Vol. IV Chapter IV: Lost in Despair

The path led them out of the blighted forest and into a narrow valley. 

There, the town of Caelorth lay nestled in a hollow between mountains, a dark smear of steep rooftops and drifting smoke.

Tall palisades guarded the timber-built settlement, banners snapping in the downdraft from the peaks.

They crossed a narrow bridge over a raging river, and the air was thick with the scents of wood, resin, and smoke.

Glizzy wrinkled her nose.

“Smells weird here.”

Meiruna pulled her cloak tighter around herself and sighed.

“They probably make their living from charcoal burning and logging. Our hair will smell like this for weeks…”

“Would you prefer they keep smelling like digestive sap?” Tairaku said with a grin.

“They do not smell like that!” she shot back, then, with a quick, furtive glance, lifted a strand to her nose as if to check.

Lucius, who would normally have laughed, stayed silent.

“This is it…” he murmured under his breath, watching the town before them.

Two villagers in tar-stained cloaks trudged past, bundles of resin-dark logs swaying on their shoulders, glancing up at the clouds that hung over the ridges like dark bruises.

“The storm still hasn’t cleared completely,” one muttered.

“And the pass up top is still blocked. Never seen it this bad.”

Something tightened in Lucius’s chest, though he didn’t know why.

As they reached the inn of the town, its sign creaked in the wind as they stepped inside.

The door swung open, spilling warmth, smoke, and the smell of meaty stew into the cold air.

Conversations paused for the space of a heartbeat when the party entered, then resumed.

The innkeeper, a broad-shouldered woman with masculine features, wiped her hands.

“Food or lodging?”

“Food!” Glizzy chirped.

“Both...” said Tairaku.

Lucius gaze had drifted past the counter, into the far right corner of the inn.

There, half-shrouded in shadow, sat a figure clad in heavy armor. 

She did not turn toward him, yet he felt her recognition.

It was Hecate, wearing the guise of Nocthelia.

While Tairaku counted out coins for the innkeeper, Lucius moved, slow and deliberate, through the murmur of the room. 

He set the book upon her table, the thud soft but certain, and took the chair across from her.

The others followed reluctantly, settling at a nearby table, near enough to hear, but keeping their distance.

Nocthelia’s gaze fell on the book, then on Lucius, and finally on his companions.

“You’ve made some… interesting acquaintances,” she said, but Lucius didn’t bite.

“There’s the book you wanted. I’ve upheld my end of the deal. Now tell me where she is.”

Wordlessly, she laid her hand on the cover.

For one heartbeat, the pitch-black seal stirred, glowed faintly, then fell still again.

She smiled.

“Good.”

“What is it?”

The question slipped from him before he could stop it.

“That’s not something you need to trouble yourself with.”

She took a sip from her cup and Lucius grew impatient, his voice edging toward anger.

“Then tell me where she is!”

She nodded slowly.

“Ah yes… the one thing you were willing to pay any price for.”

Her gaze pinned him in place.

“I’ll honor our bargain, but…”

His heartbeat pounded.

“But what?”

“The information won’t help you anymore.”

“And why not?”

Her smile faded, emerald eyes hardening into cold stone.

“Because she’s already dead.”

A heavy stillness settled over the room.

The tavern’s noise fell away in his ears, the clink of dishes, the creak of the floorboards, all muted, as though the world itself had dimmed to shadow.

His friends froze at the next table.

They had heard, and their eyes darted toward him in wordless shock.

Slowly, Lucius’s awareness returned.

“W…what?”

Hecate only nodded again, as if confirming her own statement.

“But… you said she was alive!” he gasped, springing to his feet and knocking his chair over.

“She was. Now she isn’t.”

Lucius stood there, numb, his mouth open.

That can’t be true. What is she talking about? Melissa… dead?

A trembling smile flickered across his lips.

“Y-you’re kidding, right? This is a joke, isn’t it?”

He couldn’t believe it.

He wouldn’t believe it.

But Hecate only shook her head slowly, her expression unchanged.

Then her gaze slid briefly to his companions, who still stared at him in frozen silence.

“Perhaps you shouldn’t have wasted so much time in your little magic school. Then maybe she would still be alive.”

Her words hit him like a blow.

His stomach twisted, sweat beading on his forehead.

Glizzy half-rose from her seat.

“L…Lucius?”

Hecate took the book and stood, as if ending nothing more than a trivial tavern conversation.

“Well then, our business is done. Farewell.”

But Lucius caught her arm before she could leave the table, his voice hoarse.

“Where… where is...” he gulped. 

“Where was she… last?”

For the briefest moment, surprise flickered in her eyes before her expression settled back into its neutral mask.

“In Yashar. At a place called... "

She leaned in and whispered the name in his ear.

"...Refalesh."

Then she walked away, stepping out into the cold and pulling the inn’s door shut behind her.

The air seemed to freeze.

“I think she’s lying,” Glizzy said defiant.

“Or she wants you to do exactly what you’re about to do,” Tairaku muttered.

But Lucius wasn’t listening.

They were around him now, speaking, trying to reach him, but his mind held only one word.

Yashar. Refalesh.

That day came rushing back, her voice before he left her.

I’m counting on you, my little wizard.

He had sworn never to lose her again, yet that day, they were torn apart.

And since then, everything inside him just wanted to get her back.

But now...

His Fingers curled into fists and with a sharp motion, he reached for his bag and swung the strap over his shoulder.

“I’m going.”

His voice was quiet, but all of them heard it.

“Where?” Tairaku asked carefully.

“Back to Yashar. What I should have done from the start. And then…”

He exhaled sharply, something dark flickering in his eyes.

“…then I’ll make them pay and burn all of Refalesh to the ground!”

“Lucius, this is madness,” Meiruna snapped.

“I know what you’re feeling, but...”

He whirled on her, fury twisting his face.

“You know nothing of what I feel! She might still be alive if I hadn’t wasted time with you in that damned academy!”

Smack.

The blow didn’t come from Meiruna’s hand, but from Tairaku’s.

“Sorry for that Lucius… but this isn’t you. You’re speaking from anger.”

Lucius touched his cheek, feeling the heat where the strike had landed, then he lifted his gaze to his friend, cold as ice.

“No,” he growled.

“This is clarity.”

He turned away without another glance.

His footsteps thudded heavy on the floorboards, and just before he slammed the door behind him, cold wind rushing into the inn, he said:

“Guess you misjudged me...”

Meiruna, furious, started after him, but Tairaku caught her arm.

“Let him go. It’s no use.”

Tears streamed down Glizzy’s cheeks and she sobbed like a child.

“Lucius…”

Outside, the wind swallowed his figure, and within heartbeats he was gone into the snow.

Only hatred kept him warm now.