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Chapter 5 - When Chaos Wakes

The echo-realm dissolved around Lucas like mist, and he stumbled back into the cave, drenched in sweat. His legs ached, his hands still tingled with leftover sparks from lightning, and his head throbbed from forcing back the ninth affinity.

Kaelen was already moving toward the mouth of the cave, scanning the treeline.

"They've found us."

Lucas's gut clenched. "Already?"

"Hunters don't lose a trail this important," Kaelen said, grabbing a satchel. "And you've been flaring enough elemental energy to light a beacon across half the continent."

Outside, the forest was unnaturally quiet. No birdsong, no rustle of leaves — just the low creak of branches swaying in a wind that didn't belong. Lucas stepped closer and froze.

They were surrounded.

Dozens of masked figures stood in a loose ring beyond the tree line, their armor black as pitch and marked with the same crimson sigil he'd seen the night before. Spears, crossbows, and curved blades gleamed faintly. At their center stood a taller man in armor lined with silver. His mask was bone-white, carved into the shape of a snarling beast.

"You have something that belongs to us, boy," the man called, voice deep and cold. "Surrender, and you may yet live to see tomorrow."

Lucas swallowed. "Pretty sure it doesn't belong to you."

The masked leader tilted his head. "We will take it from your corpse if necessary."

Kaelen stepped forward, staff raised. "I don't suppose there's a way we could all just… not?"

The leader's answer was a sharp gesture. Arrows flew.

Kaelen's staff spun, summoning a wall of stone that absorbed the first volley. "Lucas! Left!"

Lucas turned and thrust his hand forward — a blast of wind knocked two attackers into the underbrush. Another came from the right; Lucas ducked, his other hand flaring with fire that sent the man retreating.

It was working… until there were too many. They pressed in, step by step, the air thick with steel and killing intent.

Then Lucas felt it.

The ninth affinity.

It stirred in his chest, a deep, eager thrum, like a predator catching the scent of prey. The pressure built, coiling tighter, whispering in a language he didn't understand but somehow wanted to obey.

Let me out.

Kaelen's voice cut through the haze. "Don't you dare—"

An arrow slipped through a gap in the stone wall and grazed Lucas's side. Pain flared — and the coil snapped.

The world slowed. Colors bled into shadow. The masked hunters froze mid-stride, their movements stretched and distorted. Lucas felt… lighter. Taller. Stronger. His hands moved without thought, and tendrils of black and violet energy erupted from his fingers, slicing through the air like liquid blades.

Where the energy touched, reality buckled. A spear dissolved into dust. Armor warped, crumpling inward. One of the masked men screamed without sound as the shadows wrapped around him and pulled — not down, but away, into a place Lucas couldn't see.

The leader's mask turned toward him sharply. Even through the bone-white facade, Lucas felt the man's fear.

Then Kaelen was in front of him, staff crackling with golden light. "Enough!"

The shadows recoiled, snapping back into Lucas's chest. The world lurched into motion again. Lucas stumbled, the sudden weight of his body returning all at once. His vision swam.

The ring of hunters had broken — half of them retreating, dragging the injured. The leader lingered only a moment, staring at Lucas, before melting into the forest with the rest.

Lucas collapsed to his knees, chest heaving. "What… what was that?"

Kaelen knelt, gripping his shoulder hard. "That," he said grimly, "was Chaos. And if you lose yourself to it again… there won't be enough left of you to save."

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