The Enemy's Weapon;
Maren's breathing was ragged, her body trembling. The poison was spreading fast.
Elias pressed a hand to her wound, but it wouldn't stop the damage. His jaw clenched. "We need to get this out of her system."
Lyria's mind raced. "How did they treat the others? The ones poisoned before?"
Elias shook his head. "They didn't. None of them survived."
Lyria's stomach turned.
Maren's eyes fluttered open. She grabbed Elias's wrist, her fingers weak. "Don't waste time… on me," she rasped.
"Shut up," Elias growled.
But Lyria could see it—Maren knew she was dying. And Elias knew it too.
Lyria turned to the hunter's corpse. The blade still lay beside him, covered in dark poison. She crouched, carefully picking it up by the hilt.
"What are you doing?" Elias snapped.
She ignored him, lifting the blade closer to her face. The poison smelled… wrong. Bitter, metallic, laced with something unnatural.
Then she saw it.
Small, almost invisible etchings on the steel. Runes.
Magic.
She looked up. "This isn't just poison, Elias. It's something else."
Elias's expression darkened. "What do you mean?"
"I think the hunters are using magic."
The air around them felt heavier. Even the wolves who had gathered nearby fell silent.
Magic. It was a word no one wanted to hear.
Because magic was dangerous.
Magic was forbidden.
And worst of all—magic meant there was something bigger behind this war.
Elias took the blade from her, studying the strange markings. His grip tightened.
"This changes everything."
The battle was still raging in the distance, but the hunters were already retreating. Something wasn't right.
"They're falling back," Calder growled, stepping up beside Elias. "That's not like them."
Elias's eyes stayed on the trees, scanning the shadows. "No," he said quietly. "It's not."
Lyria felt it before she saw it.
A chill in the air. A shift in the wind. The kind of silence that made your skin crawl.
And then… movement.
A figure stepped out from the trees.
Tall. Cloaked. Unreadable.
Lyria's pulse pounded.
Whoever they were, they weren't human.
Elias tensed. The wolves around him lowered into defensive stances, growling.
The figure stopped just outside the firelight. And then, a voice—low, smooth, dangerous.
"You've grown weak, Elias."
Lyria's breath caught.
Because Elias knew that voice.
And from the way his face went blank, his golden eyes dark with something close to rage
She realized something else.
This wasn't just an enemy.
This was someone from his past.
Someone he never wanted to see again.
The figure lifted a hand. And without another word
The fire blew out.
Darkness swallowed them whole.