Night fell, and Zeff was still unconscious.

  The small occupant in his arms began to stir. Eve peeked her head out from his grasp and yawned before wriggling free. She stumbled off his chest and onto the riverbank, blinking at the unfamiliar world around her.

  She sniffed the air cautiously.

  As she began to realize she was somewhere unknown, small glowing sounds escaped her throat—soft at first, then gradually more frantic. She wandered in uneven circles, tail twitching. Eventually, she toddled down the riverbank, though her tiny legs didn’t carry her very far.

  Suddenly her nose twitched.

  Her tail began wagging rapidly.

  The sounds she made shifted into excited chirps.

  The noise stirred Zeff awake.

  “What’s all that noise for… let me slee—”

  He glanced down at his arms.

  Empty.

  It took a moment for his mind to process what he was seeing. Then he shot upright.

  “Eve? Where are—wait, can ba—agh!”

  The sudden movement tore at his wounds, forcing a groan from his throat. He clutched his side, breathing sharply.

  Then he saw her.

  Running toward the woods.

  “No, no—don’t run off!”

  His injuries slowed him, but he forced himself forward anyway.

  As they ran deep into the dark woods, the forest at first felt almost ordinary. Tall trees stretched toward the canopy, their leaves filtering moonlight into pale silver ribbons. The air smelled of damp earth and moss. Roots twisted through the soil like sleeping serpents, and low branches clawed at anything passing beneath them.

  Eve darted between the trees effortlessly—small, nimble, quick. She weaved through brush and roots as though she had been born to this wild maze.

  Zeff struggled.

  His legs trembled beneath him. Blood still seeped from poorly closed wounds. He staggered forward, using tree trunks and jagged rocks to steady himself, barely keeping her in sight.

  “Eve—slow down…” he rasped.

  She didn’t.

  The deeper they went, the more the forest began to change. The undergrowth thinned. The scent shifted from moss and bark to something dry… ancient.

  Zeff nearly tripped over the first bone.

  It was massive—larger than any animal he had ever seen. Curved like the rib of some colossal beast, half-buried and bleached white by time.

  Then he saw another.

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  And another.

  Some were small and scattered like broken branches. Others were enormous—towering ribcages, elongated skulls lined with jagged teeth, vertebrae thicker than tree stumps. Time had stripped them of flesh, but not of presence.

  This wasn’t natural.

  The trees finally parted into a wide clearing. The ground bore deep gouges carved into stone and soil. Sections of earth looked as though they had been blasted apart. Bone fragments littered the battlefield like remnants of an ancient war.

  It was a graveyard.

  It was a battlefield.

  And something about it felt unfinished.

  Eve skidded to a stop near the center.

  A low growl rolled through the clearing.

  From the opposite end stepped a massive lion-like beast. Its shoulders were high and muscular, claws digging trenches into the soil with each slow step. A dark mane threaded with ash-grey framed golden eyes filled with predatory intelligence.

  Its gaze locked onto Eve.

  Yet the baby dragon did not retreat.

  She stood her ground.

  Zeff caught up just in time to see the standoff. There was no world where Eve could defeat this creature—yet she showed no sign of fear.

  That terrified him more than anything.

  He stepped slowly toward her, trying not to draw the beast’s full attention.

  “Eve… you’re not winning this. Just come here, okay? Can you even understand English? Your mom did…”

  Eve glanced back at him for only a second before turning toward the beast and letting out a defiant growl.

  Zeff’s heart sank.

  The lion lunged.

  Without thinking, Zeff threw himself into its path. He grabbed Eve just as claws raked across his back, tearing fabric and flesh alike. The force sent him flying into a cluster of enormous bones, shattering them on impact.

  He coughed up blood, vision spinning.

  The beast charged again.

  Fate intervened.

  The bones he had crashed into rested near the edge of a cliff.

  The ground gave way.

  They tumbled downward, crashing through branches and dirt before slamming violently into the trunk of a massive tree that halted their descent.

  Zeff lay there, breathing ragged and shallow. His eyes blurred, but he forced them open.

  He opened his arms.

  Empty.

  “Wait… no…”

  Ahead of him, Eve sat calmly on a rock, watching him with curious eyes. She yawned, then leapt off and sprinted away again.

  “No—damnit! How did she—”

  He forced himself up and continued the chase.

  It turned into a game. Every time he got close, she darted away. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she was enjoying it.

  But the sun was setting.

  And Zeff was running out of strength.

  The lion’s claws had left a deep wound across his back.

  The sun finally disappeared beneath the horizon.

  Zeff collapsed onto a rock, breathing heavily. As he examined his injuries, he paused.

  They were healing.

  Faster than they should.

  “Well… that’s new,” he muttered. “Useful. But new.”

  He leaned back carefully, avoiding pressure on his wounds.

  “Eve… come on. At least let me see you.”

  Silence.

  He stood slowly.

  “Eve. I know you can hear me. How am I supposed to chase you if I can’t see you?”

  Still nothing.

  A cold feeling settled in his stomach.

  He returned to the clearing.

  And there he saw her.

  Eve was inside a small cage, her mouth bound.

  Three men stood nearby—wearing armor similar to the army that had hunted her mother. One remained mounted, clad in white ornate armor. The other two wore worn leather gear.

  “Ahaha! First a dragon, now this?” one laughed. “Could today get any better?”

  “Selling this will earn us a fortune,” the other said greedily.

  Zeff stepped from the shadows.

  His arm still bled.

  But his expression had changed.

  “Give me the lizard.”

  The mounted elf—Dean—stepped forward, summoning a crackling lightning whip from a grimoire at his side.

  “And why would we do that?” Dean sneered. “From the looks of it, you’re already dead.”

  The others laughed.

  Zeff didn’t.

  “I won’t ask again. Give me the lizard.”

  Dean’s amusement faded. “You must be deranged. One of those lost slaves, aren’t you?”

  He cracked the whip and lashed it forward.

  Zeff caught it.

  Lightning surged into him.

  Steam rose from his skin as the wounds across his body sealed faster. Strength flooded back into his limbs—but something else came with it.

  A presence.

  Dark.

  Heavy.

  Wrong.

  The two men behind Dean staggered backward, faces pale.

  Dean’s magic flickered.

  He stumbled back, nearly falling from his horse.

  Zeff didn’t say anything.

  He didn’t need to.

  Dean looked into his eyes—and froze.

  Something inside them was broken.

  Not madness.

  Not rage.

  Something worse.

  Merciless.

  The forest fell silent.

  Then—

  Screaming shattered the night.

  Birds erupted from the trees in panicked swarms, wings beating wildly into the dark sky.

  And the clearing echoed with terror.