The battle was not a battle anymore.
It was slaughter.
Elian's arms ached with every swing, his body screaming for relief that would never come. His branch shattered against the skull of a Wretch, splinters tearing into his hand. Blood — his own and theirs — blinded him.
Rae was a blur of movement beside him, but even she was slowing, the gashes on her body leaking life faster than she could stop it.
And Kael...
Kael lay still.
Too still.
---
A Wretch grabbed Rae's leg, pulling her down with a sickening crunch.
She screamed, stabbing downward again and again, but more swarmed over her like a tidal wave of death.
"RAE!" Elian shouted, voice raw.
He tried to get to her, stumbling over bodies and broken earth, but another Wretch rammed into him, sending him crashing to the ground.
Hands — cold, inhuman — gripped his throat.
The world spun.
He saw Rae through the haze.
Fighting.
Bleeding.
Breaking.
And then —
A sharp, wet sound.
A dagger of silence pierced the chaos.
Rae froze, her knife slipping from her hand.
The Wretch in front of her withdrew its blade, blood dripping from Rae's stomach.
Her eyes found Elian's.
She opened her mouth —
To scream, to beg, to say something —
But no sound came.
She collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut.
---
The Wretches turned their eyeless masks toward Elian now, their work unfinished.
The cliff behind him beckoned.
The fall would kill him.
Or the Wretches would.
He had no weapon.
No strength left.
Only one choice.
He staggered to his feet, his vision swimming.
Kael.
Rae.
Everyone he ever cared about — gone, or slipping away.
The Wretches advanced.
One step.
Two.
Three.
Elian took a breath that tasted like blood and ash.
And he ran.
Straight toward the cliff.
The Wretches followed, shrieking.
At the last second, Elian pivoted — and grabbed Kael's limp body.
Holding her tightly against his chest — he jumped.
---
Air tore past him, pulling at his clothes, his hair.
The world spun, sky and earth blurring together.
He didn't scream.
There was no point.
There was no fear anymore — only surrender.
He held Kael closer, shielding her with his body.
If he died, at least he would die with someone he had tried to save.
The cliff wall rushed past — jagged rocks slicing at them.
Then —
Impact.
Agony exploded through him.
His back.
His side.
His skull.
Everything shattered.
For a moment he thought he was dead.
But death didn't feel like this.
It wasn't supposed to hurt so much.
Pain tethered him to life.
He gasped, choking on blood.
He was alive.
Somehow.
Broken — but alive.
Kael stirred weakly in his arms, whimpering.
Alive too.
Barely.
---
Above them, the cliff loomed, the Wretches peering down but not following.
Too steep.
Too deadly.
Elian rolled onto his back, the sky spinning above him.
Red clouds churned overhead, the first drops of a sickly, crimson rain falling onto his face.
The world was bleeding.
Or maybe it was just him.
He didn't know anymore.
He reached for Kael blindly, pulling her close.
Her tiny hand gripped his shirt weakly.
"We're not... done..." he rasped.
"I won't let them... take you."
His voice was barely a whisper.
But he meant every word.
Even if it killed him.
Especially if it killed him.
---
Far away — too far for Elian's broken body to reach — he heard footsteps.
Soft.
Measured.
Wrong.
Figures in black cloaks emerged from the trees at the base of the cliff, moving like wraiths.
Different from the Wretches.
Smarter.
Crueler.
One of them knelt by a fallen Wretch and dipped a blade into the creature's blood, tracing strange symbols in the dirt.
A ritual.
A curse.
A summoning.
Elian couldn't move.
Could barely breathe.
But he knew —
This wasn't the end.
It was the beginning.
Something worse was coming.
Something far beyond anything he had faced.
And he was too broken to stop it.
Yet he would try.
He had no choice.
Because if he didn't, everyone — everything — would be lost.
---