By the time Marcus and Erin returned to camp, the firelight had dimmed to glowing embers. Most of the soldiers were asleep, huddled in furs, while the remaining survivors were being tended by healers under lantern glow. The air was heavy—not just with fatigue, but with something else. An unspoken tension that crept into the bones.
Marcus dismounted and handed the reins to a squire. "Anything while we were gone?"
Sir Calder approached, brows furrowed. "We had a visitor. Of sorts."
Erin stepped in. "What does of sorts mean?"
Calder pointed to a nearby tent, its flap loosely tied. "She's waiting for you. Says her name is Lysaria. Refused food. Refused to speak to anyone else."
Marcus and Erin exchanged a look. Then Marcus nodded. "We'll see her."
Inside the tent, the air was thick with incense—jasmine and something spicier, sharper. A single candle flickered at the center, casting long shadows. And seated cross-legged on a woven mat was a woman who seemed untouched by the dust and ash outside.
She wore a midnight blue cloak threaded with silver, her face partially veiled, eyes the color of moonstone. They reflected the candlelight with a subtle glow.
"You are late," she said without looking up.
Marcus frowned. "You expected us?"
Lysaria finally lifted her gaze. "I called you."
Erin folded her arms. "Funny. We don't answer to veiled mystics in the woods."
"You did tonight."
Silence. Marcus stepped forward cautiously. "Who are you?"
Lysaria tilted her head. "A friend. For now."
"That doesn't answer anything."
"No," she agreed, smiling faintly. "But it does keep you listening."
Erin glanced at Marcus. "She's infuriating. I like her already."
Lysaria stood, her movements graceful and almost unreal. "I come from the Silent Reach. A convent built where the Veil between worlds is thin. We study what others fear."
"The Crowborn," Marcus said.
"And the things beyond them," Lysaria confirmed. "Something stirs behind the gates they seek to open. You have seen only pawns. The true player is waking."
Marcus's grip on the Covenant blade tightened. "Then tell us how to stop it."
"You can't," she said softly. "Not yet. But you can delay it."
"How?"
Lysaria stepped closer, reaching into her cloak and pulling out a crystal vial filled with shimmering liquid. "This is essence drawn from the Well of Whispers. If poured onto the ashes of a summoning stone, it reveals the name of the one who marked it."
Marcus took the vial carefully. "Why help us?"
She looked between them. "Because the world doesn't need another false king, or a mad god rising. And because... fate likes you two."
Erin snorted. "Fate has a sick sense of humor."
Lysaria smiled again, then turned to leave.
"Wait," Marcus said. "If you know so much—tell us this. What's coming?"
Lysaria paused at the tent's entrance, her silhouette framed by moonlight.
"A shadow with many faces. One of them... wears your father's."
She was gone before either of them could speak.
---
The next morning, Marcus stood at the edge of the blackened monolith site. The shattered stone lay cracked in the ground, but the red glow had long since faded. Erin uncorked the vial and let a single drop fall onto the stone.
The reaction was instant.
A column of pale fire erupted upward, etching glowing letters into the air—drifting, ancient script that shimmered and pulsed.
Erin read them aloud slowly. "Valemortis."
Marcus's stomach turned. "That's a name."
"It's not just a name," she whispered. "It's your name. Twisted."
Valemortis—the death of Valor. The corruption of the Valebourne line.
Suddenly, Marcus saw it all clearly. The whispers. The visions. The Crowborn didn't want just destruction.
They wanted him.
"What if this whole time," Marcus said, his voice hoarse, "they weren't just trying to kill me… but to turn me?"
Erin shook her head. "That's not going to happen."
"You don't know that."
She grabbed his arm. "No. But I know you. And whatever this is—whatever they're planning—we face it together."
He looked into her eyes.
And for the first time, he was afraid—not of death, or even failure.
But of losing himself.