The Jade Lamp's communal space wasn't designed for strategic planning sessions, but five flame-haired women had turned its least-moldy corner into an improvised war room anyway.

Ember hunched over a map of the region spread across a table whose previous life had clearly involved more ale-sloshing than cartography. The parchment curled at the edges as if eager to escape the scrutiny, weighted down by chipped mugs and a half-eaten wheel of cheese.

"Two hundred and eighty miles," Ember murmured, tracing the route between Amaranth and Ebran with her finger. A faint trail of warm light followed her touch, temporarily illuminating the path. "That's at least ten days by caravan."

"Or about two hours for us, assuming perfect conditions," Cinder added, propped against the wall with her arms crossed. "Which, of course, we won't have."

"Ten days versus two hours," Kindle said, leaning in so close her flame-orange hair nearly brushed the map's surface. "The math sells itself."

"Two hours we definitely have." Ember straightened, tucking a strand of vividly orange hair behind her ear. "Galen expects his precious research delivered within the week, and we're supposed to check in with Beatrix before then."

"So we make use of our assets," Pyra said, rocking back on her heels, her fingertips resting on her hips. "Guild medallions, super speed, incredible good looks times five—what could possibly go wrong?"

"I've compiled a seventeen-point analysis of potential complications," Ash offered from her perch on the windowsill, where she'd been contemplating the pre-dawn darkness. "Would you like me to begin with geographical obstacles or sociopolitical concerns?"

"Hard pass," Cinder said, holding up a hand. "The bigger issue is that nobody travels this distance this quickly. We'll raise questions."

Ember tapped the map again, leaving another glowing fingerprint. "Questions are better than missing Galen's deadline. We need to reach Ebran, not just for his contract, but because it's our best chance at finding information outside Magisterium control. I've been asking around, and I heard that the Harbor Archives there contain records predating the current magical regime."

"And possibly information about interdimensional travel," Kindle added, her voice dropping to a whisper despite the empty room. "Or curses involving multiple selves."

"Or coffee," Pyra interjected. "Do they have coffee in this dimension? I miss coffee. And pizza. And not having to worry about magical bureaucrats turning us into potted plants for traveling without proper documentation."

"The terrain won't be ideal," Ember continued, redirecting the conversation before it could devolve into another food-nostalgia spiral. "Forests, hills, that stretch of plains with the hidden road—"

"And we'll need to pace ourselves," Cinder added. "At our speed, two hours becomes four or five with navigation and rest breaks."

"We've run long distances before," Ember pointed out.

"Not this long," Cinder countered. "And not across unfamiliar territory."

"There's only one way to find out our practical limits," Kindle said, tapping the region between Amaranth and Ebran.

"I'm with Kindle," Pyra grinned. "Time to see what these legs can really do."

"The question isn't capability but practicality," Ember noted, rolling up the map with a decisive motion. "Even with our speed, we'll need to account for terrain, navigation challenges, and rest breaks. Six hours seems reasonable."

"Six hours versus ten days," Kindle mused. "Still selling itself."

Ember returned the map to a leather tube that once held wine. "Gather your things. We'll leave before dawn to avoid questions."

"Sweet. Our first real journey as Guild members," Kindle said, unable to hide her eagerness.

"Provisional members," the other four corrected automatically.

"Still counts," Kindle insisted, undeterred.

Ash simply smiled, the smoke from her flames forming a brief shape that might have been an open road, or possibly the concept of adventure given visual form. With Ash, it was always hard to tell.

Three hours later, five women stood at Amaranth's eastern gate, which loomed before them like a stern parent preparing a lecture on sensible life choices. The early dawn air carried a biting chill that made their flames curl closer to their bodies for warmth.

The massive doors remained partially open, guarded by two figures whose postures suggested they'd rather be literally anywhere else at this ungodly hour.

"Guild business," Ember explained, presenting their medallions with just the right balance of authority and casual confidence. "Urgent contract requiring immediate departure."

The guard on the left—a woman whose helmet sat slightly askew, suggesting she'd been dozing before their arrival—squinted at the bronze discs. "Provisional members," she noted. "Traveling to?"

"Ebran," Ember replied smoothly.

The guard's eyebrows rose. "That's... quite a journey. Expected arrival?"

Five identical faces maintained carefully neutral expressions.

"Standard travel time," Ember said vaguely.

The second guard, slightly more alert than his colleague, frowned. "That's ten days minimum by the eastern road. You've got supplies for that?"

