The further they traveled into the heart of the ruins, the more Ziya felt the weight of their presence pressing down on her. The silence between the squad members was thick, heavy with the aftermath of the encounter. They had barely spoken after the creature's disappearance, and Ziya could tell that the others were still on edge. Bashir was quietly muttering prayers, his eyes flicking nervously to every shadow, while Tarek moved with his sword drawn, his young face pale. Nefri kept her head down, but there was a tension in her posture that suggested she, too, could feel the invisible weight of something watching them.
Khalid, as always, was focused. His eyes scanned the path ahead, his every movement measured, controlled. But Ziya couldn't shake the feeling that beneath the armor of his discipline, something had shifted—an unspoken change. It was subtle, but it was there, like the crackling energy of a storm just before it broke.
Ziya glanced at him from the corner of her eye, but Khalid's expression remained unreadable. He had always been a man of few words, but today, she could sense an unfamiliar edge to his stillness, a guardedness that mirrored her own.
After what felt like hours of walking through the ruins, they reached a small, sheltered alcove—half-hidden behind a collapsed wall, as if nature itself had conspired to protect it. Khalid signaled for the squad to stop and rest. The horses were unsaddled, the men gathered firewood, and Nefri began to mutter low prayers, her voice barely audible over the soft rustling of the wind.
Ziya stayed to the side, her thoughts racing. The encounter with the creature still loomed over her, like a shadow she couldn't outrun. Her fingers drifted over the amulet beneath her robes, her thoughts swirling. The magic is still there, waiting to rise again. She had felt it in the air, in the creature's voice, and in the familiar tug beneath her skin. The darkness was never truly gone. It had merely been buried—like a dormant seed, waiting for the right conditions to grow again.
But she couldn't let it. Not now. Not after all she had sacrificed.
A voice broke through her reverie.
"Ziya."
She turned quickly to find Khalid standing nearby, his arms crossed, his brow furrowed in the familiar, hard expression he wore when making decisions.
"You've been distant," he said, his voice low, but not unkind. "Ever since we… encountered that thing."
Ziya hesitated, unsure of how to respond. She wasn't sure if she was more confused by Khalid's sudden attention or the way his presence made her feel like the ground beneath her feet was no longer steady.
"I'm fine," she said, her tone a little too quick, a little too sharp. "Just… thinking."
Khalid raised an eyebrow, his gaze assessing. "Thinking about what? About that… thing? Or something else?"
Ziya bit back the impulse to snap at him. She could feel the pull of her old magic again, creeping at the edges of her control, and the last thing she needed was for Khalid—of all people—to start probing into things she couldn't explain.
"I'm not sure what it was," she said, her voice softer now. "But I know it wasn't just a creature of the curse. It was…" She swallowed hard. "It was something from my past."
Khalid's gaze softened, just for a moment, and Ziya noticed how the sharpness in his eyes dulled. She quickly looked away, feeling exposed, as though he could see right through her, right into the part of her she was trying so hard to forget.
"You're not the only one with a past you'd rather leave behind," Khalid said quietly, his voice almost hesitant. For a moment, Ziya could have sworn she saw a flicker of something vulnerable in his eyes—something buried beneath the surface, like a part of him he had locked away, just as she had.
She blinked, trying to make sense of his words. "What do you mean?"
Khalid's jaw tightened, and he glanced away, his eyes scanning the horizon. "I mean… everyone carries burdens. And sometimes, they catch up with us."
Ziya wasn't sure why his words affected her the way they did, but there was a certain weight in his voice—an understanding—that made her pause. For a fleeting moment, she thought she might see a hint of the man behind the soldier, someone who had once known pain, loss, and regret in the same way she had.
"I didn't ask for this," she said, her voice quieter now, almost to herself. "I didn't ask for any of it."
Khalid turned toward her then, his eyes catching hers in a way that felt too intense. His gaze wasn't the commanding, impersonal one he usually reserved for his soldiers—it was different, softer, almost like… he cared.
"You don't have to carry it alone," he said, his voice low, but with an underlying conviction that struck a chord deep inside her. "Whatever it is, we'll face it together."
Ziya's breath caught in her throat. The words were simple, yet they settled over her like a blanket of warmth, something she hadn't realized she'd needed until now. She opened her mouth to respond, but before she could find the words, she heard a faint rustle from behind them.
"Commander?" Bashir's voice broke the moment, his tone a mixture of curiosity and caution. "There's something… strange."
Khalid's expression immediately hardened, his soldier instincts kicking in. He turned toward the sound, his hand going to his sword, his posture suddenly tense. "Stay alert," he ordered.
Ziya nodded and immediately moved to stand beside him, her hand resting on the hilt of her own dagger. Her pulse quickened, but it wasn't just the presence of danger she could feel now. There was something else in the air—something unspoken, an undercurrent between her and Khalid that hadn't been there before. A shift. Something fragile and tentative, but undeniable.
The tension in the air was palpable, but Ziya's thoughts kept returning to Khalid. His words lingered in her mind. We'll face it together.
It wasn't much, but it was enough. Enough to make her wonder what it would be like to not face everything alone. To have someone at her side—not just as a soldier, but as something more. The idea of it felt… strange. But it also felt like something she might want.
They turned in unison toward the source of the noise, but Ziya couldn't shake the feeling that whatever awaited them in the darkening ruins wasn't the only thing that had changed today. Something had shifted between her and Khalid, a connection that felt both unexpected and inevitable.
The rest of the squad moved cautiously into position, weapons drawn, eyes alert. Ziya stayed close to Khalid, her heart still racing—not from fear of whatever lurked in the shadows, but from the unsettling realization that her thoughts weren't entirely on the mission anymore.
And for the first time, Ziya allowed herself to consider the possibility that whatever came next—whatever lay ahead—might not just be about surviving the curse.
It might also be about something else entirely. Something she hadn't known she was missing until now.
Khalid glanced at her then, his eyes meeting hers for a brief moment, as if he, too, sensed the change. But before either of them could speak, the ground beneath them rumbled once again, and the future—whatever it might hold—was lost to the present.
The storm was coming. And they would face it, together.