Neo walked back to Thal's hut was quieter than usual.
Not that it was ever filled with conversation Tor did not speak, and Neo had never been one for unnecessary words but tonight, the silence felt heavier, more deliberate. The wind had settled to a dull whisper, curling through the trees, carrying the scent of frost and distant embers from the village. The air itself seemed to be waiting, stretched thin between what had just been said and what was yet to come.
Neo walked ahead, his pace steady, purposeful, but his mind was not here. It was still standing at the edge of the village, still caught in the moment Tor had stiffened, frozen in place at the sound of that name.
"Fall."
Neo had never heard it before, but Tor had and for the first time since he had known her, since she had fought beside him, since she had stood unshaken in the face of things most warriors would crumble before.... she had been afraid.
Neo had wanted to press her on it the moment they left Oak, to ask, to demand an answer but she had walked beside him with a focus so sharp it might as well have been a wall between them. Whatever had struck her in that moment, whatever memory or knowledge she had, she was not going to share it now.
As they reached Thal's hut, he finally slowed, turning toward her. Tor met his gaze, and before he could even ask, she raised a hand and signed. "Not now."
Neo's jaw tightened slightly, but he gave no other reaction. He exhaled sharply through his nose, turning back toward the hut without another word. Inside, the hut was warm, but it did nothing to ease the weight pressing into Neo's chest.
He didn't sit. Didn't eat. He just stood there, his fingers flexing slightly at his sides, the unease crawling beneath his skin. He could feel it, the way his body wouldn't settle, the way his muscles seemed to be waiting for something.... be it movement, a fight, anything.
Tor had already settled herself at the back, arms crossed, watching but making no move to stop him as he turned on his heel and stepped back out into the cold. The door shut behind him with a dull thud.
His sword was in his hands before he had even realized it, the metal catching the dull glow of the lantern hanging outside the hut. His feet shifted, his body falling into a stance that had been drilled into him a thousand times before.
Then he struck. The first swing was measured, controlled a clean cut through the air, then another and another.
His movements flowed seamlessly, each transition sharper, smoother than the last, his body responding before his mind had even given the command. The cold did not slow him. The weight of his weapon did not hinder him.
He moved as if it had always been this way.
The blade turned in his hands, and he pivoted without thinking his tail snapping down against the frozen ground, bracing him just enough to shift his weight, launching him forward into another strike.
He landed lightly, smoothly, as if the motion had never been unfamiliar to him.
His tail moved again, curling slightly before snapping out, steadying his stance before he turned into a rapid spin, the sword slashing in a perfect arc before his feet had even fully met the ground. This wasn't just instinct. This was fluid his blade did not resist him. The motion of it was as natural as breathing.
Neo didn't stop. He couldn't. He pushed further, faster, testing the limits of his body, the weight of the steel, the momentum of his movement.
His tail braced him as he launched forward again, flipping once mid-air, his blade flashing downward as he landed in a low crouch, one foot skidding lightly against the ice before he turned into another smooth arc. He did not feel tired, did not feel strained. He only felt the movement. The flow as if his body had known this before his mind ever had.
He stopped only when he realized the breath curling into the air in front of him was steady. His heart was not racing. His muscles were burning. He only focuses on the cold pressing against his skin, the stillness of the night.
Neo exhaled through his nose, lowering his blade, rolling his shoulders once as he let the motion settle. Behind him, the door to the hut had opened Tor stood there, leaning slightly against the frame, arms still crossed she had been watching.
Neo turned toward her fully, twirling his blade once before sliding it back into its sheath with practiced ease. She raised a brow slightly. He met her gaze, holding it for a moment before smirking faintly. "Not bad, right?"
Tor didn't react, but something in her gaze had shifted. Something calculating. Not concern not doubt but recognition.
Neo turned back toward the open space before him, tilting his head slightly as he flexed his fingers. His tail curled once behind him, relaxed, waiting. He exhaled again, letting the cold settle into his skin, the weight of his training pressing into his muscles.
