Eli’s POV
The air outdoors was cold and biting, the kind that cut right through to the bone. It matched my chest's weight. The wreckage of the stronghold lay behind us, but the scars of the war remained carved into every fiber of my existence. Ava strode ahead of me, her shoulders straight, her feet deliberate, yet I could see the weight she carried. We carried it all.
Sounds permeated the woodland around us: leaves crackling underfoot, wind blowing through the branches. But it seemed stifling and repressive. Lucia followed silently and with great caution. She seemed uncomfortable, and I didn't trust her quiet. It had peace before the tempest.
“Where do we go now?” I broke the stillness by asking. Even to my own hearing, my voice sounded empty.
Ava continued to walk. “To whatever’s nex
