Kael and Astra waited out the storm inside the cave. The wind howled outside, echoing through the stone walls, while they lay beside the fire, pretending to sleep. Or at least trying to.

  Neither of them truly slept, though.

  Kael could see it in Astra’s restless movements in the flickering firelight. Over time, he had learned to read her unconscious habits. Whenever she shifted like this, turning again and again, unable to stay still, it meant that something was troubling her.

  It was almost always connected to her past.

  She had never spoken about it. Either she did not want to, or she simply could not.

  Kael had formed his own theories about what might have happened to her, but he never dared to voice them. Not unless she chose to speak first.

  Early in their journey, shortly after leaving the silent village and climbing the mountain through the thick fog, he almost asked her about it. It felt wrong for two companions to keep secrets from each other.

  But he stopped himself.

  He carried secrets of his own, after all.

  He had discovered early on that something was wrong with his right arm.

  At first, he thought it was just a temporary reaction to the attack he had unleashed, similar to the physical toll his ability always took on him.

  But he had been wrong.

  Though faint at first, the black fractures beneath his skin slowly grew over time.

  They never remained visible for long. Sometimes they appeared like veins of darkness beneath his skin, only to vanish again in the blink of an eye, as if they had never existed.

  What worried Kael far more, however, was the delay.

  His hand, and sometimes even his arm, no longer obeyed him instantly. His movements followed his thoughts a fraction too late.

  At first, this realization terrified him. Without a functioning arm, he would never be able to fight properly.

  Months of traveling through the harsh northern wilderness forced him to adapt. Encounters with wild beasts taught him how to compensate for the delay.

  More importantly, he had learned how to hide it.

  Astra believed that his occasional awkward movements were simply the lingering effects of the battle with the creature.

  She had questioned him many times about that night.

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  However, Kael could not tell her the full truth.

  Instead, he claimed that the Motarith blade had amplified his abilities.

  That was not entirely a lie.

  However, it was far from the whole truth.

  When he asked Astra if she knew what the creature was, she could only shake her head.

  "I've never heard of anything like it," she whispered.

  "We should thank the Eons that we survived."

  Kael thought about those words as he stared into the fire.

  The flames were small yet burned with relentless intensity.

  His eyes remained fixed on the red glow until, suddenly, his pupils widened in fear.

  The memory returned:

  The towering inferno. The creature wrapped in living flame. The heat that had devoured the air itself.

  Kael sat up, breathing heavily. He raised a hand to block the firelight from his eyes.

  “Are you still afraid of fire?”

  Astra’s quiet voice came from the other side of the flames.

  Her dark eyes watched him.

  Kael glanced toward her. Guilt flickered across his face, the memory of their unnecessary argument was still fresh in his mind.

  He slowly shook his head and sighed.

  "I don't understand it," he said, his voice rough and uncertain, as he clenched his fist.

  "I defeated it. Somehow, I killed that thing.”

  His voice trembled.

  “Then why do I still feel this fear every time I see even the smallest flame?”

  He stared back at the fire.

  "It feels like the flames are mocking me. Like they’re telling me that I never truly won.”

  "It was never about winning, Kael," Astra replied gently.

  “Fire is a force of nature. Its purpose is to burn.”

  She gestured toward the small fire between them.

  "But we decide how it is used."

  "The creature used fire to try to destroy us, and yet we live."

  She shrugged slightly.

  "This fire keeps us warm, so we live because of it."

  Her gaze softened.

  "The Words may be scars on this world, but they are still only tools."

  "Tools shaped by the will of those who wield them."

  She lay back down.

  "Sleep. We'll continue tomorrow."

  Kael remained seated, thinking about Astra’s words.

  After a while, a faint smile appeared on his face.

  He stretched his left hand closer to the fire.

  "It really is warm," he murmured.

  The next morning, they packed their belongings.

  The storm had passed.

  When Kael and Astra stepped outside the cave, they both stopped in place.

  Their breath caught.

  "Beautiful," Kael whispered.

  The valley below was surrounded by towering peaks with snow-covered summits that disappeared into the clouds like pillars holding up the sky.

  In the center of the valley, there was a frozen lake. The smooth ice reflected the sunlight, turning the entire surface into a shimmering blue field.

  Kael noticed that Astra was equally captivated by the view. Her dark eyes rested dreamily on the lake, whose pale blue surface gleamed in the sunlight.

  Kael rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

  He wasn’t sure how to begin.

  "Uh... listen," he said eventually.

  “I’m sorry about yesterday."

  "I know this journey isn't easy for you either. It certainly doesn’t help when I start acting like a child who just wants to reach the destination as quickly as possible.”

  Astra broke her gaze from the lake and looked at him.

  Then she simply nodded.

  She lifted her eyes toward the sun.

  "The last three months have been difficult," she admitted with a small smile.

  "But I’m glad I started this journey with you, even if you sometimes behave like a child."

  Kael rolled his eyes, but he couldn't suppress his own smile.

  No matter how heated their arguments became, they always seemed to find a way to reconcile.

  He looked out across the valley again and sighed.

  "I wish Ausma were here."

  “It was the right decision to send him to Cassandra,” Astra replied.

  "Even a creature like him wouldn't survive these temperatures."

  "I know," Kael said quietly.

  His gaze drifted across the valley.

  "But that means we have to figure out how to leave this place on our own."

  Astra laughed softly and started walking.

  "Then let's get moving."