CHAPTER 3: RUNNERS DON'T GET SECOND CHANCES
Kael ran like he'd always run.
But it wasn't the same.
Before, running meant escaping death.
Now, running meant choosing what kind of life he wanted.
The tunnel narrowed and twisted. Behind them, boots thundered. Steel scraped stone. Someone shouted orders.
Riven sprinted at Kael's side, flames flickering along his knuckles, the only light they had.
"You should've played along," Riven hissed between breaths.
Kael laughed once, sharp. "And become property?"
Riven didn't answer, because the answer was yes. That's what they'd always been. Property that learned to breathe.
The tunnel forked.
Kael hesitated.
The Apex Core flickered and suddenly a map bloomed in his vision, rough and incomplete, lines drawn like instinct.
PATHING AVAILABLE: 32%
Kael didn't question it. He followed the highlighted route.
They burst into an open chamber where the ceiling had collapsed. Moonlight speared down through cracks, pale and distant. The ruin walls were carved with faces that looked like they were screaming.
A rope bridge spanned a gap ahead, swaying over darkness.
Riven swore. "That's your plan?"
"Unless you've got wings," Kael said.
They reached the bridge.
Kael stepped onto the wood.
It creaked, old and offended.
He took another step.
Behind them, the soldiers poured into the chamber.
Vaelor entered last, unhurried.
He didn't chase like a man worried about losing prey.
He walked like a man who had already decided the ending.
Kael's skin crawled.
Riven turned and flung a wave of fire. The flames rolled across the stone, forcing the front line back.
"Go!" Riven shouted.
Kael moved.
Halfway across the bridge, a blade whistled past his ear and sank into the rope.
The fibers snapped.
The bridge lurched violently.
Kael caught himself, heart hammering.
Another knife flew. Another rope severed.
The bridge began to tilt.
Kael looked back.
Vaelor stood at the edge, arm extended, not throwing knives.
Commanding blood.
The soldiers were the ones throwing. Vaelor didn't need to.
He was conducting.
Kael's stomach sank.
Vaelor could end this without touching him.
The bridge dropped another foot.
Riven screamed something behind him and leapt onto the bridge, sprinting, fire bursting from his hands to counterbalance the falling weight.
Kael's legs pumped. The far side was close. Too close.
The bridge snapped.
For a suspended heartbeat, Kael floated above the void.
Riven collided with him, shoulder to chest, knocking him sideways.
Kael hit stone, rolled, skidded, pain flaring up his ribs.
Riven landed hard beside him, coughing, smoke curling from his mouth.
The bridge fell into darkness with a long, final moan.
Across the gap, Vaelor looked at them calmly.
Then he spoke, voice carrying cleanly across the chamber.
"Kael Arden."
Kael stiffened.
Hearing his full name in Vaelor's mouth felt like being claimed.
Vaelor tilted his head. "You shouldn't exist."
Kael's hands curled into fists. "You don't get to decide that."
Vaelor's expression tightened, a fissure of irritation. "I already did."
And then Vaelor turned away.
Not because he couldn't reach them.
Because he didn't need to, yet.
He left his soldiers to blockade the chamber exits and walked out as if this was merely delayed.
Riven watched him go, breathing hard. "That's bad."
Kael swallowed. "He'll come back."
Riven's eyes were fever-bright. "No. He'll send the whole clan. We're not safe anywhere."
Kael's interface flickered.
TARGET ACQUIRED: VAELOR CREED (HIGH THREAT).SURVIVAL FORECAST: 12%.
Kael stared at the number until it felt like a joke.
Riven laughed, hollow. "Twelve percent. That's generous."
Kael pushed himself up. "We don't need safe."
Riven blinked. "What?"
Kael's voice came out rough. "We need stronger."
Riven's face did something complicated, almost proud, almost afraid.
"You're talking like them," Riven said.
Kael shook his head. "No. I'm talking like someone who's tired."
They moved deeper into the ruins, following Kael's half-formed map.
Hours passed in broken bursts.
They fought ruin-beasts. Kael absorbed what he could, each kill searing new traits into him. The Apex Core fed him numbers, cold and addictive.
Riven kept watch, flames low and controlled, his eyes always scanning for hunters.
By dawn, Kael's hands were steady in a way they'd never been.
His pain was still there, but it was background now, like a memory.
They found an exit.
Not into freedom.
Into a slum district outside clan territory, where the streets smelled of cheap oil and old regret.
Kael stumbled into sunlight like a man being born.
Riven grabbed his shoulder.
"We need somewhere to hide."
Kael looked up.
On a crooked sign above a narrow shop, faded letters read:
VALE APOTHECARY.
A bell chimed as they entered.
Behind the counter stood a woman with tired eyes and a braid over one shoulder. Lysenne Vale.
Kael knew her.
Everyone in the slums knew her.
She sold medicine to people who couldn't afford to exist.
Her gaze landed on Kael's bloodied clothes, the wounds, the strange darkness under his skin.
Then her eyes met his.
For a split second, something softened in her face.
And then it hardened again.
"Kael," she said quietly, like his name was a bad habit. "What did you do?"
Kael swallowed.
"I lived."
Lysenne's mouth twisted with something like pain. "That's never just living with you."