The moon hung low over the forest, cloaking the trees in shades of silver and sorrow. Every breath Riley took felt like ice in her lungs, every heartbeat pounding against her ribs-begging her to stop, to look back.
But she couldn't. Not now.
Not when he was bleeding out in her arms.
Riel.
His weight sagged heavily against her, the dark fabric of his coat soaked with crimson. She had pressed her hands to the wound-again and again-but the blood wouldn't stop.
It never stopped.
Twigs snapped in the distance.
Riley gritted her teeth and pushed forward, stumbling over gnarled roots and half-frozen puddles. The cold stung her cheeks. Her cloak was torn. Mud caked her boots. Her trousers and leather tunic were ripped in places, slick with dirt and blood. Still, she ran.
They had been running for what felt like hours. Behind them, the sound of their pursuers-snarling dogs, pounding hooves, shouting voices-grew louder. Shadows wielding torches and steel closed in.
Her lungs burned. Her breath came in ragged gasps.
But she didn't stop.
Not now. Not ever.
She couldn't even feel her legs anymore. They were numb. Cold. Weak. Her whole body screamed in silence, exhausted from supporting a man much larger than herself. She was trembling. Bloodied. Cut. But none of that mattered.
Because she might lose him.
"No... not like this," she whispered, voice cracking.
They tumbled into a shallow ravine, Riley half-carrying, half-dragging Riel behind a fallen log. He groaned softly, eyelids fluttering.
"Riley..."
"Shhh." She cupped his cheek gently. "Save your strength."
His hand found hers-cold, shaking, coated in blood. He tried to speak again, but coughed, dark red staining his lips.
She looked around, frantic. They couldn't keep going. Not like this.
Then, through a break in the trees, she saw it: an old storage shed, hidden behind the ruins of a long-abandoned stable.
It was barely standing-half-sunken into moss and earth, its rotted wooden door barely clinging to its hinges. Forgotten. Crumbling. But it was shelter.
With every ounce of strength she had left, she dragged Riel up the slope. Stones and weeds scraped at her legs, but she didn't stop. She pushed the door open with her shoulder. It groaned in protest, revealing a dark, dust-choked interior.
But it would do.
She eased Riel onto what remained of a cot in the corner-just a few warped planks and rusted nails. Pulling off her cloak, she folded it into a makeshift pillow beneath his head.
He groaned again, his face twisted in pain. His skin was pale. His breathing-shallow.
She pressed her hand to the wound again, but blood slicked her palm. Her fingers trembled.
"Stay with me," she whispered. "You're not leaving me. Not like this."
His eyes opened, dazed and clouded with pain. "Riley... I'm sorry."
She shook her head, fiercely. "Don't you dare say goodbye."
Riley fumbled inside her cloak, her fingers brushing against something smooth and cold-the Red Crystal, a gift from Riel not long ago.
A rare and almost mythical relic, the Red Crystal's true power was unknown. Some said it amplified macht-the innate power the chosen few were born with. Others claimed it could grant a wish.
She turned it over in her fingers. It pulsed faintly-like a heartbeat.
If the legends were true, they needed a miracle now.
Riel was slipping away.
She closed her eyes. "Please," she breathed to no one. Then, holding the crystal above Riel's chest, she poured everything into it-her power, her will, her soul.
The wind outside stilled.
The night grew heavy.
Even the crickets fell silent.
Riley collapsed.
The crystal exploded in light.
Blinding-pure, searing red. Like a star igniting at the heart of the earth. The air thrummed. The walls shuddered.
And in that moment, time itself seemed to hold its breath.
Outside, their pursuers halted, shielding their eyes. One by one, they crept toward the shack, blades drawn.
They kicked the door open-
But the room was empty.
Dust floated through beams of moonlight. No sign of Riley. No trace of Riel. Only the faint echo of a heartbeat that didn't belong to any of them.
---
Far away, in the heart of the Empire,
a boy woke with a start-eleven years old again, drenched in cold sweat.
Riel remembered everything.
And she didn't even know his name.