The wind outside the cottage wasn't normal.
Not anymore.
Rafe noticed it first — a shift in the way the branches moved, too synchronized for chance. A low tremor ran through the roots beneath the soil, subtle but intentional, like footsteps that weren't quite footsteps.
Something was circling the safe house.
And whatever it was, it wasn't hiding.
Selene felt it next. She straightened slowly, staff lowered but glowing, one hand extended as though tasting the air.
"…They arrived faster than I expected," she murmured.
Mara immediately stepped in front of Rafe and Lyn, blocking them with her body.
"Who?" she demanded.
Selene didn't answer at first. Her eyes narrowed, scanning the walls, the floor, the door. The cottage hum grew louder — the protective wards activating on their own.
Lyn pressed against Rafe's arm, trembling. "Is it the bad people from before?"
"No," Selene said. "Not people."
Rafe felt the chill in her voice.Not fear — calculation.
"What are Fate Hunters like?" he asked quietly.
Selene inhaled slowly.
"You'll know when you see one."
Outside, something heavy brushed against the barrier. The vines wrapped around the stone walls curled inward, recoiling from an invisible pressure. Even the air inside the cottage tightened, as if the world were holding its breath.
Then — a sound.
Not a howl.Not a growl.Not a voice.
A note.
Low, vibrational, resonant enough to rattle the windows.
Lyn whimpered. Mara grabbed her.
Rafe clenched his fists. "Selene… is that—"
"Yes," she said. "One of them."
The note came again — this time clearer, sharper, like metal dragged across ice.
Mara whispered, "It sounds like… singing."
Selene shook her head.
"No. That's not singing. That's how they see."
Rafe's spine went rigid.
"You said they come after anomalies," he said. "So it's not here for any of them."
His fingers dug into his palms.
"It's here for me."
Lyn squeezed his sleeve harder. "No… no, it can't—"
"Yes," Selene said quietly. "It can."
The pressure outside intensified. A second note joined the first — higher, almost curious. The barrier glowed brighter in response. Dust drifted from the ceiling as the ward strained.
Mara positioned herself fully in front of Rafe now, hands shaking but defiant.
"If it gets inside," she said, "I'll fight it."
"No," Selene said sharply. "You'll die."
Mara flinched.
"So what do we do?" she whispered.
Selene raised her staff and walked toward the door, stopping just short of it.
"We wait."
Another note rang out — high, quick, like a question.
Then a third. Soft. Testing.
Rafe swallowed.
"Why does it sound like it's looking for something?"
Selene didn't turn.
"It is. Fate Hunters identify anomalies through resonance. They sing until reality answers."
"And if it finds me?"
Selene's fingers gripped her staff.
"Then it enters."
The barrier shuddered… but held.
"What does it look like?" Mara asked.
Selene hesitated.
"…Wrong."
Another note. Deeper. Closer.
The barrier strained so hard the glowing runes pulsed like frantic heartbeats. The air grew heavy enough that Lyn clung to Rafe with both arms, eyes squeezed shut.
"It's getting stronger," Rafe whispered.
"They always do," Selene said.
"What do they want?"
Selene's voice dropped.
"To confirm."
"Confirm what?"
"That you should not exist."
Rafe's heart seized.
Mara grabbed him so hard it hurt. "They're wrong."
"They don't care," Selene said. "They don't judge. They correct."
The fourth note hit — sharper than a scream, colder than steel.
The barrier cracked.
A thin fracture of light cut down the doorframe like a fault line opening.
Lyn sobbed softly. Mara trembled. Rafe stared at the door, trapped between running and freezing.
Selene stepped forward, ready to cast—
But then—
A fifth note rang.
Not from outside.
From the forest behind the creature.
Lower. Older. Stronger.
The first presence froze.
The entire forest fell silent.
Selene inhaled sharply.
"…Impossible."
"What?" Rafe asked.
"That wasn't one of them."
Another note answered — deeper, resonant, so powerful the trees shivered.
The Fate Hunter outside let out a distorted, warped sound — surprise? Alarm?
Then it vanished.
In a blink.
Gone.
The barrier healed itself instantly with a pulse of light. The forest wind returned to normal. The pressure lifted.
But the echo of that powerful second note lingered.
Rafe was the first to break the silence.
"Selene… what was that?"
Selene stared through the wall as if trying to see beyond.
"That," she whispered, "was something far older than a Fate Hunter."
Mara's voice cracked.
"Older… and it protected us?"
Selene shook her head.
"No. It didn't protect us."
Her voice dropped, low and shaken.
"It claimed you first."
Rafe felt something cold settle in his chest.
"…What does that mean?"
Selene's face turned pale for the first time since they met.
"It means," she said slowly, "that you are no longer hunted by fate alone."
She looked at Rafe with fear she didn't bother to hide.
"You have been marked by something else."
Rafe's pulse hammered.
"What marked me?"
Selene answered with a single word.
Something that tasted like myth.Something ancient, forbidden, primal.
"…A Primordial."