A shadow-beast's roar shattered the canopy above, sending leaves spiraling down like razor-sharp knives. Our group moved as one organism, splitting and reforming around obstacles without need for signals, a fluid, ever-changing dance. The binding spells pulsed in synchronized agony as another weapon discharged nearby, the sound like reality itself being torn apart.

  "They're herding us!" Dax's warning, his voice tight with strain, cut through the chaos, his shoulders already tensing into our practiced scatter formation. He was right—the pursuit patterns were too precise, too coordinated. They weren't just chasing us. They were driving us, corralling us like sheep to the slaughter.

  The ground dropped away suddenly, revealing a ravine that plunged into mist-shrouded darkness. The binding spells constricted violently, reacting to something massive gathering power behind us. The air felt thick, charged with a malevolent potential that made my teeth ache, my vision blur, and my stomach clench with dread. It was the same energy that radiated off Malek, amplified, concentrated.

  Time crystallized into perfect clarity. One heartbeat to make an impossible choice.

  "Lira." Her name carried years of shared survival, of unspoken trust, of shared pain. Our eyes met in the darkness, and in that fraction of a second, entire conversations passed between us, a silent exchange. She could read the decision in my stance, the grim acceptance, before I even spoke. "Take them to Haven's Cross. You know the way." I pressed the stone into her hand, its sharp point digging into her palm. "Hang it from a string. The point will guide you."

  "No." The word was a blade of fear and fierce loyalty, a desperate plea. Her binding spell flared as she instinctively tried to gather power, to force a different outcome, to change the inevitable. Her pebble pulsed, a tiny heartbeat in the darkness. "We stay together. That's how we survive."

  The pursuing forces were closing like a noose, a tightening circle. Finn's hands flashed urgent warnings: thirty seconds. He tugged at his own binding spell, his silent agreement with Lira, his frustration palpable. The youngest ones pressed close, their small bodies trembling with exhaustion and terror, their eyes wide and unblinking. Dax's fingers found the hidden markers we'd spent months memorizing—the path to Haven's Cross written in subtle scratches and natural signs, a map etched in his mind. He was already calculating, muttering under his breath, his mind racing, searching for an alternative, a different path.

  "They want me." The truth burned like acid on my tongue, a bitter taste. "Just me. You know it's true." They want to stop the prophecy. To prevent me from becoming a threat. I nodded towards the stone in her hand. "It'll guide you. Trust it. Trust me."

  Lira's face crumpled, years of protective fury warring with necessity, with the harsh reality of our situation. The binding spell at her throat pulsed erratically, reflecting her inner turmoil, the battle raging within her. Then her spine straightened, leadership settling onto her shoulders like a familiar cloak, a mantle she was born to wear.

  "Three days," she breathed, clutching the stone, its sharp point pressing into her palm. "We'll find help. We'll come back for you." Her voice was thick with unshed tears, but her gaze was firm, unwavering.

  "No," Eli's voice was rough, his own heart aching at the sight of her tears. "I won't let you risk your lives for me. Your job is to survive. I'll find you when I can, even if it takes years."

  No time for proper goodbyes. The pursuit was almost on us, the air growing thick with charging weapons, the stench of ozone heavy in the air. One last squeeze of hands, one last exchange of desperate, determined looks. A silent promise.

  "Remember what you have learned," I said, my voice hoarse, "and keep each other safe! This is not goodbye, but see you later! Go!”

  And they ran deeper into the forest. Dax was already counting out the steps to the hidden path, his voice a low, steady murmur, Finn making his "shh" gesture to the others, his hands a blur of motion. I wanted them to reach safety, and if that meant using myself as a distraction, I would do so. It was the only way.

  The sounds of pursuit grew closer, a relentless tide. I turned and began to run, not toward Haven's Cross, but deeper into the forest, away from my companions, away from safety, drawing the danger towards me like a moth to a flame. I will return, I whispered to myself.

