The square outside the cathedral had thinned since their arrival but the weight of eyes still lingered in the air like smoke after battle. Merchants had returned to their stalls, children darted through the streets with laughter sharp and fleeting, yet all of it bent away from the shadow of the great doors. No one lingered too close, as though the cathedral itself was a maw best avoided.
Neo sat on the edge of the fountain that stood across from the steps, hunched forward with his elbows on his knees, watching the sunlight creep higher in the sky. The afternoon sun had climbed past its zenith, gilding the stone with a warm glare that made him squint. Thal had been inside longer than he liked. Too long.
Tar loomed nearby, arms folded, broad frame a living wall that kept even the curious at a distance. The minotaur hadn't shifted once since Thal left an unmoving sentinel, save for the occasional huff of breath that rumbled deep in his chest.
Alinda stood a little apart from them, close enough to belong but far enough that the hem of her cloak whispered in its own shadow. Her crimson eyes never strayed far from the cathedral doors, though her posture was relaxed, almost too relaxed. Neo caught it anyway the stillness that wasn't ease but coiled patience.
"He's been in there awhile," Neo muttered, not for the first time. He tried to keep his tone steady but it came out thin, edged with worry.
Tar only grunted, the sound like gravel turning.
Alinda's lips curved faintly, though it wasn't amusement. "The church likes to waste time. They'll bury him in words before they dare to act."
Neo frowned. "And if they decide words aren't enough?"
Her eyes flicked to him then, sharp and knowing. "Then Thal won't need us to worry." She let the silence sit a beat, her expression unreadable. "But if they're foolish enough to think they can tame him, the sun won't be the only thing rising today."
Neo tried to read her tone, whether it was jest or warning but her gaze slid away, back to the doors that still hadn't opened. His stomach tightened. He hated waiting, hated the way the stone walls seemed to swallow Thal whole.
Tar's shadow shifted as he turned his horns slightly toward Neo. The minotaur didn't speak, couldn't but the heavy hand that came down on Neo's shoulder was enough. A grounding weight.
Neo exhaled slowly, eyes dragging back to the sunlight creeping down the cathedral steps. Still, the knot in his chest refused to loosen.
The heavy doors finally groaned open, their echo cutting across the square. Sunlight spilled over the threshold, and Thal emerged.
Neo's chest loosened at the sight of him, a relief so sharp it almost hurt. For a heartbeat, he nearly smiled until he caught the look on Thal's face. His broad shoulders were stiff, his steps measured and heavy, and though his gaze never touched the crowd, it was clear enough. Whatever had been said inside had left no ease in him.
Tar shifted subtly, straightening as if to clear the path between them but no one dared come close. Even the chatter of the market dulled at Thal's presence.
Alinda's lips curved in a thin, knowing smile as she stepped out of the fountain's shadow. "Didn't think you'd stay inside that long," she said lightly, crimson eyes flicking toward the cathedral doors behind him. "But then again… I suppose being locked in with priests would drag eternity out of anyone."
Thal's golden gaze slid to her, unreadable but he didn't slow his stride as he came down the steps. "They like talking too much," he said flatly, the words iron and gravel.
No more than that. No explanation, no elaboration. Just the blunt dismissal of a man who had endured something he would rather have walked through fire to avoid.
Neo caught the edge in it, and for the first time since the doors opened, his relief tangled with unease.
Neo tried to look away, to school his face into something unreadable but Thal's shadow fell over him before he could manage it. The Nephilim slowed, golden eyes narrowing ever so slightly, and without a word he lifted a massive hand and gave Neo's shoulder a firm tap. Not harsh, not overbearing just enough to anchor him.
Neo blinked, startled, his lips parting as if to speak but Thal spoke first, his voice low, steady as stone.
"You looked worried. Back at the march."
It wasn't a rebuke. There was no judgment in the words, only that quiet, unshakable weight Thal carried into everything he said. His gaze lingered, searching Neo's expression with the patience of someone who had already seen more than was being spoken.
Neo swallowed, unsure if he should deny it, brush it off, or tell the truth. Tar shifted beside him, a low grunt rolling from his chest like a reminder that silence would answer nothing.
Alinda, leaning against the fountain's edge, tilted her head with a faint smirk, though her eyes gleamed with something sharper than amusement. She said nothing this time watching instead, as if waiting to see whether Neo would meet Thal's question with honesty or retreat.
The weight of their eyes pressed in, and Neo forced himself to breathe.
Thal's question hung there, steady and patient but unyielding. Neo shifted, his eyes darting anywhere but at him but Alinda's crimson gaze was already on him sharp, insistent, a blade poised to cut through his excuses.
"He's not fine," she said, her tone flat, a statement rather than an accusation. Her eyes slid from Neo to Thal. "He saw something and you need to know."
