CHAPTER TEN: “The First Hunt”

A Storm Without Rain

Thunder cracked across the skies above Graveton — but not a single drop of rain fell.

Instead, the clouds moved like they were alive. They twisted in unnatural spirals, glowing faintly red at their core.

Children pointed. Elders crossed themselves.

The old ones whispered a single word:

> "Hunter."

Down below, Leah and Lucian were on the run.

They had left the outskirts of Graveton behind, racing through the abandoned whisper fields — a flat stretch of cursed grassland where the wind always sounded like voices.

Lucian's dome of protection had faded, and without it, the cold felt inhuman. It bit at the soul, not just the skin.

> "Where are we going?" Leah asked, panting.

> "To the Hollow's edge," Lucian replied. "There's an old tunnel the Rebellion carved out decades ago. It leads straight to the Cradle Pass."

Leah frowned. "Cradle Pass?"

Lucian glanced at her. "The border between the Hollow's domain and the outer free lands. It's dangerous, but it's the only way to get you somewhere safe."

She hesitated.

> "Why are you helping me?"

Lucian slowed. "Because someone helped me once… and because you matter more than you know."

Before Leah could ask what he meant, the sky screamed.

Yes — screamed.

---

Hunter Descent

From the clouds, it fell.

The Hunter.

Not like a bird. Not like a man.

But like a curse wrapped in muscle and bone.

Its form wasn't fixed — it shifted between shadows and scales, like it hadn't decided what shape it wanted to kill in yet.

Six glowing eyes. No mouth. Wings of bone.

It landed on the ground with no impact, as if gravity dared not touch it.

It sniffed the air — not with a nose, but with tendrils of shadow that flicked from its chest.

And then it spoke, without speaking.

> "The Brand-Bearer is not here," it said in a voice made of echo and glass.

Leah and Lucian stood frozen in the grass, hidden behind a mound of dead wheat.

Lucian whispered, "It's tracking Jayden. That means we have time… unless—"

The Hunter's head turned directly toward them.

Lucian cursed.

> "It sensed my pendant. Run!"

---

Back at the Iron Spine

Jayden sat in silence, staring at the broken insignia Caziel had given him. It now pulsed softly, syncing with his breath.

Valen, the leader of the Rebellion, stood beside him, watching.

> "You feel it, don't you?" Valen asked.

> "It's like… something old is inside me. Something I never asked for," Jayden replied.

Valen nodded. "Power doesn't ask permission. It waits. Then it breaks free."

Jayden turned to him. "Then teach me to control it."

Before Valen could respond, a scout burst into the chamber, panting, armor cracked.

> "The Hunter," he gasped. "It's descended."

Caziel cursed. "Already? How did it track him?"

The scout shook his head. "It didn't. It tracked a resonance — the Brand's echo. But it found others. A girl. A boy. Human, maybe half-blooded."

Jayden froze. "Leah."

> Author's Note:

Remember Leah? Jayden's childhood friend who once reminded him of the life he had before all the Hollow madness?

She's more than just a friend now — she's becoming a bridge to his past. A reason to fight.

Jayden stood, voice hard. "We have to help them."

Caziel sighed. "If we go, the Hollow will know. They'll feel your Brand when you cross the Veil again."

> "Let them," Jayden said. "I'm not hiding anymore."

---

Battle Beneath the Blood Sky

Back in the whisper fields, Lucian drew a curved blade from his back — etched in runes that shimmered purple.

Not ordinary magic. Rebel magic.

He slashed it through the air, opening a wall of flame that forced the Hunter back.

> "Run, Leah! I'll hold it!"

But Leah didn't move. She pulled something from her satchel — a crystal bottle, wrapped in red rope.

> "What is that?" Lucian shouted.

> "A gift from Adelwin. He said to break it if I was ever chased by something older than death."

She threw it.

The crystal shattered mid-air and exploded in a blinding light.

The Hunter screamed — an unholy noise, like every bone in the world breaking at once.

Then, silence.

When the light cleared, the Hunter was gone.

But so was Leah.

Lucian stood alone, the grass scorched in a perfect circle around him.

And Leah?

She had vanished.

---

The Hollow Reacts

Back beneath the Hollow, Kaelric clenched the obsidian railing. "She used the Seer's Lock. Where did she learn that?"

Morrienna's eyes narrowed. "That girl is more than human."

Nyxa smiled faintly from the shadows.

> "There are many kinds of blood. The most dangerous… is hidden."

---

Jayden Steps Out

Outside the Iron Spine, Jayden walked to the edge of the cliff that overlooked the Veil — a massive swirling barrier that separated the Hollow's domain from the outside world.

He stood there, cape fluttering, Brand glowing faintly red on his neck.

> "I'm coming," he whispered to no one and everyone.

And then he leapt into the night — through the Veil — and into the storm.