CHAPTER 4 — DEER DEMON
The Lear attacked without sound.
Force crashed outward like a collapsing star, hurling Abbie and Adam back. Lucy staggered, something instinctive flaring inside her chest.
"No," she said—not to the demon in front of her, but to the world.
A pressure wave rippled outward, catching her before she fell.
Abbie skidded to a stop, eyes wide. "You did that."
Lucy stared at her hands again. "I didn't mean to."
The deer regarded her.
Not with hostility.
With interest.
It moved faster than thought, appearing before Adam in a blur of gold-black distortion.
A blade of compressed void formed in its hand.
Abbie reacted instantly—sigils snapping into place, ether surging as she intercepted the strike.
The impact sent fractures racing through the cave floor.
"Adam, MOVE!" she yelled.
He did—barely—rolling as the deer's blade sheared through the space where his spine had been.
"I thought you said it was a guardian!" Abbie shouted over the chaos.
"I said I didn't believe the stories!" Adam shot back.
The deer turned its attention fully to Lucy.
The air thickened.
Lucy felt words trying to crawl out of her mouth—names she didn't know, commands written into her bones. She took a step back.
"I don't want this," she said.
The demon paused.
Then tilted its head again, as if amused.
Abbie launched herself forward, aura blazing.
She fought like a storm—raw, precise, furious.
Ether cracked and screamed as she forced the Lear back step by step.
But it wasn't enough.
The Lear adapted.
Every spell Abbie cast lost effectiveness the moment it landed, like the being was learning her shape.
Lucy screamed.
The sound wasn't loud—but it carried weight.
The deer faltered.
For the first time, its form distorted—edges blurring, antlers flickering like a bad signal.
Lucy felt something inside her answer.
Black and white energy surged outward, wild and untrained.
The cave walls groaned. Water leapt from the pool behind them, hanging suspended midair.
The deer demon recoiled.
Not injured.
Offended.
It vanished.
Not fled—withdrawn, like a thought deciding to wait.
Silence crashed down.
Abbie dropped to one knee, chest heaving. Adam stared at Lucy like he was seeing a god learn to walk.
"That," Adam whispered, "shouldn't be possible."
Lucy swayed—and the world went red.
Pain exploded in Adam's chest.
A blade punched through him from behind.
He gasped, eyes wide, blood blooming across his shirt.
A figure stepped out of the shadows.
A young woman—slightly taller than Lucy, shorter than Abbie.
Long brown hair with braided strands. Dark eyes. Long, elegant elf-like ears that marked her as Vallenian.
She held the blade steady.
"Sorry," she said calmly. "You weren't supposed to survive this long."
Abbie spun, fury igniting. "Who the hell are you?"
The girl withdrew the blade, Adam collapsing to the ground.
"My name," she said, ether coiling around her like a trained beast,
"is Nark Osith."
She smiled thinly.
"And the Golden Moon wants you all very badly."