Lana ran.
Branches tore at her sleeves. Roots snagged her boots. She didn't slow, even when her lungs burned and her vision blurred at the edges. The forest roared behind her — not wind, not thunder, but something alive and furious, shaking the ground with every step.
She didn't look back. Did not even want to.
She already knew what she'd see. Knew it was not going to be pretty.
The sound followed her anyway. Heavy. Rhythmic. Each step like the forest itself flinched aside.
Her father's face flashed in her mind, uninvited. The way he'd smiled when she was small. The way the trees had swallowed him whole. The way she had run then too, sobbing, swearing she'd come back stronger.
She hadn't.
"I'm useless," she whispered as she stumbled into a clearing, nearly collapsing beside a shallow pond. The water trembled with distant impacts, concentric ripples distorting her reflection.
She dropped to her knees.
"What is all this knowledge worth if I can't use it to protect the people I care about?" Lana asked staring at a clueless reflection of herself. She proceeded to punch it, the water rip[led but she wanted a wave.
"Every notebook," she murmured, fingers digging into the dirt. "Every system. Every person."
Her voice broke.
"Why do I always lose them?" A single tear same uninvited that seemed to be a theme with emotions.
The forest answered with another roar.
The cave shook.
Dust rained from the ceiling as the mother bear forced its bulk inside, stone groaning around it. Viola barely cleared the initial charge, boots skidding as she rolled beneath a massive paw that cratered the rock where she'd stood a breath earlier.
Too big.
Too heavy.
But slow.
She moved. Always moving. Slashing where she could, striking joints, tendons, softer seams beneath fur thick as layered armor. Her blade bit — shallow, infuriatingly shallow.
Like a fly. A very shiny one burning bright blue with conviction.
The bear roared again, swinging blindly, collapsing stone with every miss. The cave strained under the punishment. Viola felt it — the structure wanting to fail, to bury them both.
"Focus," she muttered.
Eyes.
Everything has eyes.
She darted forward, feinting left, then cutting hard right, aiming high. The bear reacted faster than she expected, massive head snapping down, jaws clamping shut inches from her shoulder.
Not stupid.
Wait does it know I'm going for it's eyes. She asked herself.
That realization chilled her more than fear.
Why am I doing this? Is it because I'm a bodyguard, no that isn't the case
The thought surfaced unbidden.
She could run. Should run. That was the plan. Draw it away. Buy time. Die if needed.
She'd done it before. Left officers to die. Chosen platoons over commands. Survival over orders.
Then why— as thought scrambled in her head the bear found an opening to attack a punch to the chest, she knew she was a goner, she tried to dodge but the fist was too big, now she was dangerously floating waiting to be pummeled to the ground.
A flash of heat.
The bear screamed.
Fire slammed into its face, searing across its eyes. It reared back, paw lifting instinctively to shield its vision.
Viola hit the ground hard, breath knocked from her lungs. The bear was rampaging almost crushing her under it's hind paws.
She was saved taken behind a rock structure, a thicker than intended stalagmite-type structure.
For a moment he looked a bit charming, Viola had seen some but never this intense.
"Don't tell me you expect a thank you for that?" She sat up looking at the rampaging bear part because she didn't want to go back, part because she didn't want Auther getting the wrong idea or he would develop a hero complex.
"I wasn't expecting one what do i look like twelve?" He wasn't he was a ripe bold 42 at heart.
"I've seen grown men try to charm me with their needless heroics, they either die or expected me to instantly open up my legs, when I didn't they threw a tantrum." She continued.
"Why did you tell me that?"
"Cause there is going to be a day when you can solve any problem of strength of mine or any person and I don't want you to morally glue people to you o a virtue of saving their lives." She continued the bear had recovered it started searching for their scent.
"Can you run away this thing ain't letting up, I've never seen a monster like this in my entire life.'" Viola said softly her eyes semi-defeated she knew she was going to lose.
"There is something magical in a princess dying with her prince charming, of course I can't abandon my prince just because it's easier to do so." Auther said.
Viola wanted to kiss him, there was something charming in him calling her his prince, she just did not know what.
For a heartbeat — just one —
Hope slipped in.
Not strategy. Not calculation.
Hope. Maybe she could win if Auther made sure she didn't take critical hits.
The bear recovered with a fury that shook the cave. It charged again.
Viola pushed herself up, body screaming, sword barely lifting in time.
She was dodging and pairing wildly at superhuman speeds but still seemed too slow before this bear's body.
She is eventually going to run out of mana. At best maybe two hours. If only magic development correlated to body development, Viola at best has the stamina of a marathon runner, is this why species have different strength the ability of their physical body. If I had lungs like that cub I could make a flame so hot it would melt iron multiple times over. Still that won't help much I call only cast five fire balls and three fire blasts.
Then the idea struck him if he could allow more mana to flow into his veins without him bursting them outright, would he be of help.
I also need a piercing spell that hide is way too thick, something that can cut stone can't even chip it maybe the power of a tactical missile will do the job. But where did such a monster come from, from the fight with Viola it was either ancient and Legendary Unique or even Heroic Mythical, I've never read of beast getting that powerful.
Now Auther felt helpless number one he couldn't move mana that vast from the basically endless universe of it, two he did not know how to cast a magic bullet.
Maybe Lana can help me with that. He thought
He carefully ran away should have told Viola but did not this would cost her dearly.