A sudden kick;
CRACK.
Creature foot slammed into Thalia's abdomen.
All the air left her body instantly.
She was lifted off her feet;
Thrown backward;
Her body hit the ground hard;
Sliding across the roots.
She tried to rise;
Her arms trembled;
Failed.
Collapsed again.
Her breath came in broken gasps.
She couldn't stand.
Not anymore.
Thalia couldn't stand.
She tried.
God, she tried.
Her fingers dug into the roots beneath her, nails tearing against the rough surface as she forced her weight upward, but her arms trembled too violently. The strength wasn't there anymore. Pain shot through her shoulders, her ribs, her legs; everything screaming at once; and her body collapsed again before she could rise.
Her breath came in sharp, broken gasps.
But her eyes;
Her eyes never left Leah.
Leah moved.
Too fast.
Too close.
"Leah...wait!"
The warning never reached her.
The creature was already in motion.
It didn't even acknowledge Thalia anymore.
It chose Leah.
One step;
No....
Not even a step.
A shift.
And it was there.
Right in front of her.
Thalia's heart lurched in her chest as Leah lunged, the dagger flashing upward with precision, aimed straight for its throat. For a brief, fragile second, Thalia thought....
She might land it.
But the creature caught her.
Effortlessly.
Its hand closed around Leah's wrist mid-strike, stopping the blade as if it weighed nothing. The motion was so clean, so controlled, it didn't even look like resistance.
Just… inevitability.
"No…"
Thalia's voice broke under her breath.
Leah struggled instantly. Thalia could see it.....the twist of her shoulders, the strain in her arm, the desperate force behind every movement as she tried to pull free. She pushed, turned, fought with everything she had left.
It didn't matter.
The creature didn't move.
Not even an inch.
Its other hand lifted slowly, almost lazily, as if it had already decided the outcome.
Thalia felt something cold crawl up her spine.
"Move… Leah, move…"
But Leah couldn't.
The creature's fingers closed around her throat.
Tight.
Final.
Thalia's chest seized as Leah's body jerked, her feet lifting slightly from the ground. The change was immediate. The fight in her movements turned frantic; sharp, desperate. Her free hand clawed at the creature's wrist, her dagger still trapped, her entire body straining against something that wouldn't yield.
Thalia dragged herself forward.
Every inch burned.
Her arms shook violently as she pulled against the ground, her vision blurring from the effort, from the fear clawing at her chest.
"Leah…"
It came out weak.
Useless.
Leah's movements began to change.
Thalia saw it.
The strength fading.
The kicks that came slower.
The grip that weakened.
Her head tilted slightly, her body no longer fighting with the same force, like something inside her was being drained faster than she could resist.
"No...no, no!"
Thalia pushed harder, her body screaming as she forced herself forward again, her hand reaching out;
Still too far.
Always too far.
The mist around them thickened, pressing in, closing the space, swallowing the edges of everything.
And the creature;
It leaned closer.
Not to kill.
To take.
Thalia felt it before she saw it.
Something wrong.
Something deeper than the physical.
The creature's head tilted slightly, as if it was listening to something inside Leah.
Then it spoke.
That voice;
Distorted.
Layered.
It didn't belong in the world.
Even from where she was, broken on the ground, Thalia felt it crawl under her skin.
"I can see your fears."
Leah's body stilled.
Not completely;
But enough.
Thalia's breath hitched.
"…Leah…?"
Then....
The light.
Faint at first.
A soft glow beneath Leah's skin.
Thalia blinked, her vision struggling to focus as she stared, unable to understand what she was seeing.
The light spread.
Through her.
Up her neck.
Across her face.
Leah's entire body stiffened, her back arching slightly as if something inside her was being pulled apart.
"No!" Thalia forced out, her voice cracking.
She dragged herself forward again, ignoring the pain tearing through her arms, her chest scraping against the roots.
"Let her go!"
The glow intensified.
Then it moved.
Thalia saw it clearly now.
Strands.
Thin lines of light slipping out of Leah's body; her chest, her throat, even her eyes; stretching forward toward the creature.
And disappearing into it.
Consumed.
Thalia froze.
Her mind refused to accept it.
"…no…"
The creature shuddered.
Not in pain.
In satisfaction.
More light poured out of Leah now, faster, uncontrolled, like something had broken inside her. Her body trembled violently, every muscle straining as if she was being hollowed out from within.
Thalia's vision blurred.
Her heart pounded so hard it hurt.
"LEAH !"
But Leah didn't respond.
Her eyes;
They changed.
The life in them faded, dulling, draining away as that unnatural brown overtook them. Her pupils widened, then steadied into something empty. Something distant.
Like she wasn't there anymore.
Thalia's hand slammed into the ground as she tried to push herself up again.
Failed.
Collapsed.
Her breath came out in a broken sob.
"Please… stop…"
Leah's arm dropped slightly;
The dagger still in her hand..but barely.
Her fingers loosening.
Her strength disappearing.
And Thalia could see it.
Not just her body failing;
Her mind slipping.
Gone somewhere else.
Somewhere Thalia couldn't reach.
The mist pressed tighter around them, suffocating, swallowing sound, swallowing space, until it felt like the entire world had narrowed to that single moment;
Leah; Hanging there; Being drained;
While Thalia lay there; Helpless; Forced to watch.