Ekreth POVThe mountains never slept, and neither did he.Long after Lyra and Nyxar had vanished into the hush of the campfires, Ekreth stood beneath the crooked bones of a lightning-blasted tree near the old borderstones, eyes fixed on the sky.The stars looked different here. Lower. Closer. Hung like spears instead of diamonds.He felt her before he heard her. A shift in the air. A scent like cracked obsidian and old fire.“You always did favor dramatic entrances,” he said without turning.“I learned from the best,” came the reply - dry as stone, threaded with heat.Ekreth turned slowly.Maeraxa, First of the Ashen Coil, descended from the shadows between the peaks like she’d never left them. Her wings shimmered faintly behind her humanoid form - not fully hidden, not fully revealed. She moved like smoke - beautiful, deadly, old.“You shouldn’t be here,” he said.“Neither should you.”They stood facing each other, a breath apart, a history unspoken between them.“I saw the fire,” sh
Last Updated : 2025-06-19 Read more