The town of Kelmar appeared through morning fog three days after they left the mountains.

Gabriel stopped at the ridge overlooking the settlement. His eyes scanned the streets below, cataloguing movement, counting people, searching for threats his enhanced senses could detect from this distance.

Tess caught up, breathing harder than she should have been. The pace Gabriel set was brutal. He forgot to slow down. Forgot she couldn't move the way he could now.

"Sorry," he said without looking back.

"You keep saying that." Tess bent forward, hands on her knees. "Doesn't make it easier."

Gabriel's attention remained fixed on Kelmar. Something felt wrong. The streets were too quiet.

They descended the ridge and entered through the main gate.

The guards barely glanced at them. Their faces carried the exhaustion of men who'd been on duty too long without relief. One of them had a fresh bruise across his jaw.

Gabriel noted it but didn't ask. Whatever had happened here, it wasn't his concern yet.

The streets confirmed his initial impression. Too quiet. Windows shuttered despite the hour. Doors barred. The few people visible moved quickly, heads down, avoiding eye contact.

"Something happened," Tess said quietly.

Gabriel nodded. His hand moved unconsciously to his sword hilt.

They made their way through the narrow streets toward the inn they'd agreed on. The Copper Bell. A two-story building on the east side, close enough to the gate for a quick exit if needed.

The common room was empty except for the innkeeper.

He stood behind the bar polishing glasses that were already clean. His movements were mechanical. His eyes tracked them as they entered but his expression didn't change.

Gabriel approached the bar. "We're looking for four people. Two men, two women. Would have arrived maybe a week ago."

The innkeeper set down the glass he'd been polishing. His jaw worked like he was chewing something bitter.

"They were here," he said finally.

"Were?"

"Gone now." The innkeeper picked up another glass. Started polishing. "Three days ago. Army came through. Took them."

Gabriel's hand tightened on the bar. "Army?"

"Soldiers. Lots of them." The innkeeper's voice was flat. Emotionless. "Multi-racial. Humans, orcs, elves. Even a giant. Never seen anything like it."

Tess moved closer. "Which direction did they go?"

"West." The innkeeper set down the glass. "Didn't give anyone a choice. Just surrounded the building, walked in, took them. Anyone who tried to help got put down fast."

Gabriel's jaw clenched. "How many died?"

"Three locals. Two travellers stupid enough to draw weapons." The innkeeper finally met Gabriel's eyes. "Your friends didn't fight. Smart of them. Would have been worse if they had."

"Did they say anything? Give any indication where they were taking them?"

"No." The innkeeper pulled out four more glasses and lined them up. Started polishing the first. "But there was someone leading them. A woman. Small. Black hair."

Gabriel went still.

Something cold settled in his chest. Not fear. Not quite. Something deeper.

"Describe her," he said quietly.

The innkeeper paused in his polishing. "Young. Really young. Could have been fifteen, maybe twenty. Hard to tell. Beautiful in that way that makes you uncomfortable to notice." He set down the glass. "But her eyes were wrong. Red. Not like yours, different. Like looking into a fire that's burning hot."

Gabriel's fist clenched on the bar.

"She had this smile," the innkeeper continued. "Gentle. Like she was greeting old friends. But there was something underneath it that made everyone want to run. The soldiers were terrified of her. You could see it. They stood at attention when she walked past like one wrong move would get them killed."

"Did she hurt anyone?" Tess asked.

"Didn't need to." The innkeeper started on the next glass. "The soldiers had red smoke wrapped around their legs. Holding them in place. Couldn't move until she released them. Your friends, they didn't resist when she asked them to come along. The woman with the medical supplies, she tried talking. The small woman just smiled and waited until they all agreed to go peacefully."

Gabriel's breathing had become carefully controlled. Each inhale measured. Each exhale slow.

"This woman," he said. "Did she give a name?"

"No. But she asked about someone." The innkeeper met Gabriel's eyes again. "Asked your friends where Gabriel was. Used that name specifically. Like she knew him."

The cold in Gabriel's chest spread outward.

Tess looked at him. His face had gone neutral. The kind of blank expression that meant violence was being suppressed beneath the surface.

"Did my friends answer?" Gabriel asked.

"The healer said he wasn't with them. Said they were waiting for him but didn't know where he was." The innkeeper set down the second glass and picked up the third. "The small woman just smiled and told them they'd wait together. Then the whole group left. Soldiers, prisoners, all of it. Headed west before noon."

Gabriel turned away from the bar and walked to the nearest window. His reflection stared back at him in the glass. Black hair. Red eyes with slit pupils. The face of something that used to be fully human.

Behind him, Tess approached carefully. "Gabriel?"

He didn't respond. His hand had clenched into a fist tight enough that his knuckles had gone white.

The innkeeper continued polishing glasses. "Your friends alive when they left. Not hurt. The small woman seemed more interested in keeping them safe than anything else. Like they were valuable to her."

"They're bait," Gabriel said quietly. His voice was hollow. "She's using them to draw me out."

