It was barely past noon, but the air over the Whispering Woodlands had turned thick and suffocating. Every breath felt heavier than the last.
Kota and Leiya had been moving since dawn, forcing their way through dense underbrush and jagged terrain. The further they went, the worse it became.
The pressure in Kota's chest had grown from a dull ache into something alive. It pressed against his ribs like a second heartbeat that didn't belong to him.
Leiya made him drink from the suppressing brew again. The bitter liquid burned down his throat, but it did little to quiet what was stirring inside him.
His hair was whitening at the roots in visible streaks, glowing faintly under the harsh sun. The Yen was no longer just leaking. It was bleeding out of him.
As he leaned against a thick oak tree for support, the bark beneath his palm cracked and blackened sap oozed from the wood like blood. A nearby puddle began to boil with dark bubbles that reeked of liquid tar.
This violent destabilization wasn't just from exhaustion. It felt like something inside him was growing restless. The sickness near his heart was no longer just a fever.
It felt like a cold, ancient presence slowly opening its eyes beneath his ribs. A hunger he couldn't name. A shadow that wanted to be fed.
Leiya caught him as his knees buckled. She dropped beside him and threw up a barrier of water and earth Yan, trying to contain the leak.
Sweat beaded on her forehead from the effort. Holding back uncontrolled Yen felt like trying to dam a crashing river with her bare hands.
"Fight it, Kota," she said, her voice tight with urgency. "We can't stop here. If you lose control now, the scent will carry for miles. You have to cage it. Your heart has to be stronger than the pressure. Do you hear me?"
Kota didn't answer right away.
Inside his mind, he was drowning. It wasn't just power overwhelming him. It was something older. Something that watched him from the dark with cold, patient hunger.
His own thoughts were growing distant, drowned out by a slow, rhythmic pulse that wasn't his own. It felt like his soul was being pushed aside, like something ancient was trying to take his place.
He could feel it studying him. Judging him. Waiting.
An uncontrolled surge of Yen suddenly lashed outward just as the first grey clouds began to block out the sun.
The energy struck a deer grazing in a nearby thicket. The animal froze mid-step as the purple haze touched its fur. Its body withered in an instant.
Skin blackening until it collapsed with a final, broken gasp. The grass around the carcass turned to brittle ash in seconds, leaving a perfect circle of death in the middle of the vibrant green woods.
Kota stared at the carcass, his hands shaking violently.
"Something's trying to get out, Leiya," he whispered, voice hoarse. "It's not just the power. It's like something is waking up inside me. And it's hungry. I'm poisoning everything around me because my own soul is being pushed out. I'm… I'm becoming a curse."
Leiya stayed close, her barrier still holding even as her arms trembled from the strain.
"This isn't your fault," she said fiercely, forcing him to stand. "We'll find a way to quiet it. We just have to keep moving. We need to reach the cave past the next ridge before the storm breaks. If we don't, the trail of rot will be too easy to follow."
As the afternoon shadows darkened prematurely, Kaola stopped dead in her tracks miles away. She felt the sudden, violent ripple of dark energy through the wind currents. It was a beacon of pure, concentrated rot that cut through the humid air.
She pointed her void bow toward the southern woods with cold precision.
"There," she said to the twins as the first rumble of thunder echoed over the ridge. "I've caught a scent. There's a town nearby. We might have a lead."