Sage Haven (The Black Sigil of Naphal #1)

Prologue

Left. Right.

I forced my legs forward. One foot, then the other, as I staggered deeper into the dense forest. The trees clawed and scratched at my skin, as though the woods themselves had conspired against me.

I had to get out.

There had to be a path away from here.

Away from them.

Everything around me seemed to blur into dark streaks of shadows.

The forest floor showed no mercy. Sharp stones and broken branches sliced through my flimsy shoes, biting into the soles of my feet.

I stumbled again, catching myself against a decaying tree.

The bark scraped my palms raw, but pain didn’t seem to matter.

At least not right now.

There was no time for it.

The ground shifted, nearly taking me under again.

Focus, Sage.

I would tell myself that. But the name barely felt like mine anymore.

Like it belonged to someone who still had a chance of making it out of this alive.

My body screamed to stop, to crumple into the dirt and let it all end. But I kept moving. Even when fatigue settled on me like a shroud, threatening to cage me.

Because somehow, adrenaline still flickered, stubborn enough to keep me upright.

But it still didn’t change the fact that I was failing.

I didn’t know how much longer I could take this.

Their laughter had echoed through these woods earlier when I fled. It was gone now, devoured by silence.

Some may think that would have been a relief… and yet it wasn’t.

It was more terrifying.

It meant I couldn’t hear them.

I couldn’t tell if they were near me just waiting for the right moment to bring me back.

Defeat began to press against me, suffocating and loud with everything I didn’t want to feel.

Were they watching?

Waiting?

That was when I felt bile rise hot in my throat. I swallowed it down, pushing past the nausea and fear because there was no room left for anything but survival.

A few more steps.

Another.

Almost there—wherever there was.

I didn’t care.

I had to keep going.

I had to believe something waited for me beyond this dark.

Because this wasn’t how my story would end.

Not here. Not like this.

Just as I reached the stretch of pavement that should have been the light at the end of my tunnel, reality closed in.

I felt it first like a sickness, seeping deeper with every step.

The night shifted into an undeniable turning point that screamed they had already won.

Already gotten what they wanted and disappeared, leaving behind something far worse that would follow no matter how far I ran.

A mark no one could see but one I would feel in every breath, every waking moment, and every broken piece of memory.

That’s what followed.

I wasn’t running from them.

I was running from myself.

They had remade me into someone unrecognizable. And no matter how many lies I whispered just to stay on my feet…

I knew the truth.

There was no going back.

I wasn’t just broken. I was claimed.

And now… I was theirs.