The verdant forest was submerged in an absolute, suffocating silence.
In the center of the clearing, the winged tiger lay sprawled in a state of languid repose. It unhinged its massive jaws in a long, slow yawn, its razor-sharp teeth glinting like cold steel before they snapped shut. Its immense frame stretched slightly, muscles rippling beneath the frosted fur like a giant feline mid-nap.
Magical creatures had no biological need for sustenance, nor did they require rest. Yet, it retained the primal instincts of a beast—habits etched deep within its bloodline that had never truly withered away.
Beneath the shadow of a sprawling tree, Kain slowly withdrew his hand from Rena's mouth. He uttered no sound, only giving her a sharp, commanding "hush" gesture. His eyes were steady, reflecting a terrifyingly stern resolve.
Then, pressing his body flat against the forest floor, he began to crawl. He moved inch by painstaking inch toward Elina's position. Leo and Martha exchanged a single, frantic look; they understood perfectly that their only hope of survival lay in vanishing from the tiger's sight as silently as ghosts.
Fortuitously, the gargantuan beast seemed lost in its own "slumber," oblivious to the minute shifts occurring at the edge of the woods.
The group held their breath. They stayed low, bellies almost brushing the dirt, every movement calculated to the extreme. Kain and Leo led the way. They reached out, lifting dry twigs one by one to set them aside, even brushing away fallen leaves to ensure that those following behind wouldn't trigger a single, fatal snap.
Every gesture was slow and restrained. Every inch gained felt like a brush with the blade of death.
The forest was unnervingly quiet. No wind. No chirping of insects. It was as if the entire woods were holding its breath alongside them. The only sound was the occasional low, resonant purr vibrating from the tiger's throat—a sound that didn't carry far, yet felt bone-chillingly heavy. It was a subterranean tremor, slow and rhythmic.
Intertwined with that purr was the frantic drumming of hearts within chests. Thump. Thump. Heavy and jagged. It felt as though the beast might hear them at any second. They began to lose track of whether they were hearing their own pulses or the approaching footsteps of death itself.
Time was stretched into an agonizing eternity. Every heartbeat felt like a walk along a razor's edge.
Finally, they converged.
Kain and Leo reached Elina and Milia. Their gazes met for a fleeting second—no words were spoken, only a minute nod to keep moving. They continued their crawl, pushing through a cluster of low-lying shrubs. The leaves brushed against their tunics with a whisper-thin rustle.
Further. Just a little further.
Until the clearing was swallowed by layers of dense forest shadows. Until the silhouette of the winged tiger was no longer visible. Until even the sound of its breathing had faded into the distance.
Only then did the crushing weight on their chests loosen, ever so slightly. Kain halted and slowly lifted his head. He listened intently for a long moment, confirming there were no signs of pursuit before he spoke in a voice barely audible:
"We aren't safe yet."
Kain's voice was infinitesimally light, yet possessed a preternatural calm.
"Keep moving."
He stared fixedly ahead, his tone low and decisive. "There is a small river up ahead. The sound of the water will mask our movements."
No one offered a word of protest. They simply nodded in grim silence. They no longer had the luxury of strength to question his judgment, nor did they have the right to stop. Even as Milia's ankle throbbed with a persistent, agonizing heat, she merely gritted her teeth, following along without a single whimper.
No more compRhinets. No more talk.
Because they all understood—the moment they had just survived was nothing but a fluke of luck.
After an indeterminable amount of time, the sound of water finally drifted toward them. At first, it was a mere whisper of movement, but it gradually sharpened into a steady rush. It felt like a barrier, a wall of sound meant to separate them from that territory of death.
As they pushed aside the final cluster of foliage, the landscape suddenly opened up. A shallow river appeared before them, its clear waters flowing leisurely. Sunlight filtered through the canopy, refracting off the surface into a dance of fragmented, shimmering light. The scene felt as if it belonged to an entirely different world from the suffocating dread they had just escaped.
Kain stood at the river's edge, his eyes scanning the surroundings. Only after confirming there was no immediate threat did he speak softly.
