Story 704: The Widow’s Trap

The echoes of Selene’s laughter still clung to the decaying walls of Black Hollow, a ghostly melody that lingered in the minds of Kruger and his remaining soldiers. The air was thick with the remnants of her alchemical mist, curling like unseen fingers through the cracks in the stone.

Kruger wiped sweat from his brow, but the coldness in his chest wasn’t from exertion—it was from something far worse. He had faced death before, but never something like her.

“She’s toying with us,” Vale muttered, reloading his rifle with shaking hands. “She could’ve killed us back there. She wanted us to see that.”

Kruger didn’t respond. His gaze was locked onto the husk that had once been Corporal Reyes, its body frozen in a posture of agony. The man’s face was stretched in an unnatural scream, his skin dried and cracked like old parchment. His shadow was gone, stolen by whatever black alchemy Selene had unleashed.

“We need to move,” Kruger said at last. “Before she decides to—”