Chapter 8: The Hunt Begins
The Remnants led them through tangled woods older than stone, where the sky disappeared behind moss-covered boughs and even light seemed afraid to linger. No bird sang here. No animal stirred. Only the wind, thick with whispers, moved between the trees.
Liora kept her eyes forward, refusing to glance at the twisted reflections dancing just outside her vision. She was being watched—not by creatures, but by the Grove itself.
Kaelen stayed close, sword loose in its sheath, his eyes scanning every shadow. "We're in the Inner Roots," he muttered. "This is where the Keeper hunts."
Liora's voice was steady. "Then let it hunt. I'm done running."
The path narrowed until it vanished entirely, and the Remnants disappeared one by one—melting into the trees like smoke. Only the woman in green remained. She turned to Liora and gestured to a ring of stones half-buried in soil.
"Here," she said, "is where the first pact was sworn. Your ancestor, Queen Halira, knelt in this circle and bound her blood to the Keeper's will."
Liora looked at the stones. They were worn, cracked, yet pulsing faintly beneath the moss. Magic still lived here—old, feral, and waiting.
Kaelen approached one of the stones and drew a line in the dirt. "And this is where the rebellion began. Where her daughter tried to break the pact—and failed."
The Remnant nodded. "She was torn apart. The Grove feeds on broken oaths."
Liora stepped into the circle.
A deep rumble shook the ground. Roots curled upward like fingers, and the air thickened with pressure. A presence stirred beneath the soil—vast and cold, brushing against her thoughts like claws on glass.
It sees you, the Remnant whispered. And it remembers.
Suddenly, pain lanced through Liora's head. Images surged into her vision—flashes of the Keeper's eyes, her father's pleading voice, Renan kneeling before the roots, crying out as darkness took him. She gasped, clutching her skull.
Kaelen pulled her back. "Enough! She's not yours!"
The Remnant woman laughed—a dry, crumbling sound. "You misunderstand. She is not ours. She is its."
Roots exploded upward around them, forming a wall. The Remnant vanished.
The Hunt had begun.
A roar echoed through the Grove—low and ancient, rattling bone and bark alike.
Kaelen drew his blade. "We have to move!"
They ran—dodging thorns, ducking under hanging limbs, leaping over slick roots. Behind them, something massive tore through the forest. Trees cracked like brittle twigs. Shadows bled into one another, forming limbs, eyes, and gaping mouths.
The Keeper was coming.
Liora's heart pounded—not just from fear, but fury. She wouldn't let it win.
They reached a clearing surrounded by half-dead trees. In the center stood a stone arch, broken and covered in ivy. Carvings lined its surface—symbols of the old kingdom, of the bloodline, and of the Keeper itself.
Kaelen pushed Liora toward it. "That arch marks the Veil Gate—the only place we can sever the connection between your family and the Grove."
Liora hesitated. "Will it hurt?"
"Yes," Kaelen said honestly. "But it will hurt the Keeper more."
Suddenly, the ground split open behind them—and from the rift rose a shadow tall as the sky, crowned with antlers of bone and eyes like open wounds.
The Keeper.
It didn't speak. It only stared—right into Liora's soul.
She felt it crawling through her memories, her pain, her regrets. It knew everything. Her failures. Her fears. Her love.
Renan's voice echoed from within the thing. "Sister… help me…"
Liora stepped forward, past Kaelen.
"I am not your vessel," she said to the Keeper. "I'm your end."
She gripped the edges of the arch and poured herself into it—every memory, every shred of pain, every drop of bloodline magic she carried. The stones glowed, then cracked. Light blazed outward.
The Keeper screamed—not in pain, but in rage.
Kaelen threw his arms around Liora, pulling her away just as the arch shattered, the Veil tearing open behind it. Wind howled. Roots recoiled. The Grove itself groaned in fury.
And then—
Silence.
The clearing emptied. The rift closed.
The Keeper was gone.
For now.
Liora collapsed to her knees. "Is it over?"
Kaelen helped her up. "No. But you've wounded it."
She looked around. "Where's Renan?"
Kaelen's face was grim. "Still bound. Still lost. But the Grove is weaker now. There's a chance."
Liora rose, her eyes hard. "Then I'm going after him."
Kaelen nodded. "Then we hunt the darkness together."
And in the hollow of the dying woods, the Grove trembled—not with power, but with fear.
To be continued…