Neo flinched, his chest tightening. "Alinda "
"No," she cut in, her voice lower now but still iron. "No secrets. Not with this."
Thal didn't move, didn't so much as blink but the weight of his silence pressed harder than any demand. His golden eyes stayed fixed on Neo, patient but immovable, like the slow turn of the earth itself.
Neo's breath stuttered, and for a moment he thought he might still hold it back but the knot inside him twisted too tight, and the words broke free.
"In the alleys," he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. "There were Kruul children. Just… there. Like it was nothing but one of them…" His throat bobbed, his hand lifting unconsciously to mimic the horns of the child. "One of them changed. Red eyes to purple. Hair, like mine. They looked at me like they knew."
The words spilled out faster now, shame and unease tangled in his tone. "It wasn't chance. They wanted me to see."
Silence followed, thick and heavy. Tar rumbled low in his chest, shifting his weight uneasily. Alinda's expression softened, though she kept her eyes fixed on Thal.
Thal finally moved, drawing in a slow breath as if weighing the words against truths he already knew. He didn't speak immediately. His gaze held Neo's, unblinking, unflinching, until the younger Kruul nearly looked away again. When Thal did speak, his voice was low, steady, without surprise only the gravity of inevitability.
"A Kruu'Voth," he said.
Neo's breath caught, the word a confirmation and a sentence both.
Alinda nodded faintly, though there was unease in her eyes. "Exactly what I told him. This shouldn't be hidden. Not from you. Not from any of us."
For a heartbeat, Thal stood in silence, his great shadow stretching over them in the half-light. He gave no judgment, no comfort, no anger only the weight of recognition, as though something long-dormant had stirred and stepped into the open.
Finally, he placed his hand back on Neo's shoulder, firm enough to steady him. "Then it wasn't chance. Remember that."
He released him, turning his gaze toward the spires of the cathedral behind them. Whatever thoughts churned in his mind, he kept locked behind his unreadable golden stare.
Thal's gaze lingered on the water as it trickled from the fountain's stone lips, his reflection shimmering gold-eyed beneath the ripples. When he finally spoke, his words were measured, weighed.
"I thought I smelled something wrong here," he murmured.
Neo's breath caught, his thoughts snapping to the Kruu'Voth child in the alley. "The one I saw," he said quickly, his voice taut, "that's what you mean, isn't it? The child?"
Alinda cut him a sharp glance, her crimson eyes narrowing before he could say more. "Not just the child," she said, her tone clipped but calm, as if testing how far Neo's understanding reached.
Thal lifted his head, golden eyes catching the light, unreadable. "Not the child," he corrected, voice low, almost dismissive. "Something older. Heavier." His gaze fell back to the fountain, to the rippling water that seemed to carry shadows deeper than they should. "A Harbinger."
The word alone made Neo's chest tighten. His memory clawed at him Kel, the sky split with wings and screams, the ash-choked air and he fought the urge to shudder. He swallowed hard. "Here?" he whispered.
His silence was confirmation enough.
Alinda's lips pressed thin, her gaze fixed not on the fountain but on Thal. "If there is a Harbinger here, then someone brought it. They don't just appear."
His expression shifted, a flicker too small for Neo to name but Alinda's eyes caught it. She tilted her head, voice quieter now. "You know who should have seen this first."
Thal's jaw tightened, the faintest grind of teeth beneath his stoicism. "Saul." The name left his lips like a stone dropped in still water.
Neo frowned, his confusion plain. He knew the name, knew it as another of Thal's kind but the weight Thal placed on it unsettled him. "Another Nephilim?" he asked carefully.
"Yes." Alinda cut in her tone clipped "And if Saul has not acted… then either he is blind, or something else blinds him." Her words hung sharp, cutting more at the silence than at Thal.
Thal said nothing but the line of his shoulders carried a tension that no armor could hide. His eyes stayed on the water, as though searching its depths for an answer.
Neo shifted uneasily, the pieces slipping just beyond his grasp. He knew enough to fear the name Harbinger, enough to know that the Nephilim did not speak of them lightly but what unsettled him more was the silence between Thal and Alinda, the way they seemed to share a weight that shut him out entirely.
Finally, he turned from the fountain, his gaze sweeping the streets, the walls, the watching spires of the cathedral above them. His voice came steady, hard as stone.
"If a Harbinger is here," he said, "it will reveal itself soon…" His eyes, gold and burning, cut briefly to Neo. "Be ready."
Neo's thoughts churned, worry gnawing at him like a blade turned inward. The Harbinger, the Kruu'Voth child, Saul's silence it all tangled until his head felt heavy. He drew in a sharp breath and finally asked the question clawing at him.
"Should we… should we tell Nyra, Valen, and Luken?" His voice was quiet, almost uncertain but it carried enough weight that Alinda tilted her head toward him. "They fought beside us at Kel. They deserve to know."
