Three weeks had passed since Zuberi had joined them.
The land had changed with them; the cracked ridges of Yavenga's Rise giving way to open stretches of rocky plains and wind-swept valleys. Their camp for the night sat nestled against the base of a weathered cliff, a natural hollow carved by centuries of rain and floods. Beyond it, the horizon stretched wide and empty, painted in muted hues of orange and blue as dusk fell.
The fire at their camp burned low, casting long shadows across the clearing.
Kazi crouched in the dust, breathing steadily, her muscles coiled and ready. Across from her, Dakarai flexed his fingers, small arcs of lightning dancing between his knuckles, while Zuberi stood like a stone pillar, grounded and calm.
They moved without words.
Dakarai struck first — a sharp bolt flashing toward Kazi's left side. She pivoted low, feeling the charge skim past her, and retaliated with a burst of flame aimed at Zuberi's position. But Zuberi was already moving, molding the ground beneath him to slide backward, the flame washing harmlessly over the stone.
Kazi grinned fiercely.
They were better. All of them.
Dakarai circled, his movements faster than she remembered. His Volt Mark glowed faintly under his skin, the lightning sharper, more focused.
He wasn't just throwing power anymore, he was aiming it.
When he lunged again, Kazi ducked and countered, snapping a whip of flame toward his exposed side. But Zuberi intervened, raising a low wall of earth to absorb the blow. Dakarai rolled with the movement, pivoting behind the wall, sending a jolt of electricity through the stone.
Kazi felt the crackle at her feet a split-second before she reacted, leaping backward to avoid the surge.
"Better," she called across the clearing, breathless.
Dakarai flashed a grin. "You're just slower."
"Keep talking," she shot back.
They reset positions, circling again.
This time, Kazi moved first, charging straight at Zuberi. Flames coiled around her arms, her Mark pulsing with heat. Zuberi held his ground, stone creeping up his legs like armor, but she was faster; feinting left and breaking right, forcing him to pivot.
She pressed the advantage, forcing him into Dakarai's path.
Without needing to speak, Dakarai unleashed a low volley of lightning at the ground near Zuberi's feet, not to harm him, but to drive him backward into Kazi's strike zone.
Zuberi smirked slightly as he realized it.
But instead of retreating, he stomped the earth — sending a sharp pillar of stone erupting between them, breaking the formation.
Kazi skidded to a halt, Dakarai cursed, and Zuberi simply crossed his arms, watching them coolly.
"Not bad," he said. "But you telegraph your moves when you get cocky."
Kazi blew out a frustrated breath, brushing dust off her sleeves. Dakarai just shook his head, laughing under his breath.
From the edge of the clearing, Rhazir watched.
He leaned against a boulder, arms folded, his expression unreadable. Only his eyes moved, tracking each step, each strike, each hesitation.
"You're improving," he said finally, voice carrying easily across the clearing.
"But you're still relying too much on raw instinct."
They gathered near the fire, the adrenaline slowly bleeding from their limbs.
Kazi sat cross-legged, nursing a bruise on her forearm. Dakarai dropped onto a stone beside her, flicking small sparks from his fingertips into the dirt. Zuberi remained standing, always seeming to root himself into the ground even when at rest.
As the fire crackled between them, Kazi spoke.
"You knew about it, didn't you?"
Rhazir raised an eyebrow lazily. "About what?"
"The Mark stages."
Dakarai glanced up, interested.
"You knew the Mark wasn't... finished," Kazi pressed. "That it grows."
The silence stretched a moment longer than was comfortable.
Finally, Rhazir shrugged.
"Few bearers survive long enough for it to matter," he said. "And fewer still can handle the burden when it comes."
"That's not an answer," Kazi said, sharper than she intended.
Rhazir's lips curved into a faint, humorless smile.
"Knowledge is dangerous when given too soon," he said. "Would you have focused on your training... or obsessed over the Mark?"
Kazi scowled, but she couldn't deny the point. Still, something about the way he said it, so easily, so practiced, put her on edge.
She glanced down at her own arm, flexing her fingers.
The thin, tribal patterns that once wrapped only her forearm had started to creep upward, faint new lines tracing toward her elbow. Subtle, but unmistakable.
Dakarai noticed too.
"You're changing," he said, not unkindly.
"Means you're finally dangerous," he added with a grin.
Kazi smiled faintly but didn't answer.
Because deep down, she wasn't sure if the change made her stronger, or just a bigger target.
That night, as the campfire burned low and the stars spread overhead, the group rested.
Tomorrow they would move east, toward the next resonance flare Rhazir claimed to have detected. Another abandoned village. Another mystery waiting for them.
For now, though, there was peace.
At least on the surface.