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Chapter 5 – The First Shadow
The dawn after the Blood Moon was unlike any morning Nara had known.
The forest seemed sharper, as though someone had scraped away a film she hadn't realized was there. Each leaf's edge was outlined in light, each drop of dew glimmered with impossible clarity. She could hear the slow drip of water from a fern two dozen paces away, the wingbeats of a raven gliding overhead, the soft scrape of beetles under the bark of a fallen tree.
And beneath it all, a sound like the distant roll of thunder — steady, rhythmic, metallic.
Boots.
She knew before she even saw them that it was the Dark Knights. The sound carried in her bones now, every step echoing against her heartbeat. She didn't know if it was the witch's gift or the vow she had made, but she could feel their presence.
She moved through the forest without a sound, her body instinctively finding the quietest paths. Her feet landed light, her breath barely stirred the air. When she reached the edge of a ridge, she crouched and looked down into a small clearing below.
They were there.
Six of them — a scouting party, their armor blackened and dented, their helmets hiding whatever faces lay beneath. They had built a small fire, their swords leaning against a fallen log. One of them was sharpening a blade with slow, deliberate strokes. Another tore into a slab of dried meat. The rest lounged, laughing in low voices that made Nara's stomach twist.
Her hand went to her knife. The blade suddenly felt different in her grip — as if it belonged to her in a way it never had before.
But as she crouched there, she felt it — the power inside her stirring, coiling like a serpent. Her breathing slowed, her vision narrowed. The air around her seemed to hum.
When she stepped into the clearing, the Knights turned at once, hands going to their weapons.
Her powers were like no other. Her eyes burned with a deep, unnatural purple hue, brimming with hatred. The color pulsed with each heartbeat. The Knights hesitated — and then charged forward, swords raised.
With just a wave of her hand, the air rippled, and they were hurled backward as if they were no heavier than dry grass in the wind. Armor clanged as they struck the ground, breath driven from their lungs.
She moved toward them with slow precision, each step echoing in their ears like a war drum. The air seemed to grow colder, the sound of the dying wind replaced by the low, haunting howl of death itself.
The Knights, once full of confidence and forged in battle, now shivered as she approached. Their swords trembled in their hands. One stammered, "Wh–who… who are you?"
A faint smirk touched her lips. "Your retribution."
She struck without hesitation. The first Knight's neck snapped beneath her grasp. The second fell with a sword through the gap in his armor. The third and fourth were flung into the trees so hard their bodies didn't rise again. The fifth she gutted cleanly, his blood pooling into the dirt at her feet.
Only one remained — sprawled on the ground, his sword out of reach, his body shaking. "I beg you… don't kill me… please…"
She walked toward him, her shadow stretching long across the clearing. Without effort, she bent and lifted him by the neck as if he weighed nothing, his boots dangling helplessly above the ground.
"Don't worry," she said, her voice calm and cold. "I will leave you alive. I just need you to deliver a message."
He coughed, choking on his own breath. "What…?"
"Tell your king that death is coming. I will destroy everything he holds dear. I will take away the very reason for his existence. I will wipe out his entire kingdom. He will plead for mercy — but there will be none left."
The Knight's eyes were wide, desperate. "Who… are you?"
She threw him to the ground, the thud knocking the breath from his lungs. Gazing down at him with icy indifference, she said:
"The name is nothing… for that is what will become of his kingdom."
Then she turned and walked away, vanishing into the dark embrace of the forest, her footsteps fading until there was nothing left but the crackle of the dying fire — and the terror in the Knight's heart.