Shoko woke before dawn.
Not because of a nightmare, not because Tilli had decided his face was a pillow (though that happened often), but because the mark on his right hand was glowing.
A faint, pulsing violet light like a heartbeat beneath the skin.
"Stop glowing..." he whispered, shaking his hand.
It glowed harder.
Tilli raised his head, eyes narrowing. He chirped warningly.
"Yeah, I know," Shoko whispered back.
"Someone's still out there."
He looked toward Ariandel's bed across the cabin.
She slept curled on her side, silver hair pooled across the pillow like melted moonlight. Calm. Peaceful. Completely unaware of Shoko's glowing hand or the way his heart felt wired to something lurking in the trees.
He didn't wake her.
He should have.
But something tugged him, a threadlike pull, insistent, curious, whispering his name.
Shoko slipped out of bed.
Tilli bolted onto his shoulder with a chirp that clearly meant. "If you die, I'm haunting you."
They crept outside.
The forest was cold at this hour, bone-deep, cold, the kind of cold where even the trees seemed to hold their breath.
Mist curled around Shoko's ankles as he stepped into the clearing.
The tugging sensation grew stronger.
"Who's there...?" he whispered.
No answer.
A branch cracked.
Shoko stiffened, threads instantly ready to burst from his fingers.
"...Little mage."
The voice was smooth. Too smooth.
Shoko spun.
A figure stepped out from the fog, tall, cloaked in black furs, a pale mask obscuring their face. A long, crooked staff dangled from one hand.
They were not slaver. Not a villager. Not a scout.
This person radiated danger like heat.
Shoko swallowed hard. "W...Who are you?"
The figure tilted its head. The mask's carved expression was a warped smile.
"I smell thread-magic," the stranger murmured.
"Rare, Expensive."
Shoko stepped back.
Tilli hissed, baring tiny needle teeth.
The stranger chuckled. "A child. How quaint."
A sudden shiver ran down Shoko's spine. He remembered Ariandel's warning. Someone was watching.
Shoko summoned a thread-blade without thinking. It flickered in his hand.
The stranger seemed amused. "Oh? A baby mage with talent."
"I-I'm not a baby."
"Then come quietly."
Shoko froze. "What?"
"I only need to deliver you" the stranger said.
"Alive, preferably. My employer insists."
Shoko's blood went cold.
Someone wanted him.
Someone knew he had escaped.
Someone had sent this hunter.
"No," Shoko whispered, voice shaking. "I'm not going anywhere."
The hunter sighed. "A shame. I dislike harming children."
The mask tilted.
"But I'll do what I must."
The hunter raised their staff and the forest exploded with movement.
Silver light sliced through the clearing, tearing moss from the ground.
Ariandel landed between Shoko and the hunter, hair whipping in the wind, eyes glowing like lunar fire,
"Stay away from my child."
Her voice wasn't loud.
It didn't need to be.
Power rolled off her like a tidal wave.
Shoko's breath caught.
Ariandel wasn't warm now.
She wasn't playful.
She wasn't teasing or gentle.
She was... terrifying.
The hunter chuckled. "Ariandel the Silver. How curious. They said you'd died."
"Disappointed?" Ariandel asked coldly.
"Quite."
Ariandel raised a hand.
Starlight burst outward like a bloom of fireflies.
"Touch him," she whispered, "and I will erase you."
Shoko had never heard her speak like that like an ancient being, not a woman.
The hunter didn't flinch. "I take no orders from deserters."
Ariandel froze.
Shoko looked at her. "...Deserter?" Her jaw tightened, a tiny reaction, but unmistakable.
"Shoko," she said firmly, "go inside the cabin."
"No," he blurted. "I can fight!"
"Not against him."
"But I can help."
"Shoko."
Her voice broke.
Not with fear, but with desperation.
His throat tightened.
He took a shaky step backward.
The hunter lunged.
Ariandel moved faster.
Faster than Shoko had ever seen.
Her threads erupted in a shining arc, forming shields, blades, and walls of light that clashed with the hunter's dark magic.
The sound was deafening, metal on metal, magic on magic, a ringing that rattled Shoko's bones.
Ariandel stepped, spun, and swept her staff through the air, carving symbols of silver fire.
The hunter countered with sweeping strikes of shadow.
It was a deadly dance.
And for the first time, Shoko realized...
Ariandel was holding back.
