Easther had gone more than a week without a proper meal. She had barely eaten during the Champion Trial, surviving on sheer will and her unique body constitution. The forest had offered little sustenance, and in her flight, she had no opportunity even for wild fruits or edible roots. Her body, though resilient, was screaming for fuel, the growls of her stomach echoing like distant drums of war.
Zaki Lee, too, had suffered. Three days of relentless escape from those who hunted him, subsisting on minimal water and nothing else. His stomach was hollow, a cavern of gnawing emptiness, a reminder that even warriors cannot escape the basic laws of survival.
And now, the rumble of their own hunger, simultaneous and humiliating, shattered the tension.
Both of them paused, and for a moment, the a
