Beneath the Quiet Surface

Previously

…What were they? And how much did he truly know about the secrets she carried, the prophecy she was apparently destined to fulfill? The mark on her hand pulsed, a silent, insistent rhythm, a counterpoint to the questions swirling in her mind. The Obsidian Hand was hunting her, but now, she was no longer entirely alone in the wilderness. She had an ally, of sorts, a cynical scholar whose own motivations were as shrouded in mystery as her own forgotten past. And as the last vestiges of daylight surrendered to the encroaching night, Elara knew that her quiet surface had been broken, irrevocably, and the journey into the depths had truly begun.