CHAPTER FIVE
1198 Words
Morning came softly.
Not with bright sun or noisy village chatter, but with a pale, washed-out grey that clung to the rooftops like fog unwilling to rise. Zara sat at the small wooden table, her fingers wrapped around a warm cup of tea. She wasn’t drinking it. She just needed something to hold.
Across from her, Kael stared into his bowl of porridge as if it were a puzzle he hadn’t quite solved. Her aunt moved around them with easy familiarity, humming under her breath while sorting herbs into jars.
It should’ve felt normal.
It didn’t.
There was something in the air today, quiet, like the world had paused to inhale.
Zara set her cup down. “You slept on the couch again.”
Kael didn’t look up. “It’s fine.”
“It’s uncomfortable,” she said. “And you’re tall. Your feet hang off the end.”
He gave a small, almost reluctant smirk. “It’s not the first time I’ve slept in a place that wasn’t meant for me.”
Zara blinked. There was weight behind that. More than he intended to reveal.
Her aunt glanced over her shoulder. “There’s a spare mattress in the storage room. Kael, help Zara bring it out later. You’re staying here longer than expected.”
Kael stiffened slightly, eyes narrowing, not in irritation, but in uncertainty. “I don’t want to impose.”
Her aunt said simply. “Until you’re steady on your feet, you stay.”
It was final, gentle, and absolute.
Kael sighed and pushed his bowl away. “Then I’ll help. I don’t like feeling… useless.”
The pause before that last word was enough for Zara to hear the bruised pride underneath.
Her aunt didn’t comment, just continued sorting herbs. But Zara caught the small, knowing look she gave Kael.
Zara stood. “We can move the mattress now.”
Kael rose too, slower than usual. He had some injuries on his side and they were healing, but his movements still had that careful stiffness, as if he expected pain even when there wasn’t any.
They stepped into the narrow hallway leading to the storage room. Dust floated lazily in the dim light coming through the high window.
Zara pushed open the door. “We can just….”
She stopped.
Kael nearly bumped into her. “What’s wrong?”
The air inside the storage room felt… wrong.
Still.
Heavy.
Cold, but not physically.
Zara swallowed. “Nothing. It’s nothing. Just… weird air.”
Kael stepped forward, his expression sharpening. He moved with the kind of instinct that didn’t belong to a normal human.
“Close the door,” he said quietly.
Zara hesitated, then shut it behind them.
Kael inhaled slowly, the muscles in his jaw tightening. “Did you feel this last night?”
“No.”
He nodded once. “It’s faint. But something’s been here.”
“Something?” Zara echoed.
He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he crouched near the far corner, brushing his fingers over a faint, dark streak on the floor. It wasn’t paint. It wasn’t dirt. It was… something else. Like shadow that had been pressed into the wood.
Zara felt her chest tighten. “What is that?”
Kael straightened. “A trace. I’ve seen it before.”
He didn’t elaborate.
But he didn’t need to.
Her thoughts jumped back to the forest, to the strange heaviness she’d felt there. To the way her skin prickled like something unseen stood just behind her.
“Is it dangerous?” she whispered.
Kael looked at her, really looked at her, his eyes softer for a moment. “I don’t know yet. But I’ll keep you safe. That much I can promise.”
Her heart stumbled a little.
Just… humanly.
No one outside her aunt had ever said something like that with such quiet certainty.
She cleared her throat. “Let’s just get the mattress.”
Kael nodded, letting the tension ease. “Right. Before your aunt thinks we got eaten by dust.”
The sarcasm was gentle this time, almost playful. A faint attempt to lighten the mood.
They dragged the mattress into the hallway. Kael took most of the weight, despite his injuries.
“You don’t have to…..” Zara began.
“You’re small,” he said simply. “I’m not.”
It was honest, not mocking.
They set the mattress down in the living room. Kael stepped back, wiping dust from his fingers.
Zara crossed her arms. “You okay?”
He shrugged. “I’m used to worse.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
He paused, then met her eyes. “I’m… managing.”
That was the closest thing to vulnerability he’d offered since arriving.
She nodded. “Okay.”
He exhaled slowly, tension leaving his shoulders. “You’re… annoyingly calm about things.”
“That’s because I don’t know what I’m reacting to,” Zara said honestly. “But I know you’re hiding something.”
He stiffened again. “Zara…..”
“I’m not pushing,” she cut in gently. “I just want you to know that I see it. And when you want to talk, even a little, I’ll listen.”
His mouth opened slightly—surprise first, then something warmer, like gratitude he didn’t have words for.
Before either of them could speak again, her aunt called from the kitchen:
“Zara, Kael! Come outside!”
They exchanged a glance, then hurried out of the house.
A small group of villagers had gathered at the far end of the path, whispering uneasily. Something lay on the ground near the boundary of the woods.
As they got closer, Zara’s stomach dropped.
It was a deer.
Or… what was left of one.
Its body wasn’t torn like a wolf attack.
It wasn’t eaten.
It was… hollow.
Like something had drained it from the inside out, leaving the skin stretched unnaturally over bone.
Zara stumbled back, her breath catching. “What… what did that?”
Kael’s face went pale, not in fear, but in recognition.
“I saw this before,” he murmured. “Two days before I ended up near your ridge.”
“By what?” Zara whispered.
He didn’t answer.
But something in his eyes told her the truth anyway:
He had seen this thing.
He had fought it.
And whatever it was… it wasn’t finished.
He turned to her aunt. “Don’t let Zara go anywhere alone.”
Her aunt’s jaw tightened. “I wasn’t planning to.”
Kael moved closer to Zara, lowering his voice. “Stay near the house. At least until I know what’s hunting near your woods.”
“Hunting?” she repeated.
He looked at the drained deer again. “Yeah. And it’s getting braver.”
A cold breeze swept through the clearing.
Zara didn’t know it yet, but miles away, in a hidden chamber lit by blue flame, three High Wardens lifted their heads at the same moment………..
because the feeling they’d sensed two days ago was growing stronger.
Closer.
Sharper.
And neither they nor Kael understood that the source of that disturbance wasn’t hiding in the woods.
It was standing right beside him.
- Writer
