Ashrunner and Veyrix stood ten feet apart, but the pressure between them cracked the air like heated glass.
No banter.
No warnings.
Just a slow, unnatural stillness — like the dungeon itself was holding its breath.
Veyrix stepped forward, crimson mist swirling at his heels. The broken runes on the wall reacted instantly — flickering, fading, curling in submission.
Veyrix (quietly):
"You've been walking this path for too long, Ashrunner."
Ashrunner:
"There is no path. Just repetition. The same question. The same answer. The same blood."
Veyrix:
"Still pretending this is all inevitable?"
Ashrunner (head tilting):
"I'm not pretending. I'm just the only one who remembers how it ends."
Veyrix:
"You always say that. But you keep coming back. Killing. Asking. As if the answer will change."
Ashrunner (calm):
"I hope it doesn't."
A long silence.
Then Veyrix whispered something only Ren could hear, standing beside Elsera.
Veyrix (without looking):
"Run. Both of you. Now."
Ren:
"What?"
Veyrix (still watching Ashrunner):
"If you don't want to die in pieces you don't recognize — run."
Elsera hesitated.
Ren grabbed her hand without thinking, pulling her down the passage as the first strike shattered the quiet like a gunshot.
Behind them, the battle exploded.
Veyrix lunged with a snarl, his hands glowing with blood-forged magic, claws extending like scythes. His first swipe cleaved through stone, exploding a section of wall. Ashrunner shifted, floating sideways mid-air, blade deflecting with a dull crack.
Sparks.
Light.
Echoes that felt like screams.
Ren and Elsera ran through the twisting tunnel, stumbling over broken roots and fallen rubble. The deeper echoes of the fight followed them like thunder.
Ren spat blood.
His ribs screamed.
But he didn't stop.
Beside him, Elsera's face changed.
Not fear.
Not pain.
But recognition. Her silver eyes wide, her breath caught halfway between lungs and understanding.
Ren:
"What?"
She didn't answer at first. Just ran. Then finally:
Elsera (softly, shaken):
"Even death fears that man."
Ren (glancing at her):
"What the hell does that mean?"
She looked at him — really looked — and for the first time, she looked scared of what she was.
Elsera:
"My curse... is Death. It lives inside me. It feeds on life, memory, and magic."
She looked back toward the battle.
Elsera (quiet):
"And it tried to hide... when he appeared."
They didn't stop running.
Because somewhere behind them, Ashrunner wasn't just killing.
He was rewriting fate.