By the time the sun climbed above the canopy, the previous night already felt strangely distant.
Instinct and Arwen continued southwest through a part of the forest that seemed older with every kilometer.
Massive trunks rose around them, their roots twisting across the ground in thick ridges that forced them to alter their path constantly.
Little sunlight reached beneath the canopy.
Arwen led.
Instinct followed with Moonfall resting at his side.
Most of the pain from the Wolftler attacks had disappeared.
Absolute Recovery had taken care of the damage, leaving only faint reminders whenever he twisted too sharply.
Level Twenty-Nine.
The number refused to leave his thoughts.
One more level.
Then the first transformation would become available.
Skin.
He wanted to know what that meant badly enough that the distance between twenty-nine and thirty had begun to feel irritatingly large.
” YOU’RE IMPATIENT.
”
I’m not.
” YOU ABSOLUTELY ARE.
”
Instinct ignored her and stepped over another massive root.
Nyx remained quiet for several minutes.
That should have warned him.
” I’VE FOUND SOMETHING.
”
About the kitsune?
” NO.
SOMETHING MUCH STRANGER.
”
Instinct glanced at Arwen ahead of him.
She hadn’t noticed anything.
What?
Nyx hesitated.
That alone made him pay closer attention.
” I’VE BEEN GOING THROUGH MORE OF THE OLD RECORDS.
FOUR NAMES KEEP APPEARING.
”
What names?
” WHITE TIGER.
”
A pause.
” BLACK TORTOISE.
AZURE DRAGON.
VERMILION BIRD.
”
Instinct frowned.
Those are names?
” MAYBE.
”
That sounds reassuring.
” SOME RECORDS TREAT THEM AS NAMES.
OTHERS MAKE THEM SOUND LIKE TITLES.
OR SPECIES.
OR SYMBOLS.
”
So you don’t know.
” I PREFER “ONGOING RESEARCH.” ”
Instinct almost smiled.
How old are these records?
” OLD.
AND CONTRADICTORY ENOUGH THAT I WOULDN’T TRUST ANY ONE OF THEM BY ITSELF.
”
Then why do these four matter?
” BECAUSE THEY KEEP APPEARING.
DIFFERENT SOURCES.
DIFFERENT PERIODS.
DIFFERENT DESCRIPTIONS.
SAME FOUR NAMES.
”
That was more interesting.
Instinct kept walking.
What do they say?
” THAT’S WHERE IT BECOMES MESSY.
SOME CALL THEM GUARDIANS.
SOME CALL THEM BEASTS.
”
Nyx paused.
” OTHERS DESCRIBE THEM AS WOMEN.
SPIRITS.
DIVINE CREATURES.
PROTECTORS.
DESTROYERS.
LEGENDS.
”
Very specific.
” I THOUGHT SO TOO.
”
Do you know where they are?
” NO.
”
Whether they’re alive?
” NO.
”
Whether they ever existed?
” ALSO NO.
”
Instinct sighed.
Arwen looked back.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You sigh at nothing quite often.”
“I have a complicated inner life.”
“That explains very little.”
“It wasn’t intended to.”
Arwen shook her head and turned forward again.
Nyx laughed inside his mind.
” ONE DAY SHE’S GOING TO REALIZE YOU’RE HIDING SOMETHING.
”
Probably.
” THAT DOESN’T WORRY YOU?
”
Not particularly.
” ASK YOURSELF THAT AGAIN WHEN SHE’S HOLDING A KNIFE.
”
Instinct’s eyes dropped briefly to the dagger at Arwen’s side.
She’s almost always holding a knife.
” EXACTLY.
”
He suppressed a smile.
Why tell me about the four Guardians now?
” BECAUSE OF YOUR CLASS.
”
Absolute Tamer.
” YES.
IF THESE RECORDS REFER TO ACTUAL BEINGS, AND IF THEY’RE AS POWERFUL AS SOME OF THE STORIES SUGGEST, THEN THEIR EXISTENCE MAY MATTER TO YOU.
”
You think I can bond with them?
” I DIDN’T SAY THAT.
”
Instinct’s eyebrows rose.
You don’t know? New chapters come out on g.com first.
” NOT EVEN SLIGHTLY.
”
Nyx sounded almost offended by the suggestion.
” I DON’T KNOW WHETHER THEY’RE SENTIENT.
I DON’T KNOW WHETHER THE FORMS DESCRIBED IN THE RECORDS ARE LITERAL.
I DON’T KNOW WHETHER THOSE NAMES REFER TO FOUR INDIVIDUAL BEINGS OR TYPES OF CREATURES.
AND I DEFINITELY DON’T KNOW WHETHER YOUR CLASS COULD FORM A BOND WITH THEM.
”
Instinct considered that.
Nyx admitting uncertainty was becoming increasingly familiar.
So, for now, they’re just four names.
” FOUR REPEATEDLY RECORDED NAMES.
”
With no locations.
” CORRECT.
”
No confirmed status.
” CORRECT.
”
And no idea what they actually are.
” YOU’RE MAKING MY DISCOVERY SOUND VERY UNIMPRESSIVE.
”
I’m summarizing.
” BADLY.
”
Instinct stepped around a fallen trunk.
Any connection to the Wolftlers?
” NONE THAT I FOUND.
”
The kitsune?
” NOTHING.
”
The basilisk?
” NO.
”
So they have nothing to do with what we’re currently doing.
” THAT WE KNOW OF.
”
Instinct let the four names settle in his thoughts.
White Tiger.
Black Tortoise.
Azure Dragon.
Vermilion Bird.
He searched for some flicker of recognition.
Nothing came.
No memory.
No image.
No voice.
Only the familiar emptiness where his past should have been.
He stopped reaching for something that wasn’t there.
