Kael cradled the girl in his arms as Nerra scanned the treeline.
"We need to move—now," she said, voice sharp. "They followed us."
Kael could already sense it: the unnatural cold creeping through the forest, the silence that felt too loud. The Shadowborn were near. Dozens this time. Maybe more.
"How many?"
Nerra licked her lips. "Enough to bury us."
He laid the girl down gently on a patch of moss and stood, fire curling around his fists.
"Then we bury them first."
The first Shadowborn emerged—not crawling or skulking like before, but marching. Organized. Their eyes burned brighter. Their mouths stretched into inhuman grins.
Behind them stood something new.
A Warden.
Seven feet tall, wrapped in rusted armor etched with ancient runes, and wielding a massive, double-bladed scythe. It didn't speak. It didn't need to.
Nerra backed toward the girl, blades drawn. "We're not ready for a Warden."
Kael didn't respond. His skin was glowing. The Seal on his chest pulsed with rhythm—like a second heartbeat. The forest itself seemed to lean away from him.
"We weren't ready for death the first time either," he said coldly.
The Shadowborn charged.
Kael met them head-on.
His fire exploded outward, torching the first wave in seconds. Nerra danced between enemies, a blur of steel and red hair, cutting through their ranks with deadly precision.
But the Warden moved through the chaos untouched.
One swing of its scythe split the earth. Another shattered a tree like glass.
Kael tried to blast it—no effect.
The girl stirred behind them, still too weak to stand—but her lips moved, whispering something ancient.
"Nerra!" Kael shouted. "Get her out of here!"
"I'm not leaving you—"
"Go!"
Nerra grabbed the girl and retreated toward the cliff's edge just beyond the trees.
The Warden raised its blade, eyes locked on Kael.
And struck.
Kael caught it mid-swing. Bare hands against cursed steel.
He screamed—but he held it.
Blood poured down his arms, but his eyes blazed with defiance. "I've already died once," he spat, forcing the blade back. "You'll have to do better."
Then a whisper rippled through the air.
The girl, eyes still closed, spoke a single word in an unholy voice:
"Ashira."
The Warden froze. Its armor cracked. Its body began to convulse.
Kael stepped back just as the creature imploded—crushed by invisible force, turned to black dust in an instant.
Silence.
Kael turned to the girl—who now stood on her feet, golden eyes fully open, her voice like the edge of a blade.
"I don't know what I am," she said softly, "but whatever's coming for us... it's afraid of me."
Kael met her gaze. For the first time since his rebirth, he felt something close to awe.
"Then let it come," he said. "We'll burn it down together."