Excuse me, I'm the only lunatic who can get you through the Veiled Marsh without turning into a statue."
"That's comforting," I muttered.
Ami stepped forward, adjusting the strap of her satchel. "Enough. The Emperor has ordered haste. We leave now."
Her voice cut through the bustle around us. Servants and guards stood at attention as we passed through the gate. We grabbed our packs. The great doors of the castle creaked open, the sound deep and heavy, like something ancient waking from sleep.
Outside, the air felt wrong. Still. The kind of stillness that pressed against your skin. The trees stood frozen mid-bend, their leaves caught in a half-whisper. Even the river beyond the hill looked glassed over, unmoving, as though time itself were holding its breath.
"By the gods…" I whispered.
Ami glanced at me, unreadable. "Now you understand why Celentra must be freed."
Cyrus spread his maps across a nearby stone, the parchment glowing faintly in the dull light. Strange lines ran across them, shifting, like the ink itself hadn't settled.
"The Veiled Marsh lies two days' travel east," he said, tapping one mark with a quill. "If the old stories are true, the Stone of Ilina's path begins there. But it's unpredictable."
"Unpredictable?" I asked.
"Alive," he said, far too casually. "And not particularly fond of visitors."
I sighed. "Wonderful. A haunted swamp. Add that to the list of places I never wanted to see."
Ami's lips twitched, almost a smile. "Then it seems you're exactly where you're meant to be."
I glared at her. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"
She didn't answer, just started walking. The first step into the still world echoed like a drumbeat, and for the first time, Celentra began to move again.
We spent time in silence, well, as silent as you could be with someone muttering under their breath.
"Turn right at the yellow mushroom. Then, a left at the moss-covered stump. Straight past the slick rock and between the two Hinlish trees," Cyrus mumbled.
"So are we just going to pretend Cyrus isn't talking to himself?" I asked Ami.
She shot me a glare sharp enough to cut. "He's navigating. Pick on him again, and I will drag you by those dirty bare feet."
Cyrus didn't even look up. "Noted," he said, as if that settled anything, then returned to his papers like a man who'd misplaced God. "Left at the stump, watch the reeds, they like to rearrange themselves when they think no one is looking."
We trudged on. The road was more suggestion than path, a ribbon of pressed grass through tall silver sedge, the kind that should have swayed but stood like soldiers at attention. It prickled at my feet. Every few paces, I expected the world to lurch forward, to make up for lost time, but it didn't. It just waited.
A small bird hung in the air ahead of us, wings mid-blink. For a second, I thought it was a statue, a carving of something pretty, the way people left offerings. Then it fluttered its head, and a feather trembled like a string on a lute. Not alive in the way I knew, but not dead either. Somewhere between.
I didn't like the feeling of things caught between beats.
"Stay close," Ami murmured. Her voice was the only steady thing in the hush.
We passed a farm frozen at dinner, a bowl of stew mid-lift, a child's hand in the air. The sight didn't make me soft; it made my jaw clench. This wasn't preservation. This was theft. Someone had stolen time and left everyone waiting in the wrong moment.
We stopped in a small clearing. The trees stretched so high into the sky that I could barely see stars forming.
"We'll make camp here," Ami declared, grabbed a bedroll off her pack, and rolled it. Then grabbed Cyrus's off his pack.
Cyrus began making a fire, the flame burning brighter as he coaxed it to life, then pulled food from a wrapped bundle.
I rolled out my bedroll and sat, staring up at the stars. They glimmered through the trees, brighter now, almost breathing. The longer I watched, the more the sky seemed to open. I wished I understood this world's sky. I knew the ones in Serlane by heart.
The night moved on, and Cyrus and Ami slept. Cyrus snored into his maps as if they were keeping him alive. Ami slept as though carved from stone, more like she was meditating than resting. I stayed awake, watching the stars and wondering what they formed when all their light came together. As I watched, I felt it, a tether pulling me towards something, and the closer we got, the more it hurt.