They moved fast.
Kaelara led them through the jungle like a panther—low, silent, brutal. She wore no armor, just black wraps over her chest and shoulders, twin knives at her hips, and the kind of confidence only born from surviving wars you weren't meant to walk away from.
Tavin tried to keep up, crashing through ferns and vines, his muscles still sore from yesterday's collapse. Beside him, Niah moved with precision—quick, quiet, her eyes flicking from shadow to shadow.
"Up there," Kaelara whispered. She crouched near a boulder, pointing toward a moss-covered ridge about thirty meters ahead.
Tavin followed her gaze. Through the leaves, barely visible, was a silhouette—thin, cloaked, perched like a carrion bird. The Wodr scout. He hadn't seen them yet.
"He's alone," Kaelara said. "But not for long. They never scout without backup. If he vanishes, they'll send a search. If he reports, we're dead."
Niah unsheathed a thin obsidian blade, her ghost flame flickering across its edge like a whisper.
"We kill him before he moves."
Tavin blinked. "We're just… going to kill him?"
"Yes," Kaelara said simply.
"He might be a mage," Niah added. "They often are. And if he's a Seeker, he can mark the village from here." Kaelara, turned her head towards Niah, with a paniced smirk on her face " Let's hope he's not a mage. Some use folding magic which is trick to deal with at best".
Tavin swallowed. His heart pounded. He stared up at the scout, who crouched on a stone ledge, unmoving. Maybe he wasn't much older than Tavin. Maybe he didn't even want to be here.
But then again—maybe he was the reason people like Niah were born in fire.
Tavin nodded. "Alright. How do we do it?"
Kaelara cracked her knuckles. "I go up. I throw him down. You pull him into your space-pocket thingy. Niah burns what's left."
"...Holy shit," Tavin muttered.
"You asked," Kaelara grinned.
Tavin blinked. "Wait, how do you even know what I can do?"
Kaelara glanced at him over her shoulder, smirking faintly. "Because I felt it, idiot."
He frowned. "Felt it?"
She tapped her sternum. "When you triggered that first collapse yesterday, the whole jungle went quiet. I've fought mages. I've killed gods' bastards. But I've never felt the air bend like that. You didn't summon fire, or water, or gravity. You pulled existence inward like it owed you something."
She cracked her knuckles. "I know what force looks like. Yours doesn't burn. It devours. So yeah—I figured you could catch a falling man in a hole he won't crawl back out of."
Tavin stared at her, half-terrified, half-impressed. "You say that like it's a compliment."
Kaelara smiled. "It is."
The ambush was surgical.
Kaelara moved like gravity bent for her—one leap, then another, up sheer cliff stone like it was nothing. At the last second, she shot forward with a burst of force so strong the ground cracked beneath her launch.
The Wodr scout barely turned in time.
Kaelara slammed into him like a falling tree. They tumbled, his wards flaring blue—but too late. She crushed his ribs with one blow, then kicked off the ridge, sending him hurtling toward the jungle floor.
"NOW!" she roared.
Tavin raised his hand. Instinct and terror surged through his veins. He focused on the falling figure, on the space around him—
Collapse. Fold. Anchor.
Reality bent.
A ripple shimmered in the air, like water turning inside-out. The Wodr scout vanished mid-fall, sucked into a nothing-space that shimmered like black glass before snapping shut with a sound like thunder underwater.
Tavin collapsed to his knees. His arm burned from the strain. The pocket hadn't just taken the body—it had taken the rage, too.
"Got him…" he gasped.
Kaelara landed beside him, unfazed, her feet cracking roots beneath her.
Niah approached cautiously. "Is he dead?"
Tavin shook his head. "No. Not yet."
"Then finish it," Kaelara said.
"I—" He hesitated. "Can't we… I don't know, question him first?"
Kaelara's eyes narrowed. "We don't have chains strong enough. And if he casts inside that space? He'll tear a hole through the rift—and possibly you."
Niah stepped forward, holding a small ember of ghost flame in her palm. Her voice was gentler.
"Give him to me. I'll do it. You don't have to see it."
Tavin hesitated. Then opened the pocket.
The scout dropped out of the air with a gasp, half-conscious, blood trailing from his mouth. He reached for something—runes flaring at his fingertips.
Before he could finish the spell, Niah's hand was on his chest.
The ghost flame flared blue, then white, then black.
The scout screamed.
And then… was silent.
They buried what was left in a grove of violet-root trees.
Kaelara offered no prayers. Niah only whispered one word.
"Unseen."
Tavin stared at the grave. His hands wouldn't stop shaking.
"That… that was my first."
Kaelara placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. "He won't be the last."
"I know," Tavin said. "I just hope it never feels easy."
Her grip tightened. "If it ever does, promise me you'll let me put a blade through your heart."
He nodded.
Ema'Tari sat in silence as Niah told her what happened. Tavin stood nearby, feeling hollow.
When the tale was done, the elder nodded.
"They will come faster now. The Wodr will not ignore this for long."
"Let them," Kaelara growled. "Let them come."
"No," Ema'Tari said. "We are not ready. Not yet."
She turned to Tavin.
"The resonance between you and Niah is awakening. Her flame will evolve as yours does. You must protect her—and the bond."
"The Gate has begun to whisper again. That means others will hear it too."
Tavin swallowed, the image of the black hole still fresh in his mind. Scouts emotions, last toughts, desperation still lingered in his mind.
"Then I need to get stronger. Fast."
The old woman's smile was faint—and sad.
"Strength is easy. Control is costly."