A Leap Into the Unknown

The fortress was colder than normal.

It wasn't the changing seasons or the piping winds along the stone corridors. It was something else. Something heavier.

The kind of cold that seeped into spots no fire could drive away.

I tore my eyes from the sky to adjust my cloak, gripping the weathered fabric just a tad too tight. The weight of that dream last night still clung to me — a voice that belonged to nothing alive, telling me it was as if I were already doomed.

"Another that doesn't take pity."

I exhaled through my nose. I hadn't told Asura about it. Not yet.

She walked next to me, as quiet as ever, her footfalls carefully measured, her concentration inscrutable. She'd hardly spoken at all since the archives. But that's the way she was when she thought. She didn't use words when silence was more effective.

I knew her well enough to know what that meant.

She felt it, too.

Something had changed.

...

We discovered Rodric exactly where we had left him — in the old barracks, seated at his table, a mug of something potent resting beside his hands.

He appeared not to be surprised by our arrival.

If anything, he appeared to have been waiting for it.

He looked between the two of us before settling his gaze on me. "You're still alive."

I leaned against the doorway. "I have a track record for disappointing people."

A grunt, barely amused. "You came for answers."

Asura crossed her arms. "You gave us a number. What does it mean?"

Rodric pressed his lips into a thin line.

I had witnessed men's fear before. But this was not the type of fear that made you flinch.

It was the sort of fear that had settled in deep. The sort that had been lived with for decades, at least.

He sipped slowly from his mug. And then, without looking at us, he said.

"The number of those knights who have gone missing before Aldric."

The words hit like a knife to the ribs.

I stared at him. "How many?"

He exhaled. "Thirty-seven."

The breath left my lungs.

Thirty-seven.

This was not just a couple of disappearances.

This was not a mystery.

This was a massacre.

...

Asura was the first to speak.

"Who was the first?"

Rodric drummed his fingers against the mug, slow and deliberate.

His next words were quieter. "Sir Etros."

The name meant nothing to me.

But Asura stiffened.

I turned to her. "You know that name."

Her expression had soured and her jaw had clenched. "He used to be one of the order's highest-ranking knights."

Rodric nodded. "And the first to be erased."

The last pieces were beginning to fall in place. But the picture they built wasn't one I wanted to look at.

I took a slow breath. "What did he know?"

Rodric shook his head. "It wasn't what he knew. It was what he believed."

I frowned. "Explain."

Rodric's gaze was far away now. "Etros was different. He believed in mercy. But not the kind you think."

A chill settled in my spine. I knew what he would say before he said it.

"He thought death was the only real kindness."

Silence.

A long, heavy silence.

Asura exhaled slowly. "And he acted on it."

Rodric pressed his lips into a thin line. "You don't understand. He didn't just kill. He chose."

I felt my stomach twist. "Chose what?"

Rodric leaned in a bit, his voice lower. "Who deserved to suffer? And who deserved release."

I swallowed.

This wasn't just a killer.

This was a person who believed they were doing the right thing.

I glanced at Asura. Her face revealed little.

But I saw the tension in her shoulders.

She felt the enormity of this.

And that's what made it even harder.

Because this was not merely history.

This was happening again.

...

Rodric eventually stood, setting his mug on the desk with a quiet thump. "You wanted answers. Now you have them."

I shook my head. "Not enough."

His gaze darkened. "Then you're looking for a grave, boy."

I held his stare. "Maybe."

His lips shifted a little bit but there was no humor in it.

Asura stepped forward. "If this started with Etros, well, he had followers.

Rodric's expression shifted.

And that was the answer.

She was right.

Etros was gone. Erased.

Not that his beliefs had died with him.

I exhaled slowly. "Someone is following through with his work."

Rodric was silent.

Because he knew.

And he was afraid.

...

Rodric faced away from us, reaching into his desk for something. A moment later, he flung a folded scrap of parchment across the table.

Asura grabbed it first, opening it up.

A single name.

I read it.

And my stomach turned to ice.

I had never heard it before.

But I felt, deep in my bones, that this was no ordinary knight.

This was a person we were never supposed to find.

Asura clenched the parchment in her fingers.

She met my gaze.

And in her eyes, I saw for the first time something resembling fear.

She didn't speak.

She didn't have to.

I already knew.

This was the start of something much worse than we had anticipated.

The parchment seemed heavier than it ought to have been.

It was just paper. Just ink. Only the name it bore was something different.

A weight. A finality.

Asura stared at it for a long moment and then folded it, tucking it into her cloak. She didn't speak.

Rodric's arms were crossed over his broad chest, and he was watching us with caution. "Take my advice, boy." Now, his voice was softer, more gruff. "Walk away. Forget you ever heard that name."

I exhaled through my nose. "You know that's never going to happen."

A slow shake of his head. "Well in that case I hope you're ready to bleed for it."

I clenched my fists. I already have.

Asura half turned toward me. "We need to go."

I nodded once. But just before I could do so, Rodric spoke up.

"Alarion."

I turned back.

His face remained a mask, and yet there was something in his eyes. Something different.

Regret.

"I trained Aldric," he said. "I trained men before him. And now, I see that in you."

I frowned. "What's that?"

Rodric's jaw tightened. "The ones who question never get far enough to regret it."

A chill settled over me.

A warning. A truth. A challenge.

I met his gaze. "Then I suppose we'll see how far I get."

His lips twitched. Almost a smirk. For all that they were able to respect each other.

That's all he said as we walked away.

....

The air was biting and cold on my skin.

We walked in silence for some time, the fortress towers above us, the faraway clang of clashing swords ringing from the training yard.

The world hadn't changed.

But I had.

I could feel it.

Something had changed, something beyond repair.

It was Asura who spoke first, her voice low. "You felt it too."

I nodded. "Rodric wasn't lying."

She cocked her head a bit and stared at me. "You're thinking too much."

I let out a breath. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

She smirked. "Depends. Are you the reckless type?"

I shrugged. "Probably."

She hummed. "Then it's a bad thing."

I scoffed but didn't argue.

Then her smirk disappeared, replaced with something more pensive. "That name…"

I glanced at her.

She didn't look at me. But she felt her fingers twitch, just once, over the fabric of her cloak where the parchment lay hidden.

She was thinking about it.

Turning it over in her mind.

I looked her over for a second then blew air out. "We are not prepared for this at all, are we?"

Verbosity had left her, and she was silent.

Then—"No."

The truth of it hung between us.

A rare thing.

I swallowed and looked up at the sky. The clouds had turned a little darker, the sun trying but failing to break through.

And I thought that soon enough, it wouldn't come through at all.

The war we were entering was already happening.

We just hadn't noticed it until now.