Chapter 21: The Forest That Watches
Aiden expected relief when they left the collapsing hollow behind.
He expected the fresh air to feel like freedom, the forest canopy to feel like safety, the distance from the monster to loosen the knot coiled beneath his ribs.
None of that happened.
The forest was quiet—too quiet. No birdsong. No rustling of small animals. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath as the battered caravan regrouped under the shadow of ancient trees.
Fog still clung to their clothes. Mud weighed down their boots. Everyone smelled like smoke, fear, and exhaustion.
Garrik paced at the tree line like a wolf trying to find where the trap teeth were hidden.
"Don't spread out," he barked. "No one wandering off. We stay together until I say otherwise."
Myra lowered Aiden carefully to a fallen log. The pup stayed pressed to his chest, tiny body still trembling from overuse. Its lightning flickered weakly along its fur, more like candle flame than storm.
Nellie knelt beside him, fussing with his sleeve to check for bleeding, then checking his pulse, then checking again as if the number might suddenly change.
"I'm okay," he said quietly.
"That's a lie," Myra muttered.
"That's… partly a lie," Aiden admitted.
His bones felt like they'd been hollowed out and filled with cold water. Every heartbeat throbbed with leftover lightning, but it was faint now—like an ember buried under ashes. He could breathe again. He could think.
Until he remembered the voice in the fog.
Found you.
He tried to shove the thought aside.
Garrik strode up, planting himself in front of the three of them with his arms crossed. "Explanations. Now."
Myra lifted her chin. "We were running for our lives. What part of that needs explaining?"
He pointed at Aiden. "He shot lightning out of his hands. Twice. And then a third time. In front of fifty people."
Nellie flinched. Myra opened her mouth to argue—but Aiden shook his head.
"It wasn't… intentional," he said. "It just happened."
"That's not comforting," Garrik growled.
Aiden didn't blame him.
The man looked like he'd aged ten years in ten minutes. His braid was half-undone. His coat was torn. His voice was raw.
Garrik sighed heavily. "Look. The Hollow of Broken Teeth has killed entire caravans. Today we walk away missing only three." His jaw tightened. "That's a miracle. But miracles don't come without a price."
Aiden's stomach knotted.
"Are you saying I'm the price?"
"I'm saying," Garrik said, voice softer but not kinder, "that the world we're walking into will have questions. And if you don't have answers, they'll make up their own. People get dangerous when they don't understand things."
Myra bristled. "Aiden saved lives. That's the only thing anyone needs to understand."
Garrik held her gaze. "I'm not arguing what he did. I'm arguing what comes next."
He stepped back and turned to address the entire caravan.
"We rest here until we can walk. No fires. No noise. No wandering. The Hollow collapsing will send beasts running in every direction. We don't want them running into us."
The group murmured grimly.
Aiden leaned back against the log, exhaling slowly. Exhaustion pulled at him like gravity, but sleep was impossible. Every time he closed his eyes he saw:
The cavern teeth cracking. The fog-entity reaching toward him. The monster's molten eyes. Lightning leaving his hands.
Nellie broke the silence.
Very quietly.
"Aiden… does it hurt?"
He blinked. "What?"
"The lightning," she whispered. "When it comes out. Is it… hurting you?"
He thought. Really thought.
"…Yes," he admitted. "But not like a wound. More like it's too big to fit inside me."
Myra huffed. "Welcome to magic."
"It isn't magic," Aiden said. "It's the System."
Myra rolled her eyes. "Semantics."
The pup nudged his chin, a soft spark crackling against his skin. It wasn't playful. It was checking him—like a wolf sniffing a packmate for wounds.
Aiden scratched behind its ear.
It leaned into his touch.
Somewhere behind them, a branch snapped.
Garrik's head shot up.
"Quiet," he hissed.
The forest wasn't empty anymore.
Rustling. Low thumps. The cracking of underbrush. Something big moving at the edges of the trees, circling the camp. Then two things. Then three.
