High above the forest canopy, a brilliant blue-and-white hawk circled lazily through the morning sky.
Its sharp golden eyes scanned the forest floor below.
Then…
It folded its wings.
The hawk plummeted toward the earth like a bolt of lightning.
A small gray mouse darted frantically through the underbrush, weaving between roots and fallen leaves in a desperate attempt to escape.
It was too late.
Its powerful talons snapped shut around the tiny creature, lifting it helplessly into the air.
The hawk climbed higher and higher until the trees looked like nothing more than patches of green.
Then it opened its claws.
The mouse tumbled helplessly through the air.
Its tiny squeaks vanished beneath the rush of wind before—
The lifeless body struck the forest floor.
The hawk descended moments later, landing beside its meal before tearing into it with practiced precision.
Not far away…
Voices drifted through the trees.
“…I’m just saying…”
Javon pushed aside a low-hanging branch as he walked.
“If Riven was secretly rich this entire time…”
He adjusted the pack slung over his shoulder.
“…then technically…”
He grinned.
“…none of us should have to work another day in our lives.”
A loud groan escaped Vistara.
“Oh my gods…”
She pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Javon.”
“You’ve been talking about money since we left Thunderwood.”
“I know.”
He smiled proudly.
“And I haven’t run out of reasons yet.”
She shot him an exhausted glare.
“Please do.”
Leading the group several yards ahead, Riven silently navigated the dense forest.
The towering pines stretched endlessly overhead, their branches weaving together into a thick canopy that scattered beams of sunlight across the ground.
He moved through the wilderness as though he had been born there.
Every fallen branch…
Every animal trail…
Every change in the wind…
Nothing escaped his notice.
Behind him, Aelwyn and Syanna walked side by side, their conversation entirely different from Javon’s endless complaints.
“Theoretically…”
Aelwyn stroked his beard thoughtfully.
“A person could wield two different schools of magic.”
Syanna’s eyes widened.
“Really?”
He nodded.
“It has happened before.”
“But the strain placed upon both the body and the Vyr is extraordinary.”
He raised a finger.
“Take me for example.”
“I specialize in offensive magic.”
“I can cast destructive spells with little difficulty.”
He smiled faintly.
“But ask me to perform advanced healing…”
He shook his head.
“…and I would likely do more harm than good.”
Syanna nodded thoughtfully.
“So even powerful mages have limits.”
“They do.”
“The stronger someone becomes…”
“The more important it is to understand what they cannot do.”
“Hmm…”
She smiled.
“That’s… surprisingly comforting.”
Several steps ahead…
Riven suddenly stopped walking.
So abruptly that everyone behind him nearly walked into one another.
His head slowly turned.
His golden eyes scanned the trees.
Then the forest floor.
Then the branches overhead.
Every muscle in his body became perfectly still.
“…Be still.”
His voice was barely above a whisper.
Yet something about it caused the entire group to freeze instantly.
Javon’s smile disappeared.
Vistara instinctively rested a hand near the hilt of her sword.
Even Aelwyn stopped speaking mid-sentence.
Silence.
Complete silence.
The cheerful sounds of conversation vanished.
Only the rustling leaves remained.
Riven slowly crouched.
Without taking his eyes off the forest ahead, he reached down and picked up a jagged stone nearly the size of his head.
Its edges were sharp enough to tear flesh.
He weighed it once in his hand.
Then stood again.
“W-what is it, Riven?”
Vistara asked quietly.
Her voice barely disturbed the still air.
Riven didn’t answer immediately.
His eyes remained fixed on something hidden beyond the trees.
“…Shh.”
The word was soft.
Almost gentle.
But everyone obeyed.
Several long seconds passed.
Javon strained his ears.
“I don’t hear anything.”
Riven’s grip tightened around the stone.
“…Exactly.”
The forest had gone silent.
No birds.
No insects.
No distant animal calls.
Nothing.
For someone who had spent years surviving alone in these woods…
That silence was louder than any scream.
Riven’s grip tightened around the jagged stone.
“…Don’t move.”
Javon frowned.
“What is it?”
Riven didn’t answer.
Instead…
He knelt beside the trail.
Fresh footprints.
Each one nearly the size of a dinner plate.
Deep enough to sink several inches into the earth.
Vistara swallowed.
“What made those?”
Riven slowly reached down, pressing two fingers into the print.
“It’s still warm.”
Everyone froze.
Javon looked around nervously.
“If it’s that big…”
“…why didn’t we hear it?”
Riven’s golden eyes slowly lifted toward the trees.
His expression hardened.
“…Because it didn’t want us to.”
A low breath drifted through the forest.
Not behind them.
Not ahead of them.
But all around them.
“I want all of you to stay together.”
Riven’s voice was calm, but there was a seriousness behind it that none of them had heard before.
“Whatever happens…”
“Don’t move.”
