The old tavern dim hallway flickered with the pale hum of dying lights. Approaching nightfall seeped through the windows, stretching cold fingers across the floor tiles. The entire building felt tense, as if it knew what was happening beyond its walls the woods, the monster, the soldiers, the betrayal.
Ana pushed open the door to the room Bruno had been placed in. She didn't bother to hide the fire behind her eyes. She didn't bother to breathe first. She didn't bother to think.
She walked straight up to him and slapped him.
The sound cracked through the air like a snapped branch in a silent forest.
Bruno didn't flinch. He didn't lift a hand to his cheek. He only blinked once, slowly, and exhaled as though he had been expecting it as though he had welcomed it.
"Ana," he said softly, voice calm, collected, disturbingly steady, "I am sorry for going to Suárez. Truly. I know what this looks like. But I had no choice. This is the only way to end all of this. The only way to kill Theo and finally stop the creature. Once he is dead, all of this ends. You, your son, our whole family… we stay safe. Suárez has always respected the Marino blood. He would protect you."
Ana stared at him as though seeing him for the first time.
Her voice shook not with fear, but with fury. "So you think Suárez's fondness for my family excuses what you did?"
Bruno swallowed.
"And Maria?" she pressed, stepping closer. "She would've gone to prison for this. And Manuel….
Manuel wouldn't have let her take the fall. He would have taken the blame himself. But you…."
Her voice broke.
"You could have trusted us, Bruno. You could have trusted your friends."
Bruno's calm finally cracked. His jaw tightened. His fingers curled into fists.
"Manuel is the one who can't see straight," Bruno said, his tone firm but lined with frustration. "He always wants to be the hero. Always the martyr. Always carrying the world alone….
...But this time" He shook his head. "This time Manuel didn't make the right choice."
The room fell silent, save for the distant hum of hospital equipment.
From the doorway, a low voice spoke.
"And how do you know Suárez has the firepower to kill it?"
Bruno turned.
Jorge had been rolled in quietly by Ana minutes earlier, but he had stayed still, watching, listening. Now he leaned forward in his makeshift wheelchair, his recovering body frail but his gaze sharp.
"You say this plan," Jorge continued, "is the only way to end things.
But if Suárez is wrong, if he cannot kill it then all of A Coruña falls.
All of Spain falls. Maybe the whole world falls." His voice was controlled, but beneath it lay the weight of military memory, the kind that came with unspoken horrors.
Bruno's throat tightened. "Suárez has artillery. He has…."
"Artillery against something you've never seen?" Jorge cut in.
"Against something that walks through walls of steel like they're puddles?"
His voice dropped even lower.
"You left before we finished planning. How did you even manage to know what we were up to ?"
Bruno opened his mouth, then closed it. His eyes flickered to Ana, almost pleading.
Ana, however, wasn't looking at him anymore.
She was looking past him.
"At least Isa is still safe," she said quietly, voice trembling but hopeful. "Right? She's with Ivan and the hunters. She's not out there. She's not involved in…."
The doors burst open.
A hunter; one of Ivan's stumbled inside, pale, breathless, sweat shining on his forehead.
"Ana…
Bruno….
Jorge…" he gasped. "Isa is gone."
Ana's hand flew to her mouth.
The hunter continued, voice cracked with panic. "We believe she rode toward the woods."
Jorge froze. Bruno staggered back a step.
In the same second, all three whispered the same word:
"…no."
Bruno's composure shattered completely.
"This can't be happening," he muttered. "Not Isa. Not her." His voice grew frantic, desperate. "We have to go after her….
…NOW."
Ana grabbed his arm as he moved toward the door. "Bruno, we can't reach her in time. Those woods…."
"I don't care!" Bruno shouted, voice raw. "We have to try! We can't leave her out there alone, not with Suárez hunting and the creature"
He didn't finish the sentence. He couldn't.
Jorge reached out and clasped his mother's wrist gently. His eyes, still dim with exhaustion yet sharp with determination, lifted to hers.
"Mamá," he whispered, "go with him."
Ana froze. "Jorge, no, I have to stay with you, I can't… "
"Yes, you can," he said. "And you must. Isa is like family to all of us. If anyone can help bring her back, it's you and Bruno. I can't ride, I can't run, I can barely breathe on my own. But you…" His voice trembled. "You can still save her."
Ana's throat tightened. She cupped Jorge's face tenderly, tears filling her eyes.
"I don't want to leave you," she whispered.
Jorge smiled the soft, brave smile he used to give her as a child.
"You're not leaving me. You're protecting us. All of us."
Ana hesitated.
Bruno waited by the door, shaking, guilt and fear wrapped tightly around him.
