Not even a footstep could be heard as they stalked through the border forest, the oppressive darkness stretching in every direction. There was no jittering of animals, no cooing of birds, and not even the crunch of leaves could be heard underfoot; it was as if the forest itself had swallowed all sound. Ash held a torch in hand; the trees had blocked out the dim lighting this place had, so they were truly surrounded by shadows.

  Hadassah, scanning the shadows, finally spoke, her voice barely a whisper. “If you get caught, do not—under any circumstances—ask for help.” Her words fell like a stone in the quiet, and though confusion flickered on the faces of Zarek and Ash, neither questioned her.

  In her mind, she reached out to Rahn. ‘Are there enough shadows?’

  His response was quick, reassuring. ‘This whole place is my domain,’ he replied. ‘Be confident. I would never let you get hurt.’

  His words sounded strange, but they gave her confidence.

  If she was correct, they would each vanish one after the other. She theorised that the reason there had been no screams was because those who disappeared simply didn’t know they were being targeted. The only explanation she could imagine was illusions.

  As she pondered this, her steps slowed, and then she came to a halt. She was alone—somehow, without realising it, she had veered off a path that left her entirely isolated.

  ‘Where are you?’ She reached out, tense.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Rahn replied immediately. ‘There is no one here.’

  She felt a little better knowing he could reach her mind, reassuring her that they were probably all separated but unharmed.

  ‘Just try and find me, I—’

  Her thoughts cut short as a vision appeared before her, ghostly and vivid, as if conjured out of the darkness itself.

  ‘Hadassah, are you okay?’ Rahn’s voice entered her mind again, alarmed by the sudden cut off of her thoughts.

  ‘I’m fine. It’s just…there’s something here,’ she replied. The creature she’d seen before now loomed before her, even larger up close. Two massive horns jutted from its head, and it knelt with its arms splayed on the ground, almost as if lying in wait.

  Hadassah stepped cautiously towards it, but it remained motionless, its empty eye sockets fixed on her, waiting—as if it expected her to do something. She took another careful step.

  Still nothing.

  Then another. Gradually, she relaxed and continued walking.

  ‘Hadassah, there’s something wrong.’ Rahn’s voice cut through her focus, his tone tinged with concern.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘The creature—it’s not here.’

  ‘It’s here, right in front of me.’

  ‘No, you don’t understand,’ he insisted, urgency in his tone. ‘I was searching for it, but there’s no creature here; it doesn’t exist.’

  Hadassah froze, her body tensing as she turned slowly to look back at the figure. But there was nothing there—only empty space. Her expression twisted, realising that from the beginning, it hadn’t been real and she hadn’t noticed.

  Then what on earth was happening?

  She did not believe her senses had been twisted so much that she was imagining a giant lying in wait.

  ‘Rahn, find me. Right now.’ She had a sinking feeling that Zarek and Ash were in grave danger.

  ˋ?-?-?ˊ

  Zarek stalked cautiously through the forest, every nerve on edge. He’d lost sight of the others, but Hadassah’s words echoed in his mind—‘do not call for help.’ It was almost instinctive to shout her name, to find some reassurance, but he clamped down on the urge. She wouldn’t have warned him without reason.

  A movement caught his attention, just at the corner of his eye—a figure slipping between trees, vanishing as soon as he looked its way. His heart pounded, but he forced himself to focus, taking steady breaths. He tried to ignore it, not letting it get to him.

  He turned, choosing to head in the opposite direction, to put as much distance between himself and whatever tricks the forest was playing. But as he turned, he halted abruptly, heart dropping. Standing just feet in front of him was a woman. Her figure was familiar, painfully so, from her gentle posture to the way her hands hung by her sides.

  It was his mother.

  His breath was stolen from him.

  She was supposed to be long gone, a memory etched deep, yet here she was, looking at him with an expression he hadn’t seen since childhood—malevolence.

  “Mother…” he whispered, the word escaping before he could stop it.

  “Zarek, you’re home.” She reached out, her hand slipping around his neck, resting there as comfortably as it had so many times in the past.

  Zarek’s face darkened, his eyes widened, and his body froze as her hands, ice-cold, settled against his skin. She leaned in, pulling him into a hug, her voice a whisper in his ear. “I missed you so much, my darling.” Her words felt like worms crawling over his skin, leaving him wanting to recoil, but he found he couldn’t move. The forest faded around him, replaced by the scene of another time, another nightmare.

  He looked down at himself, and his hands were small, uncharacteristically so. His arms were thin, his legs chained, a heavy metal chain attached to a circular shackle around his neck. His hair was long, tangled, brushing the ground, obscuring his vision, and he wore fine garments that felt like a mockery considering his imprisoned state.

