The night pressed heavy over the twisted forest canopy, wrapping the world in silence. Yuki crouched beside a shallow pool, the moonlight glinting off his blackened scales. A ripple in the water mirrored the shifting emotions deep in his heart—curiosity, wariness, and something more complex as he observed Sieris from afar.
The assassin moved like a whisper, her footsteps nearly undetectable on the moss-covered floor. Dagger in hand, cloak drawn tight, she paused at intervals to study her surroundings, her amber eyes sharp as ever. Even now, when the world was still, she carried tension in her posture—a blade wound too tight.
Elira leaned slightly against a mossy trunk a few paces behind, whispering to Lumi, "She's clearly not just some rogue adventurer."
"Yeah," Lumi replied, arms crossed. "She moves like someone who's danced too often with death. But what is she looking for in *his* territory?"
Sieris didn't turn around, but her voice carried softly, "You talk as if I can't hear you."
Yuki blinked. *Sharp ears, too.*
Elira tensed, then huffed in amusement. "Just trying to understand you."
"Understand me later. Something's wrong."
Sieris knelt, fingers brushing over a small indent in the earth—an old boot print. She narrowed her eyes. "Others have come through here. Recent. No scent. Cloaked, possibly magically."
Yuki's form shimmered, then shrank, his aura dimming as he cloaked himself in \[Veil of Aether], allowing him to shift unseen through the brush. *She notices even without magic... impressive.*
---
As the three women moved cautiously, Elira whispered to Lumi, "You think she's hiding something?"
Lumi shrugged. "Aren't we all?"
Sieris halted near a crooked tree whose bark had been scorched. She pressed a hand to it, and for a moment, her amber eyes gleamed violet.
"Trace Echo," she murmured.
A faint illusion shimmered in the air: a figure in a black hood moving fast, glancing behind them, and casting a strange rune into the bark before vanishing in a burst of shadow.
Lumi cursed. "That wasn't one of us."
"No. And whatever they summoned, it left a mark."
The tree groaned. From within its roots, something stirred.
Elira stepped back, chanting, her eyes gleaming blue. "\[Astral Binding]!"
Silvery chains erupted from the air and laced around the base of the tree just as a black claw punched free, screeching.
Yuki moved in that moment, his form bursting from the trees like a meteor, his \[Draconic Authority] slamming down. The creature—a malformed spirit beast with bone-like wings and flickering shadows for flesh—froze mid-emergence.
"Void-tethered," Yuki muttered. "This forest doesn't spawn these naturally."
"Something summoned it here," Sieris confirmed, standing side-by-side with the dragon. "And I intend to find out what."
Yuki's eyes narrowed at her. "You have the scent of another world. Not like Elira or Lumi. You carry an Oath."
Sieris stiffened. "You can sense that?"
He gave a toothy smile. "I can see the threads that bind you. The curse that wraps around your shadow."
A silence fell.
Then Lumi, in her usual bluntness, asked, "So... cursed assassin, shadow beast summoners, and a dragon lord who's also half-philosopher. This day's going great."
Elira chuckled, her staff glowing as she sealed the last of the tree's cracks. "Welcome to our lives."
---
As the group moved away from the ruined grove, Sieris finally broke the silence.
"The curse you saw\... it wasn't chosen. I was born under it. Raised in an order that saw death as service. I left them. But the shadows... don't leave easily."
Yuki regarded her quietly. "Then maybe it's time you faced them. With us."
Lumi raised a brow. "You're just inviting her into our cursed little club now?"
Yuki shrugged his wings. "She already stepped into my forest. That makes her part of this."
Elira smiled. "Besides, I think she was already looking for a place to belong."
Sieris said nothing, but for the first time, the cold weight in her amber eyes softened.
---
**Character Skill Highlights This Chapter:**
**Sieris**:
* **Trace Echo**: Allows her to glimpse shadowy replays of recent events in specific areas.
* **Shadow Vein** (not yet revealed): Grants her enhanced movement through shadows and rapid strikes.
**Elira**:
* **Astral Binding** (Subskill of *Witch's Eclipse*): Summons arcane chains to bind physical or spiritual beings.
**Yuki**:
* **Veil of Aether**: Suppresses presence and magical aura, rendering him nearly undetectable.
* **Draconic Authority**: Forces lesser beings to submit or freeze through his oppressive presence.
---