The chief was waiting near the centre of the settlement, flanked by a handful of villagers who went quiet the moment they saw Gabriel approach. No relief. Just wary eyes and held breaths.

"It's done," Gabriel said.

She nodded, shoulders loosening. "All of them?"

"Yes."

A small breath escaped her. She reached into her belt and pressed a pouch of coins into his hand.

Gabriel didn't count it.

"You won't have trouble from the river for now," he said, turning toward his horse.

The chief hesitated.

"What about the bodies?" she asked. "If they're left there, wolves will come. Or worse. If you could drag them deeper into the forest, or burn them-"

Gabriel stopped but didn't turn fully back.

"That wasn't the job," he said.

She opened her mouth, then closed it again, weighing her words. Finally, she exhaled and gave a short nod.

"…I understand."

He mounted without another word.

As Gabriel gathered the reins, the chief spoke again, her tone different this time. Softer. Honest.

"Thank you," she said. "For coming when we asked. And for ending it."

Gabriel glanced back once, just long enough to acknowledge her, then turned his horse toward the path.

The villagers stepped aside, giving him space as he rode out of the settlement.

The river was quiet again.

Gabriel didn't slow until the village was out of sight.

The road stretched ahead, quiet and familiar, winding through low hills and thinning trees. His horse settled into an easy pace beneath him, hooves dull against packed earth.

Gabriel replayed the fight without meaning to.

The first Brinekin had gone down before it understood what was happening. No resistance. No misstep. A single cut, clean.

The others hadn't lasted much longer.

The power had answered him immediately, without strain, surging outward and shaping itself where he needed it, tightening the moment he willed it to. Three targets. One motion. No loss of control.

He shifted in the saddle and let the reins rest loose in his hands, eyes scanning the road ahead while his attention stayed on the details that mattered. The heat from the crimson haze had lingered longer than before, but it hadn't fought him. It hadn't burned.

He re-focused on the path ahead.

A thick fog had spread across the fields unnaturally, rolling low over the grass and swallowing the path in a dull grey veil. It hadn't been there moments ago. The air was still.

No reason for it to move the way it did.

Gabriel slowed the horse.

The air pressed close, damp and heavy, muting sound and distance. The far treeline vanished. Even the ground beneath him faded.

His horse stirred softly.

Gabriel straightened in the saddle, one hand tightening on the reins as the other drifted closer to his blade. He didn't urge the horse forward.

The fog thickened.

Gabriel slowed the horse to a stop. The animal snorted again, stamping once before going still, muscles tight beneath him.

The air carried a familiar sweetness beneath the damp earth.

Gabriel's hand reached for the hilt at his back as the shape took form a few paces ahead. No sound of movement, just the vague outline of a figure standing where there had been nothing a moment before.

A woman's silhouette.

The fog peeled away just enough for her to be seen.

Dark hair clung to her shoulders, damp with mist. Her dress hung loose and unmarked by mud or rain, as if the road itself refused to touch her. Her head was tilted slightly, like she was assessing him.

"You were quicker this time," she said lightly. "I barely had time to enjoy the hunt."

Gabriel didn't answer.

The horse shifted beneath him, uneasy.

He dismounted slowly, reins slipping free as his boots touched the ground.

The woman smiled.

"Not yet, little lamb," she chuckled dismissively.

Gabriel's hand remained near his blade, but he didn't draw it.

Her gaze drifted past him, toward the road leading back to Eldenreach. The smile faded, just slightly.

"Who are you?" the former Paladin asked, his voice deep and firm.

She didn't answer right away.

"Things move when they're disturbed," she said instead. "Even things that have been sleeping a very long time."

Her eyes remained on the road behind him.

"The day a giant dragged a half-dead lamb through Eldenreach's gates," she continued calmly, "something shifted. Not in the town. Deeper than that."

Gabriel's jaw tightened.

"Why kill the hunter and the tavern worker?"

She glanced towards him.

"A shepherd doesn't allow wolves near their lambs"

The haze rolled faintly at her feet.

"Some wolves wear cloaks," she continued. "Some gather meat. Some pour drinks. Some heal people."

Her eyes didn't move, measuring whether he understood.

"They listen," her voice gentle. "They remember names. Faces. Habits."

The mist shifted, closing the space between them just slightly.

"You were never alone in that town."

"What do yo-."

"Shhh." The woman moved her finger to her lips.

The fog thickened around her form, swallowing until she was little more than a shape standing in grey.

"Listen more than you speak," she said softly.

The air stirred.

The mist began to thin, pulling away in slow strands, unravelling as if drawn back into the earth itself. The weight lifted. Sound returned. Wind brushed across the fields again.

Just before she vanished completely, her voice carried once more, quieter than before.

"They are coming."

She was gone.

Blue sky stretched overhead. The fields lay still. The area was empty once more, as if nothing had ever stood there at all.

Gabriel remained where he was for a moment longer, hand still near his blade.

He didn't move immediately.

Wind brushed through the trees the way it should have all along. No lingering mist. No unnatural stillness.

He took a slow step forward, then another, eyes scanning the space where she had stood. Nothing resisted him. Whatever had been there was gone completely.

He let his hand fall from the hilt.

The warning lingered, even if the presence did not.

He turned and mounted his horse. Turning toward Eldenreach, riding on beneath a clear sky that felt suddenly dishonest.

Whatever was coming.

Had already begun.

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