I pushed myself forward, each step carving agony through my ribs. My muscles trembled, worn thin by pain and battle, but I kept going. Because giving in meant giving her more. And I was done surrendering.
The first hunter pounced. But he was too slow.
I pivoted, letting instinct and magic take over. The air shimmered around me as my blade slid into my hand, pulsing with that familiar violet light. Sculptured with starlit runes and forged for more than just blood—it was made for souls.
I spun, driving it clean into his chest
His breath hitched—once. Then the blade drank deep.
His soul was torn from his body in a rush of wind and light, sucked into the blade like gravity itself had demanded it.Before I could even wrench the dagger free, another hunter came barrelling toward me—fast, reckless, all rage and no control.
I reached for the second blade at my hip. The cold hilt felt familiar against my palm. As his wild swing cut through the air, I dropped low, twisting beneath it. My blade snapped upward—slicing clean through the muscle of his thigh.
He screamed, staggering, and I didn’t feel anything.
Closing the distance, eyes never leaving his, I drive the blade into his gut with merciless force. The sound is wet, guttural, and beautiful. His lips part in a broken sob as blood gushes over my hand, and a twisted satisfaction spreads through me. I press harder, savouring the way his body buckles before me.
He collapses, gurgling, the fight draining from him, and I watch the light die in his eyes. But there's no time to linger. Two more of them close in, flanking me, weapons raised, faces twisted with grim determination. My lungs burn, chest heaving—but I don't cower away.
I welcome it.
I pull the dagger out, slam my palm to the ground, and the earth shudders beneath me, answering my rage. Fire lashes up from the soil, a wild, snapping inferno that races outward, scorching everything in its path. The hunters freeze, their faces twisting in disbelief, but it's already too late. The flames seize them, wrapping around their bodies, devouring them. Smoke and heat curl into the air—and I let myself smile.
The fire roared around me, but something inside me snapped. Pain ripped through my body, stealing the air from my lungs. Heat prickled at my skin, blurring the edges of my vision into white-hot chaos. I staggered back, lips trembling, the world tilting sideways.
“Raven, stop. Don’t tap into my magic yet,”Xarothar's voice echoed through my mind, tight with alarm—and somethingdangerously close to panic.“You’re not ready. You’ll burn yourself out.”
“You don’t think I know that? But there's a bloody army on me, Xarothar.”
I spun just as another hunter charged at me, my foot slamming into his chest. The impact sent him skidding back, limbs flailing. Before he could find his footing, my blade was already slicing forward. Another soul ripped from a useless body.
A body slammed into me from the side, knocking the air from my lungs as we crashed to the ground. My back struck hard, pain ripping up my spine in a sharp, electric jolt. For one raw, breathless second, everything stopped—I couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything. Just pain and weight and the echo of impact ringing through my bones.
“Raven—”
“I’ve got it.”I clench my teeth together as the hunter scrambles to pin me.
“Shit,” I hissed as his dagger plunged down. I catch the blade, steel slicing into my palm. His hand clamps around my throat, crushing, but I buck my hips hard, flipping him beneath me. He doesn't let go. Doesn't stop. I rip the dagger from his grip, ramming it straight into his eye. The crunch, the wet pop, the flood of blood—his scream tears out of him, but I drive it deeper, twisting until his body thrashes under me like a dying insect.
Another down.
The remaining hunters come for me, as I look up from the ground. A snarl rips free as the power rises, spilling out of me in a rush I can't contain. The ground shakes beneath my feet, splitting open in sharp cracks that race toward the hunters. I hurl my arm forward, and the magic detonates, a brutal force tearing through the yard, shredding everything in its path.
The hunters didn’t stand a chance.
They went flying—slamming into the stone walls before falling onto the floor, all of them scattered like broken chess pieces. I stood in the aftermath, every muscle in my body burning with effort. Power still thrummed through me, but I held my ground as I refused to fall.
“Raven, what did you do?”
“I don’t have time,”I try catching my breath.“I’m done holding back.”
“You’re going to get yourself killed. And I refuse to be bonded to a corpse.”
“I need to save them.”
I limped forward, ignoring the screaming ache in my legs, the fire in my lungs. The ache didn’t matter. None of it did.
Not while they were still inside with her.
