The Ash Between Us

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The forest of Velwyn stirred with ancient breath.

Trees stood like silent sentinels, their canopies woven thick enough to hide even the stars. Sunlight pierced through in fractured beams, catching dust motes in golden suspension. The wind was hushed—as if listening.

In a quiet grove near a bubbling stream, the group rested. Bruises faded. Bones reset. The pain of battle became memory.

Asteria stood with his arms folded as Cain circled him, humming softly.

> "Your stance is too rigid," Cain muttered. "You're a walking lightning rod, not a stone."

> "You'd prefer I float like smoke?" Asteria raised a brow.

> "I'd prefer you not get skewered because your pride's heavier than your fists."

Nearby, Tarn and Seri clashed with sparring sticks, laughing between strikes.

> "Ow—gods, Tarn! That was my rib!"

> "Better bruised now than broken later," he grinned, tossing her a leaf-wrapped salve.

Mira sat on a log, palms open, water spinning between them in soft, mesmerizing coils. She smiled at them—calmer than she had been in days.

> "This is… nice," she whispered.

Cain nodded, sitting beside her. "A moment's peace. We don't get many."

Asteria crossed the clearing and dropped onto the grass beside them. The quiet was warm. Familiar. For a rare moment, they weren't warriors—they were friends.

Tarn leaned back, sighing.

> "Remember when a pack of drunk bandits nearly took us out at Brimstone Hollow?"

Seri chuckled. "You mean you let them tie you to a wagon because you thought they were actors?"

> "Hey—they had props!"

They burst into laughter.

> "And you," Tarn pointed at Asteria, "couldn't light a candle without blowing your eyebrows off. Remember that?"

Asteria rolled his eyes but smiled. "I remember Mira nearly drowning me in a barrel trying to 'cool the sparks.'"

Mira stifled a laugh. "You're welcome. I saved your pretty face."

Cain folded his arms. "You've all grown. But still…" His tone dropped into a murmur. "How did he become the Prime?"

The laughter faded slightly, but not unkindly.

Asteria looked down at his hands. Sparks curled between his fingers.

> "I don't know," he said quietly. "Sometimes I still wake up expecting it to be gone."

---

Later, Mira walked with Asteria near the stream. The light touched her hair in soft hues, and for the first time in days, her shoulders had lost their weight.

> "You looked happy earlier," she said.

> "You smiled."

Asteria looked sideways. "Did I?"

> "Just barely."

> "Then you must be imagining things," he said, but there was the hint of warmth behind the words.

They stopped beside the water.

> "They believe in you," Mira said.

> "Do you?" he asked, voice quiet.

A pause.

> "I've seen the worst in people, Asteria. But you… you burn for others, not for yourself. That's rare."

She turned to him. "So yes. I do."

Their eyes held for a moment longer than usual. No words. Just shared air. Shared stillness.

---

Then—

A sharp gasp.

A ragged, desperate breath.

They turned.

Valron.

He was sitting upright, eyes wide, chest heaving.

> "Where—?!" he cried, fists clenched. "Where am I?!"

Tarn and Cain rushed over, Mira beside them. Seri approached slowly, careful.

> "You're safe, Valron," Mira said softly. "You're with us."

> "We got you out," Tarn added. "You've been unconscious for two days."

Valron's gaze darted around the clearing, wild with disbelief. Sweat beaded on his brow. He gripped the earth beneath him like it might vanish.

> "You… you left me."

> "We never would," Mira said immediately. "We carried you through fire and ash. You didn't see it, but we never stopped trying."

He looked at her, then at the others.

His breathing slowed. But the shadows in his eyes did not fade.

And then—Asteria stepped into view.

Valron's eyes locked on him.

A strange silence fell.

There was no greeting. No smile. No words.

Just a look.

Long. Measured.

Something unreadable passed between them.

Not hatred.

Not fear.

But something sharp and distant—like a memory that refused to fade.

Asteria nodded once.

> "Glad you're awake."

Valron didn't answer.

And the forest, for the first time since their arrival, felt colder.

---

The fire had burned low. Only soft orange light pulsed now, casting their resting forms in a warm hush. The group was gathered again—Valron seated upright, Mira beside him, Seri leaning back against a stone, and Cain watching from the edge of the tree line, always alert. Asteria sat closest to the flames, arms loosely draped over his knees.

Valron's eyes were clearer now, though something behind them still clouded.

> "You feeling better?" Tarn asked gently, tossing him a waterskin.

Valron caught it without a word, drank slowly, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

> "I'm not sure," he muttered. "My body's fine. But my head…"

He frowned.

> "I don't remember what happened. Not down there."

Mira leaned forward. "You don't remember anything?"

> "I remember falling." His voice was hoarse. "I remember screaming. Then… just pieces. Flickers of heat. A shadow. A whisper, maybe. And then nothing."

A heavy silence followed.

Asteria's brows furrowed. "Something blocked your memory."

> "Or someone," Cain muttered darkly.

---

Silence followed. The fire crackled softly.

Then Asteria spoke.

"There must be a way to find out how I got these powers"

Mira hesitated then turned to Seri. "You were born in the palace. Raised in it. You must know someone who could help."

Seri's jaw tightened. She hesitated.

> "There was... someone. Not part of the royal court. A seer. An old woman said to be older than the palace itself. She never left the shadows."

Cain leaned in. "And she might know who—or what—Asteria really is?"

Seri nodded, though her face was troubled. "She was the only one my mother feared. The only one who spoke prophecy without needing permission."

Tarn narrowed his eyes. "Where is she?"

Seri hesitated again, then exhaled sharply.

> "She lives... beneath the palace. Deep in the lower sanctum. Past the sealed dungeons."

Cain cursed under his breath. "Of course she does."

Mira blinked. "Why didn't you tell us this before?"

Seri met Asteria's gaze.

> "Because if you go back there, if you step foot in that place again... it won't just be guards and blades waiting. That sanctum changes people. Some say time itself bends down there."

Asteria stood slowly, his expression unreadable.

> "If she knows who I am—why this power chose me—I'll face whatever's down there."

Cain sighed and cracked his knuckles. "We just got out, and now we're planning to break back in?"

Valron finally spoke, his voice raw but steady. "Then I'm going with you."

Everyone turned.

> "You just woke up," Tarn said.

> "And we're all still waking up to who we really are," Valron replied.

Seri looked at the group—torn, exhausted, determined.

Then quietly:

> "We'll need more than strength to survive the path to her. We'll need to be ready… to see truths we may not want."

> "Then we go. Together."

As Mira placed her hand gently on Asteria's arm, her touch soft but sure, something flickered across Valron's face.

Not anger.

Not surprise.

Something quieter. Sharper.

A shadow in his eyes—there and gone. A slight narrowing, a breath caught in the back of his throat. He looked away too quickly.

> "Of course she'd choose him," he thought, the bitterness buried beneath layers of loyalty.

But he said nothing.

Not yet.

And in the wind, the forest rustled again—as if something old had been listening.

And had just begun to stir.

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