Inside the tent, Austin and Gabs watched as Mel entered. They looked expectantly at her as she kneeled on the floor next to them.

“I don’t know if we should head out after Mira right away,” Mel said. “It feels like it's what… they’d want. Perhaps we should wait until nightfall and follow Luthel and Hanon then. See where they go, if they’ll lead us to her. I have this strange feeling of them knowing where she is.”

Mel chewed at the back of her thumb, anxious of her own mind and what to trust inside it. But she thought this sounded like her, more reasonable, and she trusted that Gabs and Austin would tell her if she were making strange plans.

She couldn’t tell them what was going on with her. She didn’t even know what was going on. Mel just needed to trust in their judgment.

“I agree,” Austin said. “I think we should wait. I think they know more than they’re willing to tell us.”

Gabs nodded, a disappointed expression spreading over her face. “I know you’re right, but I want to go after her now. What if Mira is attacked out there? What if she can’t protect herself?”

“I know,” Mel said. “But where do we even start looking for her? Just go to the east? We don’t know where they headed after they left the village last night, and I’ve only seen them once. What if they go somewhere else afterward?”

Gabs looked down at her hands resting in her lap. “I know. Mira could be anywhere. I just don’t like this. I don’t like these people anymore. What if the governor and the soldiers in Aldrion were right? What if they really are void worshipers?”

“I’m not so sure about that. I mean, we’ve been staying with them for a while and sure they are keeping secrets and what they’ve done to Mira is unforgivable. But if they truly were void worshipers, wouldn’t they have given us over to the enemy by now?”

Gabs said nothing and seemed to be mulling this over in her mind. Mel herself wasn’t sure this was true. Maybe the void just didn’t care about her, Austin and Gabs enough to do anything about them being in the wasteland. She honestly didn’t know. Just because Aldrion wanted her dead or in prison didn’t mean the void cared. Could the void even care?

#

They’d said goodbye, made a show of how they were leaving the village, and thanked them for hosting them with their most sincere smiles. Mel had promised the villagers that they would look for Mira and if they didn’t find her, they’d head to Krazaa, deep into the wasteland. They didn’t want the village to suspect that they were sticking around to watch them.

Mel had wanted to go to Krazaa anyway after she’d heard the tale of Terrimon. She’d never heard a tale that painted the dragons as evil and vicious before. She’d never known they’d been to Krazaa either.

The tales of the village seemed to contradict the tales of the valley, and Mel couldn’t help but wonder if any truths lay hidden inside this contradiction. Perhaps Krazaa had information on how to resurrect the dragon stones. Perhaps she could return to Aldrion if she found the answer.

Outside the village to the northeast, Mel sat on a log from the tent they’d gotten as a goodbye gift from the village. Gabs and Austin sat next to her, all lined up behind a huge rock, waiting for the night to arrive. The sun was setting on the horizon, but time seemed to stand still.

They’d waited here for most of the day and Mel had grown tired of waiting. Her legs were sore from sitting and her shoulders ached from the constricted movement. She wanted to stretch, spread out her arms in the air and move around. But it wasn’t an option until darkness settled.

“Get ready,” Austin said, looking behind them toward the nearby settlement. “Soon the sun is gone and we can sneak back. I don’t want to miss them. This could be our only chance.”

Mel nodded and moved into a crouch. Gabs watched the horizon and Austin stood looking at the path they’d have to find.

“If we can’t find them. If we miss following the village out. We still need to try to head east. Okay?”

“Yes, if this fails. We’ll do what we told the village and head east to Krazaa, anyway. Perhaps we will get lucky and find Mira on the way there.”

“Now. Let’s go,” Gabs said.

Gabs took Mel’s hand and Mel grabbed onto Austin. Together, they created a line and walked quietly back toward the village. They were a short distance out, but far enough to make it difficult to find the village in the night.

Gradually it got darker and Mel’s eyes fought to adjust to the lack of light. In the emptiness that followed, Mel had trouble focusing her mind. It seemed to want to fill in the blanks with the most horrid things. All around them she saw hints of shadows, white eyes watching them in the night, and of gleaming teeth from creatures standing on four paws.

She swallowed hard and tried to keep her breathing even. She clasped tightly around Austin’s hand and moved her feet one at the time. After a while, they were inside the village again, lurking behind the tents. But the village was deserted. Not a soul was hiding inside the tents.

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“Let’s not stop, please,” Gabs said. “Follow me toward the east.”

“How do we know where that is?” Austin asked.

Gabs hesitated, seeming to not have an answer to his question. Her anxiousness vibrated in Mel’s hand.

“I know where it is,” Mel said. “It’s this way.”

Her feet moved toward a direction and Austin, and Gabriella followed her, side by side now. It was dark and she could barely make out the shapes of structures. But Mel knew the way. She’d stayed up enough nights, listening to the sounds of footsteps heading out of the village. She knew where it was in location to the tents, to the campfire, and how the direction looked like in the distance. There was still enough sun left somewhere beyond the horizon to mark out two mountains in the distance, where Krazaa lay.