The caravanners clutched each other. Hunters raised spears with shaking arms.
Aiden tensed, instinct surging, but too faint to do anything except raise the hairs on his arms.
Myra reached for her dagger.
Nellie hid behind him.
The pup's fur rose, crackling weakly.
Garrik signaled the hunters to hold.
The noises grew louder.
Branches shook overhead. Leaves rained down. Something snorted—a deep, rumbling sound that vibrated the earth under their boots.
Aiden swallowed hard.
"Is it another Fangback?" Myra whispered.
"No," Garrik breathed. "This… is worse."
A massive shadow passed between two trees.
Then—
A horn.
Curved and black as obsidian.
Another.
Longer. Sharper.
Then a third—shaped like twisted iron, spiraling upward with a faint, unnatural glow.
Nellie inhaled sharply. "T-that's a… a—"
"Gravetusk," Garrik finished grimly. "Three of them."
Aiden's blood went cold.
He knew the name. From a game. A bestiary. A late-game boss monster with armor thick as stone and a temper like a siege ram.
They stepped into view—three colossal boar-like beasts, each taller than a horse, muscles rippling beneath slate-gray hide. Their tusks glowed faintly with necrotic energy, leaving trails of sickly light in the air.
Their eyes—small and beady—fixed on the caravan.
"Do not move," Garrik whispered.
A child behind them whimpered.
One of the Gravetusks snorted and pawed the ground.
Myra tightened her grip on Aiden. "We cannot take these. Not after what we just survived."
"No one's fighting," Garrik growled. "They're territorial. If we look small and harmless, maybe—"
A fourth rustle.
Aiden's heart dropped.
Not a Gravetusk.
Something smaller.
Something familiar.
Lightning flickered between the roots.
Blue-white, trembling, weak but unmistakable.
The pup.
It stepped into view beside the lead Gravetusk, limping slightly, body still crackling with tired static.
And every Gravetusk froze.
Not in fear.
In obedience.
Myra's breath caught. "It… commands them?"
Nellie whispered, "Or it's one of them."
The pup looked straight at Aiden.
Then it yipped—soft, sharp, like a spark being flicked.
The Gravetusks turned toward the forest.
Then they walked away.
Just like that.
The earth shook with every step until the sound faded into the deeper woods.
Silence followed, thick and unreal.
Garrik slowly let out a breath he'd been holding for far too long. Several hunters collapsed onto the ground. Someone cried softly.
Myra whispered, "What… is that wolf?"
Aiden didn't answer.
The pup trotted up to him—then collapsed into his lap, exhausted.
He lifted it gently, heart pounding in a rhythm that didn't match his own heartbeat.
The System flickered.
[Beast Heritage Detected]
[Bloodline Classification: ???]
[Threat Potential: Catastrophic]
[Bond Holder: Aiden Raikos]
[Status: Developing]
Myra saw his expression. "Bad?"
"Worse," Aiden said softly. "Unknown."
Before anyone could speak again—
A distant howl echoed through the forest.
Not the pup.
Not a Gravetusk.
Something else.
Something huge.
Something hunting.
Garrik snapped up straight. "Move. Now. Before whatever that is follows the tusks' trail."
Aiden tried to stand, but the moment he shifted his weight, dizziness hit like a hammer. His legs buckled—
Myra caught him again.
"Aiden—"
"I'm okay," he lied.
"No, you aren't," she said, voice sharp.
Nellie grabbed his other arm. "Lean on us."
He didn't argue.
The caravan began moving, slow and unsteady.
The pup lifted its head weakly and pressed its snout into Aiden's wrist.
Lightning sparked once.
Aiden froze.
In his mind—
clear as spoken words—
a single instinct echoed:
Hurry.
Something is coming.
Something worse.
The forest around them rustled with the sound of pursuit.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Alright, real talk for a second.
WebNovel rejected Reborn with the Beastbinder System.
Yeah. They said it "wouldn't make money."
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