Ashes and Echoes

The sun had already risen high above the trees by the time the battered group reached the outskirts of town. Morning light spilled over weathered rooftops and stone walls, bathing the Adventurer’s Guild in gold. But none of them noticed.Kael walked with a stagger in his step; one arm draped heavily over Shin’s shoulders for support. Shin, barely conscious himself, kept his head down, jaw clenched against the stabbing pain that flared with every step. His body was a battlefield of bruises, torn muscle, and exhaustion.’

Behind them, Rurik lumbered forward, his beard stained red, both axes gone. His chest rose and fell in shallow gasps. Reina hovered beside him, one arm holding Kaen’s unresponsive form upright. Kaen’s head lolled to the side, his face pale, his shoulder crudely bound in a sling of cloth and magic.

The guild’s front courtyard fell silent as they entered. Conversations halted mid-sentence. Even the clatter of mugs from the guild tavern went still.

Someone whispered, “That’s them. The party sent after the abyss-touched beast.”
Another gasped, seeing Kael’s bloodstained armor and Shin’s limp, hollow-eyed stare. “Are they even alive…?”
Guild staff rushed out from the hall-healers, assistants, even the burly quartermaster with his arms full of clean bandages. Without a word, the five adventurers were surrounded and whisked off to the infirmary wing behind the guild, past polished oak doors and down narrow halls lined with old quest notices and weathered paintings of former champions.

The infirmary smelled of herbs, blood, and damp linen. Pale sunlight filtered through the tall glass windows, painting the beds in dapple warmth. Somewhere in the quiet, water dripped steadily into a basin. The hush was broken only by the shuffle of healers’ feet, the low murmur of whispered instructions.
Shin awoke slowly.
His body felt like lead. He blinked up at the wooden ceiling, unfamiliar patterns dancing between his blurred vision. Everything hurt. Even breathing.
He turned his head and winced.

White linen wrapped his torso tightly. His left arm was bandaged elbow to wrist. His fingers were stiff, scraped raw in places. The faint scent of dried blood still clung to his hair and skin, even beneath the layer of salve. Across the room, a curtain rustled, and he heard a soft voice.

“Shin…?”
Reina. Her voice was hoarse, but warm.
He turned his head and saw her sitting upright on the cot to his left, her staff propped beside the bed, her fingers twined around a half-empty cup of herbal tea. Her shoulder was bandaged, and her usual braid hung loose around her face.
“Hey,” he rasped.
“You’re awake,” she whispered, eyes shining. “You’ve been asleep for almost a whole day. We were worried.
Shin nodded faintly. “Are the others…?”
“Alive,” Reina said. “Hurt. Bad. But alive.”
He studied her face, pale but smiling faintly. “And you? Have you slept?”

She laughed softly, brushing a hand under her eye. “Barely. Someone had to make sure you didn’t start glowing again in your sleep.”
The curtain to the far side of the room fluttered again. Rurik’s voice grumbled from somewhere beyond it. “Of course I’m alive, woman. That beast would’ve needed two more heads to keep me down.”“And a better sense of aim,” Kaen added weakly, his voice muffled but unmistakably smug.
A laugh escaped Shin’s chest-and then immediately turned into a wince.
Kael lay in the next bed, bandages wrapping his torso and arms. His sword rested on the floor beside him, clean and silent. He turned his head slowly toward Shin.
“You moved well,” Kael said simply. “In that last fight.”

Shin hesitated. His mouth went dry.
“Thanks… but I don’t know what happened.”
Reina looked down at her tea. Kael’s gaze didn’t waver.
“Something did,” Kael said. “Even Rurik saw it.”
From behind the curtain, the dwarf grunted. “That blade of yours lit up like a forge flame. Not just adrenaline, kid.”
Shin gripped his blanket between his fingers. The memory flashed again-his body moving on its own, the glowing blade, the way the air had pulsed around him.
> It wasn’t me. Or… not just me.
He stared down at his hands. They looked normal now. Just hands. Shaking slightly. Scarred, but familiar.
“I don’t know what it was,” Shin admitted. “It just… happened.”