The cold wrapped around him, pressing into his skin like an old companion, but Neo barely felt it. His breath curled in thin wisps before vanishing into the air, steady and controlled. His sword was lowered now, the blade catching the dull glow of the lantern hanging outside Thal's hut. His muscles were loose, his stance relaxed, but his mind was still moving.
It had been different tonight. The weight of his weapon had not hindered him. The movement had been natural, effortless. His tail had braced, launched, balanced all without hesitation, without thought. It was as if his body had already known how to move, how to fight like this, long before he had ever tried.
Neo flexed his fingers, exhaling slowly. He glanced up to see Tor shifting slightly where she stood, her arms uncrossing. She met his gaze, her dark eyes holding something unreadable, before raising one hand and signing. "You're getting better."
Neo smirked slightly, rolling his shoulders. "Of course, I am."
Tor's ear twitched, her expression neutral. Then, without further sign, she turned and strode toward the weapons rack leaning against the side of the hut.
Neo's gaze followed her movements as she reached for her axe. Heavy. Broad bladed. A weapon that suited her just as much as the cold suited Snowdrift. Tor rested it against her shoulder for a moment before turning back to face him. She signed again. "But you might need someone to fight."
Neo exhaled through his nose, a small, sharp laugh escaping before he tilted his head. "Oh?" His tail flicked behind him, slow and deliberate. "That an offer?"
Tor simply stared at him, lowering her axe from her shoulder.
Neo smirked, lifting his sword again, the edge glinting beneath the faint starlight. "I'll take that as a yes." Neo moved first.
His feet shifted smoothly, pushing forward in a controlled arc, blade gliding through the air in a swift but measured cut. He was fast, but he knew better than to charge in blindly.
Tor was not just strong she was experienced. She sidestepped at the last moment, her movements deceptively light for her size. Her axe came up, not to block, but to deflect a sharp movement that sent Neo's blade just off course before she twisted, aiming the flat of her axe toward his ribs.
Neo spun away, his tail snapping down against the frozen ground, launching him just out of reach as the air hissed with the force of Tor's swing. Neo grinned. "That all you got?"
Tor huffed through her nose. Then, without hesitation, she came at him again.
Neo felt the change as soon as he moved. The sword was weightless in his hands. His feet barely made a sound against the frozen ground. His tail shifted as if it had always been part of his combat, not just something he had adapted to use, but something meant for this.
Tor swung her axe in a brutal downward arc fast, precise, meant to crush.
Neo turned, his body already twisting before the blow landed, his blade meeting the strike in a clean parry. The force of it should have knocked him off balance but it didn't. His tail curled against the ground, bracing him for just a moment before he used it to push off, flipping backward, his feet barely grazing the ice before he spun into another strike.
Tor barely dodged, shifting her stance.
Neo landed in a low crouch, exhaling slowly, his sword still humming through the air from the movement. He was faster. Smoother. This wasn't just training anymore. Something had shifted.
Tor did not pause. She lifted her axe again, gripping it in both hands, her stance wider now solid, ready. She wasn't just swinging anymore. She was watching.... testing.
Neo smirked, straightening slightly. "Alright," he muttered, tilting his head. "Let's see how far we can take this."
Tor moved first this time. She was fast. Not just for her size, but truly, frighteningly fast. She closed the space between them in a blink, her axe coming in a sweeping arc, the kind of swing that would take down a tree in a single motion.
Neo ducked low, his tail coiling beneath him, snapping down against the ice with just enough force to send him sliding backwards.
She adjusted immediately, stepping forward, twisting her grip mid motion as she reversed the strike an upward swing meant to catch him mid movement.
Neo reacted before he thought. He pushed off with his tail again, flipping mid air, his body twisting so that his blade met hers in perfect sync, redirecting the force just enough to let him land behind her.
