[FOREST NORTH OF FALLEN CITADEL - IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE ESCAPE]
Alex wasn't sure how long they'd been running.
His lungs burned. His legs felt like lead. Every breath was hard work.
But he kept moving, one foot in front of the other, because stopping meant being caught—whether by the Lich King, the Temple, or something worse.
Finally—finally—Raven stopped, doubling over her knees.
"Enough... already..." she gasped. "We're... at least... five kilometers... away..."
Maya collapsed against a tree, Akari (in large cat form) curling up exhausted in her lap.
Alex staggered to the nearest rock, dropping heavily. Grim—still in 80-centimeter form, completely drained from the battle—was curled in his arms like a very strange skeleton-cat.
For several minutes, they just sat there, breathing, listening to the sounds of the forest.
No pursuit. No undead army. No Temple.
Just... silence.
"I think we made it," Maya finally said, laughing weakly. "We really... really made it."
