Blood Eden

Chapter5:Echo/Fire

Calla ran.

She didn’t remember making the choice—her body simply moved, mind blank and limbs shaking as she shoved past the broken door, through the dense wall of trees beyond the cabin. She barely registered Elias shouting behind her, or the winded curse that came from Auren’s lips.

She just ran.

The woods closed in like a throat. Branches lashed at her skin, roots snagged her ankles. Her lungs burned. But it wasn’t asthma.

It was something else.

Something ancient and primal, clawing its way to the surface.

She stumbled to a stop near the frozen stream, gasping.

Behind her, the wind shifted—and she knew they were close. She could feel them. Both of them. Pulling at her like magnets in opposite directions.

And worse—others.

The air thickened. A howl echoed from somewhere far off.

More wolves. Boo

Too many.

A c***k behind her. She turned sharply—

And came face to face with a man she didn’t recognize.

He was huge—at least six-foot-six—bald, with ritual scars carved across his scalp and down one eye. His breath steamed in the cold air.

“Found her,” he said into a small device at his wrist.

Before she could move, he grabbed her by the arm and slammed her against a tree.

Calla screamed, fighting. Her nails raked his skin, but he didn’t even flinch.

“You’re worth a hell of a bounty, girl,” he muttered.

Then—a blur.

Elias tackled the man like a bullet, both of them crashing into the snow with a sickening thud. Blood sprayed. The man roared.

A second blur hit from the side.

Auren.

He moved like shadow and venom, quiet but deadly. In seconds, the trees around them filled with more figures—dark shapes with glowing eyes.

Wolves.

Everywhere.

“Run!” Elias shouted. “Calla, run! Now!”

But she couldn’t move.

Her legs locked. Her body froze.

Because something was moving inside her.

A heat. A flicker.

And then—flames.

Not real ones, not outside. Inside.

Her chest seared with sudden, blinding pain. She dropped to her knees, choking, grabbing at the fabric over her ribs as if she could tear it out.

The mark.

It was burning.

Claiming.

“No—no, not now—” Elias pushed through the fight, dragging her up. His arms trembled. “You have to hold on, Calla—listen to me, you have to—”

Too late.

The sky pulsed red.

Wolves scattered.

Auren went still.

And from the edge of the forest, a figure stepped out.

She wore no coat. Her hair was silver-white, her eyes black as ash.

And her voice was a whisper that cut like glass.

“Daughter of flame,” she said. “It’s time you remembered what they buried.”

Calla stared at her. Blood dripping from her nose. Power vibrating in her bones.

“Who… who are you?”

The woman smiled.

“I’m your mother.”