Gabriel didn't sleep after his watch ended.

He lay on his bedroll with his eyes closed, listening to the camp. Adan's steady breathing. Gilbert's occasional snore. Ennu's complete silence.

Tess shifted beside him, her hand finding his in the dark.

Still awake too.

They didn't speak. Just held hands in the cold while the hours crawled past.

When dawn finally came, grey and reluctant, Gabriel was already breaking camp.

"You look like shit," Gilbert said, rolling up his bedroll.

"Feel worse."

"Didn't sleep?"

Gabriel shook his head.

Gilbert studied him, then let it drop. "We'll reach Kelmar in five days if we keep this pace."

"Four if we push."

"Then we push."

The group ate a quick breakfast of dried fruit and stale bread, then started walking. Northeast through the hills, following game trails when they could find them.

The morning passed in silence.

Around midday, they descended into a shallow valley. A stream cut through the center, its water clear and cold. Trees grew thicker here, providing some shelter from the wind.

Gabriel called a halt. "Rest for an hour. Refill water."

The group scattered. Tess and Ennu headed upstream to fill waterskins. Gilbert found a sunny patch and stretched out. Adan stayed on his feet, watching the valley's southern approach.

Mera approached Gabriel. "You should eat something."

"I'm fine."

"You're not." She pulled bread and dried meat from her pack, offering both. "You can't protect anyone if you collapse."

Gabriel took the food without arguing. His body needed fuel, even if his stomach wasn't interested.

Mera sat beside him. Too close. Her shoulder brushed his.

"May I ask you something?" Her voice was soft. Almost intimate.

Gabriel shifted slightly, putting space between them. "What?"

"When you saved me from those bandits... did you know? That you were different?"

"I knew I had red eyes. People crossed the street when they saw me." Gabriel bit into the bread. It tasted like sawdust. "That was enough."

"No, I mean..." Mera gestured vaguely. "Your power. The red smoke. Did you know what you were?"

"I knew the Order had done something to me. Carved things into my skin. Changed me." Gabriel's jaw tightened. "I didn't know about the Dracamerians. Didn't know there was a reason."

"But now you do." Mera's eyes gleamed. "Now you understand. You're not just some experiment. You're the last of a murdered people. A survivor of genocide."

"I'm a weapon they tried to create." Gabriel met her gaze. "That's all."

"That's not all." Mera's hand moved to his arm. Her fingers pressed into his sleeve. "The Maker has a plan for you. I've seen it."

Gabriel pulled his arm away. "You've seen visions in a book. That's not the same as divine revelation."

"Isn't it?" Mera's smile was strange. Disconnected from her eyes. "You appeared when I needed you most. You destroyed evil without hesitation. You're marked by power older than kingdoms." She leaned closer. "How is that not divine purpose?"

"Because I chose to help you," Gabriel said. "Nothing divine about choosing not to let people die."

Mera opened her mouth to respond, but Tess's voice cut through the moment.

"Gabriel. You need to see this."

Tess stood at the treeline, thirty yards upstream. Her expression was tight. Controlled.

Gabriel was on his feet immediately. "What is it?"

"Just come look."

He followed her into the trees. Ennu stood ten paces ahead, perfectly still, staring at something on the ground.

The smell hit Gabriel before he saw it.

Sweet and rotten. Familiar.

His hand moved to his sword hilt.

Ennu stepped aside as he approached.

Male. Middle-aged, from what Gabriel could tell. He'd been a merchant, judging by the quality of his clothes. Well-fed. Soft hands.

His tunic had been torn open.

Sigils carved into his chest. Deep cuts, precise and deliberate. The symbols were complex, overlapping in patterns Gabriel half-recognized from his own scars.

Archangel markings.

The man's eyes were gone. Just hollow pits, the flesh around them blackened and scorched. Thin trails of dried blood streaked down his cheeks.

Gabriel knelt beside the body. The ground beneath was dry. No blood pooled here.

Killed elsewhere and moved.

He checked the mouth.

Tongue removed.

Exactly the same as the elven hunter near the goat's path. The tavern worker. Every other body he'd found with this signature.

"How long?" Tess asked quietly.

Gabriel studied the blood, the discoloration of the skin, the stiffness of the limbs. "Six hours. Maybe eight."

"So whoever did this was here last night." Tess's hand rested on her sword. "While we were camped two miles away."

Gabriel's mind worked through the implications. The figure he'd seen moving through the valley. The unnatural smoothness of its gait.

Not just watching.

Leaving gifts.

He stood slowly, his eyes scanning the surrounding trees.

Nothing.

"We should burn the body," Ennu said. Her voice was flat. Emotionless.

"No." Gabriel shook his head. "We bury him. Mark the grave. He deserves that much."

They spent twenty minutes digging with their hands and belt knives. The ground was hard, half-frozen, but eventually they got deep enough.

Gabriel lowered the body into the earth. Closed the man's ruined eyes with two copper coins from his own purse.

No prayers. He didn't know any that felt right anymore.

They covered the grave with dirt and stones. Marked it with a simple cairn.

Gabriel's mind kept circling back to the same question.

Why?

