We left Valdrem without looking back. For a long while, no one spoke. The forest welcomed us with the same mist that seemed to rule the entire valley. It was not a thin or passing fog. It moved with us, as if it had chosen to follow our steps in silence. The trees rose tall and twisted, their bare branches locking together above our heads like the ribs of some gigantic creature. The ground was damp, covered with old leaves and roots pushing out of the earth like buried fingers. Eldan walked with difficulty. The black wound forced him to lean on Maelor, whose metal rings clinked softly each time he adjusted his grip to support him. After what felt like an hour of marching, Aldric raised a hand.

  —Enough.

  No one argued. We stopped in a small clearing where the path widened just enough to allow us to rest without leaving ourselves completely exposed. Maelor was the first to move. He gathered a few dry branches and, after murmuring something I could not quite understand, struck one of his rings against a stone. A brief spark leapt between his fingers. The fire caught. The flame grew with a strange calm, as if the forest itself had decided to allow us that small act of defiance against the night. Eldan collapsed near the warmth. Serah helped him settle while Aldric checked the perimeter with the patience of a soldier who had survived too long to trust silence.

  —Rest —I said finally—. We'll take the first watch.

  Serah nodded. We stepped a few paces away from the fire, far enough to see its light between the trees without being blinded by it. The silence of the forest was different from the silence of the village. Here, at least, there were sounds. The cracking of branches. The breath of the wind. The distant murmur of something that could have been water… or simply leaves shifting in the dark. Serah spoke first.

  —You're not fooling me.

  I didn't look at her.

  —About what?

  —That.

  She pointed at the chest of my armor.

  —After that thing hit you, you should be split in half.

  I ran my hand over the place where the werewolf's claw had struck me. The metal was dented, deeply scarred.

  —I suppose the armor took most of it.

  Serah let out a small snort.

  —Of course.

  Silence settled between us again. I watched the dark line of trees ahead.

  —Tell me about yourself.

  Serah raised an eyebrow.

  —About me?

  —How you came to the valley.

  For a few seconds she said nothing. She seemed to weigh how much she wanted to tell. Finally she shrugged.

  —There's no great mystery.

  She leaned against the trunk of a tree and crossed her arms.

  —I wasn't looking for this place.

  She glanced at the mist drifting between the trees.

  —No one ever is.

  Her voice lowered.

  —I was traveling south with a small caravan. Merchants, guards, two families. Nothing unusual —she paused —. Then the mist came. At first we thought it was just weather. Something temporary. But it kept getting thicker.

  The word seemed to hang in the air. Her fingers slowly tightened.

  —Within minutes we couldn't even see our own hands.

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  —And then?

  Serah looked at me.

  —Then the mist swallowed us whole —he fire crackled behind us —. When it finally cleared… we were no longer on the road.

  Her gaze drifted into the darkness.

  —We were here.

  —How many survived?

  —Only me — she looked back toward the forest —. The mist brings people into the valley.

  She was silent for a moment before returning the question.

  —And you, captain? —her eyes fixed on my helmet —How did you get here?

  I didn't answer immediately. I did not remember the whole story. Only fragments that refused to fit together. But something about that night… that forest… that valley that seemed determined to keep us… made me speak.

  —After I set sail with my troop… I was the captain of a small army of veterans. Our task was to explore new maritime routes north of Kali. But things didn't happen as we had planned. Not long after we embarked, a strange and dense mist swallowed us like some gigantic sea monster I don't know how long we wandered inside it. But to me it felt like several lifetimes. Long enough to lose consciousness… and sanity. I don't know where we made landfall either. Only that they were waiting for us.

  The wind slid between the trees and the memory returned like a cold wave. Serah listened in silence. I placed a hand against the trunk beside me and my voice grew distant. Something emerged from the shadows. A horror without face or name. A hungry and lethal beast powerful enough to slaughter my entire troop. Veterans of a thousand battles fell in seconds. Men and women who had survived so many storms… In my mind only flashes remain. With terrible grace… my brothers were devoured one by one. Memories of flesh and blood… the same blood that once shared swords and victories… now sharing the domain of a beast exiled from hell.

  Serah said nothing. My voice grew heavier, and I realized my fist had tightened.

  —The images crossed my mind like lightning. Flesh. Steel. Screams. I still remember the sound of bones breaking… There is no place in this world for such evil.

  I lowered my gaze. The fire crackled behind us. Then I closed my eyes.

  —When I woke… —I tried to continue, but the memory broke again there —Some men and women had helped me and treated my wounds. Days must have passed, but it's difficult to know for certain. Only flashes of a broken memory… and a broken body —a wind crossed the clearing and I opened my eyes —At night I don't sleep. I would be lying if I said it wasn't because of fear.

  Serah watched me with a different intensity now. My voice fell almost to a whisper.

  —I still cannot remember its shape. Even after staring for hours into the darkness of this valley, my mind gives me only red eyes… and a breath that smells of a thousand souls.

  The cold deepened around us. My fingers slowly closed around the hilt of my sword.

  —But when solitude lets me in, and hatred takes hold of my heart, I remember a laugh… and a name. A name that seems to live inside my head. One that fills my entire existence.

  The one that crowns my most violent vigils.

  My sworn enemy. Agramor.