"Rest for a moment." He pointed toward a dense thicket of trees nearby. "Hide there. If anything happens, you can vanish into the brush instantly."
The group finally relaxed—though the feeling was incomplete. They still dared not make any significant noise, merely leaning against trunks or boulders as they sank slowly to the ground.
However—
They had barely sat down, before they could even draw a full breath of relief, a colossal roar detonated across the landscape.
BOOM—!
Flocks of birds erupted from the trees in a frantic cloud; branches shuddered violently. A heartbeat later, a bell-deer burst from the woods at a desperate gallop, its hooves striking the earth like hammers. Its eyes were wide with a primal, blinding terror, its breathing jagged and broken, as if it had been pursued from the very edge of the grave.
Before anyone could react—a grey-white shadow arrived like the wind.
The winged tiger.
It skimmed the ground as it surged out, its silhouette impossibly light, yet moving at a speed the human eye could barely track. It didn't strike for the kill immediately. Instead, it seemed to be toying with its prey.
A massive paw lifted—then fell.
CRACK!
The deer was swatted aside, its body tumbling across the dirt. It struggled to rise, but the moment it found its footing, the tiger had already circled to its flank. A lash of the tail—another heavy strike.
The deer collapsed again, its cries shrill and agonizing. It thrashed, attempting to flee, but every time it nearly gained its feet, the gargantuan beast would effortlessly pin it back to the ground with a nonchalant flick of its paw.
This wasn't hunting. It was... play. Like a cat with a mouse. It was savoring the harvest of fear.
Until, at some point, the tiger seemed to grow bored. It suddenly let out a low growl, and its forepaws exerted a sudden, lethal force.
SNAP!
The blow was merciless. The deer's body was flattened against the earth, the sound of shattering bone clear and sickening. Blood sprayed outward, tracing a crimson arc that glistened under the bright sunlight.
Everything ended in an instant.
The winged tiger slowly lowered its head. It extended its tongue, delicately licking the blood from its paws with an air of elegant composure.
Then—
"Meow."
A soft, tender cry escaped its throat. It was a sound that should have been docile, perhaps even endearing. But to the ears of those hiding, it was the whisper of the Reaper. A chill climbed their spines, spreading like frost. No one dared move. They barely dared to draw breath.
"Don't make a sound," Kain's voice was a ghost of a whisper, nothing more than a vibration of air. "It hasn't seen us yet..."
His eyes were locked onto the beast, his words coming out in a slow, measured crawl. "It's just... hunting. Quick, into the thicket. Its sense of smell isn't its strongest suit. As long as we stay out of sight, we have a chance."
The group didn't hesitate. Almost in unison, they dropped low and slipped into the neighboring brush. The faint rustle of leaves was swallowed by the steady, rhythmic flow of the river. The water burbled—a natural acoustic shield.
The tiger didn't react. It remained by the riverside, tearing into its prey as the metallic scent of blood began to drift through the stagnant air.
Time trickled by, agonizingly slow. One minute. Then another. Every second felt stretched to the breaking point.
The tiger showed no sign of leaving. It wandered over to an ancient tree and raised a massive forepaw.
Skreeee—!
The sound of claws dragging across bark was a piercing, grating screech. A heartbeat later—
CRACK!
The thick trunk was ripped open as if it were made of wet parchment. Wood splinters sprayed into the air as the fracture widened. Another lash of the claws followed, and the entire tree came crashing down.
BOOM!
The forest shuddered. Birds took flight in a frantic cloud. Even the air seemed to tremble under the force of the impact.
Deep within the shrubs, the group remained motionless. They had suppressed their breathing to the absolute limit.
But in the heart of that deathly silence, Milia's body suddenly went rigid. Her breath hitched. A slick, hard sensation pressed against the side of her neck—a cold, slithering weight that moved with a subtle undulation over her shoulder.
She turned her head, inch by agonizing inch. Her movements were as stiff as a marionette's.
A green serpent.
