echoes

They decided to rest and make a camp at the valley’s rim, where the fractured ground gave way to darkness. The air was thin here, brittle, as if one wrong word might shatter it.

Atlas dropped his shield with a heavy thud and sat down hard, rubbing his temples. “I don’t care what anyone says. That wasn’t just an echo. It knew. It knew something I hadn’t told anyone.”

NV crouched by the fire, her face lit in flickering orange. She didn’t look at him. “It knew because you let it. The valley didn’t invent your fear. It just… amplified it.”

Atlas bristled, but said nothing.

Tanuki sat apart, staring into the void. The words still clung to him: You’ll never be more than a background character. He wanted to shake them off, to laugh at them, but they had burrowed deep.

Celeste sat closest to him, the Tarot in her lap. Its glow was faint now, like a heartbeat slowed to rest. She hadn’t spoken since the valley.

Atlas finally broke the silence. “We shouldn’t keep following this thing. Every step we take, the world gets worse. Loops. Caravans. Mountains that want to kill us. And now… voices in our own heads.”

NV’s gaze flicked to Celeste. “And all of it tied to that card.”

Celeste’s fingers tightened around the Tarot. “It’s not the cause. It’s the guide.”

Atlas barked a laugh. “I know I shouldn’t hold a grudge, but there’s too much about you that doesn’t make sense. Or ever has.”

Tanuki turned, his voice sharper than he intended. “I’m not saying she hid a lot of things from me. From us. But we wouldn’t have made it this far without her.”

Atlas stared at him, hurt flashing in his eyes. “Do you still trust her? After everything?”

Tanuki hesitated. He didn’t answer.

Later on, when the others had drifted into uneasy rest, Tanuki found Celeste still awake, her eyes fixed on the void.

“You heard it too,” he said softly.

She didn’t look at him. “Yes.”

“What did it say?”

Her lips pressed into a thin line. For a long moment, she didn’t answer. Then, barely above a whisper she said, “That I’ll betray you again.”

Tanuki’s chest tightened. He wanted to tell her it was a lie, that the valley was just noise. But the words caught in his throat.

Instead, he said, “Well, you could always NOT do that. That’s a valid option.”

She turned to him, her eyes glimmering in the firelight. “It’s not that simple.”

NV took the first watch, her bow across her knees. She didn’t speak, but her gaze lingered on Tanuki and Celeste longer than usual.

Atlas pretended to sleep, but his grip never left the handle of his shield. Tanuki lay awake, staring at the stars above. They flickered, glitching in and out like faulty pixels. The world was unraveling. And tomorrow, the beacon would pull them into the void.