  He looked up at the woman he once called his mother. Her face was hazy, like a smudged painting, barely discernible. He couldn’t remember it exactly, but her touch was all too familiar. Her skin was cold as ever as she lifted his chin, forcing him to look at her towering form. He was small, so small, and the weight of the chains dragged him down. He wanted to turn, to find Hadassah, to escape this twisted scene.

  But behind her, he saw it—a pool of water. A serenity pool. She moved towards it, and his body betrayed him, forcing him to follow, his strength drained, his will subdued.

  ‘No.’

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  He tried to resist, to pull away, to run, but nothing worked. His strength was sapped entirely.

  ‘No!’

  He wanted to scream, to cry, but he had no mouth, no voice. He wanted to crumple to the floor, but his legs propelled him forward, his shoulders shoved, his arms dragged, his hair pulled. He was forced to stand before her as she stepped into the pool.

  ‘No.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘No!’

  He strained desperately, already haunted by having lived through this once. He couldn’t bear it again, not now.

  Her cold hands grabbed his face, palms pressing against his jaw as her face hovered dangerously close to his, trapping him in petrifying fear. Then, her mouth began to widen, her jaw unlocking and stretching beyond human limits, spreading far enough to consume him whole. And in the gaping darkness of her throat, he saw it—a single eyeball, staring directly at him.

  “Zarek!”

  A voice, familiar and startling, broke through, shattering the twisted illusion. An explosion ripped through the scene, forcing it to splinter and fade away, leaving him reeling back into reality.

  Zarek stumbled back into reality, heart pounding, his mind struggling to reorient itself. His mother—no, the illusion—was gone. The dark forest returned around him, cloaked in an unnatural silence, only to erupt in a thunderous explosion that ripped through the trees, sending splinters and debris flying.

  He turned, finding himself running without hesitation towards the source. His body moved on instinct, each step driving him closer to her.

  Hadassah.

  She stood in the clearing, her string of beads wrapped around her arm, her gaze steady and fixed on something beyond his line of sight. Her fingers had just released one of her signature pink beads, and he barely registered the initial spark before the world shook in a violent, blinding burst.

  Zarek bolted forward, the force of the blast propelling him as he reached her, sweeping her into his arms and pulling her back just as the ground she had been standing on exploded in flames and force. The shockwave surged around them, but he shielded her, gritting his teeth and continuing to run, muscles tensing with each powerful stride.

  “Don’t stop!” she yelled, hurling another bead that detonated with a thunderous roar, igniting the dense forest in a fiery glow.

  “What are you even attacking?” he shouted, half-certain they were running from shadows.

  “There’s no creature here!” she replied, voice fierce. “It’s something else—something keeping us locked in illusions. I’m burning this whole thing down!” There was no siren, this entire forest was itself an artefact.

  “But if you do that—”

  “Just run, Zarek. Rahn must have found Ash by now!”

  He bit his tongue, casting a quick look over his shoulder at the chaos trailing them. Trees and shadows alike disintegrated under her relentless explosions, shattering the false reality around them. He had to admit—her strategy was pretty fun.

  ˋ?-?-?ˊ

  Drucilla’s head snapped up as a distant explosion tore through the forest’s silence, a plume of smoke rising above the treetops. Her brow furrowed in confusion as yet another explosion sounded, followed by another. The entire forest was soon alight, flames licking up trunks and casting an infernal glow across the canopy.

  She stared bewildered. “What kind of decoy is that?”

  Kaladin, standing beside her, grinned wildly, a manic light in his eyes. A low, dark chuckle escaped him, growing into full-throated laughter as he watched the blaze spread, branches cracking and crumbling in the heat.

  “It’s now or never,” he said, his voice filled with reckless excitement as he took in the chaos. His gaze was fixed on the firelit horizon, his fingers tightening around his weapon. “If they’re tearing down everything to get free, then we have no excuse to hold back.”

  Drucilla glanced at him, but had to admit, her excitement was great. “Then let’s go.”

  “The three of you try not to die.” Zeus said with his fan covering his lips.

  Verena looked at him, a smirk playing on her lips; even she couldn’t help but feel a little anticipation.

  ˋ?-?-?ˊ

  Zarek charged forward, his feet pounding through the smouldering earth, the air polluted with smoke and ash. The explosions had turned the forest into a battlefield of fire and as he ran, he saw something unnatural pushing up from the ground, the earth splitting with a deep rumble. From the soil, towering stone giants began to emerge, each more massive than the last, their hollow eyes locked onto him and Hadassah who were like ants before them.

  “Stone giants!” he shouted to her over the roar of flames, motioning to the colossal figures as they straightened.

