The nameless path did not so much lead them forward as it unmade the idea of forward entirely.
Aether felt it the moment he stepped onto it — the subtle wrongness of a road that had no destination because it existed outside the current of time itself. The stars above did not move. The ground beneath his boots did not echo his footsteps. Even the wind, when it touched his face, felt like a memory of wind rather than the thing itself.
Behind him, Liora's breath caught. Kael's hand drifted instinctively to the hilt at his side, though against what, none of them could say. The Traveler alone walked without hesitation, his eyes fixed on some point far ahead that only he seemed able to see.
"You've been here before," Aether said. It wasn't a question.
The Traveler didn't answer. His silence had weight now, the kind that pressed against Aether's chest like an accusation he hadn't earned yet.
Then the path opened.
