The search team reached the observation tower in less than a minute.
Nobody wanted to risk losing the figure again.
Soldiers rushed through the snow-covered courtyard while officers shouted orders. The entire western district had erupted into activity, and for the first time since arriving at Frostwatch, the expedition no longer felt like a rescue operation.
It felt like a hunt.
The only problem was that nobody knew what they were hunting.
Kael stood near the edge of the courtyard and watched the tower.
The image of the silhouette refused to leave his mind.
The figure had been standing there.
Watching.
Not hiding.
Not fleeing.
Watching.
That detail bothered him more than anything else.
Whatever it was, it hadn't seemed afraid.
Aren appeared beside him.
The boy looked deeply uncomfortable.
"Okay."
Nobody liked it when he started sentences that way.
Aren pointed toward the tower.
"That thing definitely wanted us to see it."
Kael glanced toward him.
"You think so too?"
"Absolutely."
The boy folded his arms.
"If I was secretly hiding inside a creepy abandoned fortress, I wouldn't stand in front of a window."
That was difficult to argue with.
Lyra approached a moment later.
Her gaze remained fixed on the tower.
"The timing is strange."
Draven nodded.
"Very."
The larger student looked toward the soldiers entering the structure.
"It appears after hours of searching."
A pause.
"Then vanishes once everyone sees it."
The group fell silent.
Because the observation was obvious.
The figure could have remained hidden.
Instead, it had revealed itself.
The question was why.
A loud horn echoed across the district.
Everyone looked up.
The search team had entered the tower.
Moments later, communication crystals began activating throughout the area.
Reports flowed rapidly between officers.
The operation was underway.
Aren looked toward Kael.
"How much do you want to bet they find nothing?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Then Serena sighed.
"I hate that you're probably right."
The boy looked oddly proud.
"Years of experience."
"Experience doing what?"
"Being disappointed."
That earned several groans.
Even under the circumstances, some things never changed.
The waiting began.
Again.
Nobody enjoyed it.
The cold wind continued moving through the fortress while snow drifted between buildings and gathered against abandoned walls. Above them, dark clouds slowly crossed the sky, casting moving shadows across Frostwatch.
The fortress felt increasingly oppressive.
Not because of what they had found.
Because of what they hadn't.
Every investigation ended the same way.
No evidence.
No answers.
No survivors.
Only more questions.
A communication crystal suddenly flared to life.
The courtyard immediately fell silent.
General Caelan activated it.
The voice of the search team's leader emerged through the static.
"Tower secure."
Aren sighed immediately.
Several students groaned.
The officer continued.
"No hostile presence detected."
More static followed.
Then:
"No footprints."
Another pause.
"No signs of occupation."
Aren looked toward the sky.
"You know, at some point this becomes personal."
Nobody disagreed.
The crystal went silent.
General Caelan's expression didn't change.
That somehow made the situation worse.
The military commander looked toward the tower for several moments.
Then toward the assembled officers.
"We proceed."
One of the officers frowned.
"Proceed?"
General Caelan nodded.
"The tower wasn't the destination."
The courtyard became quiet.
Because everyone understood what he meant.
The figure had appeared.
The figure had vanished.
The figure had achieved exactly what it wanted.
It had drawn attention.
The question was attention away from what?
The military commander clearly intended to find out.
Several maps were quickly brought forward.
Officers gathered around them.
Students watched from a distance.
Aren tried listening.
For approximately thirty seconds.
Then gave up.
"This is why I'm not a strategist."
Lyra looked toward him.
"You don't like planning."
"I like successful planning."
"That's the same thing."
"No."
The boy pointed toward the officers.
"Successful planning happens after danger."
Nobody understood the logic.
Aren didn't seem concerned.
Eventually, General Caelan stepped away from the maps.
The officers dispersed immediately.
New orders spread throughout the district.
Something had changed.
Kael noticed it first.
The soldiers weren't searching buildings anymore.
They were moving toward the northern side of the fortress.
Toward the walls.
Aren noticed too.
The boy pointed.
"See?"
"What?"
"They know something."
That part was obvious.
The question was what.
A few minutes later, the answer arrived.
The expedition regrouped near one of Frostwatch's northern watch platforms overlooking the frozen wilderness beyond.
The view was breathtaking.
And deeply unsettling.
Snow-covered forests stretched endlessly toward the horizon. Jagged mountains rose from the frozen landscape like ancient giants sleeping beneath the sky. Vast glaciers cut through valleys hidden between towering cliffs.
Civilization ended here.
Beyond Frostwatch existed only wilderness.
General Caelan stood near the edge of the platform.
The military commander gestured toward the frozen landscape below.
"Tracks."
At first, nobody saw them.
Then the sunlight shifted.
The reaction was immediate.
The snow beneath the fortress walls had been disturbed.
Not recently.
Not yesterday.
Long ago.
Hundreds of marks crossed the frozen terrain.
Some looked like footprints.
Others resembled drag marks.
All of them led away from Frostwatch.
A murmur spread through the gathered students.
Aren stared.
Then stared some more.
Then pointed.
"Wait."
Nobody interrupted.
The boy continued.
"They're all going the same direction."
That was the disturbing part.
Nobody had to explain it.
The tracks weren't approaching Frostwatch.
They were leaving.
General Caelan nodded slowly.
"Correct."
The military commander looked toward the distant wilderness.
"Whatever happened here..."
A pause.
"...the inhabitants left the fortress."
The platform fell silent.
Four hundred people.
Soldiers.
Researchers.
Workers.
All leaving together.
The idea felt absurd.
Yet the evidence was right there.
Frozen into the snow.
Aren frowned.
"Why?"
Nobody had an answer.
Not yet.
General Caelan studied the tracks for several moments.
Then looked toward the horizon.
"Follow them."
The words immediately changed everything.
Students exchanged glances.
Officers began issuing new instructions.
Soldiers checked equipment.
The expedition's mission had shifted.
Frostwatch was no longer the mystery.
The tracks were.
Kael felt a strange sensation settle in his stomach.
The answers they wanted were no longer inside the fortress.
They were somewhere beyond it.
Somewhere in the frozen wilderness.
Somewhere the missing inhabitants had gone.
Aren looked significantly less enthusiastic than usual.
"Can I just point out something?"
Nobody stopped him.
The boy gestured toward the endless snow.
"We came here to investigate disappearances."
A pause.
"Now we're following the people who disappeared."
Another pause.
"That feels like the first step in a very bad decision."
Selene crossed her arms.
"You're not wrong."
Aren froze.
The boy slowly turned toward her.
"You agree with me?"
The golden-eyed girl looked annoyed.
"Don't make it weird."
The boy looked genuinely emotional.
"This is a special moment."
Nobody allowed him to enjoy it.
Preparations began immediately.
The expedition would leave Frostwatch before sunset.
The tracks were old.
But they remained visible.
And for the first time since arriving in the frontier, the expedition finally had a direction.
A path.
A clue.
A lead.
The only problem was that the path led deeper into the wilderness.
Toward lands untouched by civilization.
Toward mountains hidden beneath endless snow.
Toward the same northern horizon where the monument waited.
And as Kael stood upon the watch platform staring at the frozen tracks stretching into the distance, he couldn't shake the feeling that the people of Frostwatch hadn't gone there willingly.
Something had called them.
Something had led them away from safety.
Something had drawn four hundred people into the frozen wilderness.
And now—
The expedition was about to follow.