Between Ash and Ice

The Hunt Begins

The moment the shadows shifted, I knew we were in trouble.

The growl deepened, rolling through the ruins like a warning. The air turned thick, charged with something unseen but undeniable. A presence. A hunger.

Ravena was already moving, stepping in front of me with a blade in her hand, the steel glinting dully in the fading light. Fast. Efficient. Dangerous. Whoever she was running from had trained her well.

"How many?" I asked, keeping my voice low.

"Too many," she murmured. "And whatever killed that hunter back there? It’s still close."

I swallowed, my grip tightening. I needed to think. Fast. Fire burned at my fingertips, flickering to life with every erratic beat of my pulse. The sensation still felt foreign, but there was no time to hesitate.

Then, movement.

A figure detached itself from the darkness of the ruins, stepping forward with slow, deliberate grace. It was tall—unnaturally so—its form draped in tattered black, as if the shadows themselves clung to its frame.

Its face was a void, shifting between something humanoid and something monstrous. And its eyes—**gods, its eyes—**were nothing but empty pits, leaking darkness into the air around it.

"What the hell is that?" I whispered.

Ravena’s jaw tightened. "A shade. A hunter of the in-between."

The creature tilted its head, as if considering us. Then, it moved.

Faster than thought, it lunged.

I barely had time to react. Fire surged from my palms as I stumbled back, releasing the flames in a desperate arc. The blast struck the creature square in the chest, sending it skidding backward. It didn’t fall. It didn’t even flinch.

"Run!" Ravena hissed, shoving me toward the ruins. "We need cover!"

I didn’t argue. We darted into the crumbling fortress, weaving through collapsed archways and shattered corridors. The shade followed, relentless, its form flickering in and out of existence, shifting through the cracks of reality itself.

A sharp hiss cut through the air, followed by the sound of metal meeting flesh. I turned just in time to see Ravena drive her blade into a second creature that had emerged from the walls, twisting the weapon with brutal efficiency before yanking it free. The shade let out an inhuman shriek before dissolving into mist.

"They’re swarming!" she yelled, breathing hard. "We need a way out!"

I searched the ruins, mind racing. The fortress was a maze of broken halls and dead ends, but there—a staircase, half-collapsed, leading upward.

"There!" I pointed. "Higher ground!"

Ravena hesitated but nodded, and we ran.

The shades followed. They poured from the darkness, their shifting forms weaving between the cracks of reality, their eyes locked onto us. They weren’t just hunting. They were herding.

We were being driven toward something.

I skidded to a stop at the top of the staircase, my breath coming fast and ragged. Ahead of us, the ruins opened into a wide, circular chamber.

Something was waiting for us there.

Ravena cursed. "This isn’t good."

She was right.

Because standing at the far end of the chamber, waiting like a specter of death itself, was a figure in dark armor, his face hidden beneath a hood, his presence radiating something far worse than the shades.

And he was smiling.

The hunt had only just begun.