---
CHAPTER 16 — The Weight of Chosen Paths
The forest was quiet—too quiet.
Leo moved between the heavy roots and twisted trunks, each step sinking slightly into the damp earth. The earlier chaos, the clash between the soldiers and the mutated beasts, still echoed in his mind. The screams. The fire. The strange power that had surged through him again, uninvited but unstoppable.
His hands trembled as he wiped mud from his face.
It was happening more often now.
He didn't understand it, but he feared it.
Beside him, Mira walked silently, fingers occasionally brushing the trees as if listening for danger through the bark. Her expression was tight, thoughtful. Ever since she saw what Leo did… she hadn't spoken much.
Behind them, Tana trudged forward, exhausted but determined. She kept glancing at Leo as if trying to figure out whether he was the same boy she had protected since the beginning—or someone entirely new.
A low mist crept along the forest floor, swirling around their legs like pale smoke. It felt cold, colder than it should be. Leo's breath formed faint clouds as he exhaled.
"Are we getting close?" Tana finally asked.
Mira nodded slowly. "The ruins should be just ahead. If the map was right."
"And if it's wrong?" Leo asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Mira stopped.
Turned.
Looked him straight in the eyes.
"Then we die," she said simply.
The honesty in her words didn't sting—it grounded him. At least she wasn't pretending. At least she wasn't lying to comfort him. In this world, lies were more dangerous than beasts.
A sudden rustle snapped their attention to the right. All three dropped into crouches, muscles tense. Mira slid her knife free with a sound that was too loud in the silence.
Leo listened.
But instead of growling or footsteps, he heard… crying.
A soft, fragile sob.
Not animal.
Human.
Slowly, cautiously, they approached.
Through the mist, they saw a boy—no older than ten—curled beside a fallen tree. His arms wrapped around his knees, his face buried in them. Torn clothes. Bare feet. Bruised skin.
Leo's chest tightened.
He saw himself.
Tana stepped forward but Mira blocked her with an arm.
"Could be bait," Mira whispered. "Mutants sometimes use—"
"It's not bait." Leo walked past both of them before thinking.
The boy lifted his head at the sound of Leo's footsteps. His eyes were swollen from crying, and when he saw Leo, something like recognition flickered across his face.
"Y-you're… you're like me…" the boy stuttered.
Leo froze.
The other two stiffened behind him.
A cold wind brushed the leaves overhead.
"What do you mean?" Leo asked carefully.
The boy pointed to Leo's hand—not the hand itself, but the faint shimmering coming from it. Leo looked down and saw it too. The glow. The same one he had used to stop the beast. The same one he couldn't control.
Mira's eyes widened.
Tana inhaled sharply.
Before Leo could respond, the ground shook violently. Birds burst from the trees, screeching. The mist wavered like ripples in water.
A massive shape moved between the trunks in the distance—slow, heavy, unnatural.
Mira grabbed the boy and pulled him behind a fallen branch.
Tana dragged Leo backward.
"Move," she whispered harshly. "Now."
But Leo didn't move.
Because the creature emerging from the shadows… wasn't just a monster.
It was one of the armored soldiers—but twisted, mutated, half-flesh half-metal, as if something had merged with it and torn it apart at the same time. Its helmet was cracked, revealing one glowing eye and a jaw that looked broken and wrong.
It sniffed the air.
Then turned toward them.
Leo felt the power in his arm pulse again—burning, urging, begging to be used.
Mira whispered, "Leo… don't. You can't control it."
But the boy beside him said softly, "If you don't use it, it will kill us all."
Leo clenched his shaking fist.
His destiny was no longer waiting ahead of him.
It was standing right here, demanding a choice.
---