The forest never slept in Seravelle.
Mist drifted between roots like breath from some hidden beast. Every sound, an insect's click, a distant owl's cry, made Aiden flinch. He and Lyra moved in silence, boots muffled by moss. Her small lantern was covered now, its faint pulse the only mark of civilization in a wild that didn't want them.
They had been walking since before dawn.
When the first light slid through the branches, Aiden finally spoke.
"How far to this safe place you mentioned?"
Lyra didn't look back. "Two days if we keep to the old riverbeds. Less, if we cut across the marshes."
"And if we're caught?"
She hesitated. "Then they'll take you back to the Temple. I'll be judged for treason."
He grimaced. "That's comforting."
"Better than what the Queen will do if you vanish entirely," she added, trying for humor and failing. "She'll think I lost the world's last hope."
Aiden didn't answer. He didn't know what to say to a world that had placed its survival on his shoulders.
By midday the air turned warm and heavy. They found a ridge overlooking a valley of ruined towers, stone bones wrapped in vines. Lyra gestured for him to crouch.
"Old city," she whispered. "No one lives there now. But the guard patrol the edges."
She reached into her cloak and pulled out a piece of thin crystal etched with faint symbols. "Listening shard," she explained. "It catches resonance from spell-tongues."
Aiden blinked. "You have a magic radio."
Lyra tilted her head. "A what?"
"Never mind." He crouched beside her. "Anything?"
She closed her eyes. The shard hummed. "They're close. Captain Dahl leads them herself."
The name meant nothing to Aiden, but Lyra's expression tightened.
"She's relentless," Lyra said softly. "If she finds you, she won't stop until you're back in chains."
On the valley floor, a column of armored riders moved like silver insects between the trees. Even from this distance their discipline was frightening. Banners of blue and white trailed behind them, and at the front rode a woman whose presence seemed to bend the air.
Aiden watched through the leaves. "That her?"
Lyra nodded. "Captain Seren Dahl. The Queen's Shield. She served in every campaign before the Blight wars ended."
The Captain dismounted, scanning the forest with sharp, hawk-like eyes. Her voice carried, calm and precise. "Fan out. He cannot have gone far. The Oracle swore the trail bends east."
Aiden's stomach turned. They were tracking him through magic.
Lyra whispered, "We move north. Now."
They retreated down the ridge. Every step felt louder than thunder. Once, the crack of a twig made them freeze. Voices drifted somewhere behind, closer now, rhythmic and professional.
"Why are they so loyal?" Aiden muttered. "You said the world's falling apart, yet they chase one stranger through a forest."
"They're loyal to hope," Lyra said. "That's rarer than order."
He wanted to argue, but couldn't. Hope was exactly what they'd stolen him for.
By evening rain began again, thin needles through the canopy. They took shelter in the hollow of a massive tree. Lyra started a whisper-flame, pale blue fire that barely gave smoke.
Aiden watched it dance. "So what happens after we reach your safe place? You keep running forever?"
"Until I find someone who can hide you better than I can." She smiled faintly. "Maybe one of the rogue scholars outside the capital. They don't worship the Matrons."
He leaned against the trunk, exhausted. "This world… you said it lost men centuries ago. How did you survive?"
"Mana birthing," she said quietly. "Women weave their life force into new life. But it weakens the mother each time. Fewer survive with every generation."
He saw the sadness flicker across her face. "That's why they risked the Orb."
"Yes." She fed another twig to the fire. "And why they'll never forgive me for breaking it."
Silence stretched between them, heavy but not hostile. The fire's glow painted her features in soft blue. For the first time Aiden noticed how young she looked, no older than he was, yet carrying the weight of a dying civilization.
"Lyra," he said, "why did you really help me? Not duty. Not guilt."
She met his eyes, hesitation melting into honesty. "Because when I looked at you in the circle, you were terrified. Everyone else saw a miracle. I saw a person."
Aiden swallowed hard. "Thanks."
"Don't thank me yet," she said, listening to the rain. "We're not safe."
Sometime after midnight, a faint pulse trembled through the ground. Lyra jerked awake.
"What is it?" Aiden whispered.
She closed her eyes, listening. "Tracking spell. They found our trail."
The whisper-flame died with a gesture. Darkness swallowed them. "Run."
They burst from the hollow just as a beam of white light tore through the trees behind them, burning a path into the earth. Shadows moved, mounted shapes with glowing eyes.
Aiden grabbed Lyra's hand and sprinted. Branches whipped his face; thunder rolled overhead. The forest itself seemed to shift, guiding or misleading them, he couldn't tell. Another beam struck a fallen log, exploding it into splinters.
He ducked behind a boulder, chest heaving. "This is insane!"
Lyra's voice was tight. "They're using Seeking Lances. They won't stop until sunrise."
"Then we need to stop them first."
She stared at him. "How?"
He glanced at the faint blue veins on a nearby tree, remembering the pulse that had saved him earlier. "You said everything here runs on mana, right? Even the forest?"
"Yes."
"Then maybe it can fight back."
Aiden pressed his palm to the tree. Warmth flooded his skin, followed by a dizzying rush of images...roots, water, deep hums of life. The world breathed around him. Somewhere inside that rhythm he found a spark that felt almost… familiar.
The pursuing light flickered.
Branches groaned. The forest answered.
A wall of vines erupted from the ground, twisting into a living barrier between them and the riders. Horses reared; shouts filled the air. Lyra stared in disbelief.
"You used mana," she said.
"I didn't mean to," Aiden gasped. "It just...happened."
The vines writhed, glowing faintly with the same blue that had burned in the summoning circle. For a heartbeat Aiden felt connected to everything: soil, rain, heartbeat of the planet itself. Then the power snapped, leaving him trembling.
Lyra caught his arm. "We have to move before they cut through."
They fled again, the sounds of pursuit fading behind the groaning wall.
When the sky finally began to pale, they collapsed at the edge of the forest, where a narrow river wound through open plains. Steam rose from the ground. The scent of wet grass was almost sweet after the damp woods.
Lyra sank to her knees, exhausted. "You shouldn't have been able to do that."
Aiden rubbed his hands, still tingling. "Guess your prophecy works both ways."
She looked up at him, eyes wide. "Aiden… if you can draw mana like that, the Matrons will never stop hunting you."
"Then we find somewhere they can't reach."
Her expression softened into something like faith. "There are rumors of a hidden village, beyond the western marshes. A place that defies the Queen's law."
"Then that's where we start."
Lyra nodded, determination hardening her tired face. Behind them, smoke rose from the forest where Captain Dahl's forces fought the living vines. The hunt wasn't over, just delayed.
Aiden turned west, the rising sun at his back. "Let them chase," he said quietly. "I'm done running without a plan."