Thal's golden eyes fixed on him. For a heartbeat, Neo thought he would say yes, that he would turn and gather the others and lay the truth bare but the Nephilim's silence stretched until it pressed like stone.
"Not yet," Thal said at last, voice low, steady. "Not until we have more than shadows. Evidence."
Alinda folded her arms, her crimson eyes narrowing slightly, though she didn't disagree. Her glance toward Neo was enough to remind him that Thal's word was final.
The sound of heavy doors echoed across the square. Neo turned, and there they were Nyra, Valen, and Luken stepping out from the cathedral. The sun caught on Nyra's pale hair, on Valen's careless grin, on the weight that seemed to hang from Luken's shoulders. They spotted the group quickly, their steps angling across the cobbles.
"Finally," Valen drawled, running a hand through his dark hair as he approached. "I thought we'd rot in that hall before Voren stopped talking."
Nyra shot him a glare sharp enough to cut steel. "Better to hear him than ignore him, Valen. You might learn something."
"Like how to fall asleep with my eyes open," Valen shot back, smirking.
Luken's grunt was the only reply, the big man's eyes darting to Thal, then away, as though unsure what to say after watching the Nephilim leave the council so abruptly.
Tar shifted closer to Neo, his looming presence grounding him again. Neo kept quiet, grateful that Thal had said not to speak of the Harbinger. Not yet.
A little later, another figure emerged from the cathedral's towering doors, flanked by soldiers in gleaming armor. Eric's stride was quick, his jaw hard, every step radiating the edge of someone who had left words unsaid. Elira followed behind him, her glaive resting against her shoulder, her expression more composed but no less tense.
Eric halted at the bottom of the steps, casting a look over the group. His eyes lingered on Thal for a fraction too long before he turned to his men. "With me. We return to the King." His tone carried no room for question, and the soldiers fell in line without hesitation.
As he passed, his gaze flicked once more toward Thal hard, wary but not ungrateful. Then he was gone, his armored escort trailing like iron shadows as they wound their way back through the streets of Lions Gate.
Elira stayed behind. She stepped toward the group, her boots ringing softly against the stone. For a moment she said nothing, only adjusted her grip on the glaive. Her eyes lingered on Thal, steady, unflinching.
"The Commander…" she began carefully, her voice level, "wanted me to speak on his behalf. To apologize." She dipped her chin slightly, her dark hair falling against her cheek. "He doesn't always… choose his words well but he knows we would not have come back from the south without you."
The square fell quiet. Valen raised his brows but kept his tongue. Nyra's gaze flicked between Elira and Thal, curiosity sharp in her crimson eyes. Luken shifted uncomfortably but even he said nothing.
Thal did not answer immediately. His golden eyes studied Elira for a long moment, his face unreadable. Then, with the weight of stone grinding against stone, he finally said, "No apology is needed."
He turned his gaze back to the fountain, the water spilling over its lip with endless patience, and added, "The inevitable needs no thanks."
The words hung in the air, heavy as stone, and no one moved to fill the silence. Thal's gaze remained on the fountain, its water spilling in quiet rhythm, while the others stood in a loose half-circle around him, each caught in their own thoughts.
Nyra folded her arms, her crimson eyes narrowing slightly but she said nothing. Valen rocked back on his heels, the smirk lingering at his lips faltering into something quieter. Even Luken, restless by nature, kept still, though his hands flexed against his thighs as though looking for something to grip.
Elira inclined her head at last, accepting the words for what they were. "Then I'll carry that back with me," she said, her voice soft but firm. She stepped back, her glaive tilting slightly as if to mark the end of her message.
Her eyes drifted across the group then, perhaps for the first time since she'd left the cathedral. Tar's towering frame was impossible to ignore horns catching the sun, his bulk shadowing Neo almost completely but it was not Tar that caught her attention next.
It was the two figures half in the fountain's shade.
Alinda stood with her cloak falling in dark folds around her, crimson eyes glinting faintly beneath the spill of her hair. Neo lingered at her side, shifting uneasily under her shadow and Thal's in equal measure, his hands tucked against his sides as if trying to make himself smaller.
Elira's brow furrowed slightly, her grip on her glaive tightening. She looked between them, then to Thal again, her tone carefully even. "And who are they?"
The question cut through the air like the edge of her weapon, not hostile but heavy with the weight of command and expectation.
Neo froze, his breath catching in his throat. Alinda's lips curved faintly, not quite a smile, more the ghost of one, her eyes sliding sidelong toward Thal to see if he would answer before she did.
Thal finally turned his head, golden eyes meeting Elira's steady stare.
Thal didn't answer, though the weight of his golden gaze lingered on Elira. Before he could speak, Alinda slipped into the silence like smoke curling through cracks.
