Chapter 05 — Halcyon

Ser waits for Ward to pass out, packs what little he can, and slips into the night to meet his friends. The escape is modest—a camping trip—but it reads like rehearsal for something larger: moving quietly, choosing his own direction, trusting people who don’t make him flinch. Once they’re on the trail, the boys’ group chemistry blooms into a temporary world where Ser isn’t someone’s burden or target, just one of them. Their jokes are loud enough to feel like freedom.

The jungle, however, refuses to stay romantic. Animal sounds and shifting shadows push the group from banter into vigilance. Their encounter with a wild boar becomes a messy, adrenaline-soaked hunt that reveals both their inexperience and their grit. It’s frightening, ridiculous, and real—one of those moments that bonds you because you survive it together. Even in their “halcyon” night, danger is always close enough to smell.

At camp, conversation slides between the trivial and the cosmic: teasing about crushes and village gossip, then sudden turns toward war rumors, Keepers, and the sense that the world is tightening around them. Ser listens more than he speaks, still bruised inside and out. He wants to believe this trip can be a reset, but the air feels too heavy for innocence. Mount Vuur’s presence in the distance hangs like an omen, reminding them that the forces shaping their lives aren’t far away.

The chapter then cuts to an eerie parallel: a Man in Black in Lethia’s Black Spire, dealing cards with predatory calm, as if the universe itself is gambling with outcomes. The juxtaposition reframes the boys’ night as a brief mercy inside a game already in motion. By the end, Ser returns to restless wakefulness, and the peace of “Halcyon” feels less like safety and more like the held breath before impact.