Vierna’s body trembled. Her Eidrecht body enhancement flickered and finally faded, leaving her almost normal again. She looked down at herself. The smoking black haze and veins had dimmed but not disappeared, staining her skin like strokes of a phantom brush.

  When the threat vanished, the rush of battle drained away, and silence pressed in. Then the pain came. It crawled slowly beneath her flesh, coiling into her nerves until it filled every part of her.

  It felt as if something alive had taken residence inside her body, gnawing and tearing through her veins, clawing at the seams of her skin. Every movement sent knives of agony racing through her blood, every breath flayed her lungs raw.

  Her muscles seized violently. Shock rippled through her again and again, each wave stronger than the last. The sensation was cruelly familiar—she remembered this kind of pain. The worst of it had been during the modification, when her bones had been stretched to unnatural shapes and her skin felt as though it were being eaten alive from the inside. That was the moment that had started everything, the first step into the mission that made her what she was.

  But even that paled compared to this.

  It was her body rejecting itself, tearing itself apart under its own unnatural strain. Her nerves burned white-hot; her limbs twitched without command. It felt like the fire inside her veins wanted to crawl out and leave her behind as ash.

  And not only that—her veins felt as if something alive beneath her skin, burning and tearing with every pulse. The pain wasn’t sharp like a wound; it was deeper, as though her own blood had turned against her. Every surge left her breath hitching, her limbs trembling, her heart thrashing to keep up with whatever was devouring her from within. It didn’t feel like the beast’s doing but she couldn’t imagine what else could cause agony like this.

  She tried to hold it in, tried to breathe through it, but the sound forced its way out anyway. A low, broken cry escaped her lips, swallowed quickly by the storm outside. She pressed a shaking hand against her mouth, praying the thunder would cover it so Lina wouldn’t hear.

  Her knees gave way, and she fell forward, catching herself just before her face hit the dirt. Her chest heaved uncontrollably, each breath cutting deeper than the last. Around her, the wind howled through the cave’s mouth, carrying the smell of wet soil and burnt flesh, testing how long she could endure before breaking completely.

  No one would come for her. If anyone from the village saw her in this state, she would have to lie, to hide what she had done and why.

  I should have fainted if my body were still normal. I guess, I was never meant to be normal.

  Then came another wave of heat, flaring and violent. Her nerves caught fire again, her muscles locking so tight she thought her bones would snap. She winced but didn’t let a scream out this time. Only her eyes trembled, her teeth grinding together as her body shook beneath the weight of her own creation.

  “ARGHHHHHHH!!!!!”

  The scream was relief and agony coalesce together. In the distance the thunder roar as the wind gets more violent. The bloodied flower field was a witness to girls that tried their best to survive, overcoming their weakness.

  “Vier…na…”

  She looked back, Lina was there trying to claw her way towards her, but her arms shooked so badly along with the blood and sweat drenched her with the rain. She didn’t moved at all despite her effort.

  Seeing Lina there was enough to dull the pain that had been creeping through her body. Yet her joints were still stiff, her muscles trembling with every small movement. She pressed her hand against the ground and began to crawl toward her.

  “Stay there… I’m coming,” she murmured, her voice hoarse and uneven.

  She was unable to stand anymore, let alone run toward Lina, even though her mind kept telling her to endure it. So she crawled instead. Each pull of her arms sent a fresh wave of pain through her body, her vision blurring from exhaustion. Still, she kept moving, dragging herself closer until finally she reached Lina’s side and let her body collapse beside her.

  The rain still drenched them both, but neither cared. What should have been only hours felt like an eternity, and when they finally reunited, it felt like years had passed since they’d last seen each other.

  Finally, after what felt like a long journey, both girls could no longer crawl. Pain overwhelmed their nerves. So they lay where they were, close enough to hear each other’s voice through the rain but too far apart to embrace.

  But their throats refused to say anything. For a while, they just lay there beneath the ashen sky that seemed to weep for them. The storm raged on, wind howling, dark leaves swirling above like wandering spirits.

  Forcing her voice to finally come out, Vierna turned her head toward Lina. “So… where did you find that little thing?”

  “It was a present,” Lina replied. “Said it was waiting for you. Kept calling my name until I picked it up. Reminded me of you, somehow.”

  Vierna gave a weak laugh. “So a many-armed beast reminds you of me?”

  “Well, the way you hug me every time we sleep, it does feel like you’ve got more than two hands,” Lina said.

  “Ahaha, you’re mean, Lin.”

  Their laughter filled the air, defying the gale around them.