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  I ran, the binding spell burning, a searing brand around my neck, but it no longer held me back completely. The corrupted threads pulsed with an erratic energy that mirrored the wildness surging within me, a power I couldn't control, but one that responded to my desperation. As I ran, I focused my will, and sparks, like embers from a dying fire, flickered from my fingertips, dancing in the air behind me. It wasn't the precise magic of the old ways, not like Lira's weaving, but it was something. A desperate, instinctive act, a raw, untamed power. The forest blurred around me, and the sounds of pursuit grew louder, closer, a symphony of death. My lungs burned, but I refused to stop. The primal energy within me surged, responding to my desperation, my need to protect my friends, a roaring fire in the darkness.

  The ravine's edge crumbled beneath my feet, sending pebbles cascading into darkness, a dizzying drop. Wind howled up from the depths, carrying the thunder of unseen water and something else—a deep resonance that made the binding spell sear like a noose of ice around my throat, a physical manifestation of the power emanating from the depths below. Behind me, Goruk's forces crashed through the underbrush, their weapons charging the air with a crackling potential that set my teeth on edge and made my stomach clench with dread. They were closing in, their presence a suffocating weight. They want this power, I realized, a sliver of understanding piercing the fear, but to what end? To fuel their war machine? To conquer Aeridor?

  No time left. No choices.

  The binding spell tightened, its runes burning bright enough to cast flickering shadows, dancing grotesquely on the rocks. Each pulse sent lightning through my veins, but something else was building too—a wild, primal energy that rose to meet the spell's restrictions, a power that thrummed in my very bones. My skin buzzed, every nerve ending alive, tingling with a desperate potential.

  Goruk's voice, rough but strangely lacking its usual malice, boomed through the trees: "Don't let him—" A memory, fleeting and fragmented: his daughter, her hand reaching for his, her laughter echoing in the wind. A promise broken. A life stolen.

  I ran.

  Not away from the edge. Toward it.

  The ground blurred beneath my feet, each impact sending shockwaves through my bones. The binding spell flared, trying to stop me, to hold whatever was surging through my blood, to imprison the power that was struggling to break free. But momentum and desperation won out. This is the only way to keep them safe. They need a chance. My last step hit empty air.

  Time fractured.

  The ravine's far wall wheeled away, mist-shrouded trees spinning like the spokes of some vast, unseen wheel. Wind tore at my clothes, screaming past my ears, a deafening roar. The binding spell pulsed, a frantic heartbeat against my skin, its power faltering as that other energy, my energy, fought back, a caged animal finally breaking free.

  A surge of heat flooded my veins, erupting from my palms. Not the Krev's twisted magic, but something raw and untamed, something mine. Sparks lit up the darkness like brushstrokes on a night canvas. A flood of pent-up energy surged through me, unleashing a power I didn't know I had.

  The river rushed up, black water gleaming like oil in the moonlight, a swirling abyss. I barely had time to take one final breath, a silent prayer to whoever might be listening, before the impact—a full-body shock of ice and pressure, driving the air from my lungs, a brutal, unforgiving force. The current seized me instantly, dragging me under, tumbling me through lightless depths. My lungs burned, screaming for air. The binding spell pulsed erratically, its glow casting fractured light on twisted roots, tumbling stones, the flash of something scaled, something monstrous.

  Water filled my nose, my mouth. Cold, absolute, the world narrowing to the burning in my chest, the roar in my ears. The last of my air escaped in a trail of bubbles. Lira, Finn, Dax... be safe. Find Haven's Cross.

  The binding spell throbbed, a dying star against the inferno roaring to life within me. Its runes, once searing, now felt like cold ash against my skin, their power waning, their control slipping. Deep in my bones, something burned. The runes on my neck pulsed one last time, resonating with the wild magic surging through me—a roar of defiance, a spark of something ancient, something untamed.

  Then the river swallowed me whole, its roar muffling Goruk's final shout, and the darkness closed in, a cold embrace that felt strangely… like freedom.