Chains cut into Kael's wrists as he crouched in the cage, shoulders trembling—not from fear, but from a terrible stillness spreading within him.
The air inside the compound was foul—damp with blood, waste, and despair. Children like him huddled in corners, eyes dull and stomachs bloated from hunger. Most never lasted a season.
The only things that moved freely were the guards and the shadows.
Kael had stopped counting the days. His thoughts circled endlessly around Ilira. Had she been sold? Beaten? Killed?
Each breath he took was colder than the last.
But tonight—something shifted.
It began subtly. A heaviness in the air. The murmurs of beasts falling silent. A ripple through the guards as their banter faded and their eyes turned upward.
Kael followed their gaze.
The sky was… wrong.
The moon slid across the sun, blotting its fire. Shadows thickened unnaturally. A shroud of crimson dusk covered the world like a burial cloth.
> An eclipse.
And then—
Click.
The metal around Kael's wrists snapped open.
No explosion. No power burst. Just… unlocked.
His cell creaked open behind him. The guards didn't notice—entranced by the dying light above.
He didn't hesitate.
He ran.
---
His feet slapped against the wet ground as he darted between cages and tents. His breathing quickened. The cold in his blood screamed. Somewhere, a dog barked, but it didn't chase.
He made it to the fence. Slipped under the lowest slats where the posts had sunk into mud.
He broke into the trees.
Behind him, a horn sounded.
The eclipse had ended.
The sun's light stabbed back through the sky—and the spell was broken.
> "A slave has escaped!"
"Bring him back! Dead if necessary!"
Kael's legs burned as he pushed through brush and bramble. He leapt over roots, skidded down slopes. Shouts rang behind him. Cultivators—faster, stronger—were closing in.
And then… he saw it.
The forest.
It loomed ahead like a wound in the land. No birds flew above it. No light reached its floor. Its trees were twisted, black, and veined like bone. The boundary was marked by old talismans and rusted chains, nailed to standing stones:
> FORBIDDEN. CURSED. DO NOT ENTER.
Even the guards stopped short at its edge.
> "He won't survive in there," one muttered.
"Let the ghosts have him," said another.
But Kael didn't stop.
Even as his heart pounded with dread… he ran into the forest.
---
The world changed the moment he crossed the threshold.
The air grew colder. Denser. Fragrant—but not like flowers. More like… burning herbs. Sweet and spiced. A scent that clung to memory, not flesh. The trees seemed to shift when he blinked. Shadows moved as if they were watching him, not cast by him.
Still, no beast attacked. No root tripped him.
As if the forest… allowed him entry.
He staggered, breath ragged. His knees buckled beside a dark pool surrounded by silver-veined trees. He collapsed.
> "Child of night…"
The whisper again. But louder. Clearer.
He looked up.
Across the water stood a young beast—small, foxlike, but with smoke-like fur and twin black horns curving back from its skull. Its golden eyes gleamed with curiosity and hunger… not for flesh, but for connection.
It tilted its head.
> "You're like me," Kael heard. Not aloud—but in the marrow of his bones.
He reached out with a trembling hand.
The beast stepped forward. Nuzzled into his palm.
And in that moment—Kael felt the contract form. Not a spell. Not forced.
But mutual. Ancient.
> "Shadow for shadow. Blood for blood."
And from beneath the pool… a staircase of obsidian and crystal rose, leading down into the earth like the maw of something forgotten.
Kael stood, the beast limping beside him.
Together, they descended—into the dark.
---