  Vierna moved again. The pain had been there a moment ago, but suddenly it was gone. She frowned, confused. It hadn’t eased gradually, and she knew she hadn’t healed. It was as if her pain receptors had simply shut off.

  She didn’t dwell on it. If anything, it helped her get closer to Lina.

  So she crawled again, slowly this time, until she finally lay beside her. Only then did she notice the scar.

  “Lina… your leg.”

  “Yeah… I probably need to tend it as soon as I can.” She said as she observed her leg. “By the way, where’s the boy?”

  “Oh, he’s just over there.” Vierna pointed toward Axel, lying in the field of flower.

  “Shit. He’s badly injured… I hope he’ll be okay. We need to get out of here; the rain isn’t helping any of us,” Lina said.

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  “But where do we take him? Going back to Rolbart with a strange boy isn’t exactly a good idea.”

  “There’s a small hiding place my mother set up. We used as an extended hunting camp of some sort.”

  The girls turned toward the voice. Fenric was sitting up now. His fur was still damp, his body trembling slightly, but his eyes burned with focus and restraint. The light in them wasn’t gentle anymore—it was sharp, almost commanding.

  Vierna blinked, forcing a small smile. “Ah, not only handsome but resource—”

  Fenric however just stood, ignoring Vierna completely and went to Axel.

  She froze for a moment. She felt something hostile in him.

  Fenric’s steps were unsteady but determined, and went to where Axel lay. For a moment, he froze—his hand hovering just above the boy’s shoulder, eyes flicking across the dirt-streaked face as if searching for something he already knew. Then, with a quiet breath, he gathered Axel carefully into his arms.

  He then started walking without saying anything. The girls knew Fenric meant for them to follow, but there was something strange about him. Vierna didn’t ask what it was. She stood up and offered her support to Lina.

  “What about your injury? That beast hit you a few times, right?” Lina asked.

  “Yeah… I don’t feel it anymore. Come on.”

  Lina’s expression suggested she wanted to ask more, but she held herself back nonetheless.

  They passed through the forest beyond Rolbart—a normal forest, or at least it should have been. The air was clean, the scent of wet leaves familiar, and the ground didn’t pulse like the Schattwald’s twisted soil.

  While she didn’t feel the pain, she felt the fatigue. Her body screamed for rest. Every step made her legs heavier and her lungs tighter, but her mind refused to stop. Fenric hadn’t said a word since they left the clearing, and that silence weighed on her more than the storm ever could.

  Vierna could feel it from the way Fenric treated her with silence—he didn’t trust her anymore. That thought concerned her. Not only did she regret that her friendship with him, even if it had been fake, was going to falter, but if that doubt grew, maintaining her cover in Rolbart would become far harder. Worse, he might tell Loran’del what he suspected. And she didn’t even know what, exactly, had triggered it.

  Was it the smoke that rose from her body when she used magic—the same black haze that clung to him? Proof that the tea’s effects had reached her too, confirming she had lied to Loran’del?

  Or was it something deeper, something he felt when they fought side by side?

  Back when she had charged toward Lina with Fenric, she had felt it—the pulse of Grace. Lina’s Grace. If Fenric sensed it too, then suspicion was inevitable. Did he think they were both agents of the Imperium?

  And if he did… what lie could she tell him now?

  And what made it worse was Lina’s disguise. Her body was still older than she truly was, and her hair hadn’t reverted to silver, but her face—her face was scarred like the real her.

  Her thoughts tangled into a web of exhaustion. Her mind ran wild, spinning excuses and plans she was too tired to make sense of. The fatigue clung to her like a wraith, whispering for her to stop, to sleep, to let go.

  Just as she took another step, a thought hit her like a blade to the chest.

  Moony!

  Her breath caught. In the chaos of battle—the screaming, the blood, Lina’s near-death—she had completely forgotten. Her own spirit. The one that had been with her through every fight, every nightmare.

  Now she remembered—the pain she hadn’t been sure of before. It had been there when she first charged at the beast, forcing herself to use magic even when Moony told her repeatedly to go easy on it. She realized only now that Moony’s scream back then had been as loud as the roaring thunder, but she’d been too focused on saving Lina, too focused on staying alive, to notice.

  Her heartbeat quickened. That meant all this time, the pain had been hers to bear—but Moony had been shouldering it in her place, until she couldn’t anymore.

  Moony… are you there?

  ‘…’

  Moony?

  Nothing. No whisper. No hum. Not even the faint pulse she always felt in the back of her mind.

