Chapter 3
CHAPTER
The forest was still half-asleep when we left the camp. The fog hung low to the ground, and the early birdsong could be heard over the creak of worn boots on roots. The smell of moss and damp ash reached my senses, like the world was holding its breath.
“Could you not drag your feet?” I asked over my shoulder, voice sharper than the morning chill.
“I would,” Malakai drawled. “If you asked politely.”
He said it with a grin that I could hear, even without looking back, as the rope that looped around his wrists tugged gently in my hand. Every time I tried to ignore it, he’d give the faintest pull, a reminder that he was there, that he was enjoying every damned second of this.
“You’re lucky I didn’t gag you too,” I muttered.
“That’s… an image,” he said, voice low, wickedly amused.
“Gross,” Ashley cut in from somewhere behind us, loud enough to make the birds scatter. “Can we not start the day with demon-boy flirting?”
“Technically,” Malakai said, “I’m half demon. You should be grateful, the other half is the only thing keeping me polite.”
“Well, it needs to work harder,” she said, tossing an unlit bomb up and down in her hand. The easy grin on her face took the bite out of her words.
Nate chuckled under his breath, the sound soft and tired. It used to be louder, more alive.
Before…
Well, we don’t talk about before.
“You okay, Nate?” I asked quietly.
He shrugged, eyes down. “Yeah. Just admiring about how peaceful it is before someone decides to blow something up.”
“That’s my line.” Lionel sighed.
Ashley smirked but didn’t deny it.
Jaden walked at the edge of the group, keeping his distance from Malakai without making it too obvious. He pretended to adjust his pack every time Malakai glanced his way, the earth mage’s calm demeanor betrayed by just a hint of tension.
Eve slung her sniper rifle over her shoulder and fell into lockstep beside Jaden, hair shining like she’d just come from a salon and not a night of sleeping on the ground in a dirty camp.
“You know,” she said. “If you ever get tired of explosions and attitude, I could show you what real precision looks like.”
Ashley rolled her eyes. “He’s fine where he is, sniper doll.”
Eve flashed Ashley a smile sharp enough to cut. “I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Good,” Ashley said. “Now if you could just stop talking completely, that would be nice.”
“Just like old times,” Nate sighed.
Behind them, Lionel was silent. I never knew if he was thinking or fading away when he was this quiet.
But he was always watching, like a shadow.
Every time my eyes caught his, there was that flicker of something, regret maybe, or excitement, or both.
I looked away first, pretending to check the map that I already knew by heart.
There were so many things we needed to discuss between us, but none of us were brave enough to take the initiative, so we left them buried in the ground.
Malakai noticed, too, of course, he always did.
“He’s quiet today,” he murmured near my ear.
“He’s quiet by nature.”
“Not with you.”
I didn’t answer. I didn’t have to.
“Eyes up,” Nate said suddenly, his tone shifting. The easy humor drained out of the air. “Something’s moving up ahead.”
The group tensed, habit snapping us back into focus.
Jaden’s hand brushed the ground, earth humming under his fingers. Ashley’s bombs stopped spinning in her palm, while Eve brought her rifle forward and Lionel’s scope gleamed in the early morning sun.
Malakai was still bound, still smirking. “Finally.”
The first sound wasn’t a growl as we expected.
It was laughter.
Soft, human. Too human.
We froze as a figure stepped out from the mist, a girl, maybe fourteen, wearing a torn dress, eyes wide and pleading.
“Help me,” she whispered, sobs escaping her.
Ashley took a cautious step forward before I grabbed her arm. “Wait.”
Malakai tilted his head, watching the girl the way a wolf watches a reflection. “Too early in the day for ghost stories.”
Then, the girl smiled, a twisted, crooked smile. Her mouth stretched too far, eyes flickering like candlelight as her skin rippled.
“Shapeshifter,” Jaden breathed.
By the time the word left his mouth, the girl lunged.
Lionel moved first, quickly firing before aiming properly, yet he pierced it through the collarbone. The demon shrieked, body folding back into its real form, a blur of black goo and claws.
Three more figures emerged from the fog, copies. One looked like Lionel, one like me and the third like Malakai.
“Okay,” Ashley said, lighting a fuse. “I hate when they do that.”
The fake Malakai smiled, the same cocky grin, but his eyes were dull and hollow.
The real Malakai laughed, almost delighted. “Guess I’m popular.”
“Focus!” I snapped, but there was no real heat in it.
Ashley tossed a bomb, the fuse hissing. “Focused enough for you?”
The blast forced the demons apart, shaking the ground. Eve took the opening, her shots echoing like thunder and the fake me dissolved into smoke.
A clean headshot.
