The forest hummed with the brittle stillness of a held breath. Liora walked ahead, her red hair catching shards of sunlight filtering through the canopy. Nadine's dagger glinted as she scanned the shadows, while Ivy clung to Mira's arm, her laughter strained.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkRUyiBRZm
"Stay close," Liora warned, her voice calm but edged with urgency and seriousness. "The Church favours ambushes near—"94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAJ6SuHZsLj
A crossbow bolt whined through the air.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi4uSgedb0t
Ivy screamed, shoving Kael sideways. The arrow meant for his heart struck her shoulder instead, tearing through fabric and flesh. She crumpled, gasping.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc1mvzbyh5Z
Six robed figures emerged, blades drawn. Nadine moved first—employing all of Sister Kat's teachings. She had trained all of us on defence and basic attack, from the memory I recovered. She had a saying that this world was cruel and full of secrets and things above human so we should learn to be able to protect ourselves from some things. Well, Nadine was the quite talented at this as you can notice as she disarmed a soldier with a brutal twist, his wrist snapping like dry kindling. Mira, was sometimes tying with Nadine but also sometimes able to hold her stand down so she was second. She hurled a smoke pellet, its acrid fog masking her sickle's arc as it bit into a second attacker's thigh.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYy4GyGLUE
Liora vanished. A scream echoed as a Church scout stumbled into her tripwire, his throat meeting her blade. "Focus, Kael!" she barked.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXtMg7fXaA5
A soldier lunged at him. Kael stumbled, parrying clumsily with a fallen branch.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZb77TreYe
[Host!] Elia's voice cut through his panic. [The Codex is yours. You must use it to survive this ordeal!]94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqx8WaQVtSk
[Imprint Awakened: Swordsman (Word)]94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkp5VFzwaUv
Golden light flickered in his mind. He deflected the soldier's strike, but the branch splintered.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyFREalJZv1
The leader—a hulking man with a scarred face—stepped forward, great sword humming. "The Broken God claims you to his eternal embrace."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYfJPi60z2
Kael's strikes were frantic, unpolished. The leader batted his blows aside, grinning. "Is this the Church's great mythic threat? This is so disappointing but it is also quite rewarding. I can't wait fore the promotion I will get when I bring your head back to the church."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4qGqiTuF4K
[You're drowning in fear, Host] Elia hissed. [Breathe. Adapt. Do not let the fear control you. Control it instead. If you can't it would be the end of us all and all those you hold dear too.]94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7k0OpJJWR
A slash grazed Kael's collarbone. Pain sharpened his focus. Heeding Elia's advice, Kael focused on the battle once more. The Codex flared again, etching cleaner stances into his muscles.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZDTLnjOaF
[Imprint Evolved: Novice Swordsman (Line)]94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewW3iIzwmT
He feinted left, pivoted, and drove the shattered branch into the leader's knee. The man roared. Kael seized his sword, the blade trembling in his grip.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAGJuBakQwB
"This is for Sister Kat," he whispered, plunging it home.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCfTRzFiV04
The leader fell, choking on his own blood.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQuswkxnk0
Silence.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCglV7iXmE8
Ivy lay against the boulder, the arrow still lodged in her shoulder. Mira retched into the dirt, her hands shaking. Nadine knelt beside Ivy, her stoicism cracking. "Stay awake. Look at me."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcomB6R5EOD
Liora crouched next to Kael, her tone softer than he'd ever heard it. "Your first kill?"94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbPXifmz2Jv
He nodded, staring at his bloodied hands. He felt sickened and distraught. 94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLnKfig6f6s
"It never leaves you," she said, pressing a cloth to his collarbone. "But it gets quieter and less impactful next time."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwD5UjX44DB
Mira wiped her mouth, tears streaking the dirt on her face. "Three. I killed three."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsPHlkIP43N
"You saved us," Nadine said bluntly to Mira, while yanking the arrow from Ivy's shoulder. Ivy whimpered, her laughter brittle.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGx34rxzcj
"I'm dying right? S-Sister Kat always said I'd die doing something stupid. Well at...cough cough least I didn't die doing something stupid this time, right Nadine?"94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzDLxmV22m0
"Not today, Not ever Ivy. You're not going to die, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you, alright?" Nadine said, binding the wound with torn fabric.