  Her heart stopped. Then it began to hammer wildly, every beat echoing in her skull.

  Moony! she called again, but only the storm answered.

  Her shoulders tensed, fingers trembling. She clenched her fists as if she could pull the connection back through force alone. The air around her felt heavier, thinner, her lungs refusing to fill no matter how deep she breathed.

  Her mind screamed, every instinct clawing for something that wasn’t there anymore. For the first time since the modification, since she became what she was, she felt alone. Truly, horrifyingly alone.

  Lina noticed the pain etched on her girlfriend’s face and gently brushed her fingers across her cheek. Vierna turned toward her, and though she said nothing, her eyes spoke clearly—sharp, steady, and full of quiet promise. It’s going to be okay.

  They walked in silence for a while longer, the storm fading into a dull murmur behind them. Finally, Fenric stopped before a narrow opening carved into the hillside.

  “Wait a bit,” he said, laying the boy down on the ground. Both girls couldn’t see inside the cave, but Fenric went in without even taking a light. It seemed what people said about beastkin having better eyes was true.

  After a short while, they saw a faint glow flicker from within — a fire. Fenric stepped back out, crouched beside Axel, and lifted him carefully into his arms.

  “Let’s go,” he said.

  Both girls stepped inside. The cave was larger than it looked from outside—rough-hewn but lived in. At its center stood a small stone hearth, a cooking pot hanging from an iron hook above it. The faint scent of smoke and herbs lingered in the air, hinting that it had been used recently, maybe to cook or brew something. There were no beds, only a few bundles of sleeping rolls pushed neatly against the wall.

  A few chests sat lined up nearby, each marked with rough charcoal drawings—bundles of vegetables, grains, salted meat. Rolled-up mats were stacked in careful order beside them, and a half-burned candle rested in a clay holder near the hearth. Several sealed bags lay in one corner, their contents unknown to Vierna, though their careful placement and the way the floor beneath them was swept clean suggested they were packed for emergencies.

  From how fresh everything looked, Vierna could tell—Fenric still came here often.

  Fenric set up a bedroll and gently laid Axel down. The boy looked barely alive. His skin had turned almost gray under the flickering lamplight, his lips cracked and pale. Every breath came shallow and uneven, his chest rising only enough to prove he still drew air. Mud and dried blood clung to his clothes, and the faint warmth beneath his skin felt like something that could fade at any moment.

  “Sit,” Fenric said flatly.

  Both girls obeyed, settling in the space between the hearth and where Axel lay. Fenric sat across from them.

  Lina’s gaze drifted toward Axel.

  “I need to tend to him,” she said. “But my leg isn’t in good shape either… Do you have any fabric or bandages here? And some spirit would be good.”

  Fenric went to the nearest box and opened it. After a brief search, he took out a small bottle of clear spirit. Then he turned to a leather satchel hanging on the wall, unbuckled it, and pulled out a roll of bandages along with a strip of linen that looked clean enough to use. Without a word, he handed them to her.

  “Thanks,” Lina said quietly.

  He only gave a short nod in return.

  Lina wiped the mud from her hands, then soaked the linen with the spirit. She pressed it against the open wound on her leg. The instant it touched, she hissed through her teeth, her body tensing as the liquid burned into torn flesh. The smell of alcohol mixed with blood filled the air. She worked quickly, cleaning the wound with steady hands before binding it tightly with the bandage.

  Vierna stood, worry tightening her features. She started toward the chest, but Fenric caught her wrist.

  “Sit,” he said quietly.

  “Let me help her first,” she said, trying to keep her tone calm.

  “She’ll manage.” He released her hand but didn’t look away. “Right now, I want the truth. All of it.”

  The cave fell silent. Only the faint patter of rain echoed from outside, soft but relentless. Vierna hesitated, her instincts screaming to fight back, to shield Lina as she always had. But she stopped herself. In normal circumstances, she might have argued, maybe even drawn her weapon—but doing that now would be a mistake, one that could cost her the entire mission.

  “I’ll be fine, Vierna,” Lina said quietly, still tending to her wound. Her voice was steady but tired, as if trying to bridge the distance between them before it grew any wider.

  Vierna exhaled slowly, forcing her body to obey. She sat across from Fenric, the air between them thick with unease. The warmth she had once sensed in him was gone; the softness in his gaze replaced by something sharper, colder. He didn’t look angry—he looked certain, like a man who had already drawn his conclusion and was now waiting for confirmation.

  When he finally spoke again, his voice was low and deliberate.

  “Let’s start simple,” he said. “Who are you two?”