The Verdant Elder, standing calmly in the distance, watched without a sound.
His eyes held no mercy—only the focus of a predator claiming its prey.
Aksai's body was flung through the air like a ragdoll.
The blood-covered vines that had pierced him pulled back at once, coiling away and retreating into the dome of wood and thorns behind the Verdant Elder.
As they disappeared, they took with them the last of their brutal grip, leaving Aksai to crash onto the forest floor with a hard thud. He landed on his side, rolling once before coming to a stop near a twisted tree root.
The pain was unbearable. Blood oozed from the hole in his chest, soaking his robes and spilling into the mossy ground beneath him. He gasped, his vision swimming, the forest spinning around him.
It felt like dying.
He clenched his jaw to stop himself from groaning. He knew better than to show any more signs of life.
Not yet.
