Afternoon settled quietly over the forest.
Light filtered through the leaves in broken gold, softening the shadows that had earlier felt alive with threat. Birds returned. Insects dared to sing again.
Aleric walked between Maze and Blaze as if the morning had never happened.
As if he had not trembled.
As if he had not broken.
He talked to Maze, laughed softly, even tried to imitate how she held her flames in her palm. His fear had not vanished — it had simply learned to hide better.
Blaze noticed.
Of course she did.
Humans recover strangely, she thought. They cry like the world is ending… then smile like nothing touched them.
She walked ahead, robes whispering against fallen leaves, veil unmoved by wind or light.
Good, she continued coldly. I hate crying humans the most. Loud. Wet. Annoying. Like insects that learned how to scream.
Behind her, Aleric laughed at something Maze said.
Blaze did not turn.
She did not slow.
She did not care.
If he can walk and laugh, he can survive, she thought. If he cannot, the forest will solve the problem for me.
Maze glanced at Blaze's back, then at Aleric.
Aleric did not see it.
He only saw the path.
Only felt the warmth.
Only believed — foolishly — that the worst had passed.
The forest knew better.
And Blaze…
Blaze already expected him to learn again.
Aleric was the first to stop.
Not Blaze.
Not Maze.
Aleric.
Between two twisted roots, half-hidden under moss and silver leaves, he saw them.
Mushrooms.
Not ordinary.
Their caps shimmered faintly, layered in pale blues and violets, veins glowing softly like starlight trapped under skin.
Rare.
Beautiful.
Wrong.
Aleric stepped closer without thinking.
"Oh— Maze," he said softly, wonder in his voice, "I think these are—"
"Wait—" Maze started.
Too late.
His foot slipped.
A thorned vine snapped upward and sliced across his finger.
Blood welled instantly.
A single drop fell.
It touched the mushroom cap.
The forest stopped breathing.
The mushroom pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
