THE AETHER WYRM
1300 Words
The forest swallowed them the moment they stepped past the broken ridge of stone and into the deeper path. The light dimmed beneath the thick canopy above, and the air carried a faint wild scent. Every footstep felt different here. Softer. Heavier. Older. Daniel walked with the group, matching their pace, hands ready at his sides, his senses stretched outward.
A series of distant roars drifted from far within the trees. The sound vibrated lightly through the soil, reaching them as faint tremors. The experienced hunters stiffened almost at the same time. Their boots slowed. Their heads tilted. Their eyes swept the trees with sharp focus. Even for them, habit did not erase tension.
Aria walked beside Daniel, close enough for him to hear her steady breaths. Her green eyes moved calmly, taking in every shadow and branch. She did not speak, simply remained at his side like a second awareness. She had been that way ever since he rescued her weeks ago. Quiet. Composed. Neither intrusive nor distant. Just present.
Daniel had started acknowledging her little by little. Not much, just enough that she no longer felt like a stranger. For someone who had spent most of his life locked inside himself, even that small shift felt big.
They reached a slope where the soil was deeply slashed. One hunter crouched and ran his hand along the grooves.
“Nightfang tracks,” he said. “Fresh. Two or three.”
Another leaned over the marks. “Heading northeast. Probably circling for prey.”
Daniel inhaled. The air was different here. Sharper. Charged with something almost electric. Not his lightning. Something else. Movement. Instinct. Warning.
He did not speak. He rarely did around strangers.
Joren, a broad-shouldered hunter with a scar along his jaw, looked back and grinned. “You are quiet, lightning boy. Hope you hit harder than you talk.”
Daniel stared at him, unsure how to reply.
Rika nudged Joren. “Ignore him. Some people think before they speak.”
Joren shrugged. “Still, you and green eyes beside you look like siblings.”
Aria raised a brow. “Siblings? Him? No. He could never be my brother.”
Daniel blinked, confused and slightly awkward. The group laughed softly, and the tension eased around them. For a moment, Daniel felt something warm flicker inside him. Almost like belonging.
They kept moving.
The deeper they went, the older the forest felt. The canopy grew thicker until sunlight barely reached the ground. The silence deepened. The trees stood close together like guardians watching trespassers.
Daniel walked near the center of the group. His senses picked up every shift in the air. Every tremor in the soil. Aria matched his pace. Her presence felt calm, steady, strangely grounding.
The lead hunter lifted his fist.
Everyone halted at once.
The bushes to the left quivered. A low growl rolled out, rough and layered. Daniel shifted his stance. Lightning tingled beneath his skin, responding to his focus.
Aria leaned close and whispered, “Two Nightfangs. They are circling.”
Daniel nodded.
The bushes burst apart.
Two Nightfangs lunged into the clearing, their red eyes blazing. Their massive bodies slammed against the ground as they charged. Black fur rippled over muscles that moved like shadow and steel. Their roars shook the leaves overhead.
The hunters scattered, forming angles around the beasts.
Aria moved with a flash of light. A bright blast struck one Nightfang across the face, dazzling it. It reeled back with a snarl.
The second Nightfang rushed Daniel.
He moved without thinking.
Daniel ducked beneath its claws, sliding across the soil. A burst of lightning exploded from his palm, striking the beast’s ribs. It snarled and staggered, but did not fall.
Daniel pressed forward again. He darted under the creature’s snapping jaws, dropped to one knee, and thrust his hand upward. A sharp jolt of lightning surged beneath its throat. The beast convulsed violently.
Joren and Rika closed in and finished it.
The first Nightfang tried to flee, but Rika intercepted it, and Joren drove his blade into its neck.
Silence returned, heavy and thick.
Daniel let the lightning fade from his fingertips. Aria’s eyes met his for a moment. She wore a small, amused smile. That subtle expression she showed only around him.
“Not bad,” Joren said as he cleaned his blade. “Maybe you really can fight.”
Daniel scratched the side of his head awkwardly. “Thanks.”
Aria poked his arm lightly. “He means he appreciates it. He just cannot say it.”
He shot her a look. She only smiled wider.
They moved on.
The forest turned colder. Darker. The quiet grew unnaturally still. Daniel noticed Aria’s steps soften further. Her eyes sharpened with the kind of alertness he had learned to trust. If she was uneasy, something dangerous was near.
The lead hunter raised his hand again.
“Listen.”
A faint pressure swept through the clearing like a ripple bending the air.
Daniel felt it immediately. Intelligent. Ancient. Heavy.
Aria whispered, “That presence again. Illusion and elemental force combined. Aether Wyrm.”
Every hunter stiffened.
Even Daniel felt a subtle chill climb his spine. Nightfangs were beasts. Aether Wyrms were something else. Territorial. Highly intelligent. Deadly.
They entered a bowl-shaped clearing. The soil was torn apart. Trees on one side were scorched. Trees on the other were frozen solid. Long sweeping gouges marked the ground.
Aria knelt and touched the damaged soil. “These claw marks are recent. It was here not long ago.”
Fear flickered across multiple faces.
Daniel swallowed. “So what now?”
“If it is nearby,” the leader said quietly, “we retreat. If it has moved on, we search fast and leave.”
They began searching the clearing.
Daniel walked close to Aria. It was not intentional. His feet simply drifted toward her. She did not comment, but he noticed her eyes soften slightly.
Daniel glanced at her and said quietly, “Green eyed girl, are you sensing—”
Aria stopped walking and narrowed her eyes at him. “Green eyed… what?”
Daniel froze. “I… just said it because your eyes are—”
She stepped closer, flicked his forehead lightly with one finger and said, “My eyes have a color, not a nickname. Use my name.”
Daniel blinked, confused. “But you never told me your—”
Aria tilted her head with a smug little smile. “I told you two nights ago. When you ignored it. You were staring at the fire like you were fighting ghosts.”
His face warmed immediately. He remembered that night faintly. She had said something while he was lost in thought. He must have brushed it off without realizing.
“I… did not hear you clearly,” he muttered.
She rolled her eyes softly. “Then listen better. It is Aria. Not green eyed girl. Not quiet shadow. Aria.”
He looked away, embarrassed. “…Alright.”
She bumped his arm with hers. “Good. You are finally acting like a normal person.”
He opened his mouth, then closed it again, unsure how to respond.
She laughed under her breath, light and genuine.
“Relax,” she said. “I am only teasing you. I am not angry.”
Daniel nodded awkwardly. “I will try… to listen better.”
“You better,” she said, then walked ahead of him, her steps light and almost playful.
Before he could settle into the moment, the wind shifted sharply. The trees trembled.
A deep, distant growl rolled across the forest floor.
The hunters froze.
Aria’s expression changed instantly, turning sharp.
Daniel felt the surge too, powerful and ancient.
The Aether Wyrm was not gone.
It was coming closer.
- Writer