He turned, but Tor had already adjusted, shifting into a defensive stance before he could strike again. The fight had changed they weren't just sparring anymore. They were truly fighting.
Tor's eyes flicked over him, her grip adjusting slightly on her axe.
Neo grinned, tilting his head. "Getting serious?"
Tor didn't answer. She charged.
They moved like opposing currents Tor's brute strength and precision against Neo's fluidity and speed. Where her axe swung, Neo was already moving. Where Neo struck, Tor was already anticipating. They were evenly matched and yet, with each passing moment, Neo was learning.
His body had already adjusted, already adapted, already moving faster than he had before.
Her movements became sharper, more focused. She was not just fighting. She was testing, measuring.... watching. Neo wasn't sure whether he liked that or not.
He struck again, his blade catching the edge of her axe, twisting just enough to send it off course not to disarm, not overwhelm, just to make her shift but Tor didn't let it stop her. She stepped into the momentum, forcing it forward instead of resisting it, letting it pull her into another strike before Neo could regain his footing.
He barely dodged in time, his tail snapping down once more to push him just out of reach.
They separated again. Breathing steady, weapons raised a pause. Then, slowly, Tor lowered her axe. She studied him for a long moment, then signed "Enough."
Neo exhaled, rolling his shoulders before lowering his sword. He smirked, tilting his head. "Tired already?"
Tor didn't react. She signed something else. "You're different."
Neo's smirk faltered.
Tor let the words settle before signing once more. "You don't even realize it."
Neo watched her for a moment, then exhaled through his nose, sheathing his blade.
The night stretched quiet and vast, the cold pressing into the valley like an unseen weight. The only sounds were the distant howl of the wind and the slow, steady breaths of the two figures standing outside Thal's hut.
Neo exhaled, rolling his shoulders, feeling the lingering hum of battle still in his bones. His blade had never felt lighter, his movements had never felt more natural. But it wasn't just instinct. It was something else.
Tor stood across from him, watching, her gaze sharp but unreadable. She lifted her hands, signing smoothly. "You fight like Thal's mother."
Neo's stance faltered. Just slightly.
It wasn't shock exactly, more so confusion.
"Thal's mother?" He repeated the words foreign on his tongue, unfamiliar to his thoughts. "Didn't even know he had one."
Tor didn't react. She simply signed again. "You move like her."
Neo flexed his fingers slightly, rolling his neck before smirking faintly. "I don't fight like a Nephilim."
Tor's next sign was sharper. "No. You don't. Because you no Nephilim."
The wind shifted, curling around them like something listening. Neo tilted his head, his tail flicking once behind him. She was leading to something.
Tor let a few moments pass before signing again. "So, fight as Kruul."
Neo exhaled through his nose. So that was it, huh?
He had spent years refining his swordsmanship, balancing power with precision, learning from Thal's brutal efficiency but he had never truly leaned into what made him different.
He was Kruul'Voth. He had access to power no Children of Dust or Nephilim had. It was time to use it. Neo didn't think he just moved his fingers curled slightly, the motion more of a call than a spell, more of an instinct than a command. The first time it happened it was like stepping through water.
For a moment, his vision darkened, the air warped, stretched, bent around him and then he was somewhere else. A flickering ring of deep purple light lingered for half a second before vanishing.
From Tor's perspective Neo had disappeared. Her ears flicked, her stance shifting slightly. Then he reappeared. A few feet behind where he had been, sword already moving, body twisting with the motion, as if he had never stopped.
Tor's eyes followed the motion carefully, but she didn't react.
Neo's breath came steady. His pulse wasn't racing. It had been effortless. He grinned. "That's different."
Tor raised her axe again, adjusting her stance slightly. She was watching now. Studying.
Neo shifted, testing the feeling and then he stepped again.
The world folded, twisted, shifted he was behind her. Tor didn't turn. Instead, she swung her axe in a wide arc, already anticipating his next move.