"Yeah, Nad" Ivy said with difficulty. 94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjz53B73TI0
Liora scanned the trees. "The main force is more dangerous and an elite force. They track by scent. We have to move. Now."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0NvKr2N47
Kael staggered to his feet. "Ivy can't walk—"94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ55hRJQ3Pzu
"I'll carry her," Mira said, hoisting Ivy onto her back. Ivy's blood seeped into her shirt.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJw5hltPCf2
They trudged through the night, the forest swallowing their footsteps. Ivy's feverish whispers haunted the dark.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0K0n8UKHML
"Why'd you push me? It was reckless" Kael asked, gripping her hand.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdT0PhgQAE8
"You're the one with the magic book," she rasped. "I'm just… expendable."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt1COodOCNG
"Don't." His voice broke. "You're not. You're just as important as me"94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ythpXH81U
"Thanks. That makes me so happy, hearing that from …cough cough...you" Ivy said94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVm3q3FOhj
Liora glanced back, her expression unreadable.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGmTj7Y2hAS
By dawn, Ivy's skin burned. Nadine forced water down her throat. "Stay with us."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBif3d5cgPs
"Trying my best to, Nad....ine. Besides you're not being exactly gentle right now" Ivy mumbled.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRd3AbizCty
Dawn brought sleet, the forest floor a slurry of mud and rotting leaves. Ivy's wound festered, the skin around it blackening like burnt parchment. Mira stumbled under her weight, cursing.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM8Ykf0rPiS
"Close," Liora muttered, though her jaw tightened with every step.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVNPvmy7NzZ
The village emerged from the mist—a clutch of stone cottages hunched around a crooked well. Villagers peered through cracked shutters as they passed. They followed us with their eyes like they were scanning us for danger.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeEZ916I1ih
"That was, a unique welcome" Mira muttered.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVqk4KXrVt
Liora ignored her, leading them to a barn loft reeking of mildew and hay. "Rest. I'll trade for medicine."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxEbCLwdqTm
Kael caught her wrist. A fresh cut up her forearm, too precise to be accidental. "You're hurt. You should rest"94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6BLnebJ1bG
She pulled free. "Bargaining requires collateral or something of value which I am sure you have none."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkP9JVjVMBg
That night, Kael found Liora on the rooftop, her gaze distant.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1SRXk3QqE
"You never told us you knew how to fight like that, I was worried about you during the ambush" he said.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLpchbAEih
She smiled faintly. " I'm no damsel in need for a knight to save her. The world is a cruel place, Kael. It can shape and destroy you in a heartbeat and whim. I learned it the hard way after the Church killed all I can call family in this world. It etched into me that only those with power or its equivalent or those that have something the world needs is qualified to live in this world."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJINroXh1B
"Why help us?"94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugODbghdwX
Her eyes met his, holding something that one couldn't quite decipher, well at least not for Kael. She traced his jaw, her touch colder than the snow. "Because you're the first interesting investment I've seen in years. And I'd hate to lose my stake… not yet. So please, don't die too early on me."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0q2hT5CSJ
Before he could reply, she stood up and started to walk back into the house.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6CgSrs5VHs
"Was that a confession, or am I taking it wrongly? Probably, I am taking it out of context." Kael said to himself before he stood up and walked into the house also.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWliQmfmOcd
Ivy's fever spiked at midnight. Her whispers dissolved into delirium.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBgSQQD0bf
"Sister Kat… I'm sorry… I couldn't save them…"94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBeKw1qOKMe
Mira gripped Kael's arm. "She's getting worse."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Fi6QHHfWy
Liora returned with a hooded healer, her sleeves dusted with ash. "The Church's scouts have lost our traces, for now."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7zJCo4kBRm
The healer peeled back Ivy's bandage. The wound pulsed, veins blackening.94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHD3e02BcVR
"This isn't infection," the healer said. "It's cursed. She has been cursed."94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWR4AirHzA
Nadine's and Mira's face paled. "Impossible. The arrow was clean—"94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTfSOyyIt8K
"No." The healer pointed to Ivy's trembling hand. A faint Broken Crown sigil glowed beneath her skin.
94Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKkWe3L2LrA
