The forest outside Linkon City was different at night.
Where daylight brought hikers and morning joggers, darkness transformed it into something primal—all twisted shadows and rustling leaves that could hide a dozen Wanderers.
Nana's hunter watch glowed faintly on her wrist, its scanner sweeping the area in steady pulses. So far, nothing. Just her, her motorcycle, and the autumn wind cutting through the trees.
She'd volunteered for solo patrol tonight. Tara thought she was crazy ("You literally got injured this morning!"), but Nana needed the space. Needed to think.
Needed to stop replaying the way those hazel eyes had looked at her in the cafe.She sat on her motorcycle, one boot planted on the ground, absently rubbing the bandage on her calf.
The forest was quiet. Too quiet. Her hunter instincts—honed by years of tracking Wanderers—prickled with awareness.
Rustle.
Nana's head snapped toward the sound. Her hand moved to her gun automatically, her body shifting into a low crouch as she slipped off the bike. She moved silently toward the tree line, pressing herself against the rough bark of an old oak, barely breathing.
Not a Wanderer. The energy signature was wrong. Too... human.
She peered around the trunk, expecting maybe a lost hiker or teenagers sneaking out for a thrill.
Instead, she saw him.Dr. Zayne Li walked through the forest like he belonged there, his dark coat blending with the shadows. No flashlight. No hesitation. He moved with purpose, his breath misting in the cold air, his expression unreadable as always.
What is he doing out here?
Nana's eyes widened. This made no sense. It was nearly midnight. The hospital was in the opposite direction. And Zayne—the infamous workaholic surgeon who supposedly lived at Akso Hospital—was hiking through the forest alone?
Curiosity overrode common sense. Nana followed.
She moved like a cat, her hunter training making her steps silent against the fallen leaves.
She kept her distance, using the trees as cover, her heart pounding not from exertion but from pure confusion. Zayne walked with the confidence of someone who'd made this journey a hundred times before, never once looking back.
Until he stopped.
Nana froze mid-step, pressing herself flat against a tree. Zayne stood completely still, his head tilted slightly, as if listening. His eyes scanned the darkness—methodical, careful, the eyes of someone who knew he might be followed.
Nana held her breath. Please don't turn around. Please don't—
After what felt like an eternity, Zayne continued walking.
Nana exhaled slowly, her legs trembling. That was too close. But she couldn't stop now. Not when every instinct screamed that something was wrong.
The trees began to thin, and that's when Nana saw it.
The cave.
It rose from the earth like a wound in the world—jagged ice formations framing its entrance, crystalline and impossibly blue even in the darkness. Frost crept across the surrounding ground in delicate patterns, and the air grew cold enough to make Nana's breath come out in thick clouds.
An ice cave. In the middle of autumn. In a forest that shouldn't have ice caves.
This wasn't natural. This wasn't possible.
Zayne stopped at the entrance, and Nana watched, transfixed, as he raised his hand.
Ice bloomed from his palm.
It wasn't like the ice evol she'd seen other hunters use—clumsy, unrefined, more blunt force than precision. This was art. The ice flowed from Zayne's hand like liquid glass, spreading across the cave entrance in intricate, interlocking patterns.
Layer upon layer, each one thicker than the last, sealing the darkness beyond with crystalline walls that glowed faintly in the moonlight.
Nana's jaw dropped. He has an ice evol?
But he was a doctor. Doctors weren't hunters. They didn't have evol powers. They didn't stand in haunted forests at midnight sealing mysterious caves with magic ice.
Zayne worked in silence, his expression carved from stone, his movements precise and practiced. He reinforced the seal three times, each layer thicker than the last, until the cave entrance was completely obscured behind walls of ice so dense they looked nearly black.
Then he stepped back, surveying his work with those cold, calculating eyes.
For a moment, Nana thought she saw something flicker across his face—was it fear? Regret? But it was gone before she could be sure, replaced by that familiar mask of icy composure.
Zayne turned and walked back the way he came, his footsteps crunching against frost-covered leaves.
Nana pressed herself harder against her hiding spot, not daring to breathe as he passed within meters of her position. She caught a glimpse of his profile—sharp jawline, dark hair slightly disheveled from the walk, that perpetual frown that made him look older than he probably was.
She stayed frozen until the sound of a car engine rumbled in the distance, headlights cutting through the trees before disappearing down the road.
Only then did Nana move.
She crept toward the ice cave, her hunter watch casting a pale blue glow across the frozen entrance. Up close, Zayne's work was even more impressive—and terrifying. The ice was impossibly thick, reinforced with what looked like internal lattice structures designed for maximum strength.
This wasn't a casual seal.
This was a prison.
What was he trying to keep inside?
Nana reached out, her gloved fingers brushing the surface. It was cold enough to burn, and when she pulled back, frost clung to her glove.
She activated her aether core experimentally, letting the blue energy flicker around her hand, wondering if she could—
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Her hunter watch exploded with alerts, red warnings flashing across the screen.
WANDERER DETECTED - CLASS A THREAT
LOCATION: AKSO HOSPITAL DISTRICT
CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IMMINENT
"Damn it!"
Nana stumbled back from the cave, her priorities instantly shifting. A Class A Wanderer near the hospital meant casualties. Meant death. Meant she needed to move now.
She cast one last glance at the frozen cave, questions piling up in her mind faster than she could process them.
Why was Zayne sealing this cave? How long has he been doing this? What's inside? Why does a doctor have ice evol? And why—
Her watch beeped again, more urgently.
"I'm coming!" she hissed at it, already running back toward her motorcycle.
The engine roared to life, and Nana tore through the forest trail, leaving the ice cave and its mysteries behind.But as she raced toward the hospital, toward danger, toward duty, one thought echoed in her mind:
I'm coming back this weekend. I'm going to figure out what you're hiding, Dr. Zayne Li.
Behind her, the ice cave sat in silence, its frozen walls gleaming like a secret under the moonlight.
Waiting.
.
.
.
.
.
To be continued.