It was coiled upon her shoulder, its slender body covered in scales that glinted with a dull, emerald light. It slowly raised its head, its slit pupils locking onto hers—cold, hollow, and devoid of any semblance of emotion.
Time froze. Milia stared, paralyzed for a fraction of a second. Then—
Her pupils constricted. Her face drained of all color.
Instinct overrode every ounce of reason.
"AAHHH—!!"
The scream tore through the silence. She violently threw the snake from her shoulder and bolted out of the brush, fleeing blindly into the depths of the forest in a state of total collapse.
"Dammit!" Leo growled, his face ashen. "Milia—!"
"Elina!" Kain made a split-second decision, his voice low and urgent. "Take them and go! I'll draw it away!"
No hesitation. No time for thought. Elina gritted her teeth and grabbed Rena's hand, lurching out of the thicket to chase after Milia.
Out in the clearing, the winged tiger's ears shot upright.
The beast's head lifted slowly. Within those feline pupils, a strange, predatory light flickered.
It had heard them. Human voices. Fresh. Alive. Prey, saturated with the intoxicating scent of terror. Its limbs slowly coiled, muscles bunching beneath its fur. Its tail gave a rhythmic, subtle twitch—as if it were suppressing a surge of exhilaration.
"Hey—!"
Kain suddenly lunged from his hiding spot. He slammed a foot into the dirt, brandishing his crude, dull blade as his voice tore through the forest air. "Over here, you overgrown cat! Look at me—I'm right here!"
He bellowed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing through the trees. This was a provocation. It was a gamble made with his very life.
Leo burst out almost simultaneously, moving with fluid precision as he notched an arrow and drew his bow, locking his focus onto that ash-white silhouette.
Release!
Swish—!
The arrow whistled through the air. However, the winged tiger merely gave a light, effortless hop. The movement was so graceful it bordered on casual. The arrow hissed past its flank, striking nothing but air.
A second arrow! A third! Fired in rapid succession!
Yet the gargantuan beast seemed to be toying with them. It leaped left and right with feather-light steps, its movements tinged with a maddening nonchalance. Every dodge was perfectly timed, as if it had precalculated the trajectory of every shot. Every arrow missed its mark.
On the other side of the clearing, Elina and Martha had already grabbed Rena, racing to catch up with the frantic Milia.
"Don't stop!" Elina barked, her voice carrying a grim resolve they had never heard before. "Keep running!"
She didn't even look back. She knew that the moment she turned her head, she might never find the strength to take another step.
In the air, the winged tiger abruptly ceased its playful dodging. Its head slowly rotated toward the other side of the woods. Those golden slit-pupils reflected the silhouettes of several figures fleeing in a panic.
New prey. Newer, fresher terror.
Its ears twitched. A heartbeat later—its wings snapped open!
WHOOSH—!
A gale erupted, sweeping through the clearing. Dead leaves and dust were whipped into a frantic dance in the air. The beast abandoned the two men entirely, beating its wings to surge into the sky.
Its target—the fleeing children.
"Dammit—!"
The color drained from Kain and Leo's faces simultaneously. Before they could even think, they instinctively pivoted and bolted after the shadow in the sky.
From its vantage point in the air, the winged tiger didn't strike immediately. It circled. It glided in low, sweeping loops around the fleeing women and children. Its posture was one of dangerous composure—observing, admiring the desperate struggle of its prey.
Elina stole a glance upward. One look was all it took for her heart to sink into an abyss. She understood. They had been marked. There was no escape.
Yet she kept running. She ran with every ounce of strength she possessed. Her hands gripped the two children tightly, her footsteps nearly crushing the earth beneath her.
Can't stop. Must not stop.
A single thought dominated her mind: They must live.
"It's Milia again..." Martha wheezed beside her, her voice laced with an irrepressible bitterness. "Can't she... just once... not cause trouble...?"
Elina didn't respond. She didn't even have the breath to answer. All of her will was channeled into the act of running—into guarding these two children.
In the next instant, the shadow in the sky suddenly collapsed inward.
The winged tiger let out a short, airy "meow." It was as if it had finally lost the last of its patience.
