His grip was steady, pulling me up with ease, though I felt how exhausted my own legs were as they threatened to give out. Logan steadied me, his hand lingering on my arm longer than necessary. “Take it slow,” he murmured, his concern etched into his expression.
“Slow isn’t exactly an option,” Mal said as she straightened, sliding her blades back into their sheaths. “If there’s even the slightest chance something’s left behind, we need to get out of this forest now.”
“She’s right,” Liam added, his voice thin but resolute. He gestured toward the orb in my hand, his brow furrowing as he inspected it again. “Audrey’s connected to that thing. It’s stabilizing her, yes, but it’s also… unpredictable. We can’t take chances. We don’t know what other void forces might still be tied to it.”
I stared down at the orb, its pale glow steady yet strange, as though it contained more than what we understood. The bond I felt with it was undeniable-its rhythm matched my heartbeat, its energy both foreign and familiar. The thought of being apart from it sent a spike of dread through me, though I didn’t fully understand why.
“Then we keep moving,” Logan said, his tone brooking no argument. “Audrey stays close to me. Mal, you scout ahead. Liam, take the rear.”
Mal nodded, already disappearing into the trees without a word. Liam muttered something under his breath about never getting a break but obediently lingered a few steps behind as we moved forward. Logan kept me at his side, one hand hovering protectively near my arm as though he expected me to collapse again at any moment.
The forest grew quieter as we walked, the natural sounds of birds and rustling leaves returning cautiously, as if the land itself wasn’t sure whether it was safe to let down its guard. The orb pulsed faintly in my hands, its warmth seeping through my skin. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it was a constant reminder of what had transpired-and of what could still come.
“I keep wondering if we made a mistake,” I said softly, more to myself than to anyone else.
Logan’s gaze flicked to me, his golden eyes narrowing. “What do you mean?”
“Destroying the void heart. Was it the right move? Or did we just…” I trailed off, unsure how to voice the creeping doubt gnawing at me. “Did we just unleash something worse?”
Logan stopped abruptly, his hand gripping my shoulder and forcing me to face him. “Don’t,” he said firmly. “You did what no one else could. You stopped that thing. Without you, we wouldn’t even be standing here right now.”
His words were resolute, but there was an edge to them, like he was trying to convince himself as much as me. I nodded slowly, the weight of his grip grounding me. “You’re right. I know you’re right.”
“Good,” he said, his lips pressing into a hard line as he released me and started walking again.
The sun was lower in the sky by the time we reached the edge of the forest. The trees began to thin, giving way to rolling fields that stretched toward the distant silhouette of the safe zone’s walls. It should have been a comforting sight, but instead, it filled me with unease. Smoke rose from beyond the walls, faint and dark against the horizon.
Mal returned to us as we reached the treeline, her expression grim. “I scouted ahead,” she said, gesturing toward the rising plumes. “Something’s wrong. The gates are open, and it doesn’t look like they were expecting trouble.”
Logan’s jaw tightened. “What about the guards?”
“I didn’t see anyone.”
Liam let out a low curse. “That’s not a good sign. Open gates with no guards? Either they were overrun, or… or something worse happened.”
“Something worse,” Logan said bitterly. He turned to me, his hand brushing the hilt of his sword. “Stay close to me. Don’t take any risks, Audrey. If something happened there-if there’s more corruption-”
“We’ll handle it together,” I interrupted, my voice firmer than I expected.
He blinked, caught off guard, but then he nodded, his lips quirking in the faintest hint of a smile. “Together, then.”
The trek to the safe zone was faster now, urgency driving our steps. Mal moved ahead again, her movements silent and precise, while Liam and Logan stayed close to me. The orb in my hands grew warmer as we neared the open gates, its glow brightening slightly. My pulse quickened, an instinctive reaction to the energy thrumming through it.
When we stepped through the gates, the sight that greeted us was chilling. The streets were empty, abandoned supplies scattered across the ground. Crates had been overturned, market stalls left in disarray, and a few smoldering fires sent thin tendrils of smoke into the air.
“What the hell happened here?” Logan muttered, his grip on his sword tightening.
“No blood,” Mal observed, crouching to examine the ground. “No signs of a struggle. Whatever happened, they weren’t attacked in the usual way.”
I stepped forward, the orb growing warmer still, almost as if it was responding to the eerie stillness around us. The whispers that had lingered faintly in the back of my mind grew stronger, forming half-heard words that I couldn’t quite understand.
Liam was the first to notice. “Audrey…” he began, his voice tight with alarm. “The orb-”
Before he could finish, a sound broke through the silence: a low, resonant hum that seemed to vibrate through the very air. It wasn’t coming from the orb, but from somewhere deeper within the safe zone.
“What is that?” Logan demanded, already moving toward the source.
I followed, clutching the orb tightly, its glow now pulsing in time with the hum. The closer we got, the more intense the whispers became until they were nearly overwhelming. I stumbled, and Logan caught me, his grip firm as he steadied me.
“We shouldn’t be here,” Liam said, his voice tinged with fear.
“But we are,” Logan replied grimly. “So we finish this.”
We rounded a corner and froze. In the center of the safe zone’s square stood an unfamiliar figure, their silhouette obscured by a swirling shroud of dark energy. The hum grew louder, reverberating through the air like a heartbeat, and the orb in my hands flared brightly, its warmth almost burning now.
The figure turned toward us, and as the shroud began to dissipate, I felt a chill unlike anything I’d ever known. The void heart was gone-but its echoes were far from silenced.