The cold did not leave immediately.

  After Akitsu finished reading the words carved into the shrine, silence had swallowed the ruins whole. Even the wind seemed hesitant, as though afraid to disturb whatever lingered beneath the stone and bone.

  Kael Ardent was the first to move.

  “…Alright,” he said, forcing a breath out. “Everyone just—slow down. No one’s attacking us. Yet.”

  Ayaka, half-asleep and floating near Akitsu’s shoulder, clutched the edge of his cloak. “It’s scary,” she whispered.

  Akitsu placed a hand gently on her head. “It’s fine,” he said, though his voice lacked conviction. “Nothing’s happening.”

  Seraphine Orion exhaled slowly, frost-like mist leaving her lips. “Words can linger,” she said. “Especially in places like this. But they don’t always mean immediate danger.”

  Kael glanced back at the shrine. “That doesn’t make it comforting.”

  “It shouldn’t,” Seraphine replied. “Comfort dulls awareness.”

  Akitsu looked at the carved stone once more, then turned away. “We can’t stay out here,” he said. “If something wanted us dead, it would’ve moved already.”

  Kael nodded. “So… shrine?”

  “It’s the only structure still standing,” Seraphine agreed. “We fortify it lightly and rest.”

  Ayaka perked up. “Sleep?”

  “Yes,” Akitsu said softly. “Sleep.”

  They spent the evening quietly.

  Kael cleared debris from one corner of the shrine while Akitsu gathered what little dry wood he could find between fallen stones. Seraphine traced faint sigils along the shrine’s walls—not spells, exactly, but old elf markings meant to discourage wandering spirits.

  “Will this work?” Kael asked, watching her hands glow faintly.

  “It won’t stop something determined,” Seraphine said. “But it will make them hesitate.”

  Akitsu stirred a small fire to life. “That’s good enough.”

  They ate in silence, the sound of crackling wood echoing too loudly in the open space. Ayaka dozed off curled against Akitsu’s side, her glow dimming with each passing minute.

  Kael finally spoke. “…Akitsu.”

  “Hm?”

  “You read that carving like it was your own language.”

  Akitsu stared into the fire. “I didn’t know I could.”

  “That doesn’t worry you?”

  “It does,” Akitsu replied. “But worrying won’t change it.”

  Kael frowned. “You’ve been different since the lake.”

  Akitsu didn’t answer.

  Seraphine watched him carefully but said nothing.

  That night, the shrine held.

  No whispers came. No footsteps echoed.

  Only the quiet breathing of four travelers beneath a sky barely visible through broken stone.

  Morning came gray and heavy.

  They left the shrine shortly after dawn, walking through rubble that seemed older than memory itself. The ruined kingdom stretched endlessly—collapsed towers, cracked roads swallowed by roots, stone statues eroded into faceless silhouettes.

  Kael squinted ahead. “…Walls.”

  Massive stone walls rose in the distance, broken but still towering, encircling the entire ruined kingdom like a grave marker.

  “So this was the border,” Seraphine murmured.

  They reached the gates by midday.

  The gates were open.

  Beyond them—

  Nothing.

  The land outside was dead.

  “No…” Kael whispered.

  The soil was black and dry, cracked like burned skin. No trees. No grass. No insects. The sky above was drowned in thick black clouds, unmoving. Fog rolled endlessly across the ground, swallowing sound.

  Ayaka hugged herself. “This place hurts.”

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  Seraphine’s expression darkened. “This land has a name,” she said. “The locals once called it The Ashen Expanse of Mourning.”

  Akitsu stepped forward. His boots crunched softly against the lifeless ground. “It feels… empty.”

  “Uninhabitable,” Seraphine corrected. “Nothing should live here.”

  Kael glanced around. “…Then why are we here?”

  They walked.

  Hours passed with no change in scenery. Just fog, black soil, and silence thick enough to press against their ears.

  Then—

  “…There,” Ayaka said quietly, pointing ahead.

  Shapes emerged through the fog.

  Buildings.

  A village.

  Kael’s eyes widened. “That shouldn’t be possible.”

  They approached cautiously.

  The village was intact—but ancient. Wooden structures warped and gray, stone foundations cracked but unmoved. Lantern posts stood crooked along dirt roads, their glass blackened by time.

  “…No one’s here,” Kael said.

  Seraphine knelt, touching the ground. “Abandoned centuries ago.”

  Akitsu frowned. “Yet nothing’s collapsed.”

  They walked deeper.

  No footsteps. No voices.

  Just fog.

  Then Kael stopped.

  “…Someone’s there.”

  A figure walked alone down the main road.

  Human.

  Black hair.

  Red eyes that glowed faintly even through the mist.

  Akitsu’s breath caught.

  “…Kaito Morikawa.”

  Seraphine stiffened. “You know him?”

  Akitsu stepped forward. “Yes.”

  “Wait—” Kael started, but Akitsu was already moving.

  “Kaito,” Akitsu called.

  The man stopped.

  He turned slowly, red eyes settling on Akitsu with mild interest. “You found this place too,” he said calmly.

  “…Why are you here?” Akitsu asked.

  Kaito shrugged. “Passing through.”

  “That’s not an answer.”

  “It is,” Kaito replied. “Just not one you like.”

  Seraphine narrowed her eyes. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “No one should,” Kaito said lightly. “Yet here we are.”

  Kaito nodded. “It’s not safe.”

  “I already knew that,” Akitsu said. “Where should we go instead?”

  Kaito looked past him, into the fog. “Straight ahead.”

  Kael frowned. “That’s it?”

  “It leads where you want to go,” Kaito said.

  Akitsu’s mind flashed back to the demon’s words.

  Trust Kaito Morikawa.

  “…What do you want?” Akitsu asked.

  Kaito smiled faintly. “To become acquaintances.”

  Akitsu scoffed. “That’s obviously not what you want.”

  “Maybe,” Kaito said. “Maybe not.”

  “I’ll find out one day,” Akitsu said quietly.

  Kaito’s smile widened. “Perhaps.”

  He stepped back into the fog.

  “Continue your journey,” he said. “Don’t linger here.”

  And then he was gone.

  Kael rushed over. “Who was that?”

  Akitsu exhaled. “…The boss of a criminal syndicate.”

  Kael blinked. “You’re joking.”

  “I’m not.”

  “…Why do you know someone like that?”

  Akitsu shook his head. “I just do. We’re not friends.”

  Seraphine watched the fog where Kaito vanished. “You don’t trust him.”

  “No,” Akitsu said. “I don’t.”

  Kael adjusted his pack. “…But we’re following what he said.”

  “Yes,” Akitsu replied. “Because sometimes bad advice still points the right way.”

  They walked straight ahead.

  Hours later, the fog thinned.

  They reached the edge of a cliff.

  Below—

  An old house stood alone, perched impossibly on stone.

  Lanterns hung from its eaves.

  Lit.

  Kael swallowed. “…Someone’s home.”

  Akitsu stared.