Rafe ran.
Branches whipped across his arms as he sprinted through the forest, heart hammering, lungs burning, the Primordial's whisper still coiled in the back of his skull like a second pulse.
Behind him, the Aberrations roared — guttural, animalistic sounds mixed with metal scraping bone. Selene's mana flared, explosions of blue fire lighting up the forest like lightning strikes.
But he didn't look back.
He couldn't.
Protect Mara. Protect Lyn.
Every step sharpened that single truth.
When the cottage finally came into view through the trees, Rafe's chest tightened with relief — until he saw the glowing barrier flicker.
Not break.Not crack.
Flicker.
Something was attacking it.
Rafe's blood went cold.
"Mara! Lyn!"
He sprinted the final distance and crashed through the ward line, stumbling into the clearing.
Mara stood outside the cottage, holding a broken branch like a weapon, positioned between the door and—
A creature.
Small.Thin.Pale gray skin stretched over a warped skeleton.Its arms were too long, ending in clawed fingers.Its head twitched like a bird, jerking unnaturally as it probed the barrier with a single sharp claw.
Every time it touched the ward, the air hissed.Not like something trying to break in.
Like something… testing.
Rafe whispered, horrified:
"…A smaller Aberration."
The creature spun toward him instantly, its head snapping in a full, unnatural rotation. Green light flashed in its eye sockets.
Mara shouted, voice shaking:
"Rafe! Stay back!"
Lyn peeked out from behind her, clutching Mara's shirt so tightly her knuckles were white. Tears streamed down her face.
"R-Rafe, it keeps getting closer—"
Rafe forced himself forward despite the ice in his veins.
"Mara, why are you outside?!"
"Because it kept scratching at the barrier every time we moved away!" she yelled. "If we hide inside, it keeps trying to get in! If we stand here, it stops—just watches!"
Rafe's stomach twisted.
It wasn't attacking because it didn't want them.
It wanted him.
The creature's claws twitched.
It crouched low like a starving animal waiting to pounce.
Rafe looked at Mara. "Get Lyn inside."
"No!" Mara snapped. "I'm not leaving you out here—"
"Mara, please—"
"No!"
Her voice cracked with fear, desperation, anger — all tangled together.
"I won't leave you."
Lyn sobbed harder, shaking. "Rafe… don't fight it… you'll die…"
Rafe took a step forward anyway.
The creature mirrored him, its limbs jerking like a puppet pulled on tangled strings.
Rafe lowered his stance.
No weapon.Bare hands.A child's body.
But Selene's lessons echoed in his mind.
Balance.Breath.Purpose.
He couldn't run.He couldn't hide.
He had to stand.
"Mara," he said quietly, "shield Lyn."
Mara hesitated.Eyes wide.Heart broken.
Then, with trembling hands, she pulled Lyn down to the ground, wrapping her arms around the younger girl like a shield of flesh and bone.
"Don't die," Mara whispered. "Please don't die."
Rafe inhaled.
And stepped closer to the Aberration.
It screeched — a distorted, layered noise that didn't match its small, starved frame — and lunged.
But Rafe was already moving.
The distorted world-training Selene forced him through made his reflexes sharper, faster. He twisted sideways just in time, the creature's claws slicing through empty air.
Rafe felt the rush of wind against his cheek.
Close. Too close.
He ducked low and swept his leg — but the creature leapt unnaturally high, landing on all fours like a spider.
It screeched again.
Mara screamed. Lyn buried her face in Mara's chest.
"Rafe!" Mara sobbed. "Stop—!"
But Rafe didn't hear her.
Something inside him shifted — a pressure behind his eyes, a heat in his chest.
The Primordial's whisper surfaced.
"…Awaken…"
Rafe clenched his teeth.
"No…"
He wasn't ready.Selene said he wasn't ready.He would die if he forced it.
The creature lunged again.
Rafe dodged left — barely.
A claw sliced across his shoulder.
White-hot pain burst through his arm.
He gasped but kept his footing.
Lyn screamed. "Rafe!"
Mara tried to run to him, but the barrier shoved her back — protecting her from leaving the safe zone.
Rafe stumbled, blood dripping down his sleeve.
The Aberration twisted its body, preparing to pounce again.
Rafe's vision blurred.
His breaths came shallow.
He needed something. Anything.
A weapon.More strength.A miracle.
Instead, he got… a voice.
Not the Shadow's.
Not Selene's.
Not his own.
A deep, ancient whisper inside the marrow of the world:
"…Still chosen…"
The Primordial.
Watching.
Present.
Rafe felt the weight of its attention settle onto him again — crushing, immense.
He whispered through his teeth:
"Leave me alone…"
The Aberration screeched and lunged again.
Rafe closed his eyes—
And…
He moved.
Not fast.Not strong.Not awakened.
But with perfect instinct.
His body twisted before he commanded it. His foot slid backward into a stance he had never learned. His shoulder dropped at the exact angle needed to avoid the claws.
His hand rose—
And struck the creature's throat.
Clean. Precise. Lethal.
The Aberration's neck snapped sideways with a sickening crack.
Its body collapsed at Rafe's feet, twitching once before going still.
Silence swallowed the clearing.
Rafe stared at his own hand, shaking violently.
"What… what was that?"
Mara's voice broke:
"Rafe!"
She crawled out of the barrier and threw herself at him, grabbing his bloody shoulder.
Lyn followed, sobbing into his side.
Rafe winced at the pain but didn't move.
Because the Primordial's whisper echoed again, deeper now:
"…Awakening has begun…"
And Rafe felt it.
A faint glow beneath his skin.Heat in his spine.A spark of mana forming where none should exist.
Mara pulled back, eyes wide.
"Rafe… your eyes…"
He blinked.
"What about them?"
"They're—"
But she couldn't finish.
Because Selene burst into the clearing, covered in blood and ash, eyes blazing.
"What happened—?"
Then she saw Rafe's eyes.
And froze.
"…No…"
Rafe frowned. "Selene?"
She stared at him like she was witnessing a prophecy gone wrong.
"Rafe… your Awakening—"
A gust of wind shook the trees.
The forest trembled.
The Primordial's presence loomed.
Selene whispered, horrified:
"…It's too early."