"We travel light," Cinder interjected. "And we've made arrangements along the way."

This was, technically, not a lie. They had indeed made arrangements—specifically, the arrangement that they would run really fast and arrive without needing waystation accommodations.

"Well, regulation says I need to log your estimated arrival for the central registry," the first guard said, producing a ledger that looked heavy enough to serve as a battering ram in case of emergency.

"Seven days," Ember offered, a reasonable buffer between normal travel time and their actual plans.

The guard made a notation that suggested she found this timeline dubious but wasn't paid enough to argue the point. "Purpose of travel?"

"Retrieval contract," Ember said, producing the sealed document that outlined Galen's task. The guard barely glanced at it, apparently satisfied with the official-looking wax seal.

"Right then. Eastern gate team will be notified of your departure." She made another scratchy note in her ledger. "Safe travels. Try not to get melted and eaten by Ankhegs."

"Or Bonebreakers," the second guard added helpfully.

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"Or Mistfangs," the first continued, warming to the topic.

"Or—"

"We'll be careful," Ember cut in before the guards could complete their catalog of things that might kill them. "Thank you for your concern."

With a groan of ancient hinges, the eastern gate creaked open just enough to allow single-file passage. Five women slipped through, boots crunching on the gravel road that led away from Amaranth's protective walls.

They waited until they'd rounded the first bend, putting the city's walls out of direct view, before exchanging knowing glances.

"Right," Pyra said, bouncing on her toes like a runner at the starting line. "Let's do this."

Ember nodded. "Remember, we conserve energy. This isn't a sprint."

"A marathon at only one hundred and fifty miles per hour," Kindle added with a grin. "Practically walking."

"Moderate pace to start," Ember instructed. "We can adjust as we assess the terrain."

Five pairs of legs tensed, five sets of lungs drew in the cool morning air, and they began to run.

The world transformed around them as they accelerated beyond human limitations. Trees blurred into streaks of green against dawn's purple canvas. The gravel road stretched before them like a gray ribbon, pebbles and potholes avoided with practiced ease.

This wasn't their first experience with enhanced speed, but it was their first true test of endurance and distance. They settled quickly into a rhythm just below their maximum velocity, fast enough to devour miles but slow enough to maintain the pace.

Three miles passed by in just over a minute, their stride lengthening until each step became a bounding leap.

Around them, the landscape transformed from the cultivated fields surrounding Amaranth to denser woodlands interspersed with rolling hills. The sun crept above the horizon, painting the eastern sky in hues of gold and amber that matched their flame-colored hair.

"Road splits ahead," Cinder called out, noting a fork appearing in their path. "Map showed the left branch following the river."

They adjusted course without breaking stride, veering left at a speed that would have sent ordinary runners careening into the underbrush. The path narrowed, following the meandering curve of a river whose surface glittered with early morning light.

"This is definitely more efficient than listening to Malik's thirty-verse ballad about himself for three days straight," Pyra commented, deftly sidestepping a fallen branch.

"That's setting the bar impressively low," Cinder replied.

They passed a merchant wagon moving so slowly from their perspective that the driver appeared frozen in time, his head beginning a glacial turn in their direction. By the time his eyes would have registered their presence, they were already half a mile ahead.

"We should keep count of the confused expressions we leave in our wake," Kindle suggested. "Make a game of it."

"Twenty-three so far," Ash supplied matter-of-factly. "Though I'm only counting humans and sentient non-humans. Including livestock would significantly inflate the numbers."

After an hour of running, they'd covered nearly 130 miles—nearly half their journey—when Ember signaled for their first break. They slowed to a stop in a small clearing beside a bubbling stream, their breathing controlled but hearts pumping at elevated rates.

"Status check," Ember said, rotating her shoulder gingerly. "Any signs of strain?"

"My right leg's a bit twitchy," Pyra admitted, flexing the limb in question. "Think I caught a divot near that old mill."

Kindle dropped to the ground, legs splayed in front of her. "Nothing a good stretch won't fix." She leaned forward, pressing her chest to her knees.

Ash remained standing, her arms overhead in a graceful yoga-esque pose. "My physiology remains well within acceptable parameters."

"Same," Ember said, twisting her torso back and forth. "No serious aches or fatigue. Just the usual exertion burn."

"Well, you know what they say," Pyra remarked, bending so far back she could look at them upside down. "'Pain is just weakness leaving the body.' Or entering it. One of those."

"I've got a theory about bugs and teeth," Cinder announced, picking something small and unfortunate from her hair. "They're magnetically attracted to each other at high speeds."

