Between Ash and Ice

The Hunt

The tunnel stretched before me, a jagged throat of stone swallowing the light. I moved cautiously, my bare feet skimming over the rough ground, each step sending a whisper of sound into the silence. Something was following me. I knew it.

The air was too still, the weight of unseen eyes pressing against my back. Whoever—or whatever—had been watching me from the cavern had not vanished completely. I could feel it, a presence just beyond my sight, keeping pace with me in the darkness.

I clenched my fists, the memory of fire flickering against my skin. Would it answer me again? Or had it been a desperate illusion, something born from survival and nothing more?

The tunnel twisted, narrowing. I forced myself to breathe evenly, to focus. Think. React. Control.

A sound—a footstep, barely audible—echoed behind me.

I whirled, fire sparking to life in my palms, sending golden light across the stone walls. My heart slammed against my ribs.

Nothing.

But the space behind me felt different. The shadows were wrong—thicker, shifting where they shouldn’t. I narrowed my eyes, scanning the darkness, but whoever was there remained hidden. Waiting. Watching.

A predator playing with its prey.

I exhaled, pulse still erratic, and turned away. Fine. Let them watch.

I wasn’t the prey they thought I was.

The tunnel opened into another cavern, this one vast and stretching into oblivion. A dim blue glow pulsed from veins of crystal embedded in the walls, casting eerie light over the uneven ground.

I slowed, my breath steady but my muscles coiled tight. There were no signs of life—no movement, no sound beyond the faint dripping of water in the distance.

Except…

The presence was still here. I could feel it lurking at the edges, just beyond the reach of the dim light.

I took another step, then stopped. Enough.

"Come out," I said, my voice cutting through the silence like a blade.

Nothing.

"I know you're there. Stop playing games."

The air shifted.

A flicker of movement to my left—so fast I barely registered it. A shadow detached itself from the darkness, moving with a grace that felt unnatural.

I stepped back, my fire flaring instinctively in my hands. The figure didn’t move closer.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

Silence.

The figure stood just outside the glow of the crystals, half-obscured in shadow. Tall, cloaked, dangerous. I couldn’t see his face, but I could feel the weight of his gaze. Calculating. Measuring.

The tension in the air was thick, pressing against my skin. I tightened my stance. I wouldn’t be afraid.

"Speak. Or leave," I said coldly.

For a long moment, he remained still. Then—

He moved. Not forward, not closer. Just a slow tilt of his head, as if considering me, as if deciding something.

Then—

He was gone.

The darkness swallowed him whole.

I exhaled sharply, the fire in my hands flickering. My chest heaved, my pulse a chaotic rhythm against my ribs. Who was he? Why had he just watched, lingering on the edge of my vision without a single word?

And more importantly—would he come back?