The hunter stood back, breath still ragged, eyes desperate.
Finally, Ana wiped her tears with the back of her hand. She straightened her shoulders and nodded.
"Let's go," she told Bruno.
For a moment, Bruno simply stared at her.
Not with gratitude.Not with relief.
But with the painful awareness that Ana, grieving, furious was still more courageous than him.
"Thank you," he whispered.
Ana didn't answer.
She walked past him, jaw set, heart pounding, every beat screaming her son's name, Isa's name, the town's name.
Behind her, Jorge watched them go watched his mother and his oldest friend rush toward the growing darkness of the woods.
The guilt of being unable to follow settled like lead in his chest.
And outside the hospital walls, night thickened quiet, cold, listening.
Something moved in the distance.
A tremor.
A breath.
A presence.
Jorge shivered.
The monster was awake.
And Isa had rode straight into it.
Meanwhile the forest road felt tighter than usual as if the trees themselves leaned inward to listen to the riders cutting through the dusk. Maria rode beside Isa, glancing every few seconds toward Manuel, who led them with silent urgency. Theo, tied securely, was slumped over the horse Maria guided with one hand. He looked fragile in this moment, nothing like the force that had torn through so many lives.
Maria had told herself a thousand times today that they were doing the right thing. That following Manuel always was right, Manuel, would lead them to safety. But doubt was a stubborn ghost; it sat cold in her chest, whispering louder with each passing minute.
Then Isa screamed.
"Manuel!"
Maria jerked up. The road ahead was empty.
He was gone.
Her heart plummeted. "What? Where….?"
Isa's horse skidded, nearly unseating her. "He was right there….
I swear he was!"
Maria whipped her head left, then right. The forest answered only with silence. No broken branches. No hoofprints turning away. No cry for help. Just absence.
The crossroads loomed ahead a literal one and the one inside Maria's mind.
Go back for Manuel?
Or push forward and deliver Theo to the checkpoint as planned?
Her breath came fast, cold, sharp.
"Maria," Isa whispered, voice trembling. "What do we do?"
She didn't know.
For the first time in years, Maria did not know.
She was unsure of everything that she stood for, and just for a moment she was a young lady again; She remembered a time where she felt as weak as she did now.
The port smelled of salt, tar, and burning dreams. Maria stood at the docks, waiting for a face she prayed she would not see. A regiment from the north had returned tattered, limping, more ghosts than soldiers.
She scanned each man, desperate for one familiar shape. Two. She would have accepted even one. But the crowd thinned until only one man remained young, tall, shoulders squared despite the weight he carried.
Manuel.
He approached her slowly, as if hoping she might vanish before he reached her.
"María Velasquez?" he asked softly.
She nodded once.
He swallowed, gaze shifting downward. "I'm sorry."
The world didn't end with a scream. It collapsed silently like a wave breaking without sound.
"No," she whispered. "No, no. Tell me they're injured. Tell me they're taken somewhere else. Tell me…"
"They're gone."
His voice broke at the edges despite his attempt to keep it steady.
"My brothers… both?"
He nodded.
She laughed a short, strange laugh, an empty sound pulled out of her by disbelief. "All of them? The entire squad?"
"Sí."
She stepped away because if she didn't, she might fall apart at his feet. But he followed; quiet, respectful, present.
"They fought bravely," he offered.
"Bravely?" Her voice cracked. "Bravery doesn't bring anyone home."
He didn't answer.
And that was what broke her because he knew it was true.
Maria blinked the memory away. The ache in her chest was raw again, as if time had folded neatly and placed her grief back into her hands.
Isa was staring at her, terrified and lost.
"We continue," Maria said hoarsely.
"But Manuel….!"
"He must be scouting ahead. Or checking the path." She forced steadiness into her tone. "The plan is all we have, Isa. If Theo isn't delivered, if the creature awakens fully Manuel's sacrifice, everything… it means nothing."
Isa's lips trembled, but she nodded.
They rode on.
But Maria didn't believe her own words.
Manuel didn't vanish without reason. And every instinct drilled into her through years of war told her something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.
The darkness fell faster than expected, swallowing the forest in an inky shroud. Maria clicked her lantern open but the light flickered weakly.
"Something's wrong," she whispered.
Then the wind died.
Then the horses froze.
Then everything exploded.
A force slammed into them from the left. Maria hit the ground hard, air punched from her lungs. Her vision blurred, spinning. Her mind drifted once more;
The cannon smoke was so thick it tasted like metal on her tongue. Maria crouched behind a broken cart, musket clutched tight, hearing nothing but screams. She didn't care if she died she wanted to. She had enlisted for one purpose: to follow her brothers into death since she could not follow them into life.
