The Fractured Paths

Aiden panted in ragged gasps as he lurched through the black tunnels, his fingers scrabbling against wet stone walls. The ringing of their panicked flight still echoed in his head—the growling of the damned, the falling archway, Tenwa's last words.

His fists bunched. "I will find you.

He forced himself to walk on, though the blackness seemed to go on forever. The air clung, filled with the smell of wet dirt and something else—something aged and rotting. His own heart beat inside his head, his every breath making loose rocks roll down across the ground.

"Elena?" he called softly.

There was only silence.

His gut knotted. She'd been right on his heels. He spun, moving back the way he came, his dagger clutched in his hand. Darkness closed in around him, seemingly moving of its own accord in the faint light of the rune-scarred walls. Had the damned followed him? Or was there something else in the ruins?

Aiden gulped. Think. The tunnels curled and turned like a maze. If Elena'd gone another way, she could be anywhere.

Taking a deep breath, he pressed his hand against the chill stone, sensing the vibrations through his fingers. The earth shook slightly—not from the chase of the damned, but from something more profound. This land was alive in a manner he couldn't comprehend.

He continued on.

The passage grew narrower, and he had to duck aside through jagged boulders. The air solidified, and then—a light. A flickering, dim one out in the distance. Aiden picked up his speed, coming out into a cavernous chamber where debris from the ancient village remained—shattered homes, broken pillars, the leftovers of the period prior to the curse.

And there, amidst the wreckage, was a cluster of people.

No—not people.

Elena was among them.

Aiden panted hard, relief spreading through him as he moved closer. Elena spun at the noise of his approach, her face glowing. "Aiden!"

He couldn't answer before his eyes darted to the figures that encircled her. They were human—but not fully. One had feline elongated limbs, similar to Tenwa. Another had scale patches on their arms. A third had curling horns on the top of their head.

Half-human. Half-abandoned.

Aiden bristled.

"They're not enemies," Elena replied hastily, reading his hesitation. "They're survivors."

Aiden eyed them suspiciously. "How?"

A man stepped out from the group. His eyes sparkled in the shadows, his voice gritty with age. "Because we battled the curse. Some of us fought against its call. Others." He gazed at his clawed hands. "Others transformed, but not all the way."

Aiden's hold on his dagger grew harder. "And the forsaken beyond?

The man sighed. "They lost the battle."

Aiden's head reeled. So there were those who had been corrupted by the curse—and those who had been able to retain their humanity.

One of the younger half-human survivors, a girl with reptilian eyes, came up to him. "You're not cursed," she whispered, her voice full of wonder. "How did you survive?"

Aiden hesitated. He didn't know.

Elena touched his arm. "We must locate Tenwa."

The older man shook his head. "If he's outside, he won't survive."

Aiden's jaw clenched. "You don't know him."

The earth suddenly lurched beneath their feet, spilling dust from above. The half-human survivors stiffened, their gaze flicking to the tunnel opening.

"They're searching for you," the girl with reptilian eyes whispered.

Aiden met Elena's eye. "We can't linger here."

The older man nodded. "There's a way out—besides that—but it's dangerous."

Aiden laughed harshly. "Seems to be a trend."

The man did not smile. He merely turned, waving for them to follow.

The group walked through the ruins, their footsteps hardly more than whispers. The farther in they went, the more the walls appeared to throb—like the ruins themselves were alive.

Aiden shuddered. This place is not right.

Then—a whisper.

It sliced through the silence like a knife, gentle but sharp.

"Aiden."

His blood froze.

He spun around, scanning the darkness, but there was nothing. Only shadows. Only ruins.

Elena's forehead creased. "What's wrong?"

Aiden swallowed. "Did you hear that?"

The others stared at him, confusion and discomfort flashing in their changed eyes.

"Hear what?" Elena asked.

Aiden faced the tunnel ahead again, his heart racing.

The whisper had called his name.

And it had emerged from the darkness outside.