The forest pressed around her. Mist curled like fingers along her legs, slick with rain and cold. Her pulse thudded in her ears, the mark on her wrist still glowing faintly, soft and golden. She pressed a hand to it, trying to draw strength from the warmth it offered.
The whispering had stopped, but the Grove was not quiet. Every leaf seemed to shift with movement just beyond sight, every shadow lingering a moment too long.
Leira drew in a shaky breath and remembered Kael's words, the memory coming unbidden: "When the Veil broke, your light scattered across the realms. Each piece hid itself behind a trial. Seven in all. We call them the Seven Echoes."
The memory settled around her like armor. The first echo. A shard of her light. A piece of herself waiting to be reclaimed.
Her lips pressed together. She closed her eyes, willing the image of the fragment into her mind. She could feel it, faint and pulsing, almost like a heartbeat buried beneath the mist. It was there. She just had to reach it.
She lifted her head, staring through the fog and trees. Somewhere ahead, the Grove waited, watching, testing. She could almost feel the first shard hiding, trembling with possibility, daring her to take it.
A hand reached to her chest, though it was only hers. She clenched it into a fist. I can do this. The thought was fragile, tentative, but it was there. Stronger than fear.
The mist shifted again, brushing across her face like a whisper, trying to push her back. Leira took a careful step forward. Then another. Each movement made the forest tremble slightly, roots twisting beneath her boots, shadows folding over themselves.
She remembered Kael again, not as a voice in the Grove, but as a presence, a memory of guidance: "The Seven Echoes are pieces of your light."
Leira took a deep breath. The shard was out there. She focused on it, letting everything else fade, the mist, the shadows, the whispering doubt curling around her mind. She centered herself, drawing the fragment of courage and instinct she had reclaimed from the Grove's earlier illusions.
Her chest rose and fell, steadying. Her pulse slowed, or maybe it was that she finally chose to listen to it. The first step had been taken.
She opened her eyes. The shard waited ahead, glowing faintly through the mist. The trial had begun.
The mist thickened as she stepped forward. Each breath came heavy and wet, tasting of earth and rain. Shadows twisted along the trunks of the trees, lengthening unnaturally, folding in on themselves like they were alive. The Grove seemed to pulse, waiting, watching.
Leira's eyes searched the gray haze, hunting for the faint heartbeat of light. It flickered ahead, barely visible through the fog, a soft glow that called to something deep inside her. Her chest tightened at the sight of it. There. The shard of her light. One piece of herself, waiting.
She moved. Step by careful step, boots sinking slightly into moss-soaked soil. Roots coiled like snakes, threatening to trip her. The shadows thickened, stretching out, forming shapes that made her chest ache. Figures appeared, faces blurred, twisted, impossible. Some whispered in voices she almost recognized. You can't. You are nothing. You'll fail.
The whispers grew louder. The figures pressed closer. One looked like Kael, but his gray eyes were dark with accusation. Another shimmered like her reflection, but hollow, screaming silently. Every step forward felt like walking through quicksand, the world bending around her, threatening to swallow her whole.
Her hands trembled. Her pulse raced. I… I can't… The thought tried to drag her back, to fold her into the mist.
But then she felt it. A warmth, small but steady, pulsing through her chest, the fragment of courage she had already reclaimed. She clutched at it as if it were a lifeline. Her jaw tightened. Her fists closed.
"I am not nothing!" she shouted, voice cracking and echoing through the trees. "I am more than fear! I am stronger than this!"
The words ripped through the Grove like thunder. Shadows screamed and faltered. The mist trembled. She could feel the shard ahead, responding, pulsing brighter as if her declaration had called to it.
She ran. Branches clawed at her, roots wrapped around her ankles, but she ignored them. The whispering tried to pull her down, to twist her mind with doubt, but she forced herself past it, eyes fixed on the glowing shard.
Her hand stretched out. Fingers trembling, heart hammering, she grasped it. The moment her skin touched the fragment, the forest shattered.
Light exploded outward in a wave, blinding and pure. Fire and mist whipped around her, swirling with a roar that pressed against her chest. Shadows tore themselves apart, screaming in silence, scattering like ashes on the wind. The world tilted, then righted itself, and for a heartbeat, she felt weightless, suspended in a brilliance that was both her and not her.
When the light cleared, she stumbled, knees weak. Her chest heaved, lungs burning. Her mark flared brighter than ever, searing golden lines up her wrist and forearm. And her eyes, they glowed. Faint at first, then steady, shimmering with the light she had claimed. She could feel it inside her, a pulse that was hers, undeniable, alive.
The mist shifted again, and Kael appeared, stepping through the clearing like he had materialized from the shadows themselves. Relief hit him in a wave so strong it almost made him stumble. He didn't speak at first. He just pulled her into his arms, holding her longer than he should have, pressing her close as if he could anchor her to this world, to him.
"I thought I lost you," he whispered, voice trembling. "I never want to lose you again."
Leira leaned into him, chest heaving, warmth spreading through her despite the cold that clung to the Grove. She didn't answer. She didn't need to. She had claimed the fragment. She had survived the first echo.
He finally let her go, stepping back just enough to look her in the face, gray eyes searching hers, lingering on the glow in her irises. There was a weight there, relief, love, fear, but he snapped himself out of it, straightening, grounding them both.
"We have to keep moving," he said softly. "The next echo waits."
Leira nodded, still catching her breath. She let the shard of light pulse faintly at her wrist, a reminder of what she had reclaimed. One piece of herself, claimed from the Grove, from the trial, from the shadows that had tried to consume her.
They stepped forward together, mist curling around their feet, shadows fleeing before them. The Whispering Grove had released her, for now. But the journey was far from over. The next echo waited, and Leira was ready to face it.