Rafe woke before sunrise.
Not from fear.Not from a nightmare.But because something in the forest called to him.
A soft pulse.A rhythm.A heartbeat that wasn't his.
He sat up quietly, careful not to wake Mara and Lyn sleeping beside him. Selene was already awake, sitting by the cottage entrance with her staff across her lap. She didn't look surprised to see him rise.
"You felt it," she said.
Rafe nodded. "It's watching again."
Selene closed her eyes. "Yes. The Primordial has not left. But it isn't hostile… not yet."
Rafe took a slow breath. "Then why stay?"
"That," Selene murmured, "is what we must find out."
She stood and gestured for him to follow. Rafe glanced back at the sleeping girls.
"They'll be safe?"
Selene raised her staff. The wards around the cottage lit up like a net of shimmering runes, thicker and brighter than before.
"Yes. Nothing enters that cottage without stepping through me."
Rafe followed her into the cold morning mist.
They walked in silence through towering trees older than kingdoms. The forest floor was soft beneath their feet, covered in leaves and faintly glowing white roots.
Soon, the world grew quiet — too quiet.
Selene stopped.
"This is where it's focusing its attention."
Rafe felt it immediately.A weight.A pressure.A presence behind his spine.
A whisper in the air that wasn't sound.
Selene planted her staff into the soil. "Stay close."
Rafe didn't argue.
A faint shimmer appeared in front of them — like moonlight bending in a way it shouldn't. The shimmer deepened, thickened, took shape. Not fully. Not even halfway.
Just an outline.
Tall.Indistinct.Featureless.Made of shadow and light at the same time.
A Primordial fragment.
Rafe instinctively stepped back, but Selene extended her arm protectively.
The shape didn't move.
Instead… a whisper brushed Rafe's mind.
"…Chosen…"
Rafe's breath caught.
Selene stiffened. "It's communicating."
Rafe swallowed. "What does it want?"
The whisper came again, stronger.
"…Awaken…"
Selene hissed. "It wants you to awaken. Now."
"But I'm not ready," Rafe said. "You said I need stability—"
"Correct," Selene said. "If you awaken prematurely, your mana core could shatter. Or worse."
The Primordial shape pulsed.
"…Still… chosen…"
Rafe staggered back as something cold slid through his spine — not touch, not pain, but inevitability.
"Selene," he whispered, voice trembling. "It's pulling."
She stepped in front of him instantly, smashing her staff against the ground. A burst of blue flame erupted, forming a protective arc around them.
"Enough!" she commanded. "He is not yours."
The Primordial didn't respond. It simply watched.
No eyes.No face.Just presence.
And then—
A second pulse rippled outward.
Not directed at Rafe.
Directed at one direction of the forest.
Selene blinked. "It's… pointing."
Rafe frowned. "Pointing to what?"
The whisper came again.
This time clearer.
"…Enemy…"
Rafe stiffened. "Enemy? Who?"
Selene turned toward where the Primordial was focusing.
Her face went cold.
"Oh no…"
Before Rafe could ask, the sound reached them.
Cracking branches.Heavy steps.Metal striking bark.
Something was moving through the forest fast — like a hunting pack.
Selene grabbed Rafe's wrist.
"We're not alone."
"Is it the Outer Circle?" Rafe asked.
"No," Selene said. "Worse."
Shapes appeared between the trees.
Tall. Armored. Beastlike.Their eyes glowed a sickly green.Their bones twisted unnaturally beneath their skin.Symbols of corruption carved into their foreheads.
Rafe's blood ran cold.
"…What are those?"
Selene whispered the name like a curse.
"Aberrations."
Rafe swallowed.
"And they're hunting us?"
"No," Selene said."They're hunting you."
The Primordial presence behind him tightened like a protective coil.
And for the first time, Rafe understood.
This wasn't a coincidence.
Something had drawn the Aberrations here.Something had pushed the Fate Hunter here.Something was pulling the world toward him like a magnet.
Selene raised her staff, eyes blazing.
"Rafe — listen to me."
He nodded, heart racing.
"If they reach Mara or Lyn, they die."
Rafe felt the world narrow.
"Then what do I do?"
Selene looked at him with an intensity he had never seen.
"You run back to the cottage and protect them."
"And you?" he asked.
Selene smiled — tired, fierce, unbreakable.
"I'll hold the line."
The Aberrations roared and charged.
And Rafe turned, sprinting through the forest, the Primordial's whisper echoing behind him:
"…Awaken…"