The ridge beyond the east orchard was just high enough to see the whole of Stonehollow.
That's where Kiriti stood now.
The badge hung from a leather cord at his belt, its weight heavier than steel.Not because of magic. Not because of stats.Because it meant something here.
And that scared him more than anything.
Below, smoke rose from the baker's chimney.Children chased chickens through a garden fence.Two guards walked the wall, not speaking — just watching.
Everything looked normal.
But Kiriti felt the shift.
Stonehollow wasn't asleep anymore.It was bracing.
He heard movement behind him.
Didn't flinch.He knew the step.Too light for Emeric. Too steady for a child.
He turned.
Revi stood just beyond the tree line, arms crossed, boots dusted with travel.
No armor this time. Just a dark coat. Gloves tucked in her belt.
"You planning to stay here forever?" she asked.
Kiriti shrugged. "Thinking about it."
"You know what's coming."
"I do."
"And you're not leaving?"
He looked down at the town.
"No."
Revi sighed and stepped beside him.
They stood in silence for a moment.
Then she said, "The guilds will move soon. Gerrik's got a new formation. They're scouting outposts first, then circling back to settlements. Stonehollow's in the middle."
Kiriti's jaw tightened. "They'll clear it."
"They'll try."
She looked at him.
"Do you have a plan?"
"Not yet."
"Then find someone who does."
He found her by the broken windmill.
Edda.
Easily overlooked — just another old woman in a town full of them.But Emeric had spoken of her once.
"She's the last one who remembers the first name of this place."
She sat with a pot of stew bubbling over a firepit, wooden ladle in one hand, the other curled in a glove with two missing fingers.
"You're the recruit," she said, without looking.
Kiriti stepped closer. "I'm Kiriti."
"I know."
She tasted the stew. Grimaced. Tossed in a pinch of something from a pouch on her belt.
"You've been digging into the wrong stories," she said.
Kiriti blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Everyone talks about the fire," Edda murmured. "They think it was the beginning. But fires don't start on their own. Someone always strikes the first spark."
Kiriti sat down across from her.
She glanced up. Saw the badge.
"Ah. So the captain passed it on."
Kiriti nodded.
Edda looked toward the horizon.
"Then it's happening again."
He didn't ask what she meant.
She continued anyway.
"They'll come with banners and steel. Call it balance. Call it progression. Say this zone's too low to matter. But we remember."
Kiriti felt the weight of the air shift.
"Emeric said I'd be hunted."
Edda stirred the pot.
"He's not wrong. But they won't just come for you."
She paused.
"They'll come for what you made possible."
A long silence stretched between them.
Then, quietly, Edda said:
"Three days before the first fire, I stood right where you're sitting now."
"What happened?"
"I didn't speak loud enough."
She ladled stew into a wooden bowl and handed it to him.
Kiriti took it with both hands.
No system message.
No reward.
Just warmth.
And something that might've been trust.
As he walked back through the fields, the wind changed direction.
Again.
And this time, it carried the sound of marching boots.
Far off. Muffled.
But coming.
📄 [ZONE ALERT: PLAYER GROUP ENTERING EASTERN RIDGE PATH]Group Leader: Gerrik (Lvl 47)Guild: Iron PactIntent Tag: "Aggressive Recon"
— Estimated Time to Visual Contact: 36 Minutes— Current Town Alert Level: Suppressed
Back in the town, the baker pulled closed his shutters.A boy gathered empty buckets from the fountain.The chapel bell didn't ring — but the candlelight inside doubled.
And in the sky?
No birds flew.
Not one.