Neo vanished before the strike landed, reappearing ten feet away, standing sideways on the wall of Thal's hut before pushing off, landing smoothly.
Tor huffed through her nose.
Neo flexed his fingers, exhaling slowly. "Alright," he muttered. "Now let's really see what this can do."
The air around him felt different now, more open, more fluid. Neo took another step but instead of moving forward, he blinked.
Tor watched as he disappeared, only to appear at her side. She turned, swinging her axe, but he was already gone. A flickering afterimage of purple light remained in his place for half a second before vanishing. Then he was behind her again, then at her side, then above her, flipping mid air before landing in a crouch, blade dragging lightly against the frozen earth. Tor did not hesitate.
She shifted again, adjusting to his movement, her hooves planting deep into the ice. When Neo blinked once more, appearing directly in front of her she was already swinging.
Neo vanished the moment the strike should have landed, reappearing just beyond its reach.
Tor exhaled through her nose.
Neo grinned. "You keeping up?"
Tor did not answer she charged. Neo stepped back and vanished again. This time, Tor had prepared for it. She didn't stop swinging. Instead of aiming for where he was, she aimed for where he would be. Neo reappeared just as the axe was already moving toward his side.
His instincts flared and instead of dodging, he stepped into the Rim. The world shifted, warped and twisted. Empyrean fell away, and for a split second, he was somewhere else. The Rim was silent. A mirror of the world he had just left, but wrong, fractured. The sky above him was pitch black, but not empty something pulsed behind it, something deep, something moving. The land was nothing but shades of black and red, stretching endlessly, its texture wrong, unnatural, shifting beneath his feet. There was no sound, no wind, only stillness.
Neo barely lingered his body had already recognized the feeling, already adapted to the space between. Before Tor's strike could land in Empyrean, he reappeared outside its reach, standing several feet away, his blade raised, unshaken.
Tor's axe slammed into the ice where he had just been, sending cracks sprawling outward like spiderwebs. She turned sharply, eyes locking onto him.
Neo smirked. "That'll take some getting used to."
Tor was still watching him, after a pause, she signed. "Now you fight as a Kruul."
Neo rolled his shoulders, lowering his blade slightly. "Good."
Tor hesitated, Neo caught the small movement, the way her fingers twitched before she signed again. "But you are not ready."
Neo frowned. "Not ready for what?"
Tor stood still for a long moment. Then, finally, she signed one more thing. "For what is coming."
Neo's tail flicked once behind him. He could feel it now something.... Something pressing at the edges of reality, something waiting to step through, he exhaled, flexing his fingers once before narrowing his gaze. He would be ready no matter what, even if the Rim itself was warning him otherwise.
Neo was standing outside Thal's hut, his body still thrumming with the aftermath of the fight. His blade had never felt more natural in his hands, his movements never more fluid. But something deeper had shifted, something he could not place.
Tor watched him with a calculating stare, her axe resting in one hand, her broad frame barely rising and falling with steady breaths. Then, slowly, deliberately, she raised her hands to sign. "You fight... like her."
Neo frowned slightly, his tail flicking once. "Thal's mother?"
Tor nodded. "You fight like blood born... not Nephilim... not Kruul. Like something between."
Neo exhaled sharply through his nose. He didn't like the sound of that.
Tor continued, hands moving carefully, deliberately.
"But... you not ready."
Neo scoffed, shaking his head. "You keep saying that."
Tor's ears twitched, her fingers forming the next sign. "Not ready... for what comes."
Neo's smirk faded. He had been expecting her to warn him about the Harbinger, about whatever threat Thal had trained him for but this this was different. "What's coming, Tor?"
Tor hesitated. She signed. "Fall." The name itself did something to the air.
Neo had never heard it before, never once in all his years with Thal, in all his training, in all the stories passed through warrior halls. And yet, the moment Tor gave it shape, he felt it settle like a stone in his chest and Tor had stiffened. Not subtly, not slightly.... Completely. Her ears had flattened. Her breathing had slowed, and her hands were shaking.
