Chapter 4: Echoes of Lucia

The morning fog in Vaelhara wasn't just cold air clinging to the skin.

It was a veil—one that deliberately chose what to hide.

And today, the fog felt heavier. Deeper.

Hanae walked behind Rhett, her steps steady despite the narrow, slippery path tangled with creeping roots.

Rhett hadn't spoken since they left. Hanae didn't press him. She knew—sometimes, silence was more honest than words.

"If you get lost, I won't come looking for you," Rhett muttered, still facing forward.

"I won't get lost," Hanae replied lightly. "I can follow the path you leave behind. Don't worry."

"Hmph." Rhett leaped over a fallen tree trunk, his movement quick, almost like a shadow. "Don't expect to find a vampire out here."

"I'm not looking for a vampire. I'm looking for the remnants of a severed spirit."

Rhett was quiet for a moment before adding, his voice softer, as if speaking to himself,

"Don't hope this will prove Merek right."

Hanae watched his back. "You don't want him to be right?"

Rhett clenched his jaw. "I want him to be right… but I'm afraid he's not. I'm afraid he's just clinging to an excuse for losing Lucia. I'm afraid he's… making it up."

"Then why did you come here?"

"Because if he's right and I did nothing… I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

Hanae didn't respond. She understood that kind of wound—the one born not from loss, but from helplessness.

They walked on in silence.

The forest grew denser, the path harder to trace.

The air around them flowed like a thin river—spirit trails—but there was a disturbance, a pattern that should have been straight but now twisted, like a harp string snapped by a sharp claw.

Hanae stopped, running her palm through the air, feeling the faint imprint on her skin.

"Here," she murmured. "Lucia once stood here."

Rhett's gaze snapped to her. "How can you tell?"

"Spirits leave echoes—like a breath on glass. This path still holds fragments of her."

Hanae crouched down, her fingers brushing the moss-covered ground.

"And this…" she whispered, "this isn't a human trace."

Rhett stepped closer, his breathing uneven. "What do you mean?"

"There's a fracture here." Hanae pointed at a barely visible tear in the spirit trail. "Something pierced through this path from the outside. This isn't a shifter's trace. It's not from the natural spirits either."

She swept her hand through the air again, her face hardening.

"It's like… a vampire's bite."

Rhett stiffened. "A vampire?"

"Their bites leave wounds on spirit trails. Usually faint, but this pattern—this is too deliberate. This wasn't a random hunt. This bite was meant to sever the bond."

Rhett froze. His expression shifted—from suspicion to a mix of rage and shock.

"So… Merek was right," he whispered. "All this time, he was right. And all of us—me—we thought he'd lost his mind."

Hanae held his gaze. "You wanted to believe him. But you were afraid he was holding onto false hope."

Rhett's fists clenched tight. "And I let him fight alone."

"You came here," Hanae said calmly. "You didn't turn your back on him. That's enough to prove you still care."

"But I came too late."

"Not necessarily." Hanae traced the path further. "There's still a lingering trail heading west. This vampire… they weren't just hunting Lucia. I think they left something behind. Maybe they're not done."

Rhett's breath hitched, his voice rough when he finally spoke.

"The Circle searched for her." His tone was low, bitter. "The first few weeks after Lucia vanished, we all came here. We tracked every fracture in the spirit paths, we scoured the woods, we even summoned elders from outside our borders."

He kicked a small stone in frustration.

"But the trail always ended here. Always." His eyes darkened as he stared at the spot, as if it were an invisible wall he couldn't break through.

"They told me maybe Lucia didn't want to be found."

"You don't believe that?" Hanae asked gently.

Rhett shook his head firmly. "No. I know Lucia. She wouldn't just vanish. She wouldn't leave Merek like this."

"And after everyone else stopped searching… you kept coming back here?"

"I came back every week." Rhett's voice hardened with defiance. "Even when Aren told me to start letting go. Even when our family began to avoid talking about her. I didn't care. I kept searching, even when the trail always stopped here."

Hanae watched him for a long moment, then allowed a small smile. "You're more stubborn than I thought."

"You haven't seen the half of it."

Hanae stepped toward the faint trail veering west. "Tomorrow, we'll continue. This trail isn't done speaking."

Rhett let out a long breath, but it was lighter this time. "You're not as bad as I thought, Sentinel."

"And you're easier to talk to than I expected," Hanae answered without turning back.

Rhett gave a small, almost hidden smile.

Maybe, he thought, he could survive working with this outsider.

At least, for now.