"What the fuck are you talking about?" Ezra asked, his irritation sharpening his voice.
Guy barely reacted. The man only sighed, as if Ezra’s temper was the least surprising thing in the world.
"You haven’t heard, eh?"
"Obviously not," Ezra said flatly. "So tell ."
Guy took a slow breath before speaking again.
"One of our first missions as the new Sunward Sentinels was here," he said. "This village."
Ezra listened quietly.
Guy rarely spoke like this. Usually he was loud, careless, and joking about sothing. But now his tone was different.
Heavy.
"We got word there was a Dark One hiding here," Guy continued. "Only one. So Prince Helios took a small group of us to handle it."
He shrugged slightly.
"There was no need to bring a full force if it was just a single one."
Ezra nodded faintly but said nothing.
Guy kept going.
"When we got here, we found a woman."
"A woman?" Ezra repeated.
Guy nodded.
"She was the one reported. Her husband had died and turned into a Dark One. Apparently she had been hiding him inside their house because she refused to let him go."
Ezra’s eyes widened slightly.
"She was actively keeping a Dark One? That’s..."
He stopped himself.
"Yes," Guy said. "Freaky."
Then he let out a quiet breath.
"...But sohow a little romantic too."
Ezra frowned faintly at that.
"Prince Helios was ready to kill it," Guy continued. "But the woman wouldn’t let us."
Guy’s expression darkened slightly as he rembered.
"She said her husband hadn’t died."
Ezra blinked.
"What?"
"She claid the one who died was their child," Guy said quietly. "And when their child died... her husband changed."
Ezra’s grip tightened on the reins.
"Changed?"
Guy nodded once.
"Turned into a Dark One."
Ezra’s heart skipped.
"Alive?" he said slowly. "Is this..."
"Yes," Guy said. "Probably one of the first cases of a living person turning into a Dark One."
Guy looked ahead at the empty road as he spoke.
"But back then... we couldn’t believe it."
Ezra stayed silent.
"She kept insisting her husband was still inside," Guy said. "That he hadn’t completely beco a monster."
Guy exhaled through his nose.
"But we couldn’t take that risk."
Ezra already knew what ca next.
"So we killed him."
The words hung heavily in the air.
"And..." Guy continued quietly.
Ezra spoke before he could finish.
"Let guess."
Guy glanced at him.
"Her grief made her turn."
Guy nodded slowly.
"She broke down right there. Started screaming. Then sothing... changed."
Guy’s jaw tightened.
"She turned."
Ezra looked forward again, his thoughts racing.
"She got loose," Guy continued. "And when she started attacking... people panicked."
Fear.
Grief.
Chaos.
"Others began turning," Guy said quietly. "So from fear. So after being attacked."
He shook his head slowly.
"What started with one Dark One beca... many."
Ezra felt a weight settle in his chest.
"They lost a lot of people that day," Guy said.
His voice dropped lower.
"And after that, more cases started appearing."
Ezra glanced toward the village windows again.
Now the glares made sense.
"Alive humans turning into Dark Ones," Guy muttered.
Guy looked down at his hands.
"If we had listened to her... maybe..."
He trailed off.
Then he shook his head.
"This village has hated us ever since," he said quietly. "Every ti we pass through, you can feel it."
Ezra looked toward the windows again.
The eyes watching them.
The anger.
The grief.
Now it made sense.
And yet sothing in Ezra’s chest twisted uncomfortably.
"Then why didn’t Prince Helios listen?" Ezra asked quietly, turning his head toward Guy. "Why didn’t any of you question it?"
Guy let out a short laugh, though it carried little humor.
"Are you kidding , Captain?" he said. "If you saw a Dark One, wouldn’t you kill it?"
He shrugged.
"Who knew the woman wasn’t lying."
Ezra stared at him.
"Are you stupid?"
Guy nearly choked on his own breath.
"W–What? What?" he sputtered, turning fully toward Ezra on his horse. "Why... are you calling stupid so suddenly?"
Ezra didn’t soften his expression.
"Dark Ones attack anyone who gets close," he said evenly. "They drain the soul from living beings nearby."
His grip tightened around the reins.
"So?" Guy asked, confused.
Ezra narrowed his eyes slightly.
"How long did the woman hide her husband?"
Guy frowned, thinking.
"A few days—"
He stopped.
"Oh."
"Exactly."
Ezra gestured toward the small hos lining the road as they rode past them.
"If the woman was hiding a Dark One inside one of these tiny houses," Ezra said slowly, "how was she still alive?"
Guy’s eyes widened.
The realization struck him like a blow.
"You could’ve..." Guy murmured.
Then he shook his head once, almost violently.
"No..."
Ezra looked forward again.
’Helios could have avoided it... if he had noticed that.’
But the thought unsettled him.
How could Helios not have noticed sothing so obvious?
Helios had always been sharp. Careful. Observant.
Ezra knew that better than anyone.
’You have always placed on a pedestal.’
Helios’ voice echoed in his mory.
Ezra frowned faintly.
’Did I?’
Had he really?
Ezra admired Helios for who he was, not for so perfect image he imagined.
Or maybe...
Maybe Helios had been trying too hard.
Trying to prove himself.
Trying to show he was capable.
Trying to make quick decisions like a leader should.
And in doing so, he had overlooked sothing simple.
Either way, it was too late now.
Nothing could undo what had happened to this village.
Ezra still felt unsettled by it.
Because even he, soone who had not been there that day, had noticed the flaw in the story within minutes.
Which ant one thing.
Sothing about this situation was wrong.
Very wrong.
Ezra’s gaze moved again toward the silent houses watching them pass.
’Sothing is happening in this kingdom.’
The first case of a living person turning into a Dark One.
A dead child.
The kidnappings.
All of it.
Each piece felt connected to sothing larger, sothing buried beneath the surface.
This village only confird it.
Ezra’s jaw tightened slightly.
’Whatever is happening... I’m going to find out.’
His eyes moved forward again toward the long road ahead.
This mission was only the beginning.
And before it ended, Ezra intended to uncover every secret he could.
With the little ti he planned spending in this kingdom.
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