**Chapter Two***The Fire Beyond the Trees
1443 Words
The fire came first.
Orange flickers between blackened branches—like the forest had begun to bleed light. Then came the sound. Screams. Not sharp or sudden. Drawn out. Agonizing.
Hayden and I froze.
“That’s—” she started.
“I know,” I said. “There’s something burning. Something alive.”
Hayden didn’t hesitate. She lifted a hand, fingers outstretched. A shimmer unfurled around us like silk catching moonlight—her magic barrier. I felt its pulse, familiar and strange all at once. Her power had grown.
“Let’s go,” she said, and we moved.
The trees were dense, clawing at our arms and cloaks as we passed, but neither of us slowed. The air grew hotter with every step. The smoke, thicker.
Then we saw it.
A village—one I didn’t even know existed—tucked behind the ruins of the estate. Half its buildings were already engulfed in flame. The others, shadows of their former selves. And in the middle of it all… death.
A young witch stood her ground, hands glowing, lips moving too fast for precision. She was casting—but whatever protection she summoned flickered once, twice, then failed. A pulse of shadow slammed into her chest. She dropped with a scream, and her soul—*her soul*—was yanked from her body like thread from a needle. I watched it unravel in a shimmer of white, leaving behind a husk too small for death to dignify.
Hayden flinched.
Children cried. Mothers tried to shield them, arms wide, faces locked in silent panic. But something *dark* moved through the crowd, pulling energy from anyone it touched. One woman dropped to her knees, her body folding in on itself as her essence left her eyes.
Then I saw him.
**Edward.**
He stood calmly at the center of it all. Hands folded. Face unreadable. As if he were waiting for something.
Someone.
The cloaked woman beside him exhaled—and the village *withered*. Literally. Plants shriveled, fire licked higher, the ground beneath her feet cracked like old parchment.
And that’s when I felt it.
My body froze. Not from fear. From something deeper. Something *older*.
Recognition.
Not sight. Not scent. Just… *soul-deep resonance.*
No.
No, it wasn’t possible.
The masked figure turned, her silver eyes glowing beneath the hood. I couldn't see her face, but I didn’t have to. My bones knew her. My blood twisted toward her. Every thread of the bond I’d once felt—once cherished—flared to life like a spark in dry grass.
Sarena.
No. *Not Sarena.*
Not like this.
She wasn’t… she couldn’t be—
But my body knew before my mind could catch up. My pulse staggered. My mouth dried. I stared at her like the world had dropped out from under me.
She saw me.
Through Hayden’s magic. Through the chaos. Through the crowd.
Her silver eyes locked onto mine, and the rest of the world *vanished*.
Hayden's voice reached me as if from underwater. “Dominic—Dominic, snap out of it. You’re *staring*—what is it?”
I couldn’t answer. I didn’t have the language for it. How do you speak the truth when it’s wearing your lover’s scent wrapped in the ruin of the world?
She looked straight at me—and smiled.
It wasn’t Sarena’s smile. Not the one that could unravel me in quiet moments. No, this was sharp. Predatory. Familiar in structure, but not in *spirit*. It was like someone had painted over her with darkness. I didn’t want to admit what I knew, what I *felt*. Because if it *was* her… then what the hell had Edward done?
Hayden didn’t wait for me to process. She took off, disappearing into the smoke. Moments later, I saw her in the crowd, scooping up a cluster of children and encasing them in a golden shield. Her magic flared, blinding for a second—then she was gone. Teleported away. Safe.
She returned seconds later, coughing, cloak singed, eyes wide with horror. “I couldn’t get them all. Too many. Too many—”
“She saw me,” I said hoarsely.
Hayden turned sharply. “What?”
“She saw me. Through the barrier. She—”
The woman stepped forward now, the fire parting around her like it *knew* who was queen of this inferno. Her presence hit like rot under the skin. Like corrosion soaked in perfume. But beneath it—buried so deep I could barely trust it—I felt her.
Her soul. *Ours.*
Hayden moved closer to me. “Dominic... do you *know* her?”
I said nothing.
Because I couldn’t.
Because if I said it out loud, it would become real.
“She’s... wrong,” Hayden whispered, staring at the figure. “Like something tore her open and stitched her back with nightmare thread.”
“She’s not—” I choked on the words. “She’s not supposed to be like that.”
Hayden glanced at me sharply. She didn’t press.
“Come on,” she said gently. “We can’t stay.”
I let her pull me back, into the shadows.
If it was her, then the woman I loved was buried under a monster’s mask.
And if it wasn’t her…
Then the bond between us was lying.
And I didn’t know which truth was worse.
Hayden's hand tightened on my arm. “Dominic. Focus.”
I blinked. The fire surged again behind Sarena—no, the woman wearing something like Sarena’s soul. The ground cracked at her feet, and with each step she took, the world seemed to give—wither, bend, fade.
Hayden scanned the chaos. “There’s still time. Some of them are too close to the treeline. If I move fast, I can pull another group—”
“I’ll help,” I said, my voice was rough but steadier.
We split apart—Hayden to the eastern side, me to the western edge of the clearing. The fire hadn’t reached here yet. The shadows were thick, the people scattered, dazed, too frozen by fear to run.
Children. Elders. The wounded.
One child clung to a half-burnt wooden doll, eyes blank. A man knelt beside her, arm twisted unnaturally—likely broken—but still shielding her with his body. A woman crouched beside a crumbled wall, cradling a baby whose cries had gone hoarse from too much smoke.
I reached them. “You’re going to be okay,” I said, even if it wasn’t true yet.
Hayden appeared at my side, breath ragged, magic already sparking at her fingertips. “Get them close. I need to pull a wider radius this time.”
I helped the injured man to his feet and gathered the others into a rough circle. Hayden dropped to her knees, slamming her palms into the earth. Golden veins of light burst from her hands and raced outward like lightning. The dome formed in an instant—larger than before, humming with tension and strain.
She was pushing herself.
“Hurry,” I said, scanning behind us.
The cloaked woman had stilled. Her head tilted slightly, eyes never leaving our position.
She *knew.*
Hayden’s voice rose as her spell climaxed, light lifting us all just inches from the ground. Wind surged. Leaves scattered. And then—like breath being sucked into the lungs of the world—we vanished.
We reappeared on a barren cliff miles from the village. The wind was cold here, the air sharp and real. No blood. No fire. No silver-eyed monster.
Just sky.
The survivors collapsed in shock. Some wept. Others stared in disbelief at the stretch of unburnt earth. Hayden swayed, falling to one knee, sweat slick on her brow.
“You good?” I asked, steadying her.
She nodded. “Too many jumps like that and I’ll pass out for a week.”
“I’ll carry you, if it comes to that.”
“You’d better,” she said, forcing a smile.
I turned back toward the smoking horizon in the distance. Even from here, I could feel that woman’s presence stretching like rot over stone. Like she’d marked me—and wasn’t done yet.
“She saw us,” I said softly.
“She felt *you,*” Hayden corrected.
“That wasn’t a coincidence, Dominic.”
I didn’t respond. Couldn't.
And I still wasn’t ready to say it.
Because if I did, I would have to admit that my mate… my Sarena… might already be lost.
Not gone.
Worse.
Changed.*
Consumed by something ancient and wrong—and standing at Edward’s side like she belonged there.
- Writer
