The forest swallowed them whole.
One moment, Lin Yan could still see the moonlit cliffside behind them; the next, they were lost in a world of black trunks and whispering leaves. The hooded man's pace was relentless, his boots barely making a sound on the damp earth.
Bai Qian kept glancing over her shoulder, her grip tight on the hilt of her short blade. "We're not safe yet," she whispered.
Lin Yan's chest still burned from the fight. The pearl sat heavy in his palm, cool now, but every so often it gave a faint thump — as if it had a heartbeat of its own.
---
The hooded man finally slowed. "Stay close to me," he said. "The wilds are no friend to the sect, but they're worse for the unprepared."
Lin Yan glanced around. The air here felt… wrong. The night sounds were muted — no crickets, no owls — only the distant, low hum of something vast moving far off.
"What is this place?" he asked.
The man's gaze flicked briefly toward the deeper darkness ahead. "The outer rim of the Forgotten Wilds. And if the pearl's awakening hasn't already drawn attention…" He let the sentence trail off.
---
They pressed on.
After an hour of weaving through gnarled roots and ducking under low branches, they came to a stream. The water was black, reflecting no light, and the stones beneath it were etched with faint, unnatural markings.
Bai Qian crouched by the bank, dipping two fingers into the water. She yanked them back instantly, her face tightening. "Cold. Too cold. Something's moved through here recently."
The hooded man's eyes narrowed. "How recent?"
"An hour. Maybe less."
---
They crossed quickly, Lin Yan slipping once on a slick rock before Bai Qian caught his arm. He muttered a thanks, but she only gave a distracted nod, her gaze still scanning the treeline.
Half an hour later, the first sound reached them — a distant click… click… click, like claws tapping on stone.
Lin Yan's pulse jumped. "What was that?"
"Quiet," the hooded man hissed.
The sound grew louder, joined by a low, vibrating growl that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
---
Through the darkness, two pinpricks of pale blue light appeared — eyes, glowing faintly between the trees.
Lin Yan froze. The thing stepped into the open, and his breath caught.
It was massive, easily the size of a horse, with a body shaped like a great cat but covered in overlapping plates of dark chitin. Its limbs ended in hooked talons that dug into the soil with each step. Where its head should have been, there was only a smooth, curved surface — like the front of an insect — with those pale lights burning from deep within.
Bai Qian whispered, "Night Stalker."
---
The hooded man didn't waste time. "Move. Now."
They ran.
The forest blurred past, branches whipping Lin Yan's face. Behind them, the click-click-click became a pounding gallop, each step shaking the ground.
Something whistled past Lin Yan's ear — a hooked claw slashing through the air. The Night Stalker was faster than anything he'd ever seen.
Bai Qian drew her blade, spinning mid-stride to slash at it. Sparks flew as her steel glanced off its armored plates.
"It's too tough!" she shouted.
---
The hooded man veered sharply to the right, leading them toward a narrow gully. "In there!"
They plunged down into the ditch just as the beast leapt. Its bulk crashed into the far wall, dislodging a rain of stones.
The man thrust out his hand, summoning a wall of golden fire to block the gully's entrance. The Night Stalker slammed against it, the impact sending a shiver through the flames — but the barrier held, for now.
Lin Yan's breathing came in ragged gasps. "What is that thing?"
"One of the forest's oldest hunters," the man said grimly. "It smells spirit energy. And right now, you're glowing like a beacon."
---
Lin Yan looked down at the pearl. Even dormant, it shimmered faintly. "Then what do we do?"
The man didn't answer. His focus was on maintaining the barrier — and it was already cracking under the Night Stalker's repeated blows.
Bai Qian knelt in front of Lin Yan, her voice low and urgent. "Can you use it again? Like at the tower?"
"I… I don't know how."
"Then figure it out fast," she said, her eyes fierce. "Or we all die here."
---
Another impact. The wall of fire burst apart, embers scattering like stars.
The Night Stalker surged forward.
Lin Yan's heart pounded. He tried to summon the same feeling as before — the surge of light, the raw force — but nothing happened. The pearl stayed cold in his grip.
The beast lunged, its talons reaching for him—
—And Bai Qian shoved him aside, taking the blow meant for his chest.
The claws raked across her shoulder, tearing through cloth and flesh. She gritted her teeth, refusing to scream, but blood poured freely down her arm.
---
Something inside Lin Yan snapped.
The pearl flared to life, flooding his vision with white light. The air thickened, vibrating with energy.
He thrust his palm forward — and this time, instead of a straight beam, the light spread outward in a wave. It struck the Night Stalker full in the chest, lifting the beast off its feet and hurling it into a tree.
The impact shattered the trunk. The creature crashed to the ground, twitching, its armor smoking.
---
But it wasn't dead.
It rose again, slower this time, a deep hiss rattling from somewhere inside its smooth head.
The hooded man grabbed Lin Yan by the arm. "That's enough. We run."
They bolted deeper into the forest, the wounded Night Stalker crashing through the undergrowth behind them.
Minutes felt like hours before they finally burst into a clearing lit by strange, glowing fungi. The light here was cold, and the air smelled faintly of metal.
The hooded man stopped. "Here. It won't follow us into sacred ground."
---
Lin Yan collapsed to his knees, chest heaving. Bai Qian sat heavily beside him, pressing a strip of cloth to her wound.
"You're hurt—" Lin Yan began, but she cut him off.
"It's nothing," she said, though her face was pale. "You kept us alive."
He stared at the pearl in his palm. "I don't understand it. Why is it doing this? Why me?"
Bai Qian's gaze lingered on him a moment too long before she looked away. "That's… not my secret to tell."
The hooded man's golden eyes met Lin Yan's. "But soon, you'll need to hear it. And when you do, your choices will shape more than your own fate."
---
From the trees behind them came a distant, bone-deep click.
The Night Stalker was still out there.
And Lin Yan had the sinking feeling that the beast wasn't the only thing hunting them now.