The world slowed.
Eira's heart thundered in her chest as black-clad figures dropped from the trees, their movements sharp and soundless. Silver masks gleamed in the dappled light, reflecting her own rising fear like distorted mirrors. The Enforcers of the Veil had arrived.
Kaela's hand shot out, her grip tightening around Eira's wrist, and together they dove behind the twisted roots of a massive oak. The forest floor pressed cold and damp against Eira's skin. The scent of earth and moss filled her lungs, grounding her even as panic clawed at her throat.
"Stay down," Kaela whispered, her voice a low growl. "Don't move unless I tell you."
Torin was already moving, his blade drawn in a smooth arc that caught the light like lightning in shadow. There was something terrifying in how calm he looked, like violence was a rhythm he knew by heart.
Eira pressed herself closer to the tree, the bark rough against her back. She tried to still her breathing, but it refused to obey. Every heartbeat sounded like a drum in her ears. She dared a glance upward and saw them. The Enforcers. One stood not ten paces away, tall and broad-shouldered, his movements precise. A silver emblem of the Veil gleamed on his chest like a brand. His eyes swept the woods slowly, too slowly. A hunter savoring the chase.
"They're surrounding us," Torin murmured, crouching low behind a fallen log. His voice was quiet but edged with steel. "Three to the west, two more circling wide."
"We hold the line," Kaela replied. "This isn't the first time."
"What about Eira?" Torin asked, glancing her way.
"She'll fight," Kaela said without hesitation. "This is her fight now too. She's not a child anymore."
Eira felt the words hit her like a blow. She wanted to argue. To tell them she wasn't ready. That she barely understood what was happening inside her. But something in Kaela's tone stopped her. Not anger. Belief. She believed Eira could survive this.
And somewhere deep down, despite her fear, Eira wanted to believe it too.
Another Enforcer stepped into view. His mask was smooth and expressionless, but his stance told a different story. Controlled. Measured. Dangerous. He raised a crossbow, the black metal catching a glint of sun as he aimed directly at Torin's chest.
"Now!" Kaela barked.
Torin moved like water over stone. In one fluid motion, he darted from cover and sliced upward. The crossbow shattered into splinters before the Enforcer had a chance to release the bolt. He staggered back, surprise flashing in his eyes, but Torin gave him no room to recover. His second strike was fast and final.
Eira's body tensed. The fire in her chest, the one she had felt since the night of the awakening was stirring again. Stronger this time. More urgent. It curled through her ribs like smoke, gathering behind her eyes, her fingertips, her breath.
She gasped, and the magic answered.
Heat surged through her like a second heartbeat, hot and unyielding. Her limbs trembled as she reached for the small dagger at her side. The metal was cold in her palm for only a second before it began to glow, the edges pulsing with a soft golden light.
"Eira!" Kaela's voice broke through the haze. "Now's your chance. Use it!"
Use it. Eira clenched her teeth, the memory of her dream flickering in the corners of her mind. A voice calling her name in the dark. Hands reaching. A storm unraveling inside her.
She drew her arm back and hurled the dagger with every ounce of strength she could summon. It flew straight and fast. As it spun through the air, a trail of fire ignited behind it, brilliant and searing. The Enforcer it struck didn't even scream. He vanished in a burst of flame, the impact thundering through the woods and into Eira's bones.
Silence followed. A breath. A pause.
Then chaos.
The Enforcers roared, the sound strange and inhuman through their masks. They surged forward, black shapes in motion, a flood of violence crashing through the trees. Kaela turned to meet them, her staff glowing at both ends.
She moved like a shadow with weight, fluid but rooted, each strike deliberate.
Torin's blades danced, cutting through the melee with terrifying grace. Two more Enforcers fell to his steel, but more pressed in from every side. Their coordination was ruthless, practiced. They weren't here to scare. They were here to kill.
Eira backed away from the center of the fight, her hands shaking. The magic inside her pulsed again, more wildly now, like it had tasted blood and wanted more. She lifted her hands instinctively as an Enforcer lunged toward her, sword raised.
"Stop," she breathed.
Power exploded from her palms. A wave of invisible force hurled the attacker backward, slamming him into the trunk of a tree so hard it cracked like thunder. Bark splintered. The Enforcer crumpled to the forest floor and didn't rise.
Eira stood frozen, her breath ragged, her chest rising and falling with the rhythm of fire. She had done that. Without words, without training. She had stopped him.
Kaela's eyes met hers across the clearing, fierce and bright.
"Good," she said. "You're getting the hang of it."
But Eira wasn't so sure. The magic didn't feel like something she controlled. It felt alive. Hungry. As if it were watching her from behind her own skin, waiting for a moment to slip the leash.
Torin grunted, pulling his blade free from the body of another fallen enemy.
"They just keep coming," he growled. "We can't hold them here."
"We're not meant to," Kaela snapped. "We're buying time. We have to get her to Ascarith."
Eira turned, eyes wide. "The Ruins?"
Kaela nodded, knocking an Enforcer to the ground with a burst of white light from her staff. "There's a sanctuary there. A place of power older than the Veil. If we can reach it, you'll be safe long enough to learn how to wield what's inside you."
"Assuming we make it," Torin muttered.
Kaela's expression tightened. "We will."
Eira's legs ached, her limbs trembling with the strain of magic and fear, but she nodded. They had to move. They couldn't stay.
Behind her, the trees began to stir.
A deeper shadow moved among the Enforcers. Taller. Slower. It didn't rush into the fight, it watched. Eira caught only a glimpse of it through the smoke and chaos. A figure robed in dark gray, his mask etched with crimson lines.
Unlike the others, he didn't carry a weapon.
Yet Eira felt the pressure of his presence settle over her like a weight.
Kaela's face went still.
"Harrower," she whispered. "Run."