Its silhouette—abruptly plummeted.
Like a silver meteor, it lunged straight down.
—!
Elina's pupils constricted violently. In that split second, time seemed to slow to a crawl. She didn't know where the strength came from, and she had no time for conscious thought. She simply acted on instinct—
Forward. One final, violent shove.
"GO!!"
Her hands exploded with the last of her energy. Rena and Milia were hurled forward, losing their balance and tumbling into the grass ahead.
In the next heartbeat—BOOM!!!
The explosion was deafening. The very earth shuddered under the impact. Before the two girls could even let out a cry of pain, they heard the sound of everything collapsing behind them.
They froze. Inch by agonizing inch, they turned their heads.
Blood. Blood was everywhere.
Elina lay there. Beneath that single, devastating strike, her lower body had been almost entirely crushed. A gruesome mess of flesh and bone. Unrecognizable.
The winged tiger stood over her. It lifted a paw, its tongue slowly licking away the gore.
"Meow~"
The sound was soft, even tinged with a hint of satisfaction. It was the sound of a predator savoring a fresh catch.
"MA—MAMA—!!!"
Rena's voice tore through the air. She scrambled up, possessed by a frantic need to rush back. But at that moment—Elina moved.
She wasn't dead yet. Using the last dregs of her strength, she propped up her upper body. Blood spilled uncontrollably from the corners of her mouth, and her vision was already beginning to dissolve into a blur. Yet, she still... looked at her daughter.
"Rena..." Her voice trembled, yet it remained clear. Resolute. "Run... go..."
It wasn't a plea. It was a command. A command issued at the cost of her life.
"MAMA—!!!"
Rena had completely broken down. She struggled to break free, wanting to return to her mother's side. But in the next second, a hand gripped her with terrifying strength.
"Run!!"
Milia's voice nearly cracked. Her face was deathly pale, her eyes wide with terror, yet she was more lucid than she had ever been. She used every ounce of her strength to drag Rena away, fleeing into the trees.
They ran. Stumbling. Desperate.
Behind them, Elina watched their receding silhouettes. Finally—she could hold on no longer. Her body slowly slumped back to the earth. Her eyes lost their focus. Her lips moved one last time, a sound so faint it was nearly non-existent.
"Rena... Mama... loves..."
Before she could finish, her breath ceased.
"E—LI—NA—!!!"
In the distance, Kain's roar sounded as if it were tearing the very sky apart. His eyes were crimson, his mind consumed by a blinding madness as he lunged at the tiger with his dull blade.
"DIE!!!"
The blade fell. CLANG!
Sparks flew. It was as if he had struck solid steel. The beast was unscathed.
Leo gritted his teeth, firing three arrows in rapid succession. Swish-swish-swish! The arrows struck, but they simply bounced off, failing to leave even a single scratch upon the hide. Martha rushed forward as well, hurling stones with futile rage.
Useless. All of it was useless.
The winged tiger tilted its head. It looked at these frantic humans, a flicker of... curiosity in its gaze. It seemed puzzled.
Why does the prey choose to walk into death?
On the other side of the woods.
Rena suddenly skidded to a halt. Milia stumbled, forced to stop alongside her, her chest heaving as she gasped for air.
"What... what are you doing?" Milia's voice trembled. An encroaching unease began to spread through her chest like a cold poison.
"...It was you."
Rena's voice was a low, fractured vibration. She bit her lip so hard it nearly bled, tears swirling in her eyes, threatening to breach the levee at any moment.
"Rena...?" Milia was stunned.
In the next heartbeat—
"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!"
SLAP—!
The sound of the strike was sharp and piercing. Milia's head was snapped to the side by the force, her body swaying as she nearly lost her footing.
"You killed my mother!"
Rena's voice shattered, carrying an irrepressible weight of hatred and despair. "I hate you... I hate you so much!!!"
Before the words had even fully landed, Rena spun around. She stumbled blindly back into the thickets, a small, directionless beast lost in the wild.
Milia was left standing alone in the woods. She didn't chase after her. She didn't move. She stood frozen, her hand slowly rising to cover her burning cheek.
