Klaus drew in the air—painfully familiar.
Fresh. Damp. Cold.
He stood on a low rise. Below, a village lay swallowed by forest on all sides.
He smiled.
Finally.
Home.
He slung the bag over his shoulder and started downhill. It would take hours. A strip of forest stood between him and anything resembling safety.
His blood stirred.
It wouldn't be easy.
It never was.
But the trees ahead weren't that dense.
Nothing there should be beyond him.
He took a few steps—
and stopped.
The world tilted.
His skin prickled as magic surged back into him, flooding every vein too fast, too violently.
Klaus dropped into a crouch, yanked a bottle from his bag, drank greedily, forcing the tremor out of his hands.
Not yet.
It would be pathetic—getting torn apart by something insignificant.
He sat back on the damp ground.
Watched.
The forest.
Dark. Breathing.
Mist clinging low like rot.
The faint, unmistakable smell of blood.
He lifted his gaze.
The sky felt heavier here.
Lower.
Pressing down.
Everything in this world demanded something from him.
His inheritance.
His duty.
His place.
For a second—
he wanted to turn back.
The thought shattered immediately.
No.
He could change this place.
Not all of it.
Not even most.
But enough.
Enough to make it resemble something else.
Something better.
It would be hard.
Nearly impossible.
But impossible had never meant anything.
Still—
the feeling was wrong.
Coming home should have felt different.
Stronger.
Instead—
there was something hollow underneath it.
Fragments flickered through his mind—
sharp, disjointed—
and in every single one—
Egor.
He had done the right thing.
There was nothing to regret.
So why—
was the emptiness still there?
It lingered.
Sharp.
Annoying.
Unwanted.
He exhaled.
Ignored it.
He always did.
Magic settled.
Steady now.
Familiar.
Alive.
Klaus raised his hand—
released two thin arcs of lightning.
They cracked through the air—
violent—
hungry—
and vanished.
This.
This was what he had missed.
He smiled.
Stood—
A blinding white light tore open behind him.
Klaus spun instantly, katana already in hand—clean, untouched, waiting—and dropped into a fighting stance.
A figure stepped out.
Small.
The portal snapped shut.
Klaus stared.
"…Am I hallucinating?"
"I'm so glad you didn't leave!" Egor blurted out.
"So not a hallucination," Klaus muttered.
Then his expression changed.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"I came to help you. Whatever you're planning."
"Help?"
The word came out sharp.
Mocking.
Klaus closed the distance in one step, grabbing Egor by the collar.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"And where did you get those clothes?"
"Grandma planned everything," Egor said, forcing his voice steady.
Klaus shoved him away.
"I'll find an air mage today and send you back."
"It's almost night," Egor shot back. "And I'm not going anywhere."
His legs were shaking.
He stayed anyway.
"You don't understand what happens here after dark," Klaus said coldly. "I can't guarantee you'll survive crossing that forest. I don't have time to babysit dead weight."
The words were deliberate.
Cruel on purpose.
Because anything softer—
would be worse.
Because his heart was already reacting.
Too fast.
Too wrong.
Egor did not belong here.
He would die.
And Klaus would not watch it happen.
"Then go alone," Egor snapped. "I'll follow you anyway. Your threats don't matter. Just accept it. I'm staying."
He had already crossed the line.
Left everything behind.
There was nothing left to lose.
"Why?" Klaus demanded. "You don't understand this place. This isn't life—it's survival. Constant. Endless. So why? What are you trying to prove?"
"I don't want you to be alone!" Egor shouted, face burning red. "That's it. That's the reason!"
Silence.
Klaus dragged a hand down his face.
"Gods…"
The anger drained.
Something lighter slipped in.
Unwanted.
"Listen carefully," he said, voice hard again. "I won't repeat this."
"If I say run—you run."
"If I say stay silent—you don't make a sound."
"If I give an order—you follow it. Immediately. No questions. No hesitation."
"Understood?"
He tried to sound strict.
Tried to rebuild distance.
It didn't work.
"Yes, my lord," Egor said dryly.
"I'm serious."
"I know."
A pause.
"What's the plan?"
"We reach the village. That means crossing the forest." Klaus glanced toward it. "There is no safe time. In there—it's always night."
"Then let's go."
The closer they got—
the worse it felt.
Egor didn't need explanations anymore.
The sky.
The weight of it.
The silence pressing in.
This world twisted people.
It carved something out of them.
No wonder Klaus was like this.
They stopped at the edge.
A scream tore through the air.
A child.
Raw.
Desperate.
Egor flinched.
"What was that? We have to help—"
Klaus grabbed him and yanked him back hard.
"It's bait."
"What?"