Ahead, Arwen suddenly halted.
Instinct’s hand went immediately to Moonfall.
“What is it?”
She pointed toward the earth.
Tracks crossed a patch of softer soil between the roots.
Instinct crouched beside her.
“Wolftlers?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Arwen examined one of the prints.
“Deer.”
Instinct stared at it.
“That’s disappointingly ordinary.”
Arwen glanced at him.
“Not everything in this forest exists to kill you.”
“Recent experience suggests otherwise.”
“You’ve only been here a few days.”
“And I’ve already fought a giant wolf, two boars, and an organized pack of antlered wolves.”
“Wolftlers.”
“Giving them a name doesn’t make them less ridiculous.”
Arwen smiled.
“Come.”
They moved on.
⸻
Arwen found a suitable place for training later that afternoon.
The ground was relatively flat, with enough open space between the trees for Instinct to move without tripping over roots.
He drew Moonfall.
“Again,” Arwen said.
Instinct stepped and struck.
“Too deliberate.”
He lowered the blade.
“Yesterday you told me I needed discipline.”
“I did.”
“Now I’m too deliberate.”
“Yes.”
“That sounds contradictory.”
“It isn’t.”
Arwen approached him and tapped the flat of Moonfall with her dagger.
“You spent your first fights relying almost entirely on instinct.
Yesterday, you started giving those instincts structure.”
“That sounds like progress.”
“It is.”
“Good.”
“But now you’re thinking about every correction before you move.”
Instinct frowned.
“You told me to remember them.”
“I told you to learn them.”
“There’s a difference?”
“A significant one.”
She stepped away.
“In a real fight, you don’t have time to think about the angle of your shoulders, the position of your feet, your balance, your distance, and then decide how to attack.”
Instinct considered that.
“So what am I supposed to do?”
“Repeat the correct movement until you no longer need to think about it.”
She raised her dagger.
“Your instincts are fast.
Train them properly instead of replacing them.”
That made considerably more sense.
Instinct settled into his stance.
“Again?”
“Again.”
He moved.
Moonfall cut cleanly through the air.
Arwen watched.
“Better.”
Instinct smiled faintly.
“You’re becoming generous.”
“Again.”
His smile vanished.
They continued.
⸻
They stopped for the night beneath the roots of an enormous tree.
This time, neither suggested lighting a fire.
After the Wolftlers, attracting attention seemed unnecessary.
Arwen sat against one of the roots, slowly checking the edge of her dagger.
Instinct rested nearby, staring through gaps in the canopy as stars began to appear.
His thoughts returned to Nyx’s discovery.
White Tiger. Get faster updates on g.com.
Black Tortoise.
Azure Dragon.
Vermilion Bird.
Four supposed Guardians.
Or beasts.
Or spirits.
Or women.
Or legends.
The information was almost useless.
Yet he couldn’t quite dismiss it.
Instinct closed his eyes.
He reached toward the empty place where his memories should have been.
For an instant—
Something shifted.
His eyes opened.
He remained perfectly still.
There had been something there.
Not a memory.
Not an image.
Not even a sound.
More like the faintest disturbance at the edge of something vast and unreachable.
Instinct reached for it again.
Nothing.
Gone.
“Instinct?”
He looked toward Arwen.
She had stopped examining her dagger.
“What?”
“You tell me.”
He frowned.
“I almost remembered something.”
Her entire demeanor changed.
Arwen set the dagger aside.
“What did you remember?”
“That’s the problem.
I don’t know.”
“That isn’t usually how remembering works.”
“I said almost.”
She shifted closer.
“Did you see something?”
“No.”
“Hear something?”
“No.”
“A place?
A person?”
Instinct shook his head.
“It was just a feeling.
Something at the edge of my memory.”
Arwen studied him carefully.
“What caused it?”
“Four names.”
“What names?”
Instinct hesitated, then answered.
“White Tiger.
Black Tortoise.
Azure Dragon.
Vermilion Bird.”
Arwen waited.
Instinct watched her expression.
Nothing.
“You’ve heard of them?”
“No.”
He wasn’t sure why that disappointed him.
“They appear in old records.
Apparently some of those records call them Guardians.”
“Guardians of what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where are they?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are they still alive?”
“I don’t know.”
Arwen stared at him.
Instinct sighed.
“Yes.
I’m aware of how useful this information is.”
“Where did you find it?”
He paused.
“Old records.”
Arwen’s eyes narrowed.
“You have old records?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
Instinct considered several possible answers.
None were particularly good.
“It means I don’t know how to explain it yet.”
Arwen watched him.
He expected another question.
Instead, she leaned back against the root.
“All right.”
Instinct blinked.
“All right?”
“You’re hiding something.”
“That sounds less accepting.”
“You are.”
Instinct said nothing.
Arwen’s emerald eyes remained on him.
Then she looked away.
“You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”
That surprised him.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t make me regret being patient.”
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The threat.”
Arwen smiled faintly.
“I thought you might miss it.”
Instinct leaned back beside her.
After a moment, Arwen shifted closer and rested her head against his shoulder.
The forest remained quiet.
Instinct looked toward the stars again.
White Tiger.
Black Tortoise.
Azure Dragon.
Vermilion Bird.
Whatever they were, wherever they were, they could wait.
Tomorrow they would continue toward the ruins.
If the old information was accurate, somewhere ahead there might be a kitsune.
After that came the basilisk.
Arwen’s people.
The Wolftlers and whoever had created them.
One problem at a time.
Arwen shifted against him.
Instinct lowered his gaze.
Her emerald eyes met his.
For several seconds neither of them spoke.
Then Instinct smiled faintly.
“I want you tonight.”
Something changed in Arwen’s expression.
The Guardians could remain mysteries until morning.
So could everything else.