The stinging pain of the slap lingered, but it was nothing compared to the agony of that sentence.
"You killed my mother."
Suddenly, the strength drained from Milia's limbs. With a dull thud, she collapsed onto her knees. She kept her head low, her eyes hollow and vacant. Tears welled up silently, falling drop by drop onto her tattered tunic, blooming into dark, damp circles.
She began to think—perhaps, it was true. From the moment she got lost. From the moment the blaming began. From the very moment of her existence. Calamity had followed her like a shadow.
She wasn't the victim. She was the source.
Elsewhere, Rena was sprinting through the forest. Her steps were frantic, her breathing shattered. She cried as she ran, her voice hoarse, yet she couldn't stop.
Her mind replayed the scene over and over. The moment her mother fell. The blood. And those final eyes.
"Rena... run..."
She stiffened for a fraction of a second, as if pierced by a red-hot iron.
"I hate you all..."
Those were her words. The last words she had ever spoken to her mother. The final sentence. And now, there was no chance to ever take it back.
"Ah... ahhh..."
She wanted to scream. She wanted to deny it. She wanted to tear open the fabric of time. But it was all too late. As she ran, her cries came in broken, ragged gasps.
"Daddy... Daddy is still there..."
She looked up suddenly, grasping at the last straw of hope. "Help... someone help me—!" Her voice tore through the trees. "Please... someone save my father..."
The wind swept through the trees. But there was no response.
Just then—within the drifting mists ahead, two silhouettes slowly materialized.
One was a man of towering stature, his shoulders broad as a mountain. He carried a massive greatsword, his stride steady and deliberate. Beside him walked a much younger boy, his crimson hair fluttering lightly in the wind. Though his expression was composed, an unmistakable sharpness emanated from him.
The tall man tilted his head, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. "Your Majesty, it seems we have a young lady in distress." His tone was relaxed, yet far from flippant. "I believe it's time for the heroes to make their entrance."
The red-haired youth—Rhine—gave a soft huff. "Enough with the theatrics." His gaze had already bypassed the man, locking onto the figure bolting toward them. "Come on. Let's see what's happening."
They stepped forward in unison, and the very air within the forest seemed to shift under the weight of their presence.
Rena nearly collapsed as she reached them, her legs giving way. The tall man stepped forward instantly, catching her in a firm, steady grip. He knelt down slowly, his movements calm and gentle.
"What's wrong, little one?" His voice was deep and warm. "Is someone chasing you?"
Rena looked up, tears blurring her vision. She opened her mouth, but only fractured gasps escaped. "I... I..." She drew a sharp, ragged breath, desperately trying to articulate her plea. "My daddy... he's still..." Her voice broke, yet she pushed through. "Please... save him..."
The man patted her shoulder lightly. "Easy now." His tone was a pillar of strength she could finally lean on. "Tell us slowly. My name is Gerald. You can tell me what happened."
Rena nodded vigorously, fighting for a semblance of calm. Her voice still trembled, but it grew clearer. "We... we ran into a massive tiger... it... it killed my mother..." She choked up for a heartbeat, then gritted her teeth. "My father... he's still fighting it..."
She lifted her head, crying out with the last of her strength. "Please... save him!"
The air momentarily stilled. Gerald's expression tightened into a serious mask. He stood up slowly and glanced at the red-haired youth beside him.
"Your Majesty." His tone returned to its usual composure, even carrying a faint, dry amusement. "It's just a tiger. And besides—" He shifted his gaze back to Rena. "This is one of your subjects."
Rhine—the young sovereign—let the corner of his mouth curl upward. His smile carried a razor-sharp edge. "Is that so?"
He looked up, his gaze piercing into the depths of the forest. In that instant, his aura underwent a quiet, profound transformation.
"Very well," he said softly. Then he looked at Rena. His voice wasn't heavy, yet it possessed an unquestionable authority. "Little girl. Lead the way."
"We're going to save your father."
The wind surged through the woods once more. The gears of fate had quietly shifted.