"Soldier! What are you doing?!"
Hands grabbed her shoulders, dragging her backward as a mortar exploded where she had been standing. Her ears rang. She thrashed.
"Let go! I said LET GO!"
She didn't realize she was crying until the tears hit her lips.
She swung at him but Manuel caught her wrists, pinning them gently to stop her from hurting herself.
"This isn't a suicide run!" he shouted over the chaos. "Do you understand me? Do you want to die for nothing?"
"Nothing? NOTHING? They're all gone! I'm alone—don't you see? I have NOTHING left!"
And then she collapsed. Her forehead pressed to his chest, the war forgotten, her breath broken and shallow. She felt him hesitate before he wrapped his arms around her not tight, but steady, anchoring her to a world she no longer wanted.
"You're not alone," he whispered, voice trembling with sincerity he didn't understand. "You have me now. I will see you through this war. I will make sure you survive. You will be happy again."
"Why?" she sobbed. "Why do you care?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe… maybe I'm just a man who thinks he has to carry the world on his shoulders."
She clung to him because he sounded like a man who meant it.
Her eyes opened as she heard Isa screamed. Somewhere a horse cried out. The earth felt like it was shaking beneath her.
No, she was shaking.
"Isa!" Maria crawled forward, disoriented. "ISA!"
She saw shapes shadows too fast to track. She fired her pistol blindly just to keep something away. She reached Isa's horse and found it empty.
"ISA!"
A groan to her right.
Maria stumbled toward it and found Theo kneeling. But wrong. Wrong in ways her mind rejected. His eyes were chalk-white, glowing faintly like fire beneath ash.
"Theo?" she whispered.
No reaction.
"Theo, look at me. PLEASE look at me."
He didn't blink. He didn't breathe. He was listening to something else something unseen.
"Manuel," she whispered. "Where are you?"
A rustle behind her. She spun.
And froze.
The creature; the real one, towered over Isa's unconscious body.
It wasn't Theo. It was the real deal and it was otherworldly. Its limbs bent in angles that defied nature. Its skin rippled with shadows, as if the darkness clung to it possessively. Its mouth….
Maria didn't let her mind finish the thought.
It lifted a clawed arm, preparing to strike Isa.
"No…"
Her body moved before her fear could argue.
"ISA!" she screamed, raising her rifle. "GET AWAY FROM HER!"
She fired.
The shot echoed through the forest like thunder.
The creature recoiled, shrieking not in pain, but in annoyance. It turned its full attention toward her.
Maria stared back, breath unsteady, knees trembling. But her hands didn't shake not now. Not when Isa's life hung by a thread. Not when Manuel had entrusted them with everything.
She took a step forward, placing herself between Isa and death.
"You're not touching her," she whispered fiercely. "Not her. Not tonight."
The creature lunged.
Maria fired again.
And again.
And again until her gun clicked empty and her vision blurred and she felt herself slipping.
But she didn't fall.
Not yet.
Not until Isa was safe.
Not until Manuel's promise that she would survive and be happy meant something.
"Come on," she whispered through clenched teeth, raising her empty gun like a blade. "Come at me."
The creature roared.
Maria met it head-on.
Francisco had never ridden so hard in his life. The forest flashed past him in streaks of green and shadow as he tore down the narrow path, heart pounding against his ribs. Certain something was wrong, something was terribly wrong.
Then he saw it.
A figure lying on the side of the road.
"Manuel!" Francisco leapt off his horse before it fully stopped, dropping to his knees beside the commander.
Manuel's shirt was ripped open, torn really and he laid unconscious
"Manuel…. Manuel, wake up!" Francisco shook him hard.
Manuel jerked upright with a violent gasp, eyes wide and disoriented. "W-Where…." He grabbed Francisco by the collar. "Where is Isa? Maria? Theo? Tell me!"
"You weren't with them?" Francisco asked, breathless.
"I remember riding something moved,
I… I don't know." Manuel's voice cracked. He genuinely knew nothing. The memory was gone, wiped clean. "Where are they, Francisco?!"
Before Francisco could answer, heavy hoofbeats thundered behind them.
General Suarez and a dozen armed riders emerged from the darkness like a storm breaking through the trees.
Suarez reined in sharply. "Stand aside."
"General…." Francisco began.
But Suarez raised a hand. "I didn't come to fight you. I came because only I can save them."
Manuel stood unevenly, eyes fierce. "Where are they? Tell me you found something."
"We tracked the screams," Suarez replied. "And the blood."
He didn't need to say more.
Manuel mounted Francisco's horse without hesitation. Francisco climbed up behind him.
