CHAPTER 200: CAMPING IN THE MOUNTAINS

Kai pulled the carriage off the road. The sun had descended behind the Ironforge Mountains and the air free colder as the day got darker.

A flat stretch of ground lay ahead, hemmed in by a cliff face on one side and a steep drop into a fog-drenched valley on the other. The road itself narrowed further beyond this point, twisting toward the west, so Kai decided to stop before the path became too dangerous to navigate in darkness.

The air was colder here, thin and biting. Mist clung low, rolling across the ground in pale ribbons that seemed to drift against the wind. Every sound felt sharper.

Crisper.

The creak of the carriage wheels as they settled, the soft stamp of the horses as they shifted uneasily, and the distant echo of something moving far below in the fog.

Everything echoed through the valleys and off the cliff faces.

Kai’s eyes narrowed. With his mana sight, the world lit faintly in shades of blue and violet. Through the rolling fog, he caught flashes, mana signatures of creatures moving miles away.

They were faint, like whispers of light carried on the wind, but their presence was undeniable. And not natural.

Arcane beasts. Or something worse.

He let his vision fade, rubbing his temples. "We’ll stay here for the night. Keep the fire low."

Vepice, stepping down from the carriage, glanced toward the fog. Her breath plumed in the cold, curling in the torchlight. "I know that forests can get noisy at night... but this doesn’t feel like that."

"No," Kai agreed. "It doesn’t."

"Then we need to be careful."

He considered sending Ralts or one of the wyverns to scout the area. Or even Joe, who could cloak himself in darkness to blend with the night. But the thought of pulling anything from his shadow space was too risky.

The chance of letting the divine gaze notice a flicker of necromancy so close to the Ironforge range kept him still.

"We’ll rely on our eyes and ears," he said finally. "No undead. Not tonight. We don’t need anything to find us, even if we are a little stronger. We find the tomb, and then we can take a few more risks."

Vepice didn’t say anything, but nodded in agreement.

They set up camp with quiet efficiency. A small fire, conjured from Kai’s magic, crackled softly, giving just enough heat to keep the frostbite at bay. The light danced over the pale mist, making the shadows stretch unnaturally far.

They ate little, just enough to keep their strength up, dried rations from Kai’s shadow space, and then sat close to the fire.

The mist swirled around them like the breath of a living thing.

Vepice broke the silence first.

"So... chronomancy," she said, holding her hands out toward the flames. "You know a lot about magic, but you haven’t said much about it."

Kai looked at her, his expression unreadable in the dim light. "Because I don’t know much about it."

She raised a brow. "You? Don’t know something?"

"Is it that surprising? I’ve read about time magic," he admitted. "In my other life. But those sorts of books don’t make it real. I didn’t even think chronomancers existed here. At least, not anymore. Most mentions of it in literature call time manipulation. Impossible or at least dangerous."

"Dangerous?"

"From what I’ve read and watched, time doesn’t like being tampered with. If you bend it too far, it snaps back or breaks." He poked at the fire with a stick, watching the embers shift. "And, iff the wrong people found out, they’d try to use you or kill you, just to make sure nobody else does."

Vepice stared into the flames for a long moment. "So, you can’t help me."

"Not yet," Kai said, voice low. "But I’ll figure it out. I always do."

A faint smile tugged at her lips. She didn’t push him further, and instead leaned closer to the fire, letting the warmth soak into her bones as the night sounds deepened.

From the fog came distant noises.

Several low, echoing howls, the wet slap of something moving through water, and now and then the crack of a tree branch somewhere beyond sight.

Every sound made the horses stir uneasily, their hooves shuffling against the frozen dirt.

Kai layered their camp in barriers before they slept. One, a dome of shadow and tempered mana to mask them from wandering eyes. Another, woven beneath their blankets, a thin veil to suppress heat and sound. By the time they lay down, wrapped beneath the furs and layers pulled from Kai’s shadow space, even the fire had been reduced to a faint, controlled glow.

They slept close by, near the fire, covered in various blankets. Vepice kept her clothes on that night.

The morning came grey and quiet, the fog still clinging to the valley below. Kai doused the last of the fire with a gesture and packed the wards away into his shadow space before rousing the horses. They climbed back onto the carriage bench, the wood still cold from the night air, and continued west along the road.

The path hugged the edge of the mountains now, the cliffside to their left giving way to occasional glimpses of the distant sea on their right. The air carried the tang of salt, sharp and clean, mixing strangely with the frostbitten scent of pine from the sparse forests along the slopes.

Kai broke the silence as they rolled along.

"The receptionist at the Hall of Sorcery told me the next eclipse is in a week," he said, his gaze fixed on the winding road. "So we’ve only got a couple more days to find the right place. If we miss it..."

He trailed off, the weight of it hanging in the air.

"We wait?" Vepice asked.

Kai nodded. "Weeks, maybe months. Maybe years. Depends on the cycles."

She looked toward the distant sea, her brow furrowed. "Then we don’t miss it."

"Right," Kai murmured.

The carriage wheels rattled over the uneven ground as they pressed on, the Ironforge peaks growing larger and more imposing with every mile.