Neo frowned. "What is that?"
Tor swallowed, then forced her hands to move again. "Fall... bad. Fall worse than war."
Neo let out a slow breath, his fingers curling slightly. Worse than war?
Tor's next sign came quickly, urgently. "Fall not like Nephilim. Not like Thal."
Neo narrowed his eyes. "Then what is he like?"
Tor hesitated again, her ears twitching. Then, finally, she signed. "Fall... like storm. Like fire. Like hunger."
Neo's tail flicked once, his stance shifting slightly.
Tor was struggling to put it into words. Not because she didn't know but because it was impossible to truly explain. She took a slow breath, signing again. "Fall... not person. Not like us. Not like anything. He move. He take. He destroy. He not stop."
Neo watched her hands carefully, the weight of each sign pressing against his chest. A force, a storm, not a warrior, not an enemy to be fought. Something far worse.
Neo exhaled sharply through his nose. "And what does he want?"
Tor's hands stilled. Then, slowly, she signed. "Mission."
Neo frowned. "A mission?"
Tor nodded once. She pointed to the frozen sea. "Four Nephilim... they kind to dust. They fight, but they care."
Neo nodded slightly. He had heard that already from Oak. The four Nephilim of the Empyrean held back the Harbingers, but they had not forsaken mortals.
Tor's finger remained pointing toward the ice. "The others..." Her hands trembled slightly. "They do not care."
Neo narrowed his eyes. "And Fall is one of them."
Tor nodded.
Neo ran a hand down his face, exhaling. "So, let me guess. If one of them finds out Thal left his post, we've got a problem?"
Tor didn't move. Then, she nodded once.
Neo tilted his head slightly. "What kind of problem?"
Tor's hands moved slower now. "If Fall come... no talking."
Neo's tail flicked. "No talking?"
Tor exhaled, signing again. "Fall not speak. Fall not listen. Fall only move."
The words sent something unnatural down Neo's spine. "So, what happens if he finds out Thal left?"
Tor's hands hesitated before forming the next sign. "Fall... will come."
Neo scoffed slightly, folding his arms. "And if he does?" Tor stilled completely. Neo felt something coil inside his chest, slow and deliberate. "Tor?"
Tor would not meet his gaze and then, she signed. "Then... we run."
Neo frowned. "Run?"
Tor swallowed, her hands shaking slightly as she forced the next words out. "Or... we die."
Neo clenched his jaw. Tor did not say things like this.
She was the one who stood beside Thal in battle. The one who laughed at the idea of overwhelming odds, who did not hesitate to throw herself into the storm but now, in the quiet of the night, beneath the frozen sky, she was telling him to run.
Neo exhaled, flexing his fingers once before narrowing his gaze. "So, what makes him so unstoppable?"
Tor inhaled through her nose, then signed slowly. "Harbinger... is war."
Neo watched her hands carefully.
Tor continued. "Harbinger... is end." She swallowed. "Fall... is balance."
Neo's tail stilled. He didn't understand not fully but Tor was not talking about Fall as a man, as a warrior, as something to fight. She was talking about something that was never meant to be stopped. Something that existed beyond the scale of mortals, beyond the battles of men and beasts.
Neo clenched his jaw. He had felt something earlier a pressure, something at the edges of the Rim, watching, waiting. He exhaled, rolling his shoulders. "So, he's like a storm."
Tor's ears twitched and then she signed. "Storm stop. Fire stop. Hunger stop. Fall... never stop."
Neo stilled.
Tor let the silence stretch before she signed one last thing. "Fall... always come."
The wind shifted and Neo felt it in his chest. Something had moved, something had already changed. He narrowed his eyes toward the frozen sea, toward the distant black horizon where the ice met the sky. For the first time since Thal had left Neo felt something pressing against the edges of reality.
Something watching. Something waiting and for the first time in years Neo wasn't sure if he was ready.