The killer wasn't random. Too many bodies following the same pattern. Too much precision in the rituals.

And they were always near him.

Someone's sending a message.

Or claiming ownership.

The thought made his skin crawl.

...

They left the valley and pushed northeast. No one spoke about what they'd found.

Gabriel took point again, his senses extended. Waiting for his danger sense to scream.

Nothing came.

The afternoon dragged into evening. They made camp early, choosing a defensible position on high ground with clear sight lines.

Gabriel volunteered for first watch again.

No one argued.

He climbed to the highest point and sat with his back against a boulder. His swords lay across his lap. Ready.

The sun set in shades of red and orange. Beautiful and completely indifferent.

Gabriel's mind drifted to the corpses.

All killed the same way. Eyes burned out. Tongue removed. Archangel sigils carved into the chest.

Ritualistic.

But what ritual?

And why leave them for him to find?

The fog rolled in as darkness fell.

It came from nowhere. One moment the air was clear, the next it was thick with grey mist that swallowed visibility and muffled sound.

Gabriel was on his feet, swords in hand.

Nothing from his gut. No warning pressure in his chest.

That's worse.

The fog thickened. Gabriel could barely see ten paces. The campfire below was just a dull orange glow.

Then he felt it.

Not danger. Something else. A presence. Watching.

"I know you're there," Gabriel said quietly.

The fog shifted. Patterns moving within patterns.

A figure materialized from the mist.

The woman.

She stood twenty paces away, her features obscured by shadow that clung to her face. Dark hair. Pale skin where he could see it. Eyes that reflected light wrong.

Gabriel's grip tightened on his swords. "You've been leaving the bodies."

Not a question.

The woman tilted her head. The gesture was familiar.

I've seen that before. Every time she's appeared.

"A shepherd protects the flock," she said. Her voice was soft. Musical. "Removes threats before they can strike."

"Those people weren't threats."

"They were watching you, little lamb." The woman took a step closer. The fog parted before her, maintaining the distance. "Listening. Remembering your face. Your eyes. Your patterns."

Gabriel's jaw clenched. "You're killing innocent people."

"I'm killing spies." Her tone suggested the distinction was obvious. "The Order plants eyes everywhere. Merchants who ask too many questions. Tavern workers who report travelers. Hunters who watch roads and remember faces."

The words hit like a fist to the gut.

The elven hunter. The tavern worker. The merchant.

All watching. All potentially reporting.

"How do you know they were spies?" Gabriel demanded.

The woman's smile was visible even through the shadow. "I know many things, little lamb. I know the Order has agents scattered across three kingdoms. I know they've been tracking you since Eldenreach. I know every person I've removed was sending information north to their masters."

She took another step. The fog writhed around her legs.

"I also know you're growing stronger." Her voice carried approval. "The wyvern's heart completed what was begun. You can sustain fire longer now. Shape it with intent. And you're learning control."

Gabriel's blood went cold. "You were at the Spine."

"I've been everywhere you've been, little lamb. Watching. Waiting. Removing obstacles." The shadow across her face rippled. "Do you understand yet?"

"Understand what?"

"What you're becoming." The woman's presence intensified. The fog grew thicker, pressing in. "The wolf doesn't know it's a wolf until it tastes blood. You've tasted it now. Felt the power burning in your veins. Killed without hesitation when necessary."

Her voice dropped to almost a whisper.

"You're almost ready."

Gabriel's hands trembled with suppressed rage. "Ready for what?"

"To do what must be done." The woman's eyes caught the moonlight, reflecting it back red. "The Seven slaughtered your people. Murdered thousands for the crime of serving the wrong god. Children. Elders. Innocents who'd never raised a blade."

The fog surged.

"Someone needs to make them pay for that."

Gabriel stared at her. Understanding crystallized.

"You want me to kill Archangels."

"I want you to become what they fear." The woman's smile widened. "A beast that cannot be controlled. A wolf among shepherds. A reminder that gods can bleed."

"Why?" The question tore out of Gabriel. "Why me? Why the bodies? Why any of this?"

The woman was silent for a long moment. When she spoke, her voice carried something that might have been regret.

"Because I loved one of you once. And I failed him when it mattered most." She began fading back into the fog. "I won't fail twice."

"Wait!" Gabriel took a step forward. "Who are you?"

The woman's laugh drifted through the mist. Soft and sad and ancient.

"You'll know when you're ready to kill me, little lamb."

The fog lifted as suddenly as it had come. Clear air. Cold stars. Empty night.

Gabriel stood alone on the hilltop, his swords still drawn, his heart pounding.

The woman in the fog.

The corpses with ritual markings.

It's all her.

The realization settled like ice in his chest.

But that wasn't what made his blood run cold.

She was in Ariya's camp.

The illusions. The confusion. The distortions that bought us time.

That was her too.

She'd helped them escape. Created the opening they needed. Made it possible for them to walk away from Ariya's army.

Why?

She wasn't just watching. Wasn't just killing for him.

She was actively intervening. Protecting him. Clearing his path.

Cultivating him.

For what?

And why help us escape Ariya if she wants me strong?

The questions circled in his mind like vultures.

And that terrifies me more than any enemy I've faced.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.