Chapter Six: Seraphine Journey
1350 Words
Kael Donovan
As soon as Seraphine vanished with that celestial being, the surroundings felt like they were losing their brightness.
I remained there for what seemed like an eternity, clasping my kids tightly, gazing at the place where she had disappeared. The woods were silent at this moment, excessively silent. Calm atmosphere. Silence from the birds. Simply a dense, oppressive silence that rendered breathing difficult.
"Will she return shortly?" Aria's voice was soft, her fingers twisted firmly in the edge of my shirt.
I swallowed hard. "Yes, baby. She promised."
Elias looked up at me, eyes sharp like his mother’s. "We shouldn’t just wait here. What if she’s in trouble?"
I sighed. He was right, and yet, every instinct in me warned against wandering this place. But standing still felt just as dangerous. The longer we waited, the more I felt something moving in the shadows, watching.
"We’ll make a camp here," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "We rest, eat, and gather our strength. Then we’ll find her. Together."
The children didn’t argue. Maybe they felt it too—that the land had changed.
We lit a small fire using some enchanted stones I kept from my last mission. They sparked bright blue, crackling softly as they burned without smoke. The warmth didn’t help much. The cold here wasn’t natural. It was the kind that lived beneath the skin.
After the children fell asleep, curled in my arms, I stayed awake.
I thought about Seraphine.
The look on her face before she stepped into that light. Fear, yes, but also something stronger. Purpose. It was like she finally understood her place in this story. And yet, I hated that it required her to walk into danger alone.
I was still lost in thought when a voice whispered behind me.
"You should’ve stopped her."
I spun around, blade drawn. But there was no one there. Only shadows.
"Coward," it hissed again. "You let her go."
The fire dimmed. The cold deepened.
I stood, heart racing. Something was wrong. The forest was shifting, warping around me. I looked at the children—they were still asleep.
"Show yourself!" I barked.
And then, from the trees, stepped a man. Or what used to be a man.
He wore black armor cracked down the middle, glowing faint red from within. His face was pale, almost grey, and his eyes—empty, soulless pits.
"Kael Donovan," he said, voice like broken glass. "The fallen soldier turned father. How poetic."
I raised my blade. "Who are you?"
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. "I’m the reminder. Of everything you’ve failed to protect."
He lunged at me.
We clashed, steel on steel, the sound echoing through the valley. I pushed him back, barely keeping him away from the children. Every strike he made, he whispered words meant to unnerve me.
"You couldn’t save your squad. You couldn’t save Seraphine. You won’t save them."
But I didn’t break.
I fought harder. For them.
Until a flash of golden light blasted him back.
Seraphine.
She emerged from the trees, her eyes glowing bright, her palms still warm from the spell. Her cloak was torn, and she was limping, but she was alive.
"Touch them," she said to the man, "and I will end you."
He hissed, backing away, melting into the trees.
She collapsed into my arms.
"What happened?" I asked, holding her.
"The test," she breathed. "It wasn’t a test at all. It was a summoning. I’ve seen what’s coming. Kael, it’s not just this world in danger. It’s all of them."
My blood ran cold.
"What do you mean by all of them?"
She looked up at me, eyes wide with something between awe and fear.
"Realms are cracking, Kael. One by one. And someone—or something—is behind it. They’re trying to rewrite everything. Time. Memory. Even fate."
I didn’t speak. I couldn’t.
Because just then, the ground rumbled again, stronger this time. And in the distance, a pillar of red light shot up into the sky.
Elias and Aria woke, eyes wide.
"Is that where we’re going?" Elias asked.
Seraphine nodded slowly.
"That," she whispered, "is where it begins."
The twins’ presence calmed the worst of the storm inside me, but it didn’t silence the warnings echoing in my bones.
I kept one hand on Elias’s shoulder, the other on Aria’s back as we walked through the trees, heading toward the edge of Seraphine’s grove. The sun was sliding low in the sky now, casting a gold sheen across the forest floor. Birds had gone quiet. That never meant anything good.
Seraphine walked a few paces behind, quiet, as if letting me lead—though I could feel her watching. Her silence didn’t mean passiveness. She was reading every movement, every twitch of my fingers, every breath I took. I could respect that. It was how survivors behaved.
Upon arriving at a small clearing encircled by birch trees, I halted.
“We’ll take a break here,” I said. "Only for a short time."
The twins quickly sat down, obviously feeling relieved. They didn't express any complaints, yet I realized they were worn out. They were youthful, far too youthful for the burden they had already borne. I bent down next to them, smoothing Aria’s unruly curls away from her face.
“Are you hungry?” I inquired.
They both nodded, and I dug into my bag for some dried meat and fruit. It wasn’t significant, but it would sustain them until we relocated again.
I looked at Seraphine, who was positioned at the clearing's border with her arms crossed. Her face revealed no emotions.
"You didn't need to show up," I remarked.
A gleam in her eyes held an emotion I couldn't identify. “I did.”
That was it. No more words, no explanation. And somehow, it felt truer than a long speech.
I wanted to ask her more. About the night they were taken. How she found them. Why she’d chosen to stay and protect them instead of walking away. But I didn’t. Not yet. Not here.
Instead, I took out the map I’d kept hidden in my jacket, unrolling it on a rock. Seraphine stepped closer, watching as I traced a path with my finger.
“There’s a safehouse three days’ run from here. If we keep a steady pace, stay off the roads, we can reach it before nightfall on the third day. From there, we’ll reassess.”
“And then what?” she asked.
“Then I take them where no one can find them.”
A beat of silence passed.
“And me?”
“You… you’ll be free to go. I don’t expect you to keep running with us.”
Her face twisted. “They won’t go without me, Kael.”
“I know,” I admitted. “But I won’t put you in danger any longer.”
She crouched beside me, her voice a quiet rasp. “I’m already in it. Whether I leave or stay. So tell me the truth—what are we really running from?”
I hesitated. My eyes drifted to the twins, who were now curled against each other, half asleep.
“There’s an old order. They called themselves The Veiled Fang. They were behind the betrayal that tore my pack apart. Behind… her death.”
Seraphine’s breath hitched. “And they want the children.”
I nodded slowly. “They think the twins hold a power that could… unseat everything they’ve built. They’ve been watching. Waiting. Testing. And now they’re closing in.”
Seraphine didn’t flinch. “Then we don’t run. We plan.”
I stared at her, caught off guard by the fire in her voice.
Before I could respond, the wind shifted.
A scent.
Smoke.
And something worse—silver.
My blood went cold. I grabbed the twins and stood in one motion.
“They’ve found us.”
Seraphine’s hands flared with light, her body tensed.
And from beyond the trees, footsteps echoed—deliberate, inhuman.
The Veiled Fang was here.
- Writer