“Damn,” Eve said, lowering her rifle. “Didn’t realise how satisfying that would be.”
“Glad to be of service,” I muttered, hurling a ball of fire towards the ground near the creatures still standing.
The flames caught, twisting into a wall of heat, attempting to encircle them, and the forest howled with the sound of burning magic and screaming demons.
But they managed to escape my flames, still standing despite my wildfire.
Jaden crouched low, hands pressed to the dirt. “Everyone, stay close!” he shouted. The ground shivered under us, vines bursting upwards, tangling around the nearest demon’s limbs. “I can’t hold them long!”
“Long enough,” Lionel said, and moved in with a soldier’s precision, taking a shot at the demon that looked like him.
Malakai was still beside me, wrists bound, grinning like a man who didn’t know the meaning of danger. “You’re not going to untie me, are you?”
“You said to play along,” I reminded him, eyes still on the tree line.
He sighed, and then smiled wider. “Didn’t say I wouldn’t fight like this.”
When the next Shapeshifter came at him, he sidestepped easily, caught it with a sharp kick to the chest, and pivoted. Bound hands or not, his movements were liquid, precise, and elegant. When it lunged again, he ducked and drove his shoulder into its gut, knocking it to the dirt.
The creature hissed, its body shifting between faces; mine, his, Ashley’s, even Lionel’s, desperately trying to make Malakai hesitate in his attacks.
Malakai leaned down, eyes gleaming red for a heartbeat. “Pick a face, doesn’t matter which, but it does make it easier to break while it’s firm.”
He slammed his bound hands into its skull, and the thing exploded into black ichor.
“Show off,” Ashley muttered, but there was laughter under it.
“Efficient,” Malakai corrected.
Then the light changed.
The morning dimmed, like the forest itself had drawn a breath and held it. The shadows grew longer, thicker, pulling towards a single point.
Malakai’s grin faded. “Shadow demon,” he said quietly. “I can feel it.”
It emerged slowly, a tall figure made of moving darkness, its edges crawling like smoke. It didn’t walk. It slithered.
Eve lifted her sniper, but cursed. “Where even are the vitals of a shadow?”
“Jaden,” I shouted. “Root it!”
He slammed both palms into the ground. Roots shot upwards, only to wither instantly as the demon absorbed their life-force.
“Not working!” he shouted.
“Then let’s burn it,” I said.
I stepped forward, fire flaring bright around my hands, so hot the air rippled.
Malakai moved in beside me, calm as ever.
“Go on kitten, show it who it’s dealing with,” he smirked, glancing down at me.
I huffed, as I sent my fires out, forming a spiraling inferno that crackled with heat.
The blast tore through the clearing, the shadow demon tearing apart from the inside out.
A screech pierced the air, and it balled a fist of shadows, swinging it through the air, aiming at the whole group.
A wall of dirt flung up, stopping its attack.
Lionel and Eve’s rifles sounded, quartz burrowing into the shadow.
We couldn’t see wounds, but we heard the sizzling sound of the gems burning something.
I pushed another wave of heat, surrounding its entire body this time.
Its final shriek rattled the trees, then faded into nothing.
Smoke hung heavy in the silence that followed.
Nate exhaled, shoulders sagging. “So… breakfast, anyone?”
“We already had that,” Eve snorted.
“He means second breakfast,” Ashley chuckled, dropping to a fallen log, brushing black ichor off her face. “If you’re cooking, sure.”
Eve shifted her rifle, shaking her head. “I’m just glad the demons are uglier than us. Mostly.”
Lionel said nothing, reloading with quiet precision, though I caught his eyes flicking towards me for half a second, a silent check in.
Malakai, still breathing steadily, turned his wrists to show the singed rope and how it was somehow still intact. “See? I kept my word.”
I gave him a look. “Barely.”
He smirked. “Barely still counts.”
The forest was covered in smoke, sunlight beginning to cut through the curls. We were all standing, which, for us, counted as a good day.
By the time the sun started bleeding towards the horizon behind the trees, we’d found a clearing just wide enough for a fire and seven worn bodies. The air had a faint stale smell, and the forest was thinner, as though the earth itself knew what lay ahead.
Ashley dropped her pack with a groan. “I swear my bones are plotting against me.”
Eve was already seated by the fire, rifle balanced across her knees. “That’s what happens when you’re not careful.”
Ashley shot her a glare. “At least I hit the enemies.”
The words hung there, tension sparking between them once again, and for a moment, no one moved. The fire crackled, loud in the silence.
Eve’s smile died, slowly, painfully. She looked down, busying herself with the rifle’s sights.
“Yeah,” she said quietly. “At least you do.”