  Hadassah barely glanced back, her face stern. “I don’t care! Someone doesn’t want this forest destroyed!” Her eyes flickered with dark amusement. “It’s like dealing with a child. Just don’t let me die, Zarek. I’ll burn this place down!”

  He grinned at her words, a feral thrill rushing through him. “Your wish is my command.”

  Without another word, he surged forward, his gaze zeroing in on the nearest giant. The massive creature lurched towards him, its stony arm raised in a crushing arc, but Zarek was faster, dodging just out of its reach. He leapt on it running up its arm until he could reach its chest, his fist slamming into its chest with a brutal impact. The stone cracked under his strength, and in the shattering debris, he glimpsed its glowing core—the creature’s shell core, its life force.

  With a swift, crushing movement, Zarek wrapped his hands around the core and shattered it, and without wasting a second, he barrelled towards the next one.

  Hadassah remained hoisted on his shoulder, hurling her pink beads at everything and anything, each one detonating into a shower of sparks and molten fire.

  Truly, she was made to blow shit up.

  Zarek felt exhilarated, feeding off the frenzy of destruction around them. Another stone giant rose in their path, and Zarek lunged at it, his fists connecting with its hardened body, feeling the satisfying crunch as he cracked it open. He reached into the crumbling stone and yanked out its core, shattering it with ease. The creature fell, its remnants crashing to the ground, only to be replaced by another.

  “Behind you!” Hadassah called out, throwing a bead just past him. It landed at the feet of a group of giants, blasting them to pieces, and the area instantly lit up like daylight. The fallout sent dust and stones flying, showering them in grit, but Zarek only laughed, adrenaline pounding in his veins. The chaos, the mayhem—it was intoxicating.

  “Keep them coming, Hadassah!” He shouted back, his voice filled with delight.

  “Don’t get greedy!” she called, smirking as she lobbed another bead, the blast ripping through another section of the forest, setting the trees ablaze.

  Humans had one skill and one skill alone, making weapons, and she had done just that.

  Zarek pulled both himself and Hadassah onto the safety of a tree branch. The leaves had been scorched by their relentless fight; the bark charred and brittle beneath their weight, but it offered them a brief respite from the battle below. He glanced at Hadassah, whose eyes were gleaming with exhilaration, the firelight casting wild shadows on her face.

  Just then, Rahn emerged through the smoke, guiding Ash alongside him. Ash’s face was flushed, his expression full of shame. “I can’t believe I fell for such a low-level trick,” he muttered, shaking his head.

  Hadassah barely gave him a glance, still catching her breath from the relentless havoc. “Doesn’t matter,” she replied, waving her hand dismissively. “We’re here now, and I don’t care what tricks the forest wants to throw at us. We’re surrounded, but I intend to destroy every last giant.”

  The words were said with such confidence that it was contagious.

  “Then let’s get this over with,” Zarek replied, clenching his fists, the heat of battle simmering in his veins.

  Ash gave a small, resolute nod, the shame of his earlier blunder quickly forgotten. “Till the last stone falls,” he declared, unsheathing his sword.

  They leaped down from the tree, hitting the ground running. The giants moved towards them, their bodies massive and imposing, each step causing the earth to tremble.

  Zarek charged at the nearest giant, his fist colliding with its chest in a brutal punch. The impact sent cracks spiderwebbing through the stone, and he reached in, ripping out its core with a powerful twist of his hand.

  To his left, Rahn moved like a shadow, slipping between the giants, slicing the monsters like tofu. His skill was undeniable, his strength formidable; there was no chance he could be overcome by something so crude.

  Ash fought as a commander, his sword flashing as he slashed at the giants, his strikes fuelled by the need to redeem himself.

  And then there was Hadassah. She moved through the chaos; she wasn’t particularly fast, nor was she strong. Her only job was to blow up what she could, and she was damn good at her job.

  Ash moved alongside Zarek, his sword flashing as he felled another giant. He glanced over, panting, his expression fierce. “I’ve never seen anyone fight like this,” he admitted, awe filling his voice. “It’s madness.”

  “Is it?” Zarek asked with a laugh. He guessed to the average person, it was madness.

  Eventually, the last giant fell, its body crumbling into a pile of rubble as Zarek tore out its core. He stood there, panting, his chest heaving, and looked around. The forest was a wasteland, a battlefield strewn with the remains of their enemies.

  And in the centre of it all stood Hadassah, her chest rising and falling as she caught her breath. Her face was streaked with dirt, her eyes wild, and her grin manic as she took in the destruction around her.

  Zarek found himself staring, unable to look away. She was a vision—a terrifying, beautiful vision of pure, unadulterated chaos, and it was terribly intoxicating.

  “We should catch up to the main group, shouldn’t we?” She finally said to her team, who were ready to follow her to the pits of the abyss. “But first, I need to get my Wyre.”