Without another word, he slowly stepped away from the group.
“Wait…” Javon whispered, panic creeping into his voice.
“Where are you going?”
Riven didn’t answer.
He simply disappeared into the dense forest.
The branches barely moved as he vanished.
One moment he was there…
The next…
He was gone.
Javon stared at the empty space.
“…We’re going to die.”
His voice cracked.
“I knew today felt unlucky.”
Vistara shot him an irritated glare.
“Would you stop talking?”
“He hasn’t done anything that suggests he’d leave us behind.”
“…Trust him.”
Even though…
She was trying to convince herself just as much.
Aelwyn quietly disappeared into Riven’s chest.
“Great now the mage disappeared…”
Silence swallowed the woods.
No birds.
No insects.
Nothing.
Then…
A bush nearly twenty yards away exploded outward.
An enormous creature stepped into the clearing.
The ground trembled beneath its weight.
Everyone’s breath caught.
The beast stood nearly ten feet tall at the shoulder and stretched over twenty feet from its blunt snout to the end of its heavy tail.
Its body was wrapped in overlapping charcoal-black scales that looked less like skin and more like plates of forged iron.
Every scale caught the sunlight with a dull metallic sheen, layered so tightly together that not even the tip of a blade looked capable of slipping between them.
Its thick neck disappeared into shoulders broader than a wagon.
Powerful muscles rolled beneath its armored hide with every slow step.
Its paws were massive…
Each ending in curved claws nearly a foot long.
Yet despite its incredible size…
It moved without a sound.
No heavy footsteps.
No snapping branches.
Only the soft rustle of leaves as it advanced.
Its head resembled a monstrous wolf twisted together with something reptilian.
A long snout constantly twitched as enormous nostrils pulled in the scent of the air.
Its pale gray eyes wandered aimlessly.
Almost blind.
But it didn’t need sight.
It hunted with its nose.
Rows of jagged fangs protruded from its mouth even while its jaws remained closed.
Fresh blood dripped from one of them.
Javon’s knees nearly buckled.
“I-Is…”
He swallowed hard.
“…Is that a fucking Gloomfang?”
No one answered.
The monster slowly lowered its head.
It sniffed once.
Twice.
Its nostrils flared.
Then its head locked directly onto the group.
“It found us…” Syanna whispered.
The Gloomfang took another slow step.
Then another.
It wasn’t rushing.
It knew they couldn’t escape.
The predator simply intended to choose which one to eat first.
Its jaws slowly opened.
A foul stench of rotten flesh washed over them.
Before anyone could move—
A blur erupted from the trees.
Riven.
He launched himself from above, using a low hanging branch as a springboard.
He flew straight toward the beast’s open mouth.
The jagged stone disappeared deep into the soft flesh at the back of the Gloomfang’s throat.
The monster’s jaws snapped shut inches behind him.
The deafening roar shook the forest.
Birds exploded from the treetops.
The ground vibrated beneath everyone’s feet.
The Gloomfang violently thrashed its head, trying to dislodge the pain buried inside its throat.
Riven landed in a crouch several yards away.
“…Too dull.”
He frowned.
“It barely pierced.”
The creature spun toward him.
Its nostrils flared violently.
It no longer cared about the others.
Now…
It wanted the hunter.
The Gloomfang charged.
Its speed was horrifying.
For something so enormous, it crossed the clearing in only a few strides.
One massive paw swung toward Riven.
He barely ducked beneath it.
The claws ripped through the trunk of an ancient pine behind him as though it were paper.
The tree crashed into the forest.
Riven rolled beneath the beast’s body.
The jagged stone slammed against its ribs.
The rock shattered.
Not the scales.
“…Just as I thought.”
He slid backward across the dirt.
“The scales are too thick.”
Another swipe.
He leaned backward just enough for the claws to miss his face.
The wind from the attack alone knocked him off balance.
His mind raced.
Eyes.
Throat.
Inside the mouth.
Under the jaw.
The joints.
Only the places the scales couldn’t protect.
The rest…
Was useless.
The Gloomfang lunged again.
Riven reached into the pouch tied to his waist.
Carefully wrapped inside an old cloth…
Lay one of the longest remaining fragments of his shattered chokutō.
He slowly unraveled the cloth.
Sunlight reflected off the thin golden line running through the broken steel.
Though no longer a sword…
It was still sharp.
Riven wrapped his fingers around the makeshift dagger.
A faint smile crossed his face.
“This…”
He lowered his stance.
“…will do.”
The Gloomfang roared once more.
Then charged.
Riven didn’t move.
Not until the very last heartbeat.
Then…
He vanished.
A brilliant streak of golden light flashed through the forest.
The leaves overhead exploded into the air as Riven shot forward, his feet barely touching the ground.
Its nostrils flared.
It could no longer smell fear.
