"Aranea!"
Elenea's scream tore through the forest.
The clearing still smoked from the teleportation blast, but Darenn was already sprinting, his boots cracking the ground with every step. The faint pulse of energy, the one that marked the masked man's trail, still shimmered faintly through the trees like ghostly light.
"He went east!" Kalista shouted, already leaping ahead, her form flickering into invisibility mid-step.
"Go!" Darenn barked, his voice echoing. "Don't lose sight of him!" The group exploded into motion.
Aerin shot into the air, wings made from light beating fiercely, her staff glowing in her grasp. "I can see him! He's moving fast. There's something like a bubble following him!"
"Bubble?" Leonel called, dodging through roots and branches.
"It's holding Aranea!"
That one word—holding—was enough to make Elenea's pulse spike. "Aranea!" she screamed again, her voice cracking. Her chest burned, her legs numb, but she didn't stop. She couldn't.
