Inside the vine-hidden cave, the lantern crackled weakly against the damp walls and cold stone. Sugat had always called this place home, but tonight, it felt like a grave. The stillness was shattered by the rhythmic, metallic clang of armor. It was heavy, close, and numerous. The Sentinels didn’t sneak; they arrived like a verdict.
Vines snapped and boots crushed the earth as torches began to hiss outside the entrance. Captain Neyoundo Duquel stepped into the light, his kampilan dragging across the stone and leaving a trail of sparks behind him. His white armor gleamed in the dark, pristine and mocking.
“You careless vermin,” he growled, his voice a low vibration of malice. “Did you truly believe you could escape your fate?”
Behind him, a wall of Sentinels lifted their torches. Sugat’s breath hitched, his hands trembling as sweat poured down his face. “They found us…” he whispered, the terror clawing at his throat. He turned to Hiraya, his voice cracking. “You should have left me! They would have killed me quickly—now they’ll torture us both!”
Hiraya flinched, but only for a heartbeat. Her jaw tightened as she summoned her power. “Book.” Violet sigils flared, and her grimoire materialized in a burst of smoke, its pages flipping wildly in an invisible wind. “We’re escaping,” she said firmly. “Again.”
Outside, Neyoundo raised a gloved hand. “Burn it.”
Torches arched through the air, and flames instantly swallowed the cave entrance. Black smoke poured inward like a living thing. Sugat dropped to his knees, coughing violently as the cave disappeared into a suffocating haze. Hiraya tried to chant, but the smoke scorched her lungs, causing her spellbook to flicker and dissolve.
As she fell to one knee, Sugat looked at her. Through the stinging grit, he saw her struggling—saw that she was staying for him. A sharp twist of guilt and resolve knotting in his chest, he staggered up. He grabbed the rusted knife from his bedding, slashed a strip of fabric from his blanket, and tied it over Hiraya’s mouth. Then, he lunged forward and pulled her toward the exit.
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“It’s a trap!” she rasped, her eyes wide with alarm. “They want us to run out!”
Sugat offered a faint, sad smile through the smoke. “I know.”
They reached the mouth of the cave, the heat of the fire searing their skin. At the last second, Sugat released her hand and shoved her toward a narrow side tunnel hidden behind a curtain of ancient roots.
“Go!” he hissed.
Before she could protest, he sprinted toward the main exit. “I’M HERE!” he shouted, his voice echoing over the roar of the flames. He heard the Sentinels rushing the entrance and knew he had succeeded.
“You stupid hero,” Hiraya muttered from the shadows, her voice thick with a mix of fury and respect. Then, she vanished into the dark.
Sugat stepped out into the blinding firelight. A heavy boot slammed into his chest, sending him crashing into the dirt. A Sentinel grabbed him by the hair, yanking his head back as Neyoundo approached with predatory slowness.
“Where is the witch?” the Captain asked. When Sugat didn't answer, Neyoundo backhanded him across the face, filling the boy's mouth with the metallic tang of blood. “That trick in the plaza… the shadow phoenix. That was her, wasn’t it?”
Sugat spat a glob of blood onto Neyoundo’s polished boots. “That was me,” he wheezed. “My curse.”
Neyoundo laughed, a cold, hollow sound. “You?” His expression twisted into a sneer of pure contempt. “You are nothing.” He delivered a kick that sent Sugat rolling into the roots of a tree, something deep in his chest cracking painfully.
As Sugat lay in the ash and dirt, unable to catch his breath, Neyoundo drew his sword. The steel touched Sugat’s cheek, cold and sharp. “This is the last time. Where. Is. The. Witch?”
Sugat slowly lifted his head. For the first time in his life, someone hadn't looked at him like he was filth or a ghost. For the first time, he had felt like a person. Maybe I can die like this, he thought, and a small, defiant smile touched his lips.
Something in Neyoundo snapped. “How dare you,” the Captain hissed, raising his kampilan high for the final strike. The Sentinels cheered, a chorus of bloodlust.
The blade fell—and the world exploded.
A violent gust of wind tore through the clearing, throwing the Sentinels off their feet and extinguishing every torch in an instant. Neyoundo skidded backward, his boots carving deep trenches in the dirt as he fought to stay upright.
When the wind died, Hiraya stood at the forest’s edge. Her grimoire floated beside her, and violet sigils burned with a blinding intensity around her hands. Her eyes glowed with an ancient, terrifying light.
“That choice,” she said, her voice echoing with the weight of the forest itself, “isn't yours.”
The night held its breath as the forest exhaled. The war had finally arrived.
LOD is picking up speed! Since I have a lot of chapters ready (we are currently at Chapter 64 in my drafts!), I'll be doing a Mass Release over the next few days to get us through the first arc.
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