The darkness deepened as they moved through the forest, the weight of the Veil's presence lingering in the air. Aric's heart still pounded in his chest, his grip on the Emberblade tight. Maelis was quiet beside him, his eyes scanning the shadows with unease. Neither of them spoke for a long while. The words they needed to say felt too heavy, too dangerous. There was too much at stake now, and the silence between them was a quiet understanding.
"I've never seen anything like that," Maelis finally said, breaking the stillness.
Aric didn't respond at first. The Veil—he could still feel her eyes, still hear her words in the back of his mind, echoing like a promise of destruction. The Emberblade answers to only one master. Her voice lingered like smoke in his lungs, twisting, suffocating. He wasn't sure what she was—or if she was even entirely human—but the coldness in her was unmistakable.
"You were right to warn me," Aric said quietly, his eyes flicking to the sword at his side. "The Emberblade... it draws power to itself. But at what cost?"
Maelis didn't speak immediately, though his gaze flicked toward the blade, and the faint glow that pulsed from its core. He seemed to be thinking it over carefully.
"It's not just the blade you need to worry about," Maelis said after a beat, his voice grim. "It's what it makes you become."
Aric glanced at him. There was a depth to his friend's words that felt like a warning. Maelis had always been the cautious one—the one who spoke when he feared something had been overlooked.
"What do you mean?" Aric asked.
Maelis didn't meet his eyes immediately. Instead, he looked ahead, his hand resting lightly on the hilt of his own sword. "I've seen the change in you, Aric. You... you've become different since we found the Emberblade. Stronger, yes. But colder, too."
Aric felt a twist in his gut at Maelis's words. It wasn't something he hadn't noticed in himself, but hearing it out loud made it all the more real.
"I know," Aric said, his voice