She stepped forward, her crimson eyes flashing with mischief, and leaned her shoulder lazily against Thal's arm as though he were nothing more than a wall for her to drape herself upon. "Me?" she said, her tone light, teasing, each syllable drawn out like a melody meant to provoke. "Just a stray shadow that wandered too close to your giant. Nothing to worry about… unless you like worrying."
Her smile curled faintly as she tilted her head toward Elira, crimson eyes gleaming under the fall of her hair.
Neo shifted immediately, his cheeks burning. "Alinda…" he hissed, stepping forward awkwardly, his words tumbling over each other. "I'm Neo. Thal's…" His throat bobbed but he forced it out. "Thal's son." Neo rubbed at the back of his neck, avoiding Elira's stare. "And Alinda she's a friend of ours. Sorry. She's just… eccentric."
Alinda rolled her eyes, pushing lightly off Thal's arm with a mock-sigh, her lips twitching. "Eccentric?" she echoed, the word dripping with playful annoyance. "That's the best you could come up with?" She flicked his shoulder with her fingertip, a mock chastisement, though the faint grin tugging at her mouth betrayed her amusement.
Elira, however, wasn't smiling.
Her gaze lingered on Alinda, tracing her from head to toe. The woman was clothed in black armor fitted close to her frame, runes carved along its surface glowing with a faint, steady light. Her crimson eyes with black sclera cut against her pale features like embers burning in tar. Combined with the tilt of her hips, the confident way she carried herself, and the sharp curve of her smile, Alinda looked less like a soldier and more like temptation given form a danger one could not quite step away from.
Elira felt her shoulders tighten, a discomfort prickling at the base of her spine. The Church might have called such a figure corruption but Elira knew enough not to rely on sermons. Still, she could not shake the unease of Alinda's presence.
And then her eyes slipped back to Neo.
He stood beside Thal, smaller, less imposing, his words stumbling where Thal's silence carried weight. Yet when he had said it Thal's son something had rung true. Not blood, perhaps but bond. Neo's stance, awkward though it was, carried a fragment of the Nephilim's quiet stubbornness. His gaze, quick but determined, held a faint echo of Thal's own resolve.
Elira studied him for a heartbeat longer, and something softened in her chest.
It wasn't envy, not exactly but a realization Neo had captured a part of Thal's character, reflected in smaller, younger form. That stubborn heart, that instinct to protect even when trembling and though she could not name it, Elira found herself admiring that reflection, the way the Nephilim's shadow seemed to stretch into the boy who called him father.
She turned her eyes back to Thal, finding him as unreadable as ever, his golden gaze steady, his silence thicker than Alinda's teasing or Neo's nervous words. For the first time since she had stepped from the cathedral, Elira felt the weight of something deeper binding them together something she could not ignore.
The silence lingered a moment longer, then Elira's eyes swept over Thal again. Her gaze lingered on the rough strip of cloth slung about his waist, little more than a kilt fashioned from the remnants of a burnt cloak. Scars of travel, ash, and battle clung to it, and the Nephilim seemed utterly unbothered.
Elira exhaled through her nose, a hint of dry humor touching her tone. "You should see about new clothes, Thal. Lions Gate might be a city of stone and steel but even here, men stare when a giant walks through their streets half-dressed."
Nyra smirked faintly, arms folding across her chest. "For once, I agree with her."
Luken gave a grunt of assent, his eyes flicking away as if embarrassed to admit it.
Valen, of course, leaned forward with a grin that was all teeth. "Finally, someone says it. I know a tailor best in the city. Cuts cloth sharp enough to make even you look respectable. Pricey, sure but for you, I'd say it's an investment." He winked. "Trust me, I'll even get you a discount."
Alinda pushed off Thal's arm, her crimson eyes gleaming with amusement. "Oh no, leave him as he is," she said lightly, her voice lilting with mock admiration. "A kilt of ash, scars bared to the world there's poetry in that. Besides…" she gave Neo a sidelong glance, her smirk widening, "it unsettles people in all the right ways."
Neo flushed, muttering under his breath, "You're impossible."
Alinda chuckled softly, clearly pleased.
Thal remained silent through it all, his golden eyes sweeping the group as if measuring their words and finding them of little consequence. Still, the faintest twitch at the corner of his mouth betrayed that he had heard, and perhaps even tolerated the exchange.
Elira straightened, resting the haft of her glaive against her shoulder once more. Her eyes lingered on Thal for a breath longer, something unspoken in the curve of her lips, before she turned to the others. "See to it. Lions Gate will see him one way or another it might as well be dressed in more than ashes."
With that, she inclined her head to the group, her expression shifting back to the calm, commanding presence they all knew. "I'll return to Eric. He'll want my report."
She strode away across the square, her dark cloak trailing behind her, the glint of her glaive catching in the afternoon sun until the crowd swallowed her whole.
The group was left with the echo of her words, the fountain's murmur filling the silence once more.