Chapter 5 – Blood in the Dead Forest and the First Sun
The second day began still inside the Shadowed Forest.
Camp stirred before true dawn. The sky remained lead-gray, no hint of real light, just a filthy glow that barely filtered through black branches.
Nyxarion was on his feet before anyone else, pretending to help yoke the oxen while counting weapons, guards, and slaves for the tenth time.
Lucas grumbled inside the skull:
I slept like absolute shit. You don't even need sleep, do you?
No.
Then stop fake-snoring, you bastard.
Nyxarion ignored him, but the corner of his mouth twitched upward half a millimeter.
The caravan rolled again along a trail that was barely there, wheels screaming in the suffocating silence.
Then the attack came.
Seven shadow-hounds erupted from the darkness as though the ground itself had vomited them up.
Two guards dropped in seconds: throats torn open, bodies dragged away.
The chained slaves shook in terror; two of the beasts stared straight at them, knowing the captives could do nothing.
A third hound leapt straight for the driver's bench where Nyxarion sat.
Lucas screamed inside:
DO SOMETHING!
Nyxarion simply raised his eyes.
He didn't move a muscle.
He just looked.
And the shadow-hounds froze.
Ears flattened. Tails tucked.
Two of them seized the corpses by their uniforms and began backing away, dragging the dead like tribute.
The alpha lowered its head in a gesture only Nyxarion could read, all the way to the ground, baring its neck.
Nyxarion said nothing aloud.
He only held the stare.
One heartbeat later, all seven shadow-hounds melted back into the black trees, taking the bodies with them.
No bark. No tracks.
Absolute silence.
Gorran stood pale, whip still raised.
"By the Seven… what in the hells just happened?"
Nyxarion, after driving the beasts off, put on a perfect mask of fear and confusion.
The remaining guards exchanged nervous glances.
Fear did the explaining better than any lie ever could.
The caravan limped on for the rest of the day, every falling leaf treated like a threat.
By late afternoon, the dead trees began to thin.
And then it happened.
The forest ended abruptly.
The sky cracked open: pure, cloudless blue.
The sun, free for the first time in weeks, struck Lucas's face full force.
Nyxarion stopped dead in the middle of the road.
The body went rigid.
Breath caught.
Brown eyes widened.
Lucas felt the impact as if it were his own.
Holy shit… it's beautiful.
Nyxarion didn't answer aloud.
He simply let the sunlight burn skin, eyes, and an ancient soul that had forgotten warmth.
Three thousand years without it.
Three thousand years extinguishing light.
And now it touched him again.
Gorran clapped him on the shoulder with a shaky laugh.
"Hey, wake up! First real sun in weeks! Lucky you, boy."
Nyxarion blinked slowly.
"Lucky," he echoed, voice flat.
Then, inside, only to Lucas:
Remember this feeling, passenger.
Because one day I may still decide to blot it all out.
Lucas answered, quiet:
Or maybe you won't.
Nyxarion didn't argue.
He simply resumed walking, face unreadable once more.
Karathar was one day away.
And the game went on.
End of Chapter 5