The air in the forest pulsed with fear, thick and suffocating. Everything felt sharper now, the creak of branches underfoot, the smell of smoke clinging to the trees, the trembling silence before the storm broke again. Eira's hand still crackled with the lingering heat of the magic she had unleashed. She didn't know what she'd done exactly, only that it had come from a place so deep inside her it didn't feel like a choice. It had felt like instinct.
Her gaze flicked to the hunter she had struck, now motionless against a twisted trunk. A part of her wanted to look away, but she couldn't. She had done that. She had taken someone's life. Even if they would've taken hers. But there wasn't time to feel it, not really.
The other Veil enforcers were still coming. Dark shapes moved between the trees, silent and fast, their movements too fluid to be human.
Kaela stepped in front of her, both hands outstretched. Her fingers drew symbols into the air with quick, practiced precision. Light shimmered between them, weaving into a translucent shield that wrapped around Eira and Torin like a breath of moonlight.
"Stay behind me," Kaela said, her voice edged with steel. "Don't break formation."
Eira swallowed hard. She didn't know what formation meant in a fight like this, only that Kaela was deadly calm, and that calm felt like something she could hold onto.
Torin stood nearby, his sword already slick with blood, his chest rising and falling with quiet rhythm. He didn't speak, didn't flinch. Just waited. Watching. That was how he fought, like someone who had seen death before and didn't fear seeing it again.
Then, like she'd torn through the fabric of silence itself, Lena burst into view. She didn't shout. Didn't hesitate. Her blade sang as it swept through the air, slicing down a hunter mid-lunge. The steel shimmered with a strange, violet glow that left a trail of light as she moved.
Lena's eyes caught Eira's, fierce and alive.
"We don't have much time," she said. "They'll keep coming until none of us are left standing."
Another figure emerged from the trees, tall and lean, his hood pulled low over his face. There was something wolf-like in the way he moved; measured, dangerous. His eyes gleamed in the dim light, unsettling and unreadable. Twin blades hung from his hands, each one glinting like a promise.
"The Veil's hunters aren't the worst of it," he said. His voice was a low rasp, almost too quiet to catch. "There are more. And they're already closing in."
Kaela turned sharply. "You're sure?"
He nodded once. "I can feel them. We need to move."
Eira could feel it too now. The air pressing in tighter, the forest itself shrinking around them. Like they were running out of space to breathe.
She looked at Torin. He met her eyes briefly and gave a slight nod. A silent reassurance. Then he turned back toward the trees.
Kaela stepped closer. "If you're going to fight, now's the time. Breathe. Let the magic come to you."
Eira hesitated. The magic inside her burned, wild and waiting. She was afraid of it. Afraid of what it might do. Afraid of what she might do. But fear was no longer a luxury. She steadied her breathing and reached for it again.
This time, it didn't explode.
It surged, hot and golden, curling around her fingers like flame and water all at once. She raised her hand and swept it forward. A wave of light shot out, not jagged but smooth and radiant. It crashed into the enforcers and sent several flying into the trees, their bodies limp and broken.
The hooded man gave her a glance, his face unreadable. "Not bad. But you'll need to do better."
Eira's breath came in quick gasps. Her legs felt weaker already. The magic was like a fire, beautiful, yet powerful and consuming. It was draining her, even when she tried to control it.
Lena shouted from somewhere behind her. "We can't win this fight. Not like this. We need to fall back."
Eira looked to the hooded man. "Where do we go?"
He turned without hesitation. "Follow me."
He moved fast. So fast it was hard to tell if he was running or gliding. The others followed, Kaela and Lena slipping into motion like they'd done this before. Like they knew what it meant to run for their lives.
Eira lingered for a moment, caught in the pull of the forest. It felt like something was trying to hold her here. A whisper in the dark. A memory she didn't own.
"Eira!" Kaela's voice cut through the haze. "Move!"
She forced her legs to move. The pain in her limbs was real now, the kind of ache that settled into your bones and waited. But she couldn't stop. Not now. Not with death at her back.
They ran through the forest, trees whipping past like ghosts. Every step felt heavier. Every breath, a fight. But she kept her eyes on the hooded man. He seemed to know where he was going. Like the forest had told him its secrets.
Kaela dropped back beside her. "Listen to me," she said. "The Veil isn't just hunting you because of your magic. They want control. They want your bloodline, your story. You are the last piece they don't own."
Eira's voice broke. "I don't understand."
"You were never just an orphan," Kaela said. "You were chosen. Your power, your lineage, it threatens everything they've built."
Eira stumbled but caught herself. "So they want to use me."
"They want to erase you. Or worse, turn you into something you're not."
Ahead, the hooded man glanced back. There was something in his eyes when he looked at her. Something like recognition.
"We have to keep going," he called. "They're getting closer."
Eira nodded and pushed herself forward, even as her chest burned and her vision blurred at the edges.
She didn't know who these people truly were, or what their full stories might be. But they had come for her. Fought for her. Run with her. And that meant something. It meant everything.