The moment Liora's fingers closed around the Starblossom, the world **screamed**.
Light exploded—not just from the flower, but from **her**, from **Kael**, from the very air itself. The beast's howl cut off mid-roar as the shockwave sent it crashing backward into the trees.
Liora gasped. The Starblossom's stem burned against her palm, its roots **dripping liquid silver** that coiled up her arm like living veins.
*"Kael! What's—?"*
But the jinn wasn't listening. His shadowy form **convulsed**, drinking in the released magic with desperate, starving gulps. His edges solidified—first claws, then the curve of horns, then **eyes**. Two burning points of violet light locking onto hers.
*"Liora,"* he rasped, his voice no longer just in her mind but **vibrating through her bones**. *"Let go of the—"*
The ground **ruptured**.
Fanged vines erupted around them. The beast wasn't dead—it was **changing**, its body unraveling into a thousand thrashing tendrils that reeked of rotting petals.
*"It's not a guardian,"* Kael realized aloud, horror dawning. *"It's the* last *sacrifice. The one who failed."*
A human face surfaced briefly in the writhing mass—mouth open in a silent scream—before dissolving back into the rot.
Liora stumbled back. The Starblossom's roots had reached her shoulder now, **fusing** with her skin.
Kael moved.
One moment he was across the clearing—the next, his claws sliced through the vines binding her. His newly solid body pressed against hers, **hot as a forge**, as he seized the flower.
*"This will hurt,"* he warned.
Then **yanked**.
The roots tore free in a spray of silver blood—Liora's **and** the flower's. The beast shrieked in unison with her pain.
Kael crushed the Starblossom against his chest.
**"Run."**
The forest was silent.
Liora clutched her bleeding arm, the silver veins of the Starblossom's roots still **glowing faintly** beneath her skin. The pain had dulled to a throbbing pulse, but the marks remained—**swirling, living patterns** that shifted when she wasn't looking.
Kael stood over the remains of the beast, his newly solidified form **flickering at the edges**, as if the Starblossom's power couldn't quite decide whether he was real.
*"You knew,"* Liora accused, her voice raw. *"You knew that thing was once human."*
Kael's violet eyes dimmed. *"Not at first. Not until I saw its face."*
He knelt, brushing a clawed hand over the decaying vines. They crumbled at his touch, revealing **a single, intact object** beneath—a **tarnished silver locket**, its chain half-fused into the rot.
Liora's breath caught. *"That's…"*
*"Imperial craftsmanship,"* Kael finished grimly. *"From your family's dynasty. Centuries old."*
He pried it open.
Inside was a **portrait**—a young woman with Liora's sharp cheekbones and defiant glare, her hair braided in the old royal style.
*"Another sacrifice,"* Liora whispered. *"Another girl like me."*
Kael's jaw tightened. *"Not like you. She *failed*. The Starblossom consumed her instead."*
---
### **The Aftermath**
Back in the bat cave , kale took control all those bats. Liora let Kael examine her scars.
His touch was careful, but his claws **trembled**. *"The roots bonded with you. I don't know what that means yet."*
*"Will it kill me?"*
For the first time, Kael looked **uncertain**. His form was more tangible now—broad shoulders, sharp features, horns curling back like a ram's—but his edges still blurred, as if he wasn't fully in this world.
"I don't know "
Liora flexed her marked arm. The silver veins **reacted**, pulsing in time with her heartbeat.
*"We need answers,"* she said. *"Who sent that girl to die? Who's sending *me*?"*
The fire crackled between them, casting flickering shadows across Kael's newly solid features. Liora stared at her silver-veined arm, the truth settling like a stone in her gut.
*"They were sacrificing me… to another jinn?"* she whispered.
Kael's claws flexed. *"Yes. A powerful one. Older than empires."* His violet eyes burned in the dark. *"I heard your voice in the void—your prayer. Maybe the God led me to you. Or maybe…it was their mistakes."*Liora's breath hitched. *"The man who recognized you—the one who didn't bow. You think he's behind this?"*
*"He's no ordinary cultist."* Kael's voice turned grim. *"He knew what I was the moment he saw me. And if he's the same one who took your sister…"*
*"Then he's been hunting my family for years."* Liora's fists clenched. The silver veins in her arm pulsed, reacting to her rage. *"They cut me off from the palace. From my magic. They knew exactly how to trap me."*
Kael studied her glowing scars. *"Yet here you are. Alive. Marked by a Starblossom. That wasn't part of their plan."*
A chilling thought struck her. *"If they wanted royal blood for their ritual… does that mean my family in danger? "
Silence stretched between them, broken only by the distant howl of wind through the trees.
Liora's fingers trembled as she pressed the dagger to her silver-veined arm. The Starblossom's roots pulsed beneath her skin like a second heartbeat, glowing brighter in protest.
*"This is going to hurt,"* Kael warned, his newly solid hands gripping her shoulder. His breath was warm against her ear—too warm, almost feverish.
*"Everything in this damned forest hurts,"* she muttered, and **cut**.
Silver blood welled instantly, thick and shimmering. But the roots **moved**, slithering away from the blade like live wires.
*"God—"* Liora gasped as the veins **recoiled deeper** into her flesh.
Kael's claws flexed. *"It doesn't want to come out."*
*"Then we make it."* She grabbed a handful of his shirt, violet eyes blazing. *"You devour magic. So *devour* this."*
A root **lashed out**, spearing toward her chest.
Kael moved faster. He **bit it clean off**, black blood dripping from his fangs as he spat the writhing tendril aside.
*"Change of plan,"* he growled. *"We don't remove the roots. We *burn* them."*
*"In *me*?!"*
*"No."* His claws slid between her fingers, igniting violet fire. *"We burn the *source*."*
Above them, the roots **screamed in unison**.
Liora's fingers trembled as she clutched the severed Starblossom root, its silver glow pulsing like a dying heartbeat. "Get us out of here!" she screamed at Kael.
The jinn's claws closed around her wrist. "Hold on—"
She activated the teleportation talisman.
The world dissolved in a whirl of violet light. For one glorious moment, Liora felt weightless, free—
—then they crashed back onto damp earth.
The Wandering Woods loomed around them.
The forest pulsed around them like a living beast, its roots twitching beneath the soil. Liora pressed her back against the hollowed trunk of an ancient oak, her breath coming in sharp gasps. The silver veins in her arm **throbbed**, binding her to the woods.
Kael's form flickered violently, his claws digging into the bark. **"There's no clean way out of this,"** he growled. **"If I devour the star blossom energy, I might take yours too. Or we carve the roots from your flesh—down to the bone."**
Liora didn't hesitate. **"Do it. Devour it all."**
Kael's eyes burned. **"You trust me that much?"**
**"No,"** she admitted. **"But I trust you to keep your damn bargain."**
A sharp grin. Then—
**He struck.**
Gritting her teeth, she yanked an energy crystal from her pouch and **crushed it in her fist**. Raw magic flooded her veins, fighting against Kael's hunger.
**A balance.**
**A gamble.**
Kael fed on the feed on star blossom; she fed on the crystal.
And all the while, he **called to his bats**, his voice a whisper in the dark.
**"Come home."**
A distant flutter of wings answered.
With them come night. When forest get dangerous.
- **The Aftermath** – The foforKael's claws dug into the earth. "No. We fight." His eyes burned violet as he called back the surviving bats, their tiny forms streaking through the canopy like living shadows. "The forest wants a sacrifice? We'll WeW