Cael didn't stop until the pain in his legs became unbearable.
He ran between twisted trunks and roots that tried to trip him, Ayra's weight digging into his back, his breathing ragged and uneven. The air came in sharp pulls, thick and humid.
Behind him, the sounds of the forest followed.
He didn't know if the corrupted was still there.
He didn't want to find out.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a fallen trunk—an old, massive tree, hollowed and split from within. Its roots had lifted it off the ground, forming a dark opening at its base.
He slid toward the hollow and slipped inside sideways, careful not to strike Ayra. The inside smelled of rotting wood and damp earth, but it was deep.
Deep enough.
He set her down against the curved inner wall of the trunk.
Ayra clenched her teeth to keep from screaming.
Cael stayed still, listening.
For long seconds, there was only their ragged breathing.
Then…
Nothing.
No footsteps.
No screams.
Only the whisper of the wind.
Cael let out his breath slowly and sank down in front of her, resting his back against the wood.
"We're okay…" he murmured, more to convince himself than to inform her.
Ayra nodded, pale.
"I think so…"
Silence settled in again.
Cael lowered his gaze to the pouch hanging from his shoulder. He opened it slightly.
The egg was intact.
The cracks of light were still there, pulsing slowly, like a tired heart.
He closed it carefully.
"Yours?" he asked.
Ayra did the same with trembling hands. She opened her pouch.
Her egg glowed greenish, undamaged.
She exhaled.
"It's still alive…"
Cael nodded.
One less weight on his chest.
Ayra lowered her head.
"Cael…"
"Yeah?"
It took her a few seconds to speak.
"I'm sorry…" she said at last. "For everything. If I hadn't fallen… if I weren't so slow…"
She bit her lip.
"I'm a burden."
Cael frowned.
"Don't say that."
She looked up, surprised.
"But—"
"No," he cut her off firmly. "If anyone was the problem, it wasn't you."
He leaned forward slightly.
"They let us fall."
Ayra swallowed.
"I thought that… that at least Lior would help…"
Her voice broke.
Cael clenched his fists.
"I trusted him too," he admitted. "We had no reason to—and still, we did."
He looked toward the opening of the trunk, at the dark forest beyond.
"Darius didn't hesitate for even a second."
"Valt didn't either," Ayra added. "He didn't even look at us."
"And Lior…" Cael clicked his tongue. "The worst of them all."
Silence fell again, heavy.
"If we run into them again…" Cael said quietly, "they'll regret it."
Ayra looked at him.
There was no uncontrolled rage in his eyes.
There was resolve.
Cael tore his gaze from the forest and looked back at her.
"We wouldn't be here if it weren't for the girl with the trap."
Ayra blinked, as if only now able to think about it.
"The red-haired one…"
"Yeah," Cael nodded. "If it weren't for those cords, that thing would've caught us."
Ayra hesitated.
"I think I know who she is."
Cael raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? You do?"
She shifted her back against the wood, taking a deep breath.
"Pyrel," she said. "Or at least, I think so. The hair, the equipment, the way she moved… that's not common."
Cael frowned.
"Pyrel?"
"An important family," she explained. "Elite warlocks. They've never failed the Trials. They always come prepared, and they always walk out alive."
She gave a faint, joyless smile.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she was in the very first group through the portal."
Cael let out a breath.
"Great. We barely escaped, and she's hunting corrupted with ropes."
"More or less," Ayra murmured.
***
Several hours later, something stirred.
A crack.
High above.
Cael tensed instantly.
It wasn't coming from the ground.
It came from the canopy.
Something was moving among the branches—fast, light, far too controlled to be the wind.
Ayra's eyes flew open.
"Did you… hear that?"
Cael was already on his feet.
He grabbed a branch without a sound, his grip steady, his body ready to spring.
If it was the corrupted, he wasn't running again.
Another sound. Closer.
A shadow slipped through the leaves.
Cael stepped forward, aiming toward the opening of the trunk.
"Come out," he said firmly. "Now."
The shadow stopped.
And a calm voice answered,
"If you attack everything that moves like that, you won't last long in the Trials."
A figure dropped from above in a clean, almost elegant motion.
Red hair.
Burning eyes.
Cords hanging from her belt.
Cael froze, his weapon halfway raised.
"…Oh."
The girl looked him up and down.
Then she looked at Ayra.
"Good," she said. "You're still alive."
Ayra blinked.
"Yeah…"
The girl fixed her gaze on Cael again and smiled, tilting her head.
"Nice work back there," she added. "Carrying her and still not dropping the egg… not many would do that."
Cael swallowed.
"I thought you were a corrupted."
"I figured," she replied. "Relax. It lost your trail."
She stowed one of the cords.
"You can breathe."
A brief silence followed.
"I'm Lyra," she said at last. "And you two now owe me one."
She stepped closer to the trunk and lowered her voice.
"Don't stay here too long."
Cael looked at her seriously.
"Why?"
She pointed at the pouch on her shoulder… then at theirs.
"Because it won't be long now."
Ayra's eyes widened.
"Until…?"
"Until they hatch," Lyra finished. "The eggs are already reacting to the environment. Once they start, the entire forest will feel it."
Cael tightened his grip on the strap of his pouch.
"How much time do we have?"
Lyra tilted her head, assessing him.
"Hours. Maybe less."
The silence that followed was different. It wasn't pure fear. It was anticipation.
Lyra turned her gaze to Ayra and lingered a second longer than necessary.
"Ironroot," she said.
Ayra stiffened.
"How do you—?"
"Living wood, the greenish glow, the way you protected the egg even while falling," Lyra listed. "Ironroots always do that first."
Ayra lowered her gaze, surprised.
"My family works in city security…"
"I know," Lyra replied. "And it shows."
It wasn't praise. It was acknowledgment.
Then Lyra turned to Cael.
She studied him in silence.
Not his clothes.
Not his posture.
Him.
"And you…" she murmured.
Cael blinked.
"Plenty of people claim to be strong. Few prove it when their body is already giving out."
Ayra looked at him, a little surprised.
Cael looked away, uncomfortable.
"I just did what I had to."
Lyra smiled faintly.
"Exactly."
She turned away, looking back up at the treetops.
"When the eggs hatch, this trial will end," she added.
Cael thought of the three who had betrayed him.
"If we run into them again—"
Lyra cut him off without looking back.
"Don't think about revenge yet."
She turned.
"Think about surviving."
She paused.
"If you manage that… then everything else can be collected later."
The wind stirred the leaves once more.
Lyra took a step back.
"Move when you can," she said. "Don't follow obvious routes."
And before leaving, she added,
"Oh. And don't worry about who I am or where I come from."
She looked at them one last time.
"I'd rather be recognized for what I do."
And she vanished into the trees, without a sound.