Awakened fury

Unleashed

The moment the man finishes speaking, everything shifts.

Nyra moves first.

“Run,” she says sharply.

But my legs won’t move.

The three hunters spread out slowly, like they already know we’re not getting away.

“You really think she can run?” one of them says, his voice laced with amusement. “She can barely stand.”

Nyra’s grip tightens slightly in front of me. “Stay behind me.”

I swallow hard, forcing my body to respond, taking a shaky step back.

The man in front tilts his head, studying me. “Fascinating,” he murmurs. “She’s unstable.”

“I said,” Nyra’s voice drops, dangerous, “back off.”

For a second, no one moves.

Then—

The hunter on the left lunges.

Fast.

Too fast.

Nyra reacts instantly, stepping forward and slamming her arm into his attack. A sharp burst of force ripples through the air as they collide.

The impact sends a shockwave across the room.

I stumble back, nearly falling.

The other two don’t wait.

They move at the same time.

One disappears from sight—

—and reappears right in front of me.

My breath catches.

I don’t even have time to scream.

His hand shoots toward my throat—

—but something inside me snaps.

The energy surges out before he can touch me.

A blast of force explodes between us, throwing him backward across the warehouse.

He crashes into a stack of metal crates, the sound echoing loudly.

Silence follows for half a second.

I stare at my hands, shocked.

I did that.

The third hunter turns his attention to me now, his expression no longer calm.

“Interesting,” he says slowly.

Nyra is still fighting the first one, their movements fast and sharp, each strike sending bursts of energy through the air.

“Riley!” she calls. “Focus!”

“I—I don’t know how!” I shout back.

The hunter in front of me steps closer, unfazed. “You don’t need to know,” he says. “Just let it happen.”

His words sound too similar to Nyra’s.

That scares me more.

He raises his hand.

The air around me tightens instantly, like invisible chains wrapping around my body.

I gasp as I’m forced to my knees.

Pressure builds against my chest.

I can’t move.

“Let’s see what you really are,” he says quietly.

Panic rises fast.

I try to fight it—but Nyra’s voice echoes in my head again.

Don’t fight it.

My breathing turns uneven.

The pressure increases.

Everything starts to blur.

I can hear Nyra shouting, but it sounds far away.

The power inside me responds.

Not calmly this time.

Violently.

My head snaps up.

Something shifts.

Deep.

Dark.

Different.

The air around me explodes outward.

The invisible force holding me shatters instantly.

The hunter in front of me is thrown back like he weighs nothing.

I rise slowly to my feet.

But something feels… wrong.

Too quiet.

Too cold.

The sounds of the fight fade into the background.

All I can hear is my own heartbeat.

Slow.

Heavy.

I look down at my hands.

They’re no longer shaking.

They’re steady.

Too steady.

“Riley?” Nyra’s voice cuts through, but there’s something different in it now.

Caution.

I lift my head.

The hunters have stopped moving.

Watching me.

Carefully.

Even they can feel it.

The change.

The man in front narrows his eyes slightly. “There it is,” he says under his breath.

I don’t fully understand what’s happening.

But I know one thing.

I’m not scared anymore.

And that should terrify me.

One of the hunters charges again.

This time—

I don’t react.

I move.

Faster than I thought possible.

I’m in front of him before he can even strike.

My hand lifts on instinct—

—and the moment I touch him, a surge of energy tears through his body, throwing him violently across the room.

He doesn’t get back up.

Silence crashes over the warehouse.

Nyra stares at me.

“Riley… stop.”

But I can’t.

Or maybe—

I don’t want to.

The last hunter hesitates now.

For the first time—

he looks unsure.

I tilt my head slightly, watching him.

Something dark curls inside me.

“Run,” I say quietly.

My voice doesn’t sound like mine.

He doesn’t argue.

He grabs the injured one and disappears with the other in a flash.

Gone.

Just like that.

The warehouse falls silent again.

Dust slowly settles in the air.

Nyra doesn’t move.

Neither do I.

For a long moment, we just stare at each other.

Then she takes a cautious step forward.

“Riley… are you still in there?”

The question hits something inside me.

A c***k.

Small.

But real.

The cold feeling flickers.

My chest tightens.

And suddenly—

everything rushes back.

The fear.

The confusion.

The pain.

I gasp sharply, stumbling backward.

“What… what did I do?” my voice trembles.

Nyra reaches me quickly before I fall.

“You survived,” she says quietly.

But her eyes say something else.

Something she’s not saying.

I shake my head, panic rising again. “That wasn’t me. That—something’s wrong with me.”

Nyra doesn’t deny it.

And that terrifies me more than anything.