The cavern echoed with silence after the sudden collapse of shadows. One moment, the prey had been cornered, the witch trembling in the dark. The next—gone.
Shax stood in the center of the chamber, his claws gouging deep furrows into the stone. Purple fire smoldered along his horns as his golden slit-pupiled eyes scanned the emptiness where Levi had stood.
"She teleported," Stolas muttered, voice bitter, his shifter form bristling with unease. "I could smell the tears in the air."
Forneus tilted her head, her silver hair spilling like molten metal. "Impossible. Not in her state. Not without…" She trailed off, lips curving into a sharp smile. "…a price."
Phenex laughed harshly, crouching low with predatory energy. "Then she's weaker now. Good. That means she'll be easier to catch next time."
Shax's snarl cut the air. The walls themselves trembled under the weight of his fury.
"Weak? Do not mistake her act of desperation for weakness," he growled, wings flaring wide. Shadows bent away from him like frightened animals. "She tore open a rift while wounded. That power alone should remind you why she once ruled above us all."
Forneus smirked, unshaken. "And yet, she runs."
"She runs because of the witch," Pazusax murmured, his voice a soft hiss, fingers trailing glyphs into the dust. "It is not survival she clings to. It is her. A queen bound to a fragile girl. A weakness. A leash."
At that, Shax grew still, the storm inside his chest settling into something colder, sharper. His lips curled into a cruel smile.
"Yes," he said at last, his voice dripping venom. "The witch is the chain. Break her, and Leviathan will crawl back to us willingly. No matter how far she runs."
The group exchanged glances—some eager, some wary.
Stolas cracked his knuckles. "Then we hunt the witch."
Shax's wings spread, blotting out the cavern's fractured ceiling as lightning split the sky outside. His gaze burned with hunger, with rage, with something darker.
"Leviathan thinks she can steal her freedom with tricks of shadow," he said. "But I will strip her illusions away, one by one. Until all that remains is a queen on her knees, begging for what I decide to give."
The thunder roared, answering his oath.
The hunt was far from over.
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