---
CHAPTER 15 — The Eater That Chased the Seed
The forest did not welcome them this time.
Branches whipped violently as Aren and Elira sprinted through the undergrowth, the ground heaving beneath each thunderous step of the eater behind them. The air pulsed with wrongness—like the world itself recoiling.
Aren's breath came in sharp bursts. His legs burned. But the seed inside him beat faster, pushing him onward.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Elira ran beside him, her grip tight on his wrist even as roots snagged her feet and branches scratched her arms.
"Aren—left!" she gasped.
He swerved just as a giant shadowy limb smashed down where he had stood seconds earlier, pulverizing roots and soil. Dust exploded upward, mixing with the eerie red mist that bled from the creature's body.
"That thing… it's faster than it looks!" Aren shouted.
"It doesn't move like living flesh," Elira said breathlessly. "It moves like hunger."
Aren didn't want to imagine hunger taking shape.
The forest suddenly opened into a narrow ravine—a split in the earth formed by ancient water. Sharp rocks jutted from both sides like teeth.
"We can't climb that!" Aren said.
"We're not climbing," Elira replied.
She slid down the jagged slope, boots skidding on loose gravel. Aren followed, nearly losing his footing before grabbing a protruding root.
The eater reached the edge above them.
It paused.
The air became heavy. Still.
Then—
It droped.
"Run!" Aren shouted.
The creature slammed into the ravine, tearing apart stone as its mass disintegrated then reformed in a ripple of shadow. Aren and Elira sprinted along the narrow path, the walls shaking from the impact.
The ravine twisted sharply. A dead end.
Aren cursed. "You've got to be kidding me!"
Elira's hands trembled as she pressed them against the stone. "The world… it's panicking. It won't open for us."
Behind them, the eater pulled itself forward, its form stretching unnaturally. Its maw opened again—impossible depth swirling with red-tinted silence.
Aren stepped in front of Elira on instinct.
She grabbed his arm. "Aren, don't—"
"I won't let it take you!" he shouted.
"It doesn't want me," she said fiercely. "It wants the seed inside you!"
Her words sank in like ice.
The creature lunged.
Aren braced himself—
The seed erupted with light.
A shockwave burst from his chest, slamming into the eater. The ravine walls cracked violently, pebbles and dust raining from above. The eater staggered—not in pain, but in agitation, its form pulsing faster.
Elira shielded her eyes. "Aren—what did you do!?"
"I don't—know!"
But something felt different.
The seed wasn't just warning him.
It was responding.
The eater reared back, then drove its body forward, cutting through the wave of light like a beast tearing through smoke. Its maw widened—
Elira stepped in front of Aren.
"NO!" he yelled.
She lifted her hand.
And the ravine wall moved.
Stone bent like clay, jutting out in a sudden barrier. The eater's maw crashed into it, scraping away chunks of shadow and rock.
Aren stared at her. "You… you can control the world?"
Elira panted, sweat on her forehead. "Only a little. Only when it listens."
"And right now?!"
"It's too scared to hear me clearly!"
The eater tore through the stone wall.
The ground shook again—this time a steady rhythm, not from the creature.
A voice echoed faintly.
Not a voice of sound—
A voice of memory.
Aren felt it inside his mind.
North… river… fall…
"North!" Aren shouted. "We have to go north!"
Elira looked at him. "Why?"
"The world told me!"
She didn't question it. She grabbed his hand tightly, and together they climbed a narrow crack in the ravine wall just as the eater lunged again.
Aren hauled Elira upward, adrenaline pushing his body beyond its limits. They reached the top as the eater slammed into the cliff, sending splinters of stone into the air.
Aren didn't stop running until the forest swallowed them again.
Branches closed behind them.
Roots twisted to hide their trail.
The world—once afraid—now helped them move.
Elira gasped for breath but managed a shaky smile. "It listens to you more than me…"
Aren shook his head. "No. The seed listens. I'm just the idiot carrying it."
Elira gave a small laugh before suddenly stumbling. Aren caught her.
"Hey—are you okay?"
Her face was pale.
"I used too much energy bending the stone," she whispered. "I… need to rest."
Aren gently lowered her against a tree. The seed pulsed again—warm this time, like reassurance.
But then—
A distant, hollow scream cut through the forest.
The eater had found their trail again.
Elira's eyes widened in fear. "Aren… we can't outrun it much longer."
Aren clenched his fists, turning toward the north.
"Then we don't outrun it."
He lifted Elira into his arms.
"We reach the river falls. And whatever the world wants me to see—"
He stared into the trees, determination hardening his voice.
"—that's where we make our stand."
And the forest opened the path.
---