Leo swore in his mind while speeding up.
Instead of furiously thrashing around like a brute, he pushed the water back with calm, powerful strokes. Neat. Controlled. Every ounce of energy directed toward forward momentum.
He couldn't afford to waste stamina. Not now.
Behind him, the crocodile was closing in fast.
The shore grew nearer. The water resisted each stroke with more and more force as he increased his power, but that resistance also meant he was pushing himself forward faster. Much faster than the last time he'd crossed this lake.
His hands hit mud and rock.
He scrambled out of the water and threw himself forward onto the shore, crawling and stumbling and not caring how ridiculous he looked.
The crocodile lunged.
Just like before, its massive jaws snapped at the air where he'd been a heartbeat ago. But this time, there was no mysterious barrier saving him. No invisible wall of magic between him and those teeth.
He'd simply been fast enough.
Barely.
Even though the crocodile missed, Leo didn't stop. He scrambled backward immediately, putting as much distance between himself and the water's edge as possible. If that thing decided to drag itself forward even a few more feet—
It didn't. The crocodile's yellow eyes watched him for a long, hateful moment before it slid back beneath the surface of the lake.
Leo didn't wait to see it disappear.
He got to his feet and bolted into the forest.
Getting out of the lake was only his first problem. He still had to escape the forest without dying. He ran toward what he thought was the direction he'd originally come from, praying his sense of direction hadn't failed him.
If he was wrong, he'd be running deeper into Valkyr's Forest.
Running to his death.
He pushed the thought away and focused on moving.
Five minutes in, he started to feel his stamina drop. His legs burned. His lungs ached. The enhanced vitality from the tome was the only reason he was still standing at all, but even that had its limits.
Then he spotted something.
A glimmering plant, its faint glow unmistakable even in the fading light.
A Glimmer root.
His heart surged. That meant he was on the right path. He sped up, pushing past the burning in his muscles.
He didn't skimp on any energy this time. There was no point in conserving stamina if he ended up dead. This was him truly running for his life — flat out, reckless, desperate.
He just hoped he wouldn't run into the wolf or any other monsters along the way.
The lake had been bad enough.
The trees began to thin.
Leo could see the open sky ahead, the last stretch of forest laid out before him like a finish line. He dashed through the final cluster of trees and burst into the open.
Sunlight hit his face — warm and golden.
The sun was setting.
He'd been unconscious for hours. The realization hit him like a punch to the gut. He'd spent a massive chunk of the day blacked out in that chamber, and if he'd been in the forest any longer...
He shuddered.
The nocturnal predators of Valkyr's Forest were far worse than what roamed during the day. If darkness had caught him in there, the wolves and crocodiles would have been the least of his problems. The nocturnal animals would have eaten him alive.
Even after clearing the treeline, he kept running.
He didn't stop until the forest was nothing but a dark smudge on the horizon behind him. Only then did he slow to a walk, hunched over, gasping, letting his breath come back in ragged gulps while his legs carried him toward the city.
"I am never going in there again," Leo promised himself between breaths.
Never. Absolutely never.
He forced his body to keep moving. One foot in front of the other. The city gates came into view, and he locked his eyes on them like they were the only thing keeping him alive.
When he finally passed through the gates and stepped into the safety of Solhaven, he let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief.
Safe.
He was safe.
His mind started functioning properly again now that the adrenaline was fading. Thoughts rushed in to fill the void left by panic. The tome. The tattoo on his wrist. The skeleton on the throne. The Arcane Emperor—
Then he remembered something far more immediate.
"The market might close soon. I have to go!"
The sun was already dipping below the rooftops. Market vendors usually packed up around this time. If he missed Trevor, all of today's suffering would be for nothing.
His hand instinctively went to his side.
The satchel was still there.
Throughout everything — the wolf, the lake, the crocodile, the cave, the chamber, the second swim, the desperate sprint through the forest — he had never let go of that satchel. Twenty-three Glimmer roots sat inside it, slightly damp from the stint he pulled at the lake. Two hundred and thirty Star coins.
That money would buy him time. Time to rest, time to figure out what had happened to him, time to understand the tome and the strange tattoo branded into his wrist.
With money on the line, exhaustion suddenly felt a lot less important.
Leo sprinted toward the marketplace.