It didn’t take long until Mel saw a light up ahead. Gabs and Austin released her hands, and Austin motioned for them to follow him. He took the lead, his sword drawn but not alight. Melissa didn’t have a magical weapon with her, and neither did Gabriella. They hadn’t had much time when they left Aldrion. It didn’t matter though, as she hoped they wouldn’t encounter anything out here tonight. Only village people and, hopefully, Mira.

When the group got close to the light source, Mel made out lanterns burning in a halfmoon. Behind the lights, the people of the village were sitting with their bodies pressed into the cold, wet earth. Their faces were directed toward the east and they were chanting something.

Austin waved for Mel and Gabs to follow him behind a rock formation, and Mel’s feet sank into the ground as she rounded the rocks behind him. When they snuck out to the other side, Mel had a better view of what was happening, and her eyes widened.

At first, she didn’t understand what she was looking at. Inside the semi-circle of light, there were long metal bars, a few rusty plates, and piles of old jewelry and other scraps lying in front of the village people. They were chanting something at the metal.

They were chanting, “Come to us.”

A shiver ran down Mel’s spine, and she fought the nausea snaking up her throat. Their voices were mixing in the night air, but Mel knew now it was their voices she’d heard before in her own mind. The chanting had distorted their sounds and as she focused in on Luthel and Hanon, who were seated at the edge of the semi-circle, she heard their voices clearer now.

Like the pitch of their vocal cords were cut open and revealed their true sounds. The voices of the dragons. Mel staggered back, almost falling over in her crouching position, but Gabs grabbed her shoulder in time.

She didn't know what to feel or what to think anymore. These people, the people of the wastes, were they truly the dragons? Or were they just wearing their voices? She didn’t understand.

From the shadows, Lenera stepped forth and took her place before the circle. Between her and the people there were lights and scraps of metal, but nothing more. She was one with the village. Mel felt that, despite her standing in front of them. She stood with her face directed to a point slightly above the people and spoke to them like she was a preacher.

“We are here at your doorstep, asking you to bless us with your presence. The life we gave must be forgotten. The circle must be closed. Step forth and show yourself so we may thank you for your sacrifice. So we may bask in the glory of your new form. From flesh you were created, but from shadow you were remade in the image of the void. Grant us your presence and we shall know peace.”

The chanting continued like an undercurrent to Lenera’s voice, but after her last word, the people stopped chanting. They lifted their heads to Lenera, staring at her as she spread her hands to her sides.

“Come to us,” she said.

“Surrender,” the village responded.

Austin grabbed Mel’s hand and squeezed it tightly, and Mel seemed to remember her own form again. She’d been lost in the chanting, the words, the newfound understanding of who these people really were and had nearly lost herself. But it was here now, the truth. It was staring her in the face and she didn’t want to look. The people of the wastes were worshiping the void.

The wind shifted and picked up the scent of mold. From the side of the circle, a smokey form with white glowing eyes stepped forward. It was long and elegant, walking in a slow stride. No sword was drawn, no threat seemed present. Not at all like the other times Mel had seen a shadow in real life.

Its eyes were first on Lenera, then they traveled over the people of the village. They were all staring at it, like it was a true miracle, something of beauty to behold. Mel’s eyes were fixed on the dangerous creature, who’d now entered the semi-circle, but her gaze broke when she heard a man wailing.

The shadow’s head snapped to the man, and so did Mel’s. A frown spread over her face. It was Mira’s father who was crying. He staggered to his feet, lifting his body away from the cold ground. His pants were wet from the place where they’d made contact with the earth, but he didn’t seem to care. He wiped at his eyes, trying to see where to go, and walked right over to the shadow.

Austin readied his sword next to Mel, and she wondered if the shadow was here to slaughter them all. But something felt strange about this. She thought it was the calm she sensed from the shadow. It regarded the man with a sense of peace in its glowing eyes.

Mira’s father stared at the shadow for a second, and it's white eyes stared back at him. Then he unsheathed a wide knife from his belt and pointed it at the smokey form in front of him. Austin took a step forward, seeming ready to intervene when this became a fight.

But the man didn’t stab the shadow, instead he fell down to his knees and rolled up his shirt sleeve. Mel’s breath caught in her throat and the rest seemed to happen in slow motion.

The man cut a gash in his arm, blood trickling down from his hand onto the ground, coloring the wet sand red. He lifted his arm to the shadow, and it wrapped its arms around the wound. The smoke of the shadow entered the man, and he screamed out in surprise and horror, his eyes wide and his pupils dilated.

Austin’s sword connected with his mind, and a bright blue glow surrounded him. Mel watched as he ran forward toward the circle, toward the shadow and the man. Ready to protect him, ready to fight off the shadow. The people of the wastes turned in surprise, watching Austin running toward them.

Lenera put up a hand to him, stretching her palm. “Stop!”

Austin didn’t listen to her, but his steps seemed to slow in hesitation. Mel headed out after him, into the light from the lanterns, with Gabs at her heels. They weren’t leaving Austin in this fight alone, armed or not.