Page 327 of House Ignis

Muscles coiled beneath his leathers as he scanned the trees, his silver eyes catching every flicker of movement in the brush.

"This place feels wrong," I whispered, the damp air sticking to my lungs.

"It is wrong," he said, his voice a low vibration. "The Veylaith feeds off fear. Don’t give it yours."

Branches creaked overhead, a whisper threading through the leaves like a dying breath.

I caught a flash of movement—too fast to place, a blur against the gnarled bark.

"Asher…"

"I see it." His hand brushed the hilt of his blade, calm but ready. "We keep moving. South, toward the shrines. The radius will shrink from the north first."

I nodded, my pulse steadying under the anchor of his voice.

We walked in silence for a while, the only sounds the crunch of our boots and the rhythmic thud of my heartbeat echoing through the bond. Every step sank us deeper into shadow where the air grew thick with pine and old, curdled magic.

Then—a chime.

Faint. Metallic. The sound of another team’s band flaring into the void, signaled back to the Astral Guard monitors.

"Eighteen," Asher murmured.

The Woods shivered around us, the leaves rustling with a sound that felt almost… pleased.

"Gods," I breathed, gripping his arm. "It’s like it can taste it."

His jaw tightened, a hard line in the gloom.

"Then let’s make sure it chokes on ours." He reached for my hand, his fingers sliding through mine and grounding me in the dark.

"Come on, firecracker," he said, a ghost of a grin flickering through the tension. "Let’s hunt."

We moved like shadows—silent, calculated, and lethal.

Every heartbeat and every whisper in the dark sharpened my senses until the Woods themselves seemed to breathe in time with us.

"Two ahead," Aether’s voice curled through the bond, his massive black ears twitching as his now-flame-tipped tail went still. "Eastward. Fire and earth. They reek of arrogance,"

I smirked. "Perfect."

Asher’s hand brushed my back, a fleeting touch of warmth. "Our first hunt," he murmured, the words humming through the bond like a promise.

We crept through the undergrowth until I caught sight of them—two wielders crouched near a fallen log, muttering over a map projection hovering in the air.

Their boundlings—a molten boar and a hulking stone bear—snuffled the dirt as if they were the apex predators here.

"Want to make an entrance?" I whispered.

He glanced at me, eyes glinting silver. "Always."

I flared my magic, heat shimmering through the clearing until the moss began to curl.

Their heads whipped up—too late.

I sent a burst of flame arcing across the air; it exploded against the ground at their feet, sending dirt and white-hot fire scattering.

The boar charged, its tusks ablaze, and Aether met it mid-lunge. His black claws flashed as a roar split the silence.