Chapter 17

Aris and Harlan Raker leave fertile ground for a desolate expanse of ash and rot where every stream runs red. At a cave beside a crimson waterfall, Raker refuses to teach Aris, so she trains alone with her heavy ancient sword, channeling anger and discipline until she can execute a basic cut. That night a nightmare makes her scream; Raker wakes her, warning she’ll get them killed.

The blight worsens: fruit rots, carcasses fester, and Aris’s stores spoil as thirst gnaws. Raker hoards his clean water, but when hunting fails, Aris offers him mushrooms. He finally accepts, and they share a strained meal. They trade barbs—Raker calls Aris “breakable,” Aris declares she seeks revenge; Raker hints at a similar purpose. He pointedly knows her name yet withholds how. When they finish, he hands her his canteen to keep, more to avoid her touch than from kindness.

The next day, under a brutal sun and thickening red currents, Aris resumes practice. She cleanly repeats yesterday’s cut and feels a jolt through the metal, as if the sword acknowledges her progress. Attempting the move while switching stances, she struggles, focused enough to miss the forest falling silent.

An immortal with cracked, desiccated skin presses a glowing red blade to Aris’s throat, admiring her sword and saying “Lordship will love it.” Aris screams for Raker, but the attacker strikes her with the hilt, and everything goes black.