The rifle's crack echoed through the valley, followed by another, then another. Bullets streaked across the clearing, but none ever reached Berry.
They shattered midair, clattering to the ground uselessly just a few feet in front of him.
The intruders cursed under their breath, confusion flashing across their faces. To them, it must have looked like the air itself was betraying their weapons. But Berry knew better.
He let out a small sigh of relief, whispering more to himself than anyone else.
"Good thing Lucian's always paranoid…"
Above him, tiny wings shimmered like fragments of starlight in the false daylight of the valley.
Dozens of fairies hovered in the air, their little hands pressed together, their magic knitting an invisible barrier around Berry.
It flickered for only a moment—like a thin ripple across glass—before disappearing again.
