They sat together in companionable silence, watching as a handful of soldiers filtered into the courtyard to begin their training. Words were not always necessary between them. The quiet stretched easily, filled with the comfort of shared presence. Ash often wondered what the world might feel like without Hagan beside him, without that steady, grounding forceat his side, guiding him through the darkness.
Hagan gave his arm a gentle pat, offering a familiar smile, softened by understanding that shimmered in the warm depths of his brown eyes.
‘Ash.’
His name came like a distant echo, pulling him back. Ash’s eyes opened slowly, his chest tightening with the weight of memory. He blinked, disoriented, as the past bled away, and the present returned with sharp clarity. He was no longer in the courtyard, but back at the witch temple, seated once again before the ancient stone table.
Adriana stood before him, leaning over with her hands braced on the surface, her expression carved from worry. Her obsidian eyes had hardened now, that familiar glint of frustration flickering behind them. He knew she was growing weary of his silence, of his detachment. He had offered them no answers, no plans, only sat still, adrift in the ruins of memory. Memories that clung to his chest like a weight, sometimes dragging tears from his eyes when no one was looking.
But there was a balm to that pain, too. In the fleeting glimpses of what was to come, he saw her. His daughter. And in those flashes of the future, the ache ebbed, just enough to keep him breathing.
‘Everyone is growing restless,’ Adriana said as she pulled out the stone chair to his right and sank into it. She leaned forward, resting her forearms against the weathered table, her eyes drifting over the dust and fallen leaves that cloaked its surface like a forgotten shroud. ‘I think it's time we began searching for a way out of this place.’
‘You c-cannot,’ Ash replied softly.
‘You keep saying that,’ she countered, glancing at him. ‘But tell me, why should I trust you?’
‘Magic can only be b-broken with ma-magic.’
‘That may be true, but…’ She hesitated, the word lingering like a held breath.
‘But?’ Ash watched her intently, wondering whether she would finally tread the path he feared, one that led only towards danger.
‘I’m a goddess,’ she said at last. ‘Stronger than witch magic.’
Ash leaned back in his chair, the ghost of a frown tugging at the corners of his lips. ‘You are.’
Adriana narrowed her eyes. ‘Aren’t you going to stop me?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
Ash inhaled slowly, casting his gaze upwards to the crumbling temple around them. Sunlight filtered through a yawning gap in the shattered roof, gilding the stone floor with golden light. It was a breathtaking ruin. Sacred, silent, and slowly decaying in a world long since touched by rot.
‘It seems fitting,’ he replied. ‘To let the b-broken choose their ruin.’
Adriana’s eyes widened.
‘If you use your p-powers, those who hunt you will find you,’ Ash added gently, his voice barely more than a whisper. ‘And it’s too soon yet for that.’ He leaned forward, his golden eyes locking with hers, luminous and solemn. ‘Eris and Enyo want you d-dead.’
Adriana stiffened, her fingers curling into tight fists against the stone table.
‘For now, within these walls, you are sa-safe,’ Ash added softly.
‘But the day will come when I am not,’ she said, her voice shadowed with foreboding. ‘And I cannot remain in hiding forever.’
Ashgave a slow, thoughtful nod. ‘That much is true.’
‘Do you know where they are?’ Adriana asked, her voice quiet, tinged with sorrow.
Ash nodded again, eyes distant as if reaching through memories and fragments of prophecy. ‘Enyo has taken po-possession of a mortal v-vessel in the south. She goes by the n-name Saren.’ He paused, letting the knowledge settle like ash. ‘And Eris is marching n-north, cloaked in a witch’s b-body. Vera.’
‘Then we should head north,’ Adriana said sharply, urgency flaring in her voice. ‘Stop Vera before she enacts whatever darkness she’s plotting.’
‘No. We c-cannot. It is too soon.’
‘Too soon for what?’ she snapped, her dark eyes igniting with fire, fury trembling beneath the surface.
