The torches kept coming.
They burned like scattered stars across the darkness beyond the valley, hundreds of small flames moving steadily through the night while the last remnants of the storm drifted eastward. The rain had weakened into a cold mist that clung to the mountainsides and hung between the trees like restless spirits, but the damage it left behind remained everywhere. Water rushed through shallow trenches carved into the earth. Mud covered the lower paths. Fallen branches littered the forest floor.
And through all of it...
The lights continued advancing.
Nyra stared at them while exhaustion hollowed out her body from the inside.
Every breath felt heavier than the one before.
Every muscle ached.
Even standing had become difficult.
The healing should not have drained her
