“I saw you. I FELT you…It was so real. Are…no, that’s impossible.

  But I’m left feeling like I just had you within my reach. What…the fuck is going on?"

  Ariel fell to her knees, her hands clutching her chest as if she could hold herself together against the storm inside. Her breath caught, ragged, and she buckled over into a silent sob, tears spilling hot and fast down her cheeks. Her whole body shook as she rocked back and forth on her knees, unable to contain the grief pouring out of her.

  Fornaskr stood a few steps away, frozen, his eyes wide with concern and fear. He didn’t understand what had seized her, what invisible wound had torn her open. He reached out a hand but stopped short, watching helplessly as Ariel’s sobs wracked her body.

  The Eiranth responded to her anguish. Loud, thunderous pulses reverberated through the grove, each one like a heartbeat slamming against the earth. Its silver-veined petals strobed with blinding light, filling the grove with a rhythm that matched the broken cadence of Ariel’s sobs. The air seemed to vibrate with sorrow, with something too vast for words.

  Ariel’s throat finally gave way to the sound clawing to escape her, and a raw, guttural sob ripped free. It echoed through the grove, breaking against the trees, too large to contain. She tilted her head back, tears streaking down her face, and screamed the name that had been clawing at her chest since she returned from the memory:

  “HOLLY!”

  The cry wasn’t just sound. It was force. A shockwave blasted out from her body, unseen by the eye but felt by the roots, the leaves, the flowers and trees. The plants trembled as if in mourning, bowing under the weight of her anguish.

  “I left her!” Ariel’s voice cracked and split, sobs breaking each word apart. “I died! I left her all alone… I left her!” She pressed her fists to the ground, shoulders heaving. “I was supposed to be there! I was supposed to stay with her…”

  She collapsed forward, her forehead pressing into the dirt as her tears darkened the soil. “Holly... I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. I never wanted to leave you.”

  Her voice turned hoarse as her sobs consumed her words. “She’s all alone now. God, she’s alone because of me. I should’ve fought harder, I should’ve…” Her throat caught on a sob, her voice breaking entirely. “I should’ve hung on just a little longer.”

  She rocked on her knees, her body folding in on itself as if grief might swallow her whole. Every word carried her sorrow into the grove, and every pulse of the Eiranth’s veins answered back, sharing in her lament.

  Slowly, Fornaskr approached. His steps were steady, deliberate, his expression solemn. He knelt down beside her and placed a hand gently on her shoulder. He didn’t speak at first. He only stayed there, a quiet presence against her storm.

  Ariel looked up at him, her face twisted in grief, eyes red and wet. Her voice trembled as she forced words past her sobs. “I saw him. In the memory. The one you called Gloymr… he tried to take me.” She swallowed hard, shaking. “But then… a figure came. Purple light, shaped like a woman. She spoke to me. She told me it wasn’t my time yet.” Ariel’s lips trembled as she searched his eyes. “I think it was the Wisp of the Woods. Or maybe what the Wisp is supposed to look like. She saved me from him.”

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  Her chest hitched as she paused, struggling to draw in steady breath. Finally, she whispered, “You were right. My name… it’s Ariel.” Her voice broke again, softer. “And the woman I keep seeing in my memories… her name is Holly. She’s my wife.”

  Fornaskr squeezed her shoulder gently, his voice low with compassion. “I am sorry I can’t do more to ease your pain, Ariel. Do you… need some time?”

  Ariel’s breath caught again, but this time she reached out. With a sudden, desperate motion, she wrapped her arms around him. Fornaskr stiffened in surprise, stunned by the closeness. Then, slowly, he allowed himself to return the embrace, his arms circling her shoulders with quiet strength.

  They said nothing for a long while, only held each other as the grove’s pulsing light softened around them. Ariel’s breathing slowly steadied, the violent rhythm of her sobs tapering into quiet tremors. Her tears still clung to her lashes, but with each pulse of the Eiranth, she felt her chest ease a little. In the warmth of Fornaskr’s arms, her grief ebbed enough for her to simply breathe and be, suspended in the hush of the grove.

  A soothing voice, airy and resonant, drifted down from above. “You have done well, both of you.”

  Startled, they both looked up. The Wisp of the Woods hovered overhead, its form more defined than before. Less transparent, as though the act of cleansing the Eiranth had given it new strength. Its glow painted the grove in shifting light.

  Ariel pushed herself unsteadily to her feet, wiping her face. “It wasn’t easy getting here. The Skryll were everywhere. But… fighting them showed us what the corruption was, how it worked. That’s how we figured out how to destroy it.”

  Her expression shifted as memory clawed back through her thoughts. She lifted her eyes toward the Wisp. “When I died… I saw him. Gloymr. He tried to take me. But someone else came. A glowing figure in purple light. Was that you? Was that your true form?”

  The Wisp’s glow dimmed, its voice low and steady. “I do not remember. Knowledge has returned to me since the corruption was burned away, but not all. Not yet.”

  Ariel’s breath shuddered, her voice tightening. “Then… Holly. My wife. Do you know of her? Do you know anything?”

  The Wisp pulsed quickly, then answered, “I do. She is both storm and anchor to this world, though I do not yet know why.”

  Ariel let out a frustrated sigh, the constant lack of memory gnawing at her.

  “Is there anything you can tell me about her?” she pressed.

  The Wisp’s glow steadied into a slow pulse. “I know she lives. But she struggles, weighed down by a grief she cannot shake.”

  Ariel’s eyes glistened again. “Then… is there a way for me to check on her myself?”

  The Wisp hesitated. Its light pulsed slowly, contemplative. “There is a way. But it is unstable. The Hugteikn upon the stone in my grove does not merely reflect memory. It can place you within the moment. Not corporeal but not wholly ghost either.”

  The Wisp’s voice softened, warning. “But I must advise…”

  Ariel was already moving. Her vines slithered back up her arms at her command, coiling tight. She swung them skyward, launching them into the canopy until they found purchase high above. With a fierce pull, she slingshotted herself up and over the treetops.

  The wind whipped against her face as she soared through the air, pulling herself from tree to tree, vine to vine, in a breathtaking rush. Holly’s face flashed through her mind with every leap: her laugh, her warmth, her violet eye like a beacon.

  The grove fell behind, and ahead she saw the familiar break in the trees.

  Hold on for me, Holly, she thought desperately, chest tightening.

  She angled herself downward, nose-diving through the opening. At the last instant, she twisted upright, her vines snapping to branches above to slow her descent.

  She touched down softly on the earth, only a few feet from the etched stone. Her eyes locked on the Hugteikn glowing faintly on its surface. Without hesitation, she stepped forward, pressed her palm against the symbol, and whispered through trembling lips.

  “I’m coming, Holly.”