"RETREAT!"
Kaelos's voice cracked the night like a whip.
Fire roared outward, A wall of crimson flame slammed into the advancing Tsumiki, forcing them back as the ruins screamed and collapsed around them. Stone shattered. Runes flared, then died.
Aria barely felt the ground beneath her feet.
The Crystal's light still burned behind her eyes.
Her knees buckled.
Darius caught her before she hit the stone, but the impact sent both of them crashing hard onto the broken street. Pain exploded up Aria's side—hot, blinding. She gasped, fingers clawing at her ribs.
"Move!" Thane bellowed.
The Shadow Pack Lord laughed behind them pleased.
"You can run," he called, voice echoing through the ruins. "The city remembers her now. So do we."
Nyra's veil snapped outward, silver light folding the air. The world bent, streets twisting, shadows swallowing distance and suddenly the ruins were gone.
They fell into the forest.
Hard.
Aria slammed into roots and wet earth, breath tearing from her lungs. She tasted blood. Somewhere close, Darius cried out sharply, then went silent.
The forest closed around them like a living thing.
Mira knelt instantly, hands glowing blue as she pressed them to Aria's side. "Don't move," she whispered. "Your energy is… unstable."
Aria tried to speak.
Only a broken sound came out.
Darius lay a few paces away, half-curled, clutching his shoulder. Blood soaked through his sleeve—too dark, too fast. His usual composure was gone, teeth clenched, face pale.
"That wasn't supposed to happen," he muttered. "The Crystal wasn't supposed to—"
"It bonded," Eladora said softly, fear threading her voice. "It chose her."
Aria's vision cleared just enough to see Kaelos staring at her—not with triumph.
With dread.
"You felt it," he said quietly. "Didn't you?"
Aria swallowed hard. Her throat burned. "It didn't feel like choosing," she rasped. "It felt like… remembering."
Silence fell heavy and wrong.
Thane turned away, slamming his staff into the ground. "We underestimated the city. And her."
"No," Nyra said, eyes sharp behind her veil. "We underestimated what we never wanted to admit."
Aria struggled upright, Mira's hands steadying her. Pain screamed through her body, but something deeper burned hotter—anger, betrayal, clarity.
"You knew," Aria said. "You knew this could happen."
Kaelos didn't deny it.
"There were… theories," he said. "Legends."
"You used me as bait," she snapped, voice shaking. "You walked me straight into their trap."
Darius coughed, blood on his lips. "To be fair," he said weakly, "they also walked themselves into ours."
Aria turned to him. "You're hurt."
He gave a crooked smile. "Occupational hazard."
She reached for him without thinking.
The moment her hand touched his shoulder, power surged—wild, uncontrolled. Violet light flared, knitting flesh too fast, too violently. Darius screamed, body arching, then collapsed he's breathing, but unconscious.
The forest shuddered.
Everyone stared at Aria now.
She pulled her hand back like she'd been burned.
"I didn't mean to—"
"But you did," Mira said, awed and afraid. "You healed him. With blood magic."
Kaelos exhaled slowly. "Tragajah magic," he corrected. "Old magic."
Aria looked down at her shaking hands.
"I'm not a weapon," she said quietly.
Kaelos met her gaze.
She stood, despite the pain and the forest watching her breathe.
"I'm the mistake both sides made," she said. "And I won't bleed for lies again."
Somewhere far away, a wolf howled.
Closer than before.
The retreat was over.
The real war had just begun.