Kaen chuckled, then groaned. “Yeah, well… whatever it was, it saved all our asses.”

Reina offered him a small smile. “You saved Kael. You saved us.”
Shin swallowed hard. “I was scared. I didn’t want to lose any of you.”
Silence settled briefly over the room.
Kael exhaled. “Then hold onto that. Because fear isn’t weakness. Not if you fight through it.”
A healer entered the room then, carrying a tray of folded bandages, vials of tonic and a faintly glowing crystal orb. She smiled at Reina first, then stepped over to Shin’s bedside.

“You’ve all got bones of steel and luck thicker than a wyvern’s hide,” she said, gently checking Shin’s pulse. “You in particular, young man. Chest trauma, fractured ribs, severe magic exhaustion-and you’re still lucid.”
“Barely,” Shin mumbled.
“You’ll be sore for weeks,” the healer continued, applying a fresh salve along his forearm. “But no internal corruption. That’s something. Abyssal injuries tend to… linger.”
Her tone lowered subtly at that. Shin didn’t miss the shadow in her eyes.
As she moved on to Kael’s cot, Shin turn toward the window. Sunlight glinted off the rooftops of Nevernight. For a second-just a flicker-he thought he saw something shift in the tree line beyond the city. A ripple in the shadows. But when he blinked, it was gone.
> What was that power? That strike… that voice in my bones… it felt like I was borrowing something ancient. Something not meant for me.
And yet… he’d used it. He hadn’t called it. It had just answered.
He shifted again, ignoring the pull of bruised ribs.
“Do you think… that beast was after me?” he asked softly.
Kael didn’t answer at first. Then, quietly, he said, “It reacted strongest to you. It looked at you like it knew something. Or feared it.”
Reina added, “And it didn’t target me. Or Rurik. It went for you even after you backed away.”

Rurik muttered, “If you’ve got some curse or ancient doom in you, better to tell us now.”
Kaen coughed. “Shut up, Rurik. He’s not cursed. Just confusing.”
“Takes one to know one,” Reina muttered.
Shin let out a breath. “I don’t know what I am. But I’m not here to hurt any of you.”
Kael nodded once. “We know. And you fought beside us. That’s what matters.”

There was a quiet beat, then Rurik piped up again. “Though if you ever swing that glow-blade near my beard, we’re going to have words.”
Kaen snorted. “I think your beard would win.”
Reina chuckled softly, shaking her head.

The warmth of their banter didn’t erase the tension that still lingered in Shin’s chest-but it dulled it. Just a little.
They spent three days recovering and will more. The guild sent food, salves, bandages. Fellow adventurers peeked in through the doorway, some leaving trinkets or fruit as tribute. One even left a carved wooden lizard with black paint on its eyes.
Whispers spread through the guildhall.
The new kid who finished off the abyss beast. Kael’s rookie. The boy with red-blade.
The night before they were discharged, Kael sat up in bed and gathered the group with a nod. His voice was low but steady.
“What happened in that forest stays with us.”
No one objected.
He looked at Shin.
“Whatever strength you hold, learn to shape it. Master it before it masters you.”

Shin nodded. “I will.”

Kaen gave him a lazy thumbs-up from his bed. Rurik snorted. “Just try not to collapse on top of us next time.”
Reina smiled.
Outside the window, the stars burned silently over the rooftops of Nevernight.
And somewhere in the woods beyond, a figure cloaked in black watched the lights of the town from a high ridge.
“So,” the witch murmured to no one, her eyes gleaming red beneath her hood. “The abyss sings again.”
> Who are you? What do you know about me?

For now, there were no answers.
But they were alive.
And tomorrow, they’d walk again.
Even if it was with broken bones and unanswered questions.