Seori
Marked and Hunted
It started with Minji’s scream. We’d been hiding in the forgotten tunnels beneath the Guild compound, trying to plan our next move — hoping for a day, even an hour, to breathe. But we never had a chance.
The second I stepped into the open chamber to get supplies from the stash I’d hidden years ago, they were waiting.
Not strangers. Not faceless hunters.
My team.
Daehyun, Ara, Jiwoo — the very hunters I trained beside, ate with, bled beside. I didn’t even feel the paralyzing rune they threw at my feet until my legs crumpled and the world tilted. I remember the way Ara’s hand shook as she pressed the cold steel cuffs around my wrists.
“I’m sorry, Seori,” she whispered. “They said you were dangerous.”
They dragged me through the inner sanctum like a criminal. I didn’t speak. Didn’t scream. But inside, something dark and ancient howled.
My mark burned through my spine — a twisting ache that wouldn’t quiet. Rheon’s presence flickered at the edge of my mind like Shadowfire, distant but there.
I’d told him to stay away.
I didn’t want him to see what they would do to me. But I didn’t know that Yuna and Minji were already inside, trying to stop it.
The elders formed a circle around me, their faces shrouded in silk and silence. I was thrown to my knees, blood still drying beneath my collarbone where they’d tried to draw wards on me.
Master Jin stepped forward.
“This ritual is designed to free your soul from demonic interference,” he said.
Minji pounded on the barrier wall.
“It’s a bond, not a possession!”
Yuna’s magic sparked through the glass like starlight trying to fight the void.
“You can’t sever a mating bond,” she growled. “You’ll kill her.”
“Then let the gods sort her soul,” another elder replied coldly.
They unsheathed the Severance Dagger. Silver. Angel-blessed. It hummed with ancient magic.
The blade sliced into my back, right over the mark.
And then the world screamed.
Flames—deep crimson, edged with shadow—burst from my spine, throwing half the circle back.
The mark seared through the cloth of my tunic, glowing like a second sun.
I cried out, pain splitting through every cell in my body—not from the blade, but from the bond trying to protect me.
“You are mine. And I am yours. And I will not let them take you.”
I saw it—just for a second. Rheon’s face, hovering at the edge of my mind. His eyes blazing, his hand reaching for mine.
And then everything inside me ignited. The dagger melted in the elder’s hand. The air turned molten.
“Stay away Rheon” I say through the bond, I don’t want him to get hurt. I don’t want him to see me like this.
“Seize her friends,” Master Jin shouted, his voice ragged with fear.
Yuna tried to fight, but wards pinned her down like chains of light. Minji screamed my name before she was slammed against the stone, magic flaring from her fingertips in desperation.
“She’s not yours to control!” Yuna spat. “We protect each other!”
“Then you’ll fall with her,” came the reply.
I tried to rise. My body was broken. But I lifted my head just enough to see their faces — bruised, bloodied… unmoving.
But never afraid.
The Guild had taken everything from me. But the mark wouldn’t break. And neither would I. Because now… the hunter they trained has turned against them. And she’s not alone.