The world was a blur of trees and cold night air.
Raine's body burned with exhaustion, but he forced himself forward. His soaked clothes clung to him, the weight of them dragging at his every step. His lungs ached, his muscles screamed, but none of it mattered.
Not if they caught him.
The ground sloped sharply upward. He scrambled up the ridge, his hands gripping onto exposed roots, boots slipping against the damp earth. The climb was slow, too slow, and each second stretched thinner than his breath. He reached the top and straightened, the world tilting slightly—
And froze.
A figure stood ahead of him.
Raine's breath caught in his throat.
It wasn't one of the bounty hunters.
The hooded man from Vaelora.
He stood between the trees, posture relaxed, arms at his sides. Too still. Like the forest itself held its breath around him. The flickering torchlight below cast shifting shadows against his cloak, making him seem part of the darkness itself.
The moment stretched too long.
Then—shouting.
Raine twisted toward the sound. The bounty hunters had found his trail. The glow of their torches swayed violently as they surged forward, too close, too fast.
He was trapped.
A cold pressure wrapped around his ribs. He needed to think. Move. Escape.
But before he could act—the hooded man moved first.
The first bounty hunter crested the ridge, sword half-drawn—
And collapsed.
No warning. No struggle. Just gone.
Raine's pulse spiked. What?
The hooded man hadn't even touched him.
Another hunter surged up the incline, eyes wild with confusion—then panic as he saw his fallen companion.
"What in the hell—"
He turned toward Raine—
Then jerked sideways, crashing to the ground.
No sound. No warning.
The remaining hunters hesitated.
Raine saw it—the moment when instinct overrode reason.
They had chased fugitives before. Fought mages, battled mercenaries.
But this?
This was something else.
The closest hunter took an uncertain step back, his grip tightening on his blade. He didn't turn to flee—not yet—but his stance shifted. No longer an attacker, but something closer to prey.
The hooded man hadn't moved.
He didn't need to.
Because the air was shifting again.
Raine felt it.
A pull at the edge of his mind, curling like breath against the back of his neck.
The night itself paused.
The wind stilled. The distant rustling of leaves, the distant hum of insects—all of it gone.
The bounty hunter's breath hitched. His limbs locked in place—not frozen, not paralyzed—just waiting.
The world around them felt stretched too thin, as if reality itself was holding still.
The shadows at Raine's feet deepened, stretching unnaturally. His vision blurred at the edges.
He knew this feeling.
The Abyss.
It wasn't consuming him.
Not yet.
But it was waiting.
Raine tried to move.
The world resisted.
The bounty hunters felt it too—one of them made a strangled sound, as if his lungs had collapsed under invisible weight.
Then—
A sharp movement.
Kael's hand clamped down on Raine's shoulder.
The world snapped back.
Sound rushed in all at once. The rustling of trees. The distant calls of other hunters. The wind cutting through the branches.
Raine staggered. His vision cleared.
The bounty hunter who had nearly attacked him fell backward, gasping. His face had gone pale, his limbs shaking—but he wasn't wounded.
Just terrified.
Kael had been watching Raine the entire time.
Not the bounty hunters.
Raine.
Raine's chest heaved. He had done something. But what?
Kael's gaze was unreadable. Calculating. He had seen it. Understood it.
The bounty hunters had recovered their senses. They were scrambling backward, eyes darting between the two of them—between Raine and Kael.
Kael's voice was quiet.
"We're leaving."
Raine could barely think. He wanted answers. He wanted to demand what had just happened—
But the forest was waking up again.
The other bounty hunters would find them soon.
Kael's grip tightened.
And Raine didn't resist when he pulled him back into the trees.
They ran.