The forest churned around them as the group crept through the underbrush. Tall trees swallowed the sunlight above, and damp loam softness quieted their footsteps. They were breaking out of the temporary base at dawn, the one they'd used since the op. It wasn't safe anymore.
Zero walked at the head of the group, his eyes scanning the forest in quiet intensity. His best friend, the small wolf Ash, padded beside him, ears perked at every noise. The rest followed in pairs behind—Sienna leading the way with Holt, Garrick, and Lyra forming a protective guard around the five rescued otherworlders.
The air was thick with tension.
This forest is like it's breathing," Elise whispered, hugging herself. Her brown hair clung to her with mist and perspiration. She kept near Zero, her eyes flicking nervously from tree to tree.
Zero glanced at her. "It's just damp. And quiet. That's why every sound is louder.
Vivian walked not far behind them, her golden eyes unfathomable. Her red hair had been tightly braided back into a short, practical braid, her posture straight and guarded. She didn't speak much—just watched. Observed. Like Sienna.
Holt's voice cut through the silence in front of them. "We should reach the second camp by sundown if we maintain the pace."
"And if we're not trailed," Lyra said, her bow already in hand.
Garrick, trudging along with his axe on his shoulder, grunted. "If they were going to attack us, they'd have done it by now. We already burned the first place to the ground."
"They don't have to attack us," Sienna said, her tone level. "Just follow us."
That reminder dropped a cold rock in everyone's gut. The marks. The ones placed in the otherworlders. They weren't just symbols—they were beacons.
They took a brief break mid-march. The rebels dispersed to keep a perimeter while the others sipped water and caught their breath.
The two boys in the group of otherworlders—Damon and Felix—sat together whispering and throwing side glances at Zero. They didn't like him. Zero didn't mind. They made offhand comments about his memory loss and how "convenient" it was.
Zero ignored them, offering Elise a waterskin instead, which she took with a weak smile.
Vivian sat on a nearby rock, unwinding a small part of glittering thread from her fingertips—Mana Threads. The ability she had been summoned with. Zero noticed she had the ability because of gods eye, but surprisingly Vivian also noticed. She lashed them back and forth among her knuckles, watching how the threads reacted with the air. Her eyes would occasionally flicker toward Zero.
When they were moving again, the quiet argument continued.
"I still believe we should've left them behind," Garrick told Holt as he moved just ahead of Zero.
"We'd be signing their death warrants," Holt replied softly. "They're kids, mostly."
"They're kids with targets cut into their skin," Garrick said. "We've all seen what the Empire does with that kind of magic."
"I'd rather not let them lead the Empire straight to our doorstep," Lyra added. "But I'm not about to play executioner either."
Sienna, ahead of them all, said nothing.
Zero couldn't unhear the whispers. Neither could Elise. She looked up at him, worried. "Are they talking about us?"
Zero didn't say anything. He was used to being under suspicion. But now, these five strangers—Elise, Vivian, Damon, Felix, Marcus—were in this too. And he didn't appreciate how exposed it felt.
Later that day, when the sky was reddening with evening, the second camp was sighted. This one was better prepared than the first: low stone walls masked with moss, tents built into rock crevices, and a concealed firepit with no smoke.
Holt waved them in. "We rest here. Doctors from the main camp will be here by morning. They'll extract the marks."
The othersworlders visibly eased. Tension did not fade.
Zero sat for a time with Ash beneath one of the pines just beyond camp. The wolf lay down beside him, resting its head in Zero's lap. He stroked the soft fur absently, eyes scouring the sky.
Vivian stood close a moment later, her presence silent beside him. Her hair was an almost-molten red in the light, and her golden eyes burned in the dark.
"Your wolf trusts you," she said simply.
"He saved me," Zero said.
She nodded. "Then maybe you're someone to be trusted."
He looked up at her. "You think I'm lying too?"
"No," she said, "but I think you're hiding. Even from yourself.
Zero didn't respond. Ash shifted next to him.
"I understand how it is to be judged for something you never requested," she continued. "That's why I don't leave a person behind unless they give me cause to."
He smiled weakly. "Then I won't give you one."
Vivian nodded once. "We'll see." She turned and walked back toward the tents, threads spinning at her fingertips.
Elise sat beside him a moment later, smiling softly. "You're not alone, you know."
Zero blinked. "What?"
"I've seen how you act. Like you're separate from everyone. Like you're used to people leaving."
She leaned out and touched his wrist softly.
"But we're still here."
Far from the quiet forest, in the cold heart of a fortress spiked with iron pipes and arcane machinery, an imperial war room hummed with expectation.
A regional map was spread across a long black table, illuminated by flickering crystal lanterns. Tiny red glyphs glowed where rebel presence had been detected—and one burned steadily at the edge of the forest.
A man wearing a dark red military jacket was standing watching it, his face carved from granite.
At the rear of him, a soldier knelt, head bowed. "The seed has germinated, Commander. We've received confirmation of movement from the starting point. They've reached the second camp."
The commander did not look around. "Then we have them."
He waved a hand briefly. "Deploy the Seeker."
The soldier hesitated. ".You're certain? Even now? She hasn't been the same since the last purge."
The commander's eyes tightened. "She was designed for this. And we are not waiting for a clean kill. We're bleeding them out."
He faced the side door of the war room. It opened with a hiss behind him, and beyond it was a shadowed room—cold, sterile, and illuminated only by a faint, ominous violet glow.
A figure sat on a floating plate, barefoot, hair flowing like black ink around her.
Her eyes slid open slowly—blazing red, glowing like embers in the dark.
Rika.
Once a student.
Now something new altogether.
"You called," she stated flatly.
The commander inclined her head icy-cold. "Track the signature. Locate the second camp. Do what you do best.".
Rika rose silent. As she stepped into the light, arcane brands seared up her arms like cracks in porcelain. A massive spear took form behind her—floating motionless, vibrating with unchecked power.
"At your command," she whispered