The Shattered realm

Chapter 3 The Marked Hunter

The forest exploded into chaos.

Aria moved before she thought.

Another arrow whistled past her ear, close enough to cut the air.

“Run!” Kael shouted.

He didn’t wait for her response.

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into motion.

They sprinted between the trees as more arrows followed, striking bark, snapping branches, sinking into the earth where they had just stood.

Aria’s breath burned in her chest. Her heart was too loud. Too fast.

Behind them, the Imperial soldiers advanced with practiced precision. Not panicked. Not rushed.

Hunters.

They knew exactly what they were doing.

“How did they find us?” Aria gasped.

Kael didn’t slow down.

“They didn’t find us,” he said. “They were already watching.”

That made no sense.

Unless—

A branch whipped across Aria’s face. She barely felt it.

Unless someone had been tracking her for far longer than today.

They burst into a wider clearing.

And stopped.

Waiting.

The Imperial officer stood there calmly, as if he had simply taken a shortcut.

Ten soldiers surrounded the edge of the clearing, cutting off every escape.

“You’re fast,” the officer said pleasantly. “I’ll give you that.”

Kael shifted slightly in front of Aria.

Protective.

“You’re trespassing on imperial land,” Kael said coldly. “Step aside.”

The officer laughed.

“Imperial land?” He tilted his head. “No. This is correction territory.”

Aria felt a chill crawl down her spine.

Correction.

Not protection.

Not law.

Correction meant removal.

Erasure.

The officer’s gaze shifted fully to Aria.

“Do you know what you are?” he asked.

Aria said nothing.

Kael’s grip on his sword tightened.

The officer smiled wider.

“A spark,” he said. “A very old kind of spark.”

Aria’s blood went cold.

Only a handful of people had ever seen her magic. Even fewer had survived it.

So how did he know?

The officer raised a hand.

One of the soldiers stepped forward and threw something onto the ground.

A metal chain.

But it wasn’t ordinary metal.

It shimmered faintly with dark runes etched along its surface.

Kael swore under his breath.

“Null-binding chains,” he muttered.

Aria turned sharply.

“What does that mean?”

Kael didn’t answer immediately.

Because the soldiers were already moving.

Kael reacted first.

Steel flashed.

He struck the first attacker cleanly, knocking him backward into a tree.

But more came.

Too many.

Aria backed away, panic rising.

“I can’t fight them,” she whispered.

Kael didn’t look back.

“You don’t have to fight,” he said. “Just survive.”

But the chains were getting closer.

And something inside Aria was beginning to stir again.

Not fear.

Not panic.

Something else.

Heat.

Pressure.

Like a storm trapped beneath her skin.

“No…” she whispered.

The officer noticed immediately.

“There it is,” he said softly. “Don’t let her suppress it.”

Aria froze.

Suppress it?

They wanted it active?

Why?

Kael was now surrounded.

Three soldiers at once pressed him back.

He was good—but not invincible.

Aria saw one soldier break through.

He rushed her.

Everything slowed.

Instinct took over.

Aria lifted her hand.

The silver fire erupted.

Not small this time.

Not controlled.

A wave of light burst outward.

The soldier was thrown backward instantly.

The trees lit up in silver flame.

The air vibrated.

Even Kael hesitated mid-fight.

“Aria!” he shouted.

But she couldn’t stop it.

The power was reacting to fear. To pressure. To something deeper.

The officer didn’t move.

He simply watched.

“Yes…” he whispered. “Just like the records said.”

Aria’s breathing shattered.

Records?

She pushed more power out instinctively.

The ground cracked with glowing silver lines.

The soldiers hesitated for the first time.

Kael seized the opening and cut through another attacker.

But the officer finally raised his hand.

“Enough.”

The chains moved.

Not thrown.

Commanded.

They shot forward like living things.

Aria tried to burn them away.

The silver fire touched the chains—

And vanished.

Absorbed.

Her eyes widened.

“What—?”

The chains wrapped around her wrists instantly.

Cold.

Heavy.

Wrong.

The silver fire died immediately.

Like it had been cut off from her body.

Aria gasped, collapsing to her knees.

Kael turned sharply.

“No!”

He charged forward, but two soldiers tackled him down.

The officer walked toward Aria slowly, crouching in front of her.

“Do you feel that?” he asked.

Aria couldn’t speak.

Her power was gone.

Silenced.

The officer leaned closer.

“That,” he said softly, “is what you are worth without your fire.”

Her vision blurred.

“What are you talking about…?”

The officer stood.

“You’re not the first,” he said. “Just the first we’ve found alive.”

Kael struggled against the soldiers, rage in his voice.

“Get away from her!”

The officer ignored him.

Instead, he looked at Aria one last time.

“Take her to the capital,” he ordered.

Then he paused, almost thoughtfully.

“And bring the boy as well. He’s connected.”

Aria’s heart dropped.

Kael stopped struggling for half a second.

Connected?

The officer turned away.

As the soldiers dragged Aria forward, her eyes met Kael’s one last time.

Something unspoken passed between them.

Then the forest disappeared behind iron and chains.

And Elder Hollow vanished from her life forever.