When he arrived, vendors were already dismantling their stalls. Canvas tarps coming down, crates being loaded onto carts. The bustling energy of the morning market had been replaced by the quiet efficiency of closing time.
His eyes scanned the rows of stalls frantically.
There.
Trevor's stall was still set up, right where it had been that morning. The middle-aged potions vendor sat behind it with his arms crossed, completely unbothered by the fact that everyone around him was packing up. He looked like a man who had nowhere else to be.
Leo let out a breath of relief and walked over.
Trevor noticed him immediately. His eyes swept over Leo's condition — the rags that were now completely shredded and unusable, the dirt and grime covering every inch of him, the deep weariness carved into his young face.
There were no visible wounds, though. That was something.
"You must have had a hell of a day," Trevor remarked, stroking his beard.
"Almost died," Leo shot back.
Trevor shook his head slowly, a knowing look in his eyes. "I told you, didn't I? You took the risk, and you survived it. How many roots could you find?"
Leo set the satchel onto the stall and pulled out the stalks of Glimmer root one by one. The faint shimmer of each root caught the last rays of sunlight as he laid them out.
Trevor leaned forward and examined them carefully, turning a few over in his thick fingers.
"These are good quality, but slightly wet. That's twenty-three of them?" Trevor confirmed, nodding as he finished his count and verified their authenticity.
Leo nodded.
Trevor reached into his purse and pulled out five coins. They clinked together — a sound that was practically music to Leo's ears.
"Two hundred and thirty Star coins. Go buy yourself some better clothes." Trevor placed the coins into Leo's outstretched hand.
Leo slipped the coins into his pocket immediately. He could feel their weight against his thigh. Real. Solid. More money than he'd ever held at once in his entire life.
"I will. Thanks for the work," Leo said, and he meant it.
Normally, a full day's labor would earn him a few Star coins at most. Everyone in the marketplace could see he was an orphan — scrawny, underfed, dressed in rags. They paid him accordingly, which meant they barely paid him at all.
But two hundred and thirty Star coins?
That would last him and Daphne an entire month if they were careful. He could buy them both a few sets of proper clothes. Maybe even set some aside while he looked for other work to cover food.
For the first time in a long time, the future didn't look quite so bleak.
"This is fine work," Trevor said, tucking the Glimmer roots beneath his stall. "Do you want more work?"
Leo shook his head without hesitation. "Not anytime soon. I almost died in there. It's too dangerous for me."
Trevor laughed — a deep, rumbling sound. "I am not surprised. Maybe you could learn an Aura training method from a guild and become an Aura Knight. You could earn a lot more that way."
Leo's smile vanished.
Aura Knights.
While mages were exclusively nobles — born into bloodlines of magic and privilege — commoners could also become powerful by learning how to harness Aura. It was the one path to strength that was supposed to be open to everyone.
Supposed to be.
In reality, you needed access to Aura training methods. And those cost money. Money that Leo had never had. Most children with any kind of family or backing learned basic Aura techniques from a young age. But an orphan living in the slums of Solhaven, scraping together enough to eat?
He'd never even been given the chance.
The usual reason people failed to become Aura Knights was a lack of talent. That was the common story. But Leo had never gotten far enough to find out whether he had talent or not.
He was simply unlucky.
Trevor noticed the shift in mood instantly. The light in Leo's eyes dimming, the bitter edge creeping into his expression. The older man understood why almost immediately.
"How about this?" Trevor leaned forward, his voice dropping into something more serious. "Aura training methods are pretty common. Basic ones cost around a thousand Star coins. The good ones are more expensive, but a basic method should be enough to get you started."
He paused, making sure Leo was listening.
"Save up to that amount, and I'll sell you one. Then you can see for yourself if you have the talent to become an Aura Knight. And if you do become one?" Trevor held up a finger. "You can earn more than a few thousand Star coins on a single job."
A thousand Star coins.
Leo smiled, but it was a bitter thing. That was more than four times what he'd just earned risking his life in Valkyr's Forest. It might as well have been a mountain.
But it wasn't impossible.
Not anymore.
"When I have a thousand Star coins," Leo said quietly, "we can have that discussion again."
He turned to leave, then glanced back over his shoulder.
"I'll see you again if I need another job."