"Who is she?" Tess asked.

Gabriel's eyes found his reflection again in the window glass. Saw the red irises that marked him as something other than human. Saw the face that would haunt him for as long as he lived.

"Ariya," he whispered.

The name fell into the quiet common room like a stone into still water.

Tess's hand moved to her sword hilt. She'd heard the stories. Knew what that name meant. What that person had done to Gabriel four years ago in the cult's temple.

The innkeeper stopped polishing. "You know her?"

Gabriel didn't answer. His fist remained clenched. His breathing remained controlled.

But something in his eyes had changed. The red deepened. Darkened.

"She did this to me," Gabriel said finally. His voice was barely above a whisper. "Carved the sigils. Started the awakening. Broke me until I couldn't remember who I'd been before."

He turned from the window to face Tess. His expression was still neutral but fire burned behind his eyes.

"She's had four years to complete her own transformation," he continued. "Four years to master whatever power she awakened. And now she has Mera, Gilbert, Adan, and Ennu."

"We'll get them back," Tess said.

"Yes." Gabriel's jaw worked. "We will."

He moved toward the door. His hand was still clenched. His eyes still pulsed with that dark red that spoke of barely contained violence.

Tess followed. "Where are we going?"

"West." Gabriel pushed through the door into the street. "She wants me to follow. So I'll follow."

"That's what she wants. It's a trap."

"I know." Gabriel started walking. His pace was measured but each step carried purpose. "But she has my people. That means I don't have a choice."

Tess caught his arm. "Wait. We need supplies. Information. A plan beyond just walking into whatever she's prepared."

Gabriel stopped. For a moment he didn't respond. Then his shoulders lowered slightly. The tension in his jaw eased by a fraction.

"You're right." He looked back at the inn. "We gather what we need. Find out everything we can about where she went. Then we go after them."

They returned to the common room. The innkeeper was still polishing glasses.

"We need supplies," Gabriel said. "Food, water, medical gear. Whatever you can spare."

The innkeeper nodded slowly. "I can do that. But you should know something else."

"What?"

"The soldiers who came through. They weren't just soldiers. Some of them moved coordinated like an army. The innkeeper set down his glass. "And the red smoke around their legs. It didn't fade when the small woman left. It stayed until she was out of sight. That kind of control, that kind of power. I've never seen anything like it."

Gabriel absorbed that in silence.

"How many soldiers?" he asked.

"Fifty, maybe more. Hard to count when they're moving in formation." The innkeeper pulled out a bottle and two glasses. Poured amber liquid into both. "You're going after them anyway. Even knowing the numbers."

"Yes."

"Then you're either very brave or very stupid." The innkeeper pushed one glass across the bar toward Gabriel. "Drink. You'll need it."

Gabriel took the glass but didn't drink. Just held it while his eyes pulsed red in the dim light.

Tess took the other glass and downed it in one swallow. The burn helped. Steadied her nerves.

"We'll need horses," she said. "Fast ones if you have them."

"I can arrange that." The innkeeper collected their glasses. "But it'll cost. Town's nervous after what happened. Everyone's charging premium for anything that might help someone leave."

Gabriel pulled coins from his pouch. Gold pieces from the Greyscale contract. He counted out ten and placed them on the bar.

"That enough?"

The innkeeper's eyes widened slightly. "More than enough. I'll have everything ready within the hour."

"Make it thirty minutes," Gabriel said. His fist clenched again. "We're leaving as soon as possible."

The innkeeper nodded and disappeared into the back.

Gabriel and Tess stood in the empty common room. Around them, the town remained quiet.

"She'll be expecting you," Tess said. "She knows you'll come for them."

"I know." Gabriel's hand moved to his chest where the silver-white markings spiraled beneath his shirt. "But I have something she doesn't expect."

"What's that?"

Gabriel's eyes pulsed. The red deepened until they seemed to glow in the dim light.

"I'm not broken anymore."

His fist remained clenched at his side. The knuckles had gone white from pressure. His breathing was still controlled but each exhale came slightly faster.

Somewhere to the west, Ariya waited with his people. Waited with an army and powers he couldn't fully comprehend. Waited with that gentle smile that hid something monstrous beneath.

Now she wanted him to come to her. Wanted him to walk into whatever trap she'd prepared.

Gabriel stared at his reflection in the window. At the black hair and red eyes that marked him as the last of a murdered people. At the face that had changed in ways he was still learning to understand.

His fist clenched tighter.

"Ariya," he whispered again.

The name carried weight now. History. Four years of torture and transformation compressed into three syllables.

Behind him, Tess watched his shoulders tense. Watched the way his whole body had gone rigid with barely suppressed rage.

This wasn't going to end peacefully. She knew that. Had known it the moment the innkeeper described the woman with red eyes and a gentle smile.

The only question was whether Gabriel would still be himself when it was over.

Or whether the awakening had changed him into something that couldn't come back.

His eyes pulsed again in the window's reflection. Deep red.

Almost human.

But not quite.

Not anymore.

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