Dawn spilled over the desert, gold and white bleeding across the sand. The ruined tower from last night's battle stood stark against the horizon, its shadow stretching long and trembling. The air was still, almost painfully quiet. Every crack in the stone caught the morning light like a warning, every grain of sand shifting like a heartbeat.
Inside the tower, survivors stirred. Children clutched mothers' hands, eyes wide, shadows of fear mirrored in every flickering torch. My scarf rested in my lap, echoes stirring faintly, restless.
Laura froze. Eyes glowing faintly, she whispered,
"…They're coming."
Older Law remembers:
We thought the night gave us safety. But the Hunt never rests.
I stood. Zero drew his knives with precise calm.
"Then we move. Now."
Liora led the survivors, shield raised. Threads of light flickered across the floor, catching falling dust, guiding their trembling steps. Nysera carried two children, amber-gold eyes scanning the dunes.
"Too slow!" she growled.
The Hunters appeared atop a ridge, silhouettes sharp in the morning sun. Viktor led them, spear humming with shard-light, mask cracked from our last encounter. Behind him, two shard-thread Hunters followed: one wielding a whip crackling with energy, the other armored in gauntlets gleaming like living metal.
"The Path gathers them," Viktor called, voice rough. "The Mirror demands them."
The desert wind whipped around us. Arrows of shard-energy tore across the dunes.
I split into echoes, blades flashing, intercepting shards midair. Sparks hissed, sand erupting.
Zero vanished in void-flickers. Knives spun, precise arcs slicing armor. One Hunter lunged with gauntlets, black veins pulsing across his arms. Void-thread snapped from Zero's blades, striking true. Sparks hissed; shards scattered. The Hunter staggered, eyes wide, then collapsed.
Nysera leapt, claws flashing. The whip-Hunter snapped his weapon at her. Sparks flew. Sand exploded like fire. She twisted midair, amber aura flaring, raking claws across chest and armor. He yelped, shards scattering.
Laura raised her pendant. Sand slowed midair. Children stumbled near a pit; frozen seconds saved them. Dust floated like snow.
Liora's shield spun in threads of light, anchoring the survivors. Another arrow struck. Threads snapped, then recoiled. She twisted, radiance coiling like a net, catching debris, keeping chaos at bay.
Viktor lunged. Spear hummed with shard-light. I met him midair. Blades clashed. Echoes multiplied. Sparks erupted.
"Your blood carries Eldric's echo!" Viktor snarled. "It belongs to us!"
Rage coiled in my chest. "…You knew him?"
Laura held a cascade of sand in suspended motion, buying precious seconds.
Zero carved a void-barrier, trapping the whip-Hunter against the canyon wall. Nysera dragged me back, growling:
"Not now, Echo-boy!"
We regrouped. Liora's threads wrapped around the gauntlet-Hunter's legs, bending shard-metal. Sparks hissed; the Hunter thrashed, claws scraping, until Nysera struck, collapsing him.
I lunged. Viktor swung the spear wide. Echoes shattered, flickering into shards of light. I twisted free, blades flashing.
The whip-Hunter lashed at Nysera. She ducked, aura flaring, claws snapping. Sparks and shards rained.
Laura's eyes glimmered gold. Pendant pulsed. Falling stones froze midair.
"…Step carefully," she whispered.
Viktor twisted, shard-thread bending sand beneath him. My scarf flared. I darted in, twin swords splitting, sparks showering across dunes.
Older Law remembers:
That moment, I saw them—not just Hunters. Shadows of what we could become. And we were all that stood between them and the innocents.
Zero spun, knives striking arcs of void-thread. One Hunter staggered, then vanished in shards.
Nysera tore through the gauntlet-Hunter midair, wolf-form twisting. Shadow tendrils flared. Claws ripped; shards scattered like molten rain.
I faced Viktor again. Spear met blades. Echoes spun, sparks flaring. Heartbeat after heartbeat, strike after strike.
"Tell me," I hissed, scarf twisting. "You knew Eldric. Why?"
Viktor's mask cracked. Black veins pulsed across his shard-thread armor.
"He favored you," he spat. "Not me. Not me!"
I lunged. Echoes swarmed. Sparks flew. Blades clashed; shards scattered. Viktor twisted, shard-thread shifting with every strike.
Laura bent the sand. Time slowed. Children stumbled past her, unharmed. Dust hung like snow.
Nysera spun midair, claws raking armor, golden aura blazing. Every strike precise, chaotic. Wolves and shadows moving as one.
Liora anchored, threads snapping, holding shards and Hunters alike. Radiance cut across the canyon floor, protective, relentless.
Zero struck silently. Knives bit at weak points. Void-thread pulsed. One Hunter staggered, then fell.
Viktor roared. Spear struck, shard-light slicing echoes. I spun, scarf flaring, countering. Sparks, shards, and sand exploded around us.
Time stretched. Laura whispered, "…Move now."
We converged—a storm of blades, claws, threads, and shard-energy. The two Hunters collapsed, bound or destroyed. Viktor staggered, spear dimming. His glare burned.
"This isn't over…" he hissed, retreating into ridge shadows.
The survivors gasped, trembling, but safe. Silence fell, only the desert wind stirring the dunes.
Older Law remembers:
That day, I learned the truth of the Hunt. You don't escape it. You endure it. Step by step… until the Path shows another way.
We stood together. Exhausted. Alive. Shadows stretched long behind us. Viktor was gone, but his threat lingered, unbroken.
The desert canyon ahead was jagged, endless. Every turn could hide a trap; every ridge a sentinel. We led the survivors, silhouettes sharp in the morning sun.
Nysera stayed at the front, amber-gold eyes scanning. Zero moved like shadowed wind at the rear, void-flickers pulsing faintly.
Liora's threads stretched across the canyon floor, holding sand and debris in delicate control. Laura's pendant glimmered faintly, ribbons of time-flow curling around the children as they stumbled, hearts racing.
I wrapped my scarf tighter. Echoes flickered like living shadows. The Hunt never stopped. Neither did we.
We moved forward. Together.