Chapter 3: Beyond The Walls
813 Words
Kael’s voice echoed softly.
“Then walk faster.”
She glared at his back.
“Do you ever stop being… like this?”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re carved out of stone.”
Kael didn’t respond.
But after a moment, he said quietly,
“Stone doesn’t break.”
Asha’s chest tightened at the way he said it.
Not dramatic.
Just true.
They walked in silence for a while, her footsteps smaller beside his.
Then Asha spoke again, softer.
“They said the Church ordered me taken.”
Kael’s shoulders tensed.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Kael’s jaw clenched.
“Because they fear what they can’t control.”
Asha’s laugh was bitter.
“I’m a baker’s daughter.”
Kael stopped so suddenly she almost walked into him.
He turned.
His face was close now, shadows cutting across it.
“You are not just that.”
Asha stared up at him.
His eyes were intense in the dark, like he was trying to decide something.
Her heart beat too hard.
She forced herself to breathe.
“What am I then?”
Kael’s gaze dropped again to her wrist.
“The last bloodline.”
The words hit her like a slap.
Asha’s throat went dry.
“That’s… that’s not possible.”
Kael’s voice was steady.
“It is.”
“No. My mother was normal. My father was normal. We lived in a normal house.”
Kael’s eyes sharpened.
“Normal people don’t glow when hunters get close.”
Asha flinched.
“I didn’t ask for this.”
“I know.”
His voice softened, barely.
For the first time, Asha saw something human in him.
Not just danger.
Not just control.
Something tired.
Something almost sad.
Asha swallowed.
“What happens now?”
Kael looked away.
“Now, you survive long enough to learn what you are.”
Asha’s voice trembled.
“And you?”
Kael’s eyes flicked back to her.
“What about me?”
“Why are you helping?”
A pause.
Then he said,
“Because I failed once.”
The way he said it made Asha’s stomach twist.
Failed who?
Failed what?
Before she could ask, the tunnel opened up.
Moonlight spilled in.
They stepped out onto a hillside outside the city walls.
Elaris stood in the distance, lanterns glowing faintly like nothing was wrong.
Like it wasn’t full of hunters.
Asha stared at it, breath catching.
“That’s… that’s my home.”
Kael’s voice was quiet.
“It was.”
Asha turned sharply.
“What do you mean, it was?”
Kael’s gaze stayed on the city.
“They will burn everything to reach you.”
Fear crawled up her spine again.
“No. They won’t.”
Kael looked at her then.
“They already have.”
Asha frowned, confused.
Then she saw it.
Smoke.
Thin, dark smoke rising from somewhere inside the city.
Her stomach dropped.
“No…”
Kael’s voice was low.
“They are sending a message.”
Asha’s hands shook.
“My family…”
Kael’s expression confirms what his mouth doesn’t.
Asha stumbled back, breath breaking.
“No, no, no...”
Kael caught her arm before she fell.
His grip was firm.
Grounding.
Asha’s eyes filled.
“I have to go back.”
Kael’s voice snapped.
“You can’t.”
“My mother is there!”
Kael’s eyes burned.
“And you think running into their arms helps her?”
Asha froze, sobbing quietly.
Kael’s grip loosened.
His voice dropped.
“I’m sorry.”
The words sounded unfamiliar coming from him.
Asha wiped her face angrily.
“This isn’t fair.”
Kael believes her.
“I know.”
For a moment, they stood under the open sky, the city smoking behind them.
Then Kael spoke again.
“They will track you. The mark is a beacon.”
Asha looked down at her wrist like she hated it.
“How do I stop it?”
Kael’s jaw tightened.
“You don’t.”
Asha’s breath caught.
Kael stepped closer.
His voice lowered.
“But I can teach you to use it before it destroys you.”
Asha stared at him.
The closeness made her chest tight.
Not fear this time.
Something else.
Something confusing.
Kael seemed to notice too, because he stepped back immediately.
His eyes hard.
Controlled again.
“We leave before sunrise.”
Asha whispered.
“Where?”
Kael looked toward the dark mountains far ahead.
“To the place your blood began.”
Asha’s voice was barely there.
“And what’s waiting for me there?”
Kael’s expression turned grim.
“The truth.”
Asha swallowed hard.
Kael turned away.
And as they started walking into the night, the mark on her wrist pulsed once, bright as a heartbeat.
Somewhere far behind them…
A bell rang inside the Church.
And a voice whispered into the darkness.
“She has been found.”
- Writer
