The Abyss-Touched Mage

The world was a blur of trees and cold night air.

Raine's body burned with exhaustion, but he forced himself forward. His soaked clothes clung to him, the weight of them pulling at his every step. He had lost the bounty hunters for now, but they weren't far behind.

He wouldn't last much longer.

The ground sloped upward. He scrambled up a ridge, gripping onto roots for balance. His breath came in short, ragged gasps. At the top, he took a second to steady himself—

And froze.

A figure stood ahead of him.

Raine's breath hitched.

It wasn't one of the bounty hunters.

The hooded man from Vaelora.

He stood between the trees, his posture relaxed—but something about the way he stood stilled the air itself. Like the forest was holding its breath.

The moment stretched too long.

Then—shouting below.

The bounty hunters had found his trail.

Raine whirled. He could see the torchlight moving through the trees, too close, too fast.

He was trapped.

A cold pressure pressed against his ribs. He needed to think. Move. Escape.

But before he could act—the hooded man moved first.

The first bounty hunter crested the ridge, blade drawn—

And collapsed before he had a chance to react.

Raine's pulse spiked. What?

The hooded man hadn't even drawn a weapon.

Another bounty hunter was nearly on them, eyes wide in confusion—then panic as he saw his fallen ally.

"What in the hell—"

He turned toward Raine—

Then jerked sideways, crashing to the ground.

No sound. No warning.

Gone.

The remaining hunters froze.

Raine saw it—the moment when instinct overrode reason.

They were hunters. They had chased fugitives before. Fought mages. Fought mercenaries.

But this?

This was something else.

The bounty hunter closest to Raine took an uncertain step back. His grip tightened on his sword, but his stance shifted—no longer an attacker, but someone assessing a threat.

The hooded man didn't move.

Didn't need to.

Because the air was shifting again.

And Raine felt it.

A familiar pull—one he barely recognized before it was too late.

The shadows around them thickened.

Not in a way that could be seen.

But felt.

The wind stopped.

The night itself paused.

Raine's breath caught.

His body felt out of sync, like something was reaching through him.

The world held still.

The bounty hunter's body locked in place, his breath catching in his throat—not frozen, not paralyzed, but… waiting.

The shadows at Raine's feet deepened, stretching unnaturally. His vision blurred at the edges.

The Abyss.

It wasn't consuming him.

Not yet.

But it was waiting.

Raine tried to move.

The world resisted.

The bounty hunters felt it too—one of them made a choking sound, like his lungs had just collapsed under invisible weight.

Then—

A hand clamped down on Raine's shoulder.

The world snapped back.

Sound returned all at once. The rustling of trees. The distant calls of other hunters. The wind cutting through the branches.

Raine staggered.

His vision cleared.

The bounty hunter who had nearly attacked him fell backward, gasping. His face was pale, his limbs shaking—but he wasn't wounded.

Just terrified.

The hooded man was still watching Raine.

Not the bounty hunters.

Raine.

Raine's chest heaved. He had done something. But what?

The hooded man—Kael.

He had seen it.

Understood it.

And for the first time, Raine realized—

That was why he was here.

The bounty hunters had recovered their senses. They were scrambling backward, eyes darting between the two of them—between Raine and Kael.

Kael's voice was quiet.

"We're leaving."

Raine could barely think. He wanted answers. He wanted to demand what had just happened—

But the forest was waking up again.

The other bounty hunters would find them soon.

Kael's grip tightened.

And Raine didn't resist when he pulled him back into the trees.

They ran.