They found the first Tall One on the sixth day.
It was standing in the middle of the road, motionless, its too-long limbs hanging at its sides, its face turned toward them as if it had been waiting.
The column stopped. Men drew weapons. Horses screamed and had to be calmed. Kaelen moved to the front, his sword already in his hand, and for a long moment, no one moved.
Then the Tall One spoke.
"You came back."
The voice was inside Kaelen's head, not his ears. He saw the others flinch, saw Toren press his hands to his temples, saw Marok's face go pale. They heard it too.
"Keep moving," Kaelen said. "Don't stop. Don't engage."
"They cannot hear me," the Tall One said. "Only you. I speak to you, as I have always spoken. As I will always speak until you return."
Kaelen walked toward it. His sword was raised, but the thing did not move to defend itself. It simply stood, its hollow eyes fixed on him, its mouth a thin line in a face that had once been human.
"You touched the door. You opened it. Now you are afraid of what you will find on the other side."
"I'm not afraid of you."
"You should be. Not of me. Of what I remember." The Tall One's head tilted, a gesture that was almost curious. "I remember the sun. I remember light on my skin. I remember my name. Do you remember yours, Breach?"
Kaelen's sword point pressed against the thing's chest. It did not react.
"Kill me," the Tall One said. "I am not the first. I will not be the last. But killing me will not close the door. Only you can do that. Only you."
He drove the blade forward.
The Tall One did not fall. It stood impaled, black fluid seeping from the wound, and its hollow eyes never left Kaelen's face.
"You cannot kill what you already are," it said. "Come north. Find the door. Finish what you started. Or watch everything you love become what I am."
Kaelen twisted the blade, pulled it free. The Tall One collapsed, its body dissolving into ash, into nothing, into the grey that surrounded them.
Behind him, someone was weeping.
He turned. Toren stood with his sword drawn, his face white, his hands shaking. Marok had his men formed in a defensive circle, their faces set, their weapons ready. Seren was humming, her tune faster now, almost frantic.
And Elyss—
Elyss was looking at him with something that might have been fear. Her hand was at her chest, where the vial hung hidden beneath her robes.
"What did it say to you?" she asked. Her voice was steady, but only just. "When it spoke. What did it say?"
Kaelen wiped his sword on his cloak. The black fluid stained the fabric, did not wash away.
"It said I was the one who opened the door. That only I can close it." He looked at the road ahead, at the grey nothing that stretched toward the North. "It said I should come home."