The rise&fall

Morning came with frost clinging to their cloaks and a silence heavier than rest. The air smelled of damp pine and old ash. Huwue sat by the remains of the fire, her eyes fixed on Rangi, who stood at the edge of camp inspecting her arm brace. The roots of yesterday's battle still lingered in her movements—graceful, powerful, sure.

"How did you fight like that?" Huwue asked, her voice hushed.

Rangi paused but didn't look up.

Before she could answer, Gogjen strolled over with a wide grin. "That's our Child of Destiny you're talking to."

Huwue blinked. "Your what?"

"Our," Gogjen corrected, placing a fist to his chest proudly. "She's from the Imperial Tian clan. Every major clan in the United Nation of Fire has one—a prodigy chosen by fate. Born to lead. Rangi's that for us."

Huwue's gaze drifted to Rangi's back as she adjusted her gear in silence.

Child of Destiny... she thought. Each clan... born with a destined champion. Not earned. Just chosen. While some of us were born cursed... others were born crowned.

Rangi turned slightly. "We should eat. Then move."

They shared a quiet breakfast—flatbread crisped over last night's embers, strips of dried spirit meat that tasted vaguely like smoke and iron. Gogjen made a joke about chewing on shoes, but no one laughed.

Leeyang stood quickly after. "We can't stay long. They'll come back, or someone will."

Together, they approached the five unconscious Land of Xi scouts tied to thick trees. The vines Rangi had summoned yesterday still held firm, crawling like sleeping snakes around wrists and ankles.

"They'll live," Rangi said, planting a peace sigil in front of them using carved sticks. "This mark means mercy. Saibia rules."

Leeyang hesitated, then nodded. "Let's go."

The fog thinned slightly as they moved deeper through the forest, away from the ambush site. The trees became taller, and the air colder with each step.

After an hour, they stumbled upon it: the tower.

Half-fallen, ice-cloaked, and silent, it rose from the ground like the shattered spine of some dead beast. Its walls were black stone cracked with frost. Frozen vines curled along its base.

"This... was an outpost during the Saibia Wars," Rangi said, stepping forward.

"No tracks," Leeyang murmured. "Hasn't been touched in years."

"Not true," Gogjen said, kneeling by the door. "Look."

A bootprint in the ice. Fresh.

Everyone went still.

Huwue's hand moved toward her blade. Leeyang slowly reached for his sword.

"Could be one of the scouts from last night," Rangi said.

"Or someone else entirely," Leeyang answered.

Inside, the air was colder still. The tower's inner chamber had partially collapsed, revealing twisted beams and the remnants of war. Broken armor lay in corners. Ice crystals clung to every surface.

"Check for supplies," Rangi ordered.

They split up.

Gogjen found a rusted chest beneath fallen stone. With effort, he pried it open and gasped. Inside, wrapped in old cloth, was a crystal shard glowing with faint red fire.

"A xiuzhen crystal," he whispered. "It's still alive."

Rangi examined it carefully. "This could power a seal or ward. We'll take it."

Huwue explored the side hall and stopped before a wall of carvings—battle scenes, names long forgotten. At the bottom, one line etched in frozen stone:

THE SILENCE DEVOURS.

"Guys," she called.

Rangi and Leeyang joined her.

"Saibia code?" Leeyang asked.

"No," Rangi said softly. "It's older."

From behind them, the wind howled through a crack in the wall.

"Let's move," Rangi said.

Outside again, they paused. Huwue's eyes scanned the snow-dusted ground.

She froze.

"Look."

Fresh footprints. Right behind their own.

But no one had followed them in.

Leeyang drew his sword. "We're being tracked."

Gogjen turned nervously. "could it be the silent fang?"

No answer came.

Carved into the frozen bark of a nearby tree was a message, jagged and cruel:

THE CURSED WALK AHEAD.

They stared at it for a long time.

Then Rangi turned and motioned for them to move.

They kept walking in silence. Each crunch of snow beneath their boots echoed like thunder.

The trees thinned until they found themselves on the edge of a frozen clearing. In the distance stood a black ridge — half-covered in mist. Their map didn't mark it.

"There's no trail past this point," Rangi said, holding up the map fragment they recovered.

"Then we're outside the known paths," Leeyang muttered. "No clans. No patrols."

"No law," Huwue added.

Gogjen rubbed his arms. "Perfect place for something nasty to be hiding."

They pressed forward.

By afternoon, the mist thickened again. The sun barely pierced it, casting the world in dim silver. Rangi ordered a short rest beneath the curved roots of a fallen tree.

Huwue sat apart, her fingers tracing the edge of her boots. Her eyes drifted to Rangi again. Something in her burned — envy, maybe. Or something darker.

She didn't choose her power. But Rangi? Rangi was born into it.

Leeyang stood nearby, sharpening his blade without speaking. Gogjen handed out another round of dried meat, then plopped down with a sigh.

"No talking trees yet," he said. "We're making progress."

Rangi managed a small smile.

But no one laughed.

As they rose again to move, Huwue turned and looked back toward the tower.

The carved tree still stood in the distance, its message clear even from far away.

The cursed walk ahead.

She exhaled slowly.

Then followed the others into the fog.