Arwen’s breath caught as Instinct’s lips found the curve of her neck, his hands already pulling away the light fabric that separated them.
She had been waiting for this moment since they settled beside the dying fire, and when she turned toward him there was no hesitation in her emerald eyes.
The forest around them seemed to hold its breath.
He moved with deliberate slowness at first, tracing every curve of her body as if committing it to memory.
His fingers found the sensitive place where her collarbone met her shoulder, and she gasped his name.
The sound was raw and honest, nothing like the composed elven warrior who had fought Wolftlers beside him only hours earlier.
“You’re mine,” he whispered against her skin.
Arwen pulled him closer, her fingers sliding into his hair.
“Always.”
There was no command in the words.
No influence from his class, no demand carried through their bond.
Neither belonged to the other.
It was simply the language they had chosen for something mutual—the fierce certainty that, in this moment, neither wanted to be anywhere else.
What followed was hours of desperate, consuming passion.
There was nothing magical forcing it, nothing in the bond compelling either of them forward.
The bond merely remained between them, carrying faint traces of emotion while every touch, every kiss, every choice remained entirely their own.
By the time the first hints of dawn began to lighten the sky, they lay exhausted beside the dying fire.
Arwen rested against his chest, her black hair scattered across his skin, while Instinct’s fingers traced slowly along her back.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then Arwen lifted her head.
“You’re smiling.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You are.”
Instinct looked down at her.
“You’re imagining things.”
“Of course.”
Her lips curved before she settled against him again.
Nyx had been suspiciously silent.
Instinct knew better than to appreciate that.
” I HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATING EXTRAORDINARY RESTRAINT.
”
There it is.
” YOU’RE WELCOME.
”
Instinct closed his eyes.
Goodnight, Nyx.
” TECHNICALLY, IT’S MORNING.
”
Goodnight.
” FINE.
BUT FOR THE RECORD, YOUR ELF LOOKS VERY— ”
Nyx.
A delighted laugh echoed through his mind.
Then, finally, silence.
Sleep claimed him moments later.
⸻
They didn’t break camp until well past midday.
Neither felt any particular urgency to rush.
Arwen braided her long black hair while Instinct extinguished the last embers of the fire and gathered their belongings.
When he looked over again, she was watching him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That sounded suspicious.”
Arwen stood and secured her dagger at her side.
“You are learning.”
“From you?”
“Unfortunately.”
Instinct smiled and lifted their remaining supplies.
They continued southwest.
The terrain had changed noticeably since the previous day.
The ground rose gradually beneath them, the forest becoming rockier as distant mountains appeared intermittently through gaps in the canopy.
Somewhere ahead were the old ruins.
And, if Nyx’s information was worth anything, the kitsune.
Instinct found himself thinking about her occasionally.
Not because he had already decided what she would become to him.
He hadn’t.
They didn’t even know whether the records were accurate.
The kitsune might be gone.
She might refuse to speak with them.
She might try to kill them.
Considering his experiences since awakening, that last possibility felt disturbingly reasonable.
Arwen glanced at him.
“You’re thinking again.”
“I do that occasionally.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“About the kitsune.”
Her expression changed slightly.
Not anger.
Not quite jealousy either.
Something between curiosity and caution.
“What about her?”
“What happens when we find her.”
“If we find her.”
“Right.”
Arwen stepped over a root.
“And?”
“I have absolutely no idea.”
That earned him a brief smile.
“Good.”
“Good?”
“I was beginning to worry you had convinced yourself this would be simple.”
“I fought an organized pack of antlered wolves yesterday.”
“Wolftlers.”
“I still prefer antlered wolves.”
“I know.”
“I no longer assume anything is simple.”
“Then perhaps you are learning.”
Instinct opened his mouth.
Arwen stopped.
Her expression changed instantly.
Instinct saw it and reached for Moonfall.
“What?”
Arwen’s eyes remained fixed on the path ahead.
“Movement.”
Instinct listened.
Heavy footsteps.
Several.
Branches snapped somewhere beyond the undergrowth.
Then came a low, guttural growl.
Nyx spoke privately.
” AND HERE I WAS HOPING WE MIGHT HAVE ONE PEACEFUL AFTERNOON.
”
Four enormous shapes emerged from the forest.
The creatures stood well over three meters tall, their massive bodies covered in thick, bark-like skin the color of aged wood.
Long arms hung beside broad torsos, ending in clawed hands large enough to wrap around his skull.
Their dim yellow eyes contained little beyond hunger and aggression.
The smell reached him next.
Rotting vegetation.
Mud.
Something considerably worse.
Instinct drew Moonfall.
“Please tell me those aren’t friendly.”
“Forest trolls.”
“Of course they are.”
Arwen’s hand moved toward her dagger, then stopped.
Four trolls.
Their size alone made the limitations of meeting them at close range obvious.
Instead, she reached among her belongings and pulled free a compact elven bow Instinct had noticed during their travels but had never seen her use.
With practiced ease, she readied it and drew an arrow.
Instinct glanced at her.
“You have a bow?”
Arwen gave him a brief look.
“I’m an elf.”
“Apparently that answers the question.”
“It should.”
” I LIKE HER ANSWER.
”
Of course you do.
The nearest troll roared.
Arwen raised the bow.
“We can discuss my equipment later.”
The troll charged.
She released.
The arrow struck high in its shoulder.
It barely slowed.
Instinct moved.
The troll’s arm swept toward him with enough force to break a tree.
He raised Moonfall.
