The first beast had fallen, but its death was a summons.
Aurea could feel it—the way the earth itself trembled beneath her boots, the air thickening like a storm about to break. From the shadows of the tangled jungle ahead, eyes bloomed in the darkness, glinting like cold stars. They were watching. Waiting.
"Back to back!" Kael barked, already drawing his second blade, the steel whispering like wind through the leaves.
Riven moved without a word, planting himself at Aurea's side. Eryan was already facing the jungle, his daggers gleaming wet with blood and firelight.
The shadows moved.
Then they charged.
The horde came without sound—no growl, no snarl, only the rustling of leaves and the drumming of clawed feet against moss and stone. Dozens of beasts. All wrong, their bodies half-flesh, half-nightmare. Too many limbs. Spines curved in impossible ways. Eyes that shimmered with ancient malice.
Aurea felt her body stiffen again, fear wrapping cold fingers around her throat. But this time, she didn't freeze.
She reached for her power. The glyph etched along her wrist burned to life, pulsing faint gold. She threw out her hand—and a shockwave burst from her fingers, a sphere of light that slammed into the first row of creatures and shattered them like glass.
But more came.
Kael was a storm. His swords cut arcs through the horde, carving burning trails through muscle and bone. Blood sprayed like mist.
Eryan danced. Every step was lethal. His blades never stopped moving, weaving in a pattern that was equal parts violence and beauty. He moved to protect her, always staying within reach.
Riven was fury incarnate. Silent. Precise. He took on beasts twice his size, dragging them to the ground, his dark blade sinking deep.
Still, the tide did not stop.
"Aurea!" Kael shouted, breath ragged. "We need to move—now!"
She nodded, even as her knees shook. "Which way?"
Eryan stabbed a creature through the eye, yanked his dagger free, and pointed deeper into the jungle. "There. There's a rise—we can fight from higher ground."
They ran.
The horde followed.
The path was choked with vines and roots slick with moisture. Aurea stumbled once, twice, but Kael was always there to catch her. His hand around her waist felt like an anchor. His breath was hot against her ear. "I've got you. Always."
They reached the rise—an ancient stone platform, half-swallowed by the jungle. Vines coiled around forgotten carvings. Glyphs that pulsed faintly under Aurea's hand as she touched them.
"This place…" she breathed. "It's alive."
"No time," Riven said sharply. "They're climbing."
And they were.
The beasts began scaling the stones like spiders, their claws gouging lines into the stone. Dozens. Hundreds.
Aurea stepped forward.
She called her power again. This time, she didn't hesitate.
A column of golden fire erupted from her hand, burning a line through the climbing creatures. She felt the glyphs in the stone respond, flaring in tandem. The island's magic surged through her veins.
But with the power came the visions.
A flash. A city beneath the sea. Screams. Chains. A figure—something with too many wings and too many mouths—sealed in the dark. Watching. Waiting.
She gasped and nearly fell.
Kael caught her. "What did you see?"
"This place…" she said through clenched teeth. "It's not just corrupted. It's cursed."
Eryan turned. "Something ancient?"
"Something buried. Something waking up."
Riven cursed. "Then we're not just fighting monsters. We're fighting a goddamn prison break."
The beasts were on them again.
Kael stood in front of her. Riven at her right. Eryan at her left.
She was the flame, and they were her shield.
The next minutes blurred—blood, sweat, roars, and steel. She saw Kael take a gash to the arm and still keep swinging. Riven disappear into a knot of beasts and explode out the other side, his blade soaked. Eryan bleeding from his shoulder, teeth bared in a grin that didn't reach his eyes.
They fought like demons.
But even they couldn't hold forever.
A beast lunged for her, faster than she could react. Aurea's power was drained, her body trembling from channeling too much magic. She raised her arm, too slow.
Then Kael was there.
He threw himself in front of her, taking the full brunt of the attack.
They fell together, crashing to the stone.
Kael didn't move.
"KAEL!"
Aurea dropped beside him. Blood soaked his side. He was breathing—but barely.
"No. No, no, no…"
Riven screamed—a sound she had never heard from him. A howl of fury and grief. He waded into the horde like death itself, carving a path with a fury that seemed to set the very air ablaze.
Eryan knelt beside her, pressing his hands over Kael's wound. "We need to stop the bleeding."
Tears streaked her face. "I don't—I don't know how—"
"You do," Eryan said, voice low but firm. "You've healed me before. You can do this."
Her hands shook. Her magic was nearly gone. But she reached inside anyway.
She pressed her palms to Kael's chest and poured everything she had into him.
Memories flashed—his laugh, the way he always caught her when she fell, the way his hand felt on hers. The way he'd looked at her like she was the sun.
Golden light surged from her hands.
Kael gasped.
His eyes fluttered open.
"Aurea…" he whispered.
She laughed through her tears. "You idiot. Don't ever do that again."
He smiled weakly. "I'll try."
They embraced.
When Riven returned, his blade coated in black gore, his eyes were softer.
"You scared us," he muttered to Kael.
Kael chuckled weakly. "Don't get used to it."
Aurea stood, legs still shaking, and looked out over the jungle.
The beasts were gone.
Retreated.
For now.
But deep beneath the stone, she could still feel that heartbeat.
The real danger hadn't begun yet.
"Something's calling," she whispered.
Eryan joined her. "What do you mean?"
"There's a temple," she said, pointing toward the mountain rising in the center of the island. Its peak vanished into clouds. "That's where the magic comes from. Where it's… bound."
Riven stared at it. "And you want to go in?"
She turned to them. Her three guardians. Her storm, her shadow, her knife.
"No," she said.
"I need us to go in."