Morning came reluctant and gray, crawling over the hills with a light that felt more like surrender than dawn. Fog clung low to the earth, veiling the camp in quiet unease. Jain sat with his back to a stone outcropping, watching the sky shift colors behind the clouds. The others were still asleep, bundled in cloaks and dreams. All except Lyra. She sat nearby, her knees drawn to her chest, arms wrapped around them. She hadn't spoken much after last night. Neither had he. But something hu between them now—tangible, unspoked. Not awkward. Just... real.
The stone pulsed once in his pack, faint Like a heartbeat deep in the earth. "We should move soon," Lyra said, not looking at him. "Yeah," Jain replied, voice low. "That howl came from less than a mile out. if they're tracking us, we've got maybe a few hours before—" A scream. it ripped through the trees, high and desperate.
The camp snapped awake—Kael jolted upright, Siera already on her feet, wide eyed. Rian's hands sparked with fire before he was fully conscious. Jain was up in seconds, stone in hand. "Everyone, quiet!" Another scream. Closer this time. And something else underneath it—wet snarling, like teeth raking through bone. "What is that?" Siera asked, backing towards the center of the camp. "Not a wolf," Lyra said, hands on her blade. "Something worse." Branches snapped in the tree ahead. Then it stepped into view. This time it was more visible, a thing shaped like a man, but twisted limbs too long, spine arched unnaturally. Its skin looked burnt, blackened like coal. Eyes sunken, mouth wide and filled with jawed teeth, drippind with someting thick and dark. Behind it, trees withered where it walked. Rian took a step back."That's not human,"
"No," Jain said. "That's a revenant." Kael grasped. "I thought hey were just legends."
"Yeah," Jain muttered. "So did I." The Revenant hissed, and behind it, two more emerged—silent, twitching, hungry. Lyra drew her sword. "We need to go. Now."
"No time," Jain said. The mark on his neck flared like a flame reigniting. The stone in his hand turned white and hot. The Revenant charged.
The first Revenant lunged—faster than it haad anyright to be. It covered ten feet in a heart beat, claws outstretched, jaws wide. Jain raised his hand instinctively—the air folded. The beast struck something invisible mid-leap and crumpled backward, snarling. A shimmer hung in the air where Jain had bent time, just for a second.
The group split—Lyra and Siera to the left, Kael and Rian to the right. The second Revenant chased after Rian, flames licking from the boy's hands as he turned and hurled a blast of fire into the trees. The creature screamed, but didn't stop. "That didn't kill it!" Rian shouted. "They don't die easily!" Jain shouted back, already moving. The world blurred around him. One blink, two—He was behind the first Revenant again. With pulse of energy from the stone, he thrust his hand forward. Time stuttered. The creature moved in slow motion—just enough for Jain to sweep its legs out from under it and slam it to the ground. Lyra met the third creature mid charge, blade flashing. She ducked low, rolled beneath its claw, and sliced deep along its side. Black ichor sprayed across the grass. Siera stood in the clearing, both hands out, wind spiraling around her like cyclone. Her eyes glowed faint blue. She shouted a single word—"Scatter!!"—and the gust exploded outwards. Leaves, branches, and dirt whipped through the air, slamming the wounded Revenant into a tree. it rose again.
"What does it take to kill one of these things?!" Kael yelled.
"Sever the spine," Lyra called. "Or burn the head off." Siera's voice rang out, sharp and sure. "Maybe both."
"No," Jain shouted. "Concentrate your power and release a final blow" he said.
Siera stepped forward, trembling, blood already streaking from her nose. Her whole body sparked with wild energy, she drew a breath so deep it felt like it tore through her chest, and with every ounce of will she had left she screamed—"Scatter!"—the word wasn't just a sound this time—it was power, raw and ancient. It rippled through the clearing like thunder cracking the sky.
The Revenant staggered mid charge, its body convulsing as the force hit it. Cracks split across its burned flesh like shattered glass, light bleeding through . It shrieked—a high, unnatural sound—and the finally, it crumbled into ask.
Siera collapsed with it blood running from her mouth as her body hit the earth.
"Siera!" Kael cried, rushing toward her.
Jain turned to the last Revenant—still twitching on the ground trying to rise. Something dark whispered from its mouth, words in a tongue that didn't belong in this world.
The stone in his hand pulsed harder, more urgently.
"That one," he muttered. "Its marked"
Lyra was at his side now, breathless. "What do you mean?"
"It was sent, this wasn't random, this one is marked like a—" the Revenant laughed—low, rasping. its voice gurled like water in a broken pipe. "They're watching you, Vessel," it hissed. "They remember you."
Its body began to convulse, limbs bending in unnatural directions, head lolling back.
"It's going to blow!" Siera shouted from the ground, barely conscious. She felt it before anyone else—the raw buildup of energy spiraling in its core.
"Down!" Jain roared, throwing up a wall of compressed air.
The revenant exploded in a wave of black flamme and bone.
Silence fell over the clearing.
Ash drifted like snow. The grass where the creature had died was gone, burned to glass.
No one moved for a moment.
Then Kael broke it. "What the hell was that?"
Jain turned slowly, face grim. "That is a warning."
Lyra looked at him. "You sure?"
"Yeah," he said, brushing ash from his cloak. "And the next one won't be watching."
The clearing was quiet again, but the air still stank—burnt flesh, scorched earth, and something fouler beneath it.
Siera knelt near the ashes, her fingers trembling as she sifted through what was left of the second Revenant. A bone. Charred black. But still human.
"This was a person," she said quietly. Her voice cracked.
Kael's head snapped around. "What?"
Siera looked up, wide eyed. "I can feel it. The energy—the soul, or what's left of it—it's torn. Like something hollowed them out and wore the skin."
Jain's face went pale. "The one that spoke was marked, once a gifted "
Lyra cursed under her breath and stepped back. "Gods."
"They used to be," Siera continued. "But something's inside them now. Something old. And angry."
Kael staggered backward, the realization sinking in. "So when we fought them... we weren't just killing monsters."
"No," Jain said, voice low and tight. "We were killing what was left of people who didn't survive the possession. People who were too weak to fight it off."
There was silence, heavier now.
"They remembered you," Lyra said, looking at Jain. "That thing—before it died—it said that."
Jain didn't answer right away. He just stared at the scorched earth, as if trying to see beyond it.
"They're not just hunting us," he said finally. "They're sending messages. They want me to know they're watching. That they're in control."
"And the people they take?" Rian asked.
"Probably dead the moment they stop resisting," Jain said. "Or worse—trapped. Still in there. Screaming."
Rael swallowed hard. "So if it happens to one of us..."
"We don't let it," Lyra said firmly, too quickly.
The fire had gone out. Only smoke remained.
Jain turned his gaze north. The stone in his hand has started to pulse again, slow and steady. it was leading them somewhere darker now.
"They're not done with us," he said.
And in the quiet that followed, none of them asked who they were, for they already knew.