CHAPTER FIVE: The Blood That Binds
The forest swallowed her.
Riven ran with the speed of something hunted—not by claws, but by truths that tore deeper than any Ravager's blade. Her breath came in ragged bursts as branches whipped past her face, her legs cutting through the frostbitten underbrush. The cold didn't matter. The shadows didn't matter. Not even the wolves watching from the trees mattered.
She just had to get away.
Away from Kael.
From the lie.
From herself.
She stumbled, collapsing to her knees in a clearing lit only by moonlight. Her hands trembled as she stared at her reflection in a frozen pool nearby—eyes wide with confusion and dread.
"Engineered from your bloodline…"
The Ravager's words kept ringing in her ears.
A child who never drew breath.
Was she a clone? A tool? Was her whole life nothing but a fabrication?
Who was she?
And why… why had Kael looked so broken when he realized it?
---
Kael didn't speak as he watched her vanish into the trees.
He didn't chase her. Not yet.
His mind reeled. Not at the idea that Riven was the "key." But at what that meant.
He turned to the Ravager again, who now lay sprawled across the cold stone, coughing blood.
"You said she was made from my bloodline," Kael growled, his voice dangerously low. "You mean… she was created?"
The Ravager grinned, teeth bloodied.
"Bred. Grown. Forged—call it what you like. You think the High Council doesn't know what it's doing? You think you were the only weapon they planned for?"
Kael gripped the Ravager by the throat, lifting him off the floor with supernatural strength.
"Why her? Why use my child?"
"Because she isn't your child," the Ravager rasped. "She's something more. The perfect vessel. Born of grief and fire. Your blood made her body strong… her mother's death made her soul hollow."
Kael froze.
"What?"
"Don't you get it? They needed Elira to die for the bond to sever. They needed you to break. That pain? That rage? It soaked into the marrow. Into her."
Kael's grip faltered.
And the Ravager's head slumped.
Dead.
A whisper of black smoke escaped his mouth and curled into the air—fading like a curse never spoken aloud.
Fynn stepped out from the shadows, clutching the broken crossbow.
"Kael… is it true?"
Kael said nothing. He stared at the Ravager's body, then to the trail Riven had fled into.
"She's not safe out there," he murmured. "Not from them. Not from what's coming."
Fynn nodded slowly. "Then we find her."
---
Riven didn't stop until her legs gave out again.
She collapsed by a massive, moss-covered tree. Her vision blurred. Cold seeped into her bones.
And that's when she heard the footsteps.
At first, she thought it was Kael.
She stood slowly, wobbling on her knees, prepared to yell, to scream, to demand answers.
But it wasn't Kael.
It was a girl.
No older than thirteen. Dressed in ceremonial white. Eyes glowing faintly violet. She held a lantern shaped like a crescent moon.
"Hello, Riven," the girl said, her voice calm and otherworldly. "You're earlier than I expected."
Riven blinked. "Who are you?"
"My name is Iliah," the girl said. "I've been waiting here since before you were born."
"What… what does that even mean?"
Iliah gestured to the tree.
And it shifted.
Roots twisted. Bark melted into patterns. A hidden door appeared, etched in ancient runes that pulsed at the sight of Riven.
"I'm the keeper of the Hollow Tree," Iliah said. "You… are the one who will open it."
Riven's breath caught.
"Why me?"
"Because you were never meant to be just a girl," Iliah said softly. "You were meant to decide whether this world burns… or breathes."
---
Kael ran now.
Fynn struggled to keep pace behind him, lungs burning. Snow kicked up behind them as they tracked Riven's path.
"Do you think she'll believe you?" Fynn called ahead.
"I don't care," Kael muttered. "I just need her to be safe."
"You think the Ravagers are still tracking her?"
"No," Kael said. "Something worse might be."
He didn't elaborate.
He didn't have to.
Because deep inside him, something old stirred.
A memory long buried.
A voice that whispered behind every fire and every ashfall.
You failed her once… don't fail her again.
---
Riven stepped through the door beneath the Hollow Tree.
The air shifted. It wasn't forest anymore—it was ancient and warm, like a heartbeat.
The corridor was lit with floating embers.
Symbols glowed across the walls—images of wolves, stars, bleeding moons, chained gates.
Iliah walked ahead of her, barefoot and unbothered.
"You were made from vengeance," the girl said. "But that does not mean you must become it."
"I don't understand," Riven said. "Am I even real?"
Iliah turned to her, eyes piercing.
"Do you feel pain?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember love?"
"I think so…"
"Then you are more real than any of us."
They arrived at a chamber carved from obsidian and bone. In the center, a silver mirror stood. Not made of glass—but of water that refused to ripple.
Iliah pointed. "Look."
Riven stepped forward.
And saw herself.
But not as she was.
In the reflection, her hair flowed like smoke. Her eyes gleamed white. Behind her—wolves howled. Stars bled.
And in her hand—
She held a blade shaped like a crescent moon.
A key.
Iliah spoke one final time.
"Soon, they will come for you—not just the Ravagers. Not just Kael. But the old gods. The sealed ones. They will call you daughter. They will demand obedience."
Riven clenched her fists.
"What if I refuse?"
Iliah smiled faintly.
"Then you become something this world hasn't seen in a thousand years."
Riven turned away from the mirror.
And back to the light above.
---
Kael skidded to a stop as he reached the tree.
There were no tracks.
No scent.
Just a faint, echoing hum—like a lullaby sung beneath the earth.
He touched the bark.
Felt it… breathe.
"She's in there," he whispered.
Fynn nodded. "Then let's get her out."
But the tree was already closing.
And a voice echoed from within.
"She must face the mirror."
---