Protecting him.
"Don't just stand there!" Ariandel shouted. "Run!"
But Shoko shook violently. "I-I won't leave you!"
"You must!"
The hunter slammed their staff into the ground.
Black tendrils shot across the clearing.
Shoko reacted without thinking.
He swung his thread blade, slicing through the tendrils before they reached Ariandel.
Ariandel spun and stared at him shocked.
The hunter laughed. "Oh? The child bites."
Ariandel hissed a curse.
"Shoko! Behind.."
The hunter's staff cracked toward him.
Shoko moved faster than he thought possible. Stepping aside as Ariandel taught him, feet light, body low. The staff razed his cheek, slicing a thin line of blood.
Shoko froze.
The hunter grinned behind the mask.
"Found you."
Shoko's pulse thundered.
Something inside him snapped.
Not fear.
Not anger.
Just... clarity.
He twisted his body exactly as Ariandel taught him.
He swung.
The thread blade hissed through the air. And carved a gash across the hunter's arm.
Blood spattered the moss.
The hunter staggered back, genuinely surprised. "...You little-"
Ariandel didn't let him finish.
She struck the forest floor with her staff.
Light erupted like a star collapsing.
The blast sent the hunter flying backward, smashing through branches, crashing into the shadows.
Silence fell.
Fog swirled.
The hunter did not return.
Ariandel collapsed to one knee.
"Ariandel!" Shoko ran to her, heart pounding.
She caught herself with the staff, breathing sharply.
She wasn't badly wounded, but she was drained.
She glared into the forest.
"He'll be back. And others will come."
Shoko trembled. "Because of me."
"No." She shook her head fiercely. "Because they want power. Because they want to use you. Because they fear what you could become."
Shoko stared at her, chest tight.
"What... am I?"
Ariandel cupped his cheek.
"Someone precious."
He flushed. "Ariandel.."
"And someone dangerous," she added, voice low.
Shoko blinked. "...Me?"
"Your thread affinity is unnatural. Exceptional. I've trained mages for a century, none learn as quickly as you. You shape threads like breathing even without full control."
Shoko swallowed.
"So they want to capture me?"
"Yes."
"To use me?"
"Yes."
"...Will you let them?"
Ariandel's eyes softened with something fierce and wild.
"Never."
Back inside the cabin, Ariandel healed his cheek with glowing fingers.
Shoko watched her silently, mind racing.
Finally, he asked.
"What did he mean?
When he called you a deserter?"
Ariandel's hands paused.
"... A story for later."
"Why not now?"
"Because now you are frightened. And tired. And I am angry." Her voice trembled just slightly. "Not at you. Never at you. But at them."
Shoko hesitated. "You left something behind."
Ariandel closed her eyes. "A life. A duty. A war I refused to fight."
His heart panged.
"I'm sorry..."
"Do not be." She touched his forehead. "I'd make the same choice a thousand times."
"What did you choose instead?" he whispered.
Ariandel smiled gently.
"To live. To help. To save children like you."
Shoko froze.
"...Like me?"
Ariandel kissed his hair. "Exactly like you."
He leaned into her, feeling warmth bloom inside him like a firelight.
That night, after Ariandel slept, Shoko sat near the window, staring out into the dark trees.
Tilli curled in his lap.
The mark on his hand slowly and softly. Like a steady heartbeat.
Someone wanted him.
Someone was hunting him.
Someone believed he was dangerous.
He looked at his hand.
Threads shimmered faintly beneath the skin.
Not dangerous..
But powerful.
And if he could learn faster than others, maybe...
Maybe he could protect her.
Tilli chirped quietly, as if reading his thoughts.
Shoko scratched his head. "I have to get stronger."
Tilli chirped again, proud and encouraging.
"Strong enough to fight back."
Tilli leapt onto his shoulder.
"And strong enough..."
He looked at Ariandel sleeping across the room.
"... to protect her the way she protects me."
He clenched his fist.
Tomorrow, he would ask Ariandel for more training.
Harder training.
Real training.
He wouldn't be taken.
Not again.
He wouldn't let her face danger alone.
Not ever.
A faint breeze rustled the trees outside.
A whisper drifted through the leaves, a voice only barely heard.
"Shoko..."
He shivered.
Tilli hissed, fur puffing.
Something was calling him.
And Shoko knew...
This was only the beginning.