"Gross," Kindle laughed. "But excellent data point."

"So... everyone's fine," Ember translated. "Good. Ten minutes to rest, then we continue."

They ate small portions of the dried meat and fruit they'd brought, replenishing their energy for the next leg of the journey. The clearing offered a momentary sanctuary, a pause between the rushing landscapes that had dominated their morning.

Once their short break concluded, they resumed their eastern trajectory, following the winding river as it carved its way through the hilly terrain. Their pace remained steady, and they soon settled back into the rhythm of synchronized movement that made talking during the run almost manageable.

Rolling plains gave way to scattered woodlands, which eventually opened onto a vast plateau where the horizon stretched for miles, unbroken except for distant lines of low mountains.

"Where's the road?" Kindle asked as the clearly defined path they'd been following suddenly disappeared into the waving grassland.

Ember, consulting a map that rippled and flapped in her grip, scanned the terrain. "Looks like it fades into the plains here. We'll have to follow the old wagon paths."

They veered northward, navigating by the subtle marks of past travelers now visible only as flattened grass and occasional patches of dirt. Each step raised tiny puffs of dust, whisked away by the wind almost as quickly as they formed.

The grassland stretched endlessly in every direction, waves of green that rippled under the afternoon breeze like a landlocked ocean. What had started as a defined road now existed only as suggestions—ruts worn by countless wagon wheels, patches where the grass grew thinner, occasional stones that might once have marked a proper route.

Their pace had settled into something sustainable but still breathtaking by normal standards. Mile after mile disappeared beneath their feet as they followed the ghost of civilization through wilderness that felt increasingly untouched by human presence.

"Anyone else notice the grass is getting taller?" Kindle called out, vaulting over a particularly thick patch that reached nearly to her waist.

"And stranger," Ash added, her smoky tendrils dissipating as they brushed against seed heads that turned to follow their passage. "The movement patterns are... inconsistent with natural wind response."

Ember slowed their pace slightly, scanning the terrain ahead. The wagon ruts were becoming harder to follow as the grass thickened, and something about the landscape felt deliberately obscured rather than simply overgrown.

"There," Cinder pointed toward their left, where the grassland rose into a series of low hills. "Those formations don't look natural."

What she'd spotted were mounds of earth and vegetation arranged in geometric patterns across the hillsides—too regular to be random, too purposeful to be accidental. Circular clearings surrounded by perfect rings of taller grass, creating bull's-eye patterns visible from their elevated perspective.

"Territorial markers?" Pyra suggested, though her voice carried uncertainty. "Some kind of boundary system?"

"Or agricultural organization," Ember mused. "Maybe there's a settlement nearby."

They crested a small rise and stopped.

In the valley below, two figures moved through the grassland with deliberate, measured steps. Even at distance, their height was obvious—eight feet tall at minimum, with elongated limbs that gave them an unsettling, stilt-like gait. They appeared to be tending to something, bending occasionally to adjust or arrange elements of the landscape that weren't quite visible from this angle.

"Well, those aren't human," Cinder observed.

The creatures wore what looked like tattered robes or coverings that fluttered in the breeze, revealing glimpses of an underlying framework that might have been wood, metal, or something else entirely. Their heads were wrapped or hooded, with no visible faces, just dark spaces where features should be.

As the five watched, one of the creatures straightened and turned directly toward their position. Despite the distance, they could feel its attention like a weight, as if those hidden features were cataloguing their presence with uncomfortable thoroughness.

"They've seen us," Ember said quietly.

The second creature stopped its work and also faced their direction. For a long moment, the valley held nothing but the whisper of wind through grass and the distant creaking sound that might have been wood settling or joints moving.

Then both creatures began walking toward them.

Not hurrying, not running—just that same measured, deliberate pace that suggested they had all the time in the world and absolute confidence in their ability to reach their destination.

"We could go around," Pyra said, though she didn't sound convinced.

"Guild members don't abandon unknown threats to terrorize travelers," Ember replied, her voice carrying the sort of resigned responsibility that came with official medallions.

"Plus," Kindle added, watching the creatures' approach with fascination rather than fear, "aren't we curious what they are?"

The creatures continued their advance, and now other details became visible. The way grass bent away from their feet as if avoiding contact. The subtle wrongness in how their robes moved, fluttering against winds that didn't seem to affect anything else. Most unsettling, the amber glints that occasionally flickered from within their hooded depths.

"Definitely not friendly," Ash murmured.

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