With a single fluid, explosive movement, Lexel reached out and seized her by the coat. Her eyes widened into discs of sheer shock before the force of his pull yanked her clean off her feet, dragging her backward through a violent eruption of jagged rocks and flying shrapnel. Dust billowed, choking the clearing, as she tumbled safely behind the tree line.
"I don't know what you're planning to do," a voice echoed through the haze, calm and cold, "but you're a fool for taking out your own teammate like that."
Out from the settling dust stepped the masked man, the dark contours of his visor hiding whatever malice or amusement lay beneath.
Lexel's confident smirk flickered, dissolving into a dark, heavy disappointment. His gaze drifted past the warrior, scanning the shadowed perimeter of the surrounding crags with keen, calculating eyes.
I knew it, Lexel thought, a bitter taste rising in his throat. It won't be that easy to find you, brother.
