Chapter 67: Night

Chapter 67: Chapter 67: Night

"No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear." — C. S. Lewis

The fire in the sandstone alcove burned down to a bed of glowing, ember red coals, casting long, fractured shadows against the ancient stone walls.

Riven did not sleep.

Across the dying fire, Lyra had finally drifted off.

Her back rested against a large boulder, her long silver blonde hair catching the faint violet glow coming from Nyx.

The little wyvern remained curled tightly across Riven’s lap.

Her steady breathing was the only sound nearby, aside from the distant howl of some wind moving through the upper ridges.

Riven looked down at Nyx.

His gloved fingers gently traced the smooth, dark scales along her spine.

Nyx shifted slightly before settling again.

Riven’s attention returned to the sleeping elf.

Lyra’s words still echoed in the back of his mind.

’That mask of yours... it’s melded to your skin, isn’t it? Tied to your core.’

She was not entirely wrong.

She was not entirely right either.

The mask was not a battlefield curse.

It was something far more complicated.

The mask had become an emotional anchor.

A reminder of what he had become after Garreth’s death.

It hid the remaining boyish edges of his face.

It concealed the vulnerability he refused to show.

More importantly, it separated the person the underworld knew from the thirteen year old orphan who still remembered the weight of Garreth’s dying hand.

The killer.

The survivor.

The boy underneath all of that.

Removing the mask meant tearing away the armor he had spent years building in the dark.

Riven’s eyes narrowed.

But there was another possibility.

A Royal Mage of the Elven Forest.

If Lyra was telling the truth, and her people possessed the high tier magic necessary to safely sever or rewrite something bound directly to his core, then the information was too valuable to ignore.

He did not trust her completely.

He did not need to.

He only needed to know whether she was telling the truth.

If there was even a chance that the mask could be removed without destroying his core, he would investigate it.

Nothing more.

Nothing less.

The embers continued to fade.

Eventually, the eastern horizon began to lighten.

Riven stood.

Nyx stirred immediately.

He lifted her from his lap and settled her onto his left shoulder. Her claws gently caught against the padded leather of his coat before she curled around his neck.

Riven glanced across the alcove.

Lyra was still asleep.

He gave her exactly three seconds.

Then he spoke.

"Get up."

Lyra POV

Lyra’s eyes snapped open.

For a moment, she had no idea where she was.

Then the cold sandstone beneath her back reminded her.

The desert.

The bandits.

Riven.

Her eyes found him standing near the edge of the alcove.

Nyx rested comfortably against his left shoulder, her violet eyes already awake and alert.

Riven looked exactly as he had the night before.

Calm.

Awake.

Completely prepared to leave.

"The scavengers will be trailing yesterday’s blood by mid morning," he said. "We move north."

Lyra stared at him for a moment.

Then she smiled.

Not because of the lack of sleep.

Not because of his harsh tone.

Because he had chosen to believe her.

Or at least, he had decided that what she knew was worth investigating.

She pushed herself to her feet and dusted off her travel stained clothes.

"So we’re going north now?"

Riven gave her a brief glance.

"Do not make me regret it."

Lyra’s smile widened.

She picked up her belongings and followed him out of the alcove.

The morning air was cold against her face.

Ahead of them stretched the rough, untamed trails leading toward the Land of Elves.

Lyra had spent most of her life surrounded by elegant halls, royal gardens, court ceremonies, princes, diplomats, and heavily armed knights.

She had never imagined that her journey home would begin like this.

Walking through a dead desert beside a masked boy.

With a tiny wyvern sitting on his shoulder.

She glanced at Riven.

He walked without hesitation.

Quiet.

Focused.

Already watching every ridge and shadow ahead.

Lyra found herself smiling again.

She had a feeling the journey north was going to be far more interesting than she had expected.