Only its prey.
With a thunderous roar, the monstrous predator charged.
Despite weighing several tons, it crossed the clearing with terrifying speed.
Each silent step shook the earth beneath it, yet its padded feet made almost no sound.
The distance between hunter and hunted vanished in an instant.
Riven’s breathing slowed.
Not the scales.
The joints.
The places nature forgot to protect.
At the last possible second—
He disappeared.
The Gloomfang’s claws tore through empty air.
A streak of gold flashed beneath its enormous body.
The fragment of Riven’s broken chokutō sliced deep into the exposed joint behind the beast’s front leg.
Dark crimson blood sprayed across the grass.
The Gloomfang let out a deafening roar that echoed through the mountains.
It stumbled forward, one leg buckling beneath its tremendous weight.
Before it could recover—
Riven struck again.
Another flash.
Another precise cut.
The tendon behind its opposite leg split open beneath the broken blade.
The beast lurched violently to one side, its movements no longer graceful.
Its speed…
Was gone.
Riven landed several yards away, sliding backward across the dirt.
He lowered the broken blade.
His golden eyes never left the monster.
He wasn’t looking for an opening.
He was waiting for it to make one.
Hidden behind a cluster of dense bushes, the others watched in stunned silence.
Javon’s mouth hung open.
“…How…”
His voice barely escaped his throat.
“How is he even standing?”
“He was unconscious for five days.”
“I thought every bone in his body was broken.”
Syanna kept her eyes fixed on the battle.
“Aelwyn believes the scar Lucifer left isn’t just a wound.”
She glanced toward the crimson mark stretching across Riven’s chest.
“It’s changing him.”
“It accelerates his healing.”
“Much faster than any ordinary person.”
Javon stared in disbelief.
“So…”
“He gets nearly cut in half…”
He pointed toward Riven.
“…and a week later he’s fighting one of the deadliest creatures in Velora?”
“…That’s ridiculous.”
Nearby…
Vistara heard none of it.
Her eyes never left Riven.
Every time the Gloomfang lunged…
Her heart stopped.
Every time its claws missed him by inches…
She forgot to breathe.
Her fingers tightened around the strap of her backpack until her knuckles turned white.
Please…
Don’t get hurt again.
The memory of Lucifer carving through Riven’s chest flashed through her mind.
The blood.
The scream.
The helplessness.
She couldn’t bear to watch it happen twice.
The Gloomfang lowered itself once more.
Its injured legs trembled beneath its enormous weight.
But the pain only made it angrier.
Foam dripped from between rows of jagged fangs.
Its gray eyes wandered aimlessly.
Its nose…
Locked onto Riven.
With another earth-shaking roar—
It charged.
This time slower.
But no less deadly.
Each limping step tore chunks of earth from the ground as the massive predator barreled forward like a living avalanche.
Riven didn’t move.
Twenty feet.
Fifteen.
Ten.
He simply watched.
Javon’s eyes widened.
“Riven!”
The Gloomfang opened its jaws.
Rows of dagger-like teeth rushed toward him.
Five.
“…Move!”
Vistara screamed.
“RIVEN!!”
Two.
His knees bent.
The ground beneath his feet exploded apart.
He launched himself straight upward.
The monster’s jaws snapped shut beneath him with a crack loud enough to split the silence.
Riven soared high above the beast.
His cloak whipped violently behind him.
Then he looked downward.
“AELWYN!”
His voice echoed across the clearing.
“Wind Charge!”
The crimson scar across his chest suddenly pulsed.
Golden Vyr burst outward.
The light wrapped around his body before gathering over the middle of his chest.
It shimmered…
Expanded…
And from the glowing circle stepped Aelwyn.
The elderly spirit emerged as though walking through water, his robes flowing weightlessly in the air.
His silver hair danced in the rushing wind.
Aelwyn raised one weathered hand.
Emerald Vyr spiraled around his palm, gathering faster and faster until the surrounding air began to howl.
The wind itself answered his call.
A sphere of compressed air rapidly formed before his palm, twisting leaves and dust into a miniature cyclone.
He thrust his hand forward.
The blast of wind erupted skyward.
It struck Riven square in the back.
Instead of throwing him away…
It accelerated him.
The world became a blur.
Riven transformed into a golden comet hurtling toward the earth.
The Gloomfang looked up just in time to see him descending.
Too late.
Riven gripped the broken blade with both hands.
With a deafening cry—
He drove the jagged steel into the crown of the beast’s skull.
The impact shook the entire forest.
The earth split apart beneath the Gloomfang’s body.
A massive crater erupted outward in every direction as shockwaves tore through the clearing.
Dust and shattered stone blasted into the sky.
Nearby trees bent violently beneath the force.
For several long moments…
No one could see anything.
Only the settling cloud of dirt…
And the echo of the impact…
Filled the silent forest.