"One of the creatures." Klaus didn't even blink. "Small. Slightly bigger than a dog. Too many teeth. Drooling mouth. Tentacles. It mimics sounds. Perfectly."
"That sounded real!"
"It was."
Egor froze.
Cold spread under his skin.
"It doesn't even have a name," Klaus went on. "Too many things like it in this forest. People don't bother. Most call it a coward. It lures prey. Waits. Lets them weaken. Then it eats."
Alive.
Slowly.
Egor's stomach twisted.
Images forced their way in—
a body trapped—
days without food—
without water—
and then—
teeth.
Tearing.
While still breathing.
"What do we do?" he whispered.
"We ignore it."
"That's it?"
"It won't come out. We go around."
They did.
Klaus moved without hesitation.
Egor flinched at every scream.
Even knowing—
didn't help.
The forest was alive.
Growls.
Hissing.
Something moving just out of sight.
Something watching.
Waiting.
Something slammed into Egor's face.
Wet.
Leathery.
Clawing.
He choked out a scream.
Lightning cracked—
sharp—
blinding—
and the thing dropped in pieces at his feet.
Klaus grabbed him instantly, dragging him behind a tree and forcing him down.
"Quiet."
"What—"
"They don't fly alone."
The sound came next.
A swarm.
Not dozens.
Hundreds.
The air filled with it—
a living, screaming mass.
They descended—
and tore their dead companion apart.
In seconds.
Meat gone.
Nothing left but bone.
Egor didn't breathe.
Couldn't.
His lungs burned.
His body locked under Klaus's weight.
Then—
a sound somewhere else.
The swarm shifted.
Vanished.
Just like that.
Klaus moved first.
Egor sucked in air, shaking.
"They ate their own…"
"They eat anything."
Deeper.
The forest closed in.
Then—
the trees moved.
Branches snapped forward like whips.
The ground shifted.
Roots dragged beneath the soil.
Klaus moved instantly.
Lightning tore through the dark.
Steel flashed.
Wood split.
But it didn't stop.
It adapted.
Shifted.
Hit harder.
A branch slammed into him—
hard enough to throw him into a tree.
Air punched from his lungs.
Egor didn't move.
Couldn't.
Terror locked him in place.
This was a mistake.
A massive one.
If he stayed—
Klaus would keep risking himself.
Again.
And again.
For him.
"Move!" Klaus barked, spitting blood as he forced himself up. "Hide!"
This time—
Egor obeyed.
Klaus drew the katana fully.
The blade sang.
He cut through branches.
Burned them.
Again.
Again.
Not enough.
The trunk held.
Too thick.
Too alive.
Then he saw it.
The roots.
Pulling back.
Hiding.
He moved.
Struck.
Steel sank deep into one.
A scream ripped through the air.
Green fluid spilled.
Klaus grinned.
Dropped low—
hands to the ground—
and released everything.
Lightning surged through the earth—
violent—
uncontrolled—
hungry.
Roots convulsed.
Tore free.
Exposed.
He rose.
Moved faster now.
Cleaner.
Sharper.
Cutting them down one by one.
Branches hit him.
Again.
Again.
Pain came—
but it didn't matter.
Not now.
Not here.
Adrenaline drowned it.
Until—
the last root snapped.
The tree shuddered.
Rot spread instantly.
It collapsed—
into filth.
Splinters.
Dead mass.
Only then did Klaus fall back.
Flat on his back.
Laughing.
Breathing hard.
Alive.
Egor ran to him.
"You're insane."
"Yes."
Still laughing.
"You okay?"
"I'll live," Klaus muttered. "Give me a minute. Those branches hit harder than a whip."
Egor glanced at him.
"…How do you know what that feels like?"
Klaus smirked faintly.
"You don't know a lot about me."
"That's… not reassuring."
Klaus stared upward.
The adrenaline faded.
Pain followed.
And then—
a thought.
He killed too easily.
Too naturally.
Would that—
scare Egor?
They reached the far side of the forest long after time stopped mattering.
No light.
No sky.
Only darkness behind them.
When they stepped out—
Egor inhaled deeply.
Even here—
the air felt wrong.
Heavy.
Like it carried blood in it.
Klaus set up a small camp.
"I've never been to a free village," he said. "No idea what to expect."
"They're civilians, right?"
"There are no civilians here."
A pause.
"Everyone fights."
"We need a story," Klaus went on. "We say we left the army. Looking for something else."
"And me?"
Klaus looked him over.
"You were a cook."
Egor let out a quiet breath.
"…That fits."
Klaus watched him.
"You're not a coward."
Egor met his gaze.
There was no sarcasm.
None.
That hit harder than anything.
He still felt like one.
Still shaken.
Still afraid.
But underneath—
something else remained.
He had made the right choice.