Chapter 47: bloodline echoes
The forest had never felt so loud.
Not with noise, but with memory.
Cain walked ahead, his boots crunching twigs and dried leaves, but all he could hear was Eira's voice. Not the one from the end—he couldn't bear that—but the younger one. The version of her who used to run through the halls with wild hair and a laugh that cracked through silence like lightning through a storm.
"You're too serious, Cain," her voice echoed in his head. "Smile, or I'll tickle you into the afterlife."
He used to scoff at that. Now, it felt like a prayer he never answered.
Behind him, Leo was going over maps and sigil notes on a cracked tablet, his brow furrowed. His hands shook a little, something Cain had never seen before. Leo didn't show emotion easily—but today, grief clung to him like a ghost.
Eren, meanwhile, kept falling behind. He didn't say much. He kicked rocks, stared up at the branches, and muttered things under his breath like he was trying to make jokes—trying to stay the silly one—but his voice cracked every few words. At one point, he whispered, "You really had to go be the hero, huh, Eira?"
Selene was quiet. Not distant, just present in a way that grounded them. Her hand brushed Cain's when they paused at a clearing to rest, and he didn't pull away this time.
The air shifted then—cold, sudden.
Leo stopped walking. "We're close."
Cain's eyes flashed. "You feel it too?"