"Ride," Suarez ordered his men. "RIDE!"
The company surged forward, the forest swallowing them once again.
They reached the clearing within minutes a wide, open space surrounded by broken branches, trampled earth, and the eerie stillness of the aftermath.
The horses were the first sign.
All three lay dead.
Their bodies twisted on the ground, throats torn open or crushed. The sight turned Francisco's stomach.
Then he saw her.
"Isa!" he shouted, sprinting toward the small figure on the ground.
Isa lay still as snow, but when Francisco knelt and pressed trembling fingers to her neck….
"She's alive!" he gasped. "Unconscious…. breathing, but alive!"
Manuel barely heard him.
His eyes had locked onto something else.
Someone else.
"Maria…" he whispered.
She lay a few metres away, sprawled across the dirt, her uniform soaked with so much blood that the dark cloth glistened. Her gun lay forgotten near her hand. Her hair was tangled with leaves. Her eyes were half-open, still searching the sky.
Manuel dropped to his knees beside her.
"Maria." His voice shook. "Maria, look at me please look at me."
Her eyelids fluttered.
"Manu…el?"
Her voice was thin, distant like someone speaking through water.
Suarez barked orders behind them.
"Scout the perimeter! If anything moves, kill it. And chain the boy now!"
But Manuel didn't turn. He didn't care.
All he saw was Maria.
He lifted her gently, supporting her head. Warm blood coated his palms.
"What happened?" His voice cracked, desperate. "Maria, what happened here? Where is the creature?"
She blinked slowly, trying to focus on him. "Gone… I… think it's gone."
Her breath rattled. Francisco looked over from Isa, tears already forming.
"Maria," Manuel whispered, "stay with me. Stay awake. Isa's alive, do you hear me? You saved her."
Maria breathed out a shaky sigh of relief. Her lips quivered into the faintest smile.
"Is… she… really…"
"Yes." Manuel swallowed hard. "Yes, María. She's right there. Francisco's with her."
"Good…" A tear escaped the corner of her eye. "I didn't… fail then."
"You didn't," Manuel said fiercely. "You didn't fail anyone, she's alive because of you."
Maria exhaled a soft, trembling breath that carried both relief and surrender.
"Good," she whispered. "Then… I can rest."
"No no, María, listen to me." Manuel cupped her face. "Don't say that. Don't you dare say that."
She smiled. A fragile, gentle smile that carried decades of buried pain and unspoken hope.
"I'm… going to see my family now."
Manuel froze.
"No." His voice cracked apart. "No, you're not. You're staying with me you're going to get up, María. We'll fix this, we'll find a way."
But she shook her head weakly.
"I'm happy, Manuel," she whispered.
The words hit him like a knife.
"What?"
Maria's breath hitched. "I'm happy… because I saved Isa… and because…"
Her voice trembled.
"…because I had you as a friend, you saved me all those years ago."
Manuel's jaw clenched. His eyes blurred. "Please. We can save you, we can…."
She lifted a trembling hand to his cheek. "You can't."
He grabbed her hand, pressing it to his face as if holding it in place could keep her here longer. "Yes, we can. Suarez has men, supplies, we can carry you there's still time…"
"Manuel…"
Her voice weakened again.
"I'm happy."
He bowed his head, shoulders shaking. "Please, María… please don't go."
Behind him, the world was still chaotic men shouting, chains clanking as they restrained Theo, orders screamed into the dark.
But around Manuel and Maria, everything felt silent.
Too silent.
Maria's eyes began to close.
"No, no, Maria, look at me," Manuel begged. "OPEN your eyes."
She tried.
She really tried.
But her body was done fighting.
"Tell… Isa…" She breathed unevenly. "Tell her… she is brave."
"Tell her yourself," Manuel whispered desperately.
Maria smiled again soft, fading.
"No… you… tell her…"
Her last breath trembled out of her like a candle dying.
Her hand fell.
Her eyes dimmed.
And María Marino, soldier of A Coruña, loyal to her last heartbeat, was gone.
Manuel bowed over her, his forehead pressed to her shoulder as silent, shaking sobs broke through him. The man who carried the world on his shoulders felt it come crashing down for the first time.
Francisco looked away, tears blurring his vision as he held Isa tightly.
Suarez approached slowly, expression unreadable as he looked down at the fallen woman.
"The creature is gone," he muttered. "But not dead."
Manuel didn't respond.
He couldn't.
All he saw was Maria's still face.
All he heard was her last whisper. I'm happy.
All he felt was the weight of another life lost under his watch.
Another life he couldn't save.
And in that moment, surrounded by blood and silence, Manuel realized the truth:
He might carry the world…
but he