The impact nearly tore the weapon from his hands.
Instinct slid backward across the earth, boots carving deep furrows through the soil.
His arms vibrated from the force.
The troll came again.
Instinct moved aside instead of meeting the blow.
The enormous fist crashed into the ground.
Earth erupted.
Instinct stepped inside its reach and cut.
Moonfall opened the troll’s side.
Dark blood spilled across bark-like skin.
The creature roared and swung blindly.
Instinct ducked.
Too slow.
The edge of its arm clipped his shoulder and sent him stumbling.
Pain flashed through him.
Absolute Recovery responded almost immediately.
” REMINDER: ABSOLUTE DOES NOT MEAN “STAND THERE AND LET EVERYTHING HIT YOU.” ”
I noticed.
Another arrow struck the troll.
This one entered its neck.
Instinct glanced toward Arwen.
She already had another arrow against the string.
So the bow wasn’t merely something she carried.
She knew exactly how to use it.
The other three trolls moved.
“Instinct!”
“I see them.”
Absolute Sense expanded around him.
Four trolls.
Arwen.
Trees.
Roots.
Rocks.
Every movement entered his awareness at once.
The first troll charged again.
Instinct watched its feet.
Its shoulders.
Its balance.
Arwen’s training returned to him.
Not as individual instructions anymore.
As structure.
The troll swung.
Instinct moved before the attack fully developed.
One step.
Moonfall flashed.
The blade passed through the side of the troll’s neck.
Not deep enough.
The creature turned.
Instinct was already gone.
He circled.
Another strike.
Deeper.
The troll stumbled.
Arwen fired.
An arrow entered its eye.
The creature collapsed.
One down.
Three remained.
The next two came together.
Instinct tightened his grip on Moonfall.
Before Arwen’s training, he would have met them directly.
Trusted his speed.
Trusted his strength.
Trusted whatever impossible instincts had carried him through his first battles.
Now he saw the mistake before making it.
Two opponents.
Different angles.
Different reach.
He didn’t need to overpower them.
He needed to control where the fight happened.
Instinct retreated several steps.
One troll accelerated ahead of the other.
Exactly what he wanted.
It swung.
Instinct slipped past the attack.
Moonfall cut behind its knee.
The creature staggered.
Instinct pivoted and struck again. You are reading on novelping.com, the official source.
The blade carved across its throat.
The troll grabbed for him.
He stepped outside its reach.
Arwen’s arrow buried itself in its chest.
Another followed.
The troll collapsed.
The third reached Arwen before she could draw again.
She released the bow and let it fall.
Her dagger appeared almost instantly.
The troll swung.
Arwen ducked beneath the blow and drove her blade into the inside of its wrist.
It roared.
She moved behind it.
The troll turned after her.
Instinct saw the opening.
Moonfall entered beneath its ribs.
The creature jerked.
Arwen’s dagger found the vulnerable flesh beneath its jaw.
Together, they pulled free.
The troll collapsed between them.
Instinct looked toward Arwen.
She looked back.
“Not bad.”
“Was that praise?”
“No.”
“Sounded like it.”
The final troll roared.
Instinct sighed.
“Of course.”
It charged directly at him.
This one was larger than the others.
Wounded already from one of Arwen’s earlier arrows.
Angry.
Instinct didn’t move.
Not immediately.
He watched.
Measured.
Waited.
The troll raised one enormous arm.
Instinct saw the attack before it came.
Shoulder.
Hip.
Weight shifting forward.
Distance.
Timing.
Efficiency.
He finally understood what Arwen had been trying to teach him.
His instincts had always told him when to move.
Her training was teaching him how.
The troll entered his range.
Instinct moved once.
Moonfall drove through its chest.
The blade found the heart.
The troll froze.
Its yellow eyes widened.
Instinct pulled Moonfall free and stepped aside.
The enormous creature swayed.
Then crashed into the earth.
Silence returned to the forest.
Instinct stood among the bodies, breathing hard.
Dark blood covered Moonfall.
Arwen retrieved her bow and approached him.
“You stayed balanced.”
Instinct looked at her.
“I killed four trolls with you, and that’s what you noticed?”
“Yes.”
He stared at her.
Arwen’s mouth curved.
“Better.”
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The praise.”
“Don’t become accustomed to it.”
Instinct wiped Moonfall clean.
Nyx’s voice purred inside his mind.
” IMPRESSIVE.
”
Instinct waited.
” THOUGH YOU’RE STILL QUITE ROUGH AROUND THE EDGES.
”
There it is.
” WHAT?
”
Nothing.
Arwen examined one of the bodies.
Instinct looked around.
“No levels?”
” NOT YET.
”
He frowned.
Not yet?
” EXPERIENCE DOESN’T ALWAYS ARRIVE THE INSTANT SOMETHING DIES.
BE PATIENT.
”
You telling me to be patient feels wrong.
” I CONTAIN MULTITUDES.
”
Instinct decided not to ask.
Arwen stood.
“Ready?”
He looked toward the path leading deeper into the rising terrain.
Toward the old ruins.
Toward the kitsune.
He sheathed Moonfall.
“Ready.”
Arwen secured the bow with the rest of her belongings, the weapon no longer quite as unremarkable to Instinct as it had been that morning, and started walking.
Instinct followed.
Behind them, four trolls lay motionless beneath the trees.
Ahead waited a creature neither of them truly understood.
And for once, Instinct resisted the temptation to imagine what would happen when they met her.
He would find out soon enough.