They didn't move much the next day.
No battles.
No monsters.
No divine threats crashing down from the sky.
Just stillness.
Zara sat sharpening her blade near the river.
Velda pretended to read, her eyes lingering on nothing.
Claire braided her own hair in silence.
Lilith slept with her arms crossed, eyes flickering beneath her lids. Dreaming, maybe.
Lucius sat under the tree.
Arielle's blade rested across his lap.
He hadn't summoned her again since the last illusion.
He didn't need to.
Her presence remained anyway—like an old song you couldn't forget, even when no one was singing.
---
Claire walked over first.
She didn't sit.
Just stood there.
"You think the gods will send something worse next?"
Lucius didn't look up.
"They have no other choice."
Claire hesitated.
"You're going to finish remembering her soon, aren't you?"
"Yes."
Pause.
"Will that change everything?"
Lucius looked at her then.
"No."
She nodded. "Good."
But her hands were trembling when she walked away.
---
Later, Velda approached.
No sarcasm. No spellbooks.
Just her.
"I know what that spell was. The one I died casting in that old life."
Lucius raised a brow.
"It was a memory seal," she said. "A failsafe. A way to lock away something we weren't ready to feel."
Lucius understood.
"You were trying to protect me."
Velda looked away.
"I don't think I finished it back then.
But I still remember the shape of your soul when I died."
She smirked, but her eyes didn't.
"It hasn't changed."
---
By evening, Lilith sat beside him.
She didn't speak.
Didn't ask for anything.
Just sat.
Lucius glanced at her.
"You're still afraid."
"Yes," she said.
"That I'll forget you?"
She shook her head.
"That you'll forgive me."
Lucius didn't respond.
But he didn't move away.
And that was enough for her to stay.
---
Night fell.
The fire burned quietly.
Lucius took the blade.
Held it up.
And whispered, not summoning her—
Just asking.
"Arielle… when I remember everything—who will I become?"
---
The flame flickered.
Just a little.