Silence After the Storm

The sun rose like it didn't care what

they'd been through.

Nobody said a word.

They just kept walking—back down the

road, boots kicking up dust, eyes on everything and nothing all at once. The

silence between them wasn't awkward. It was heavy. Like grief had taken up

space between every footstep.

They were supposed to have answers.

Instead… they left a god behind.

Ouranus was supposed to be hope. A

guide. Someone who actually believed in them.

And now he was gone.

Mira hadn't said a single thing since

they packed up camp. She stayed at the front of the group, face unreadable,

shoulders tense. Lucien kept glancing at her but didn't press. Not today.

Jonas tried, like he always did.

"So… what now? We winging it again?"

Lucien gave him a look. "Jonas… we

been winging it since chapter one."

Elias sighed. "Ain't that the truth."

They made it to a small abandoned

outpost by sundown. No curses. No ancient traps. No whispering books. Just a

busted roof, a place to breathe, and silence that stretched too wide.

It felt wrong.

Too normal.

They cooked what little food they had

left. Mira barely touched hers. Krane did his usual first-watch routine, pacing

by the edge of camp like trouble might tap him on the shoulder at any second.

Jonas poked at the fire with a stick.

"We should be celebrating, right? I mean… we're alive."

Lucien leaned back against her bag.

"Yeah. Funny how alive still feels like losing."

No one argued.

They stayed up for a while—watching

the flames, not talking much. For once, nothing was trying to kill them. No

monsters. No tests. No book flipping open in the middle of the night to whisper

something awful.

It should've felt like a break.

But instead?

It felt like something worse was

loading in the background.

Krane sat beside Elias without a word.

Mira eventually lay down, one arm over her eyes. Even Dave, who always joked

late into the night, just laid flat staring at the stars like he was waiting

for one to fall.

Lucien stayed up the longest.

Just staring into the fire.

Wondering what it would cost them

next.

The fire was down to its last ember.

Just a faint orange flicker, barely holding on.

Lucien couldn't sleep.

Not because of nightmares—but because

there were none. No whispers from the book. No enemies creeping. No visions.

Just silence.

The kind that makes you feel like the

world forgot to breathe.

She sat up, rubbing the back of her

neck. Something felt off. Like the ground was humming beneath her, but not from

footsteps. From something bigger. Older.

Then she felt it.

A low tremor under her boots—steady,

rhythmic. Like something massive was moving beneath the earth. The kind of

shake that doesn't ask permission.

She stood. "Mira."

Mira sat up instantly, hand already

glowing. "You feel that too?"

Krane groaned, stretching. "What now?"

And then… the world broke.

The sky warped like shattered glass,

and in the blink of an eye—

—they weren't in the desert anymore.

They were standing in London. Rain.

Cobblestones. A crooked alley.

Then snap—

Paris.

Eiffel Tower looming above them,

lights flickering.

Then again—

Germany.

Then Norway.

Then a blinding flash and they were

falling through space, their bodies weightless. Dizzy.

"Okaywhat the actual hell" Jonas

shouted,

Another flash.

Now Egypt.

Hot. Dry. Ancient stone all around.

And just like that, it stopped.

Everything still. Silent. But their

legs were shaky, like the world had yanked the rug out from under them.

Dave was on the ground, trying not to

throw up. "We… just teleported through half the planet."

Elias was panting, looking around like

he was trying to wake up. "That wasn't magic. That was… displacement."

Lucien looked up.

A crack in the sky.

Just a thin line barely visible. But

real. Pulsing.

The stars above it twitched, bending

out of place. The earth below them felt like it was waiting.

And then the tremor came back. Louder.

Deeper. Like a giant dragging its limbs across the crust of the planet.

Mira's voice was quiet.

"…That's him."

Lucien didn't need to ask who.

Krane was already checking his weapon.

Jonas stood still, unusually serious.

"Vaelen's on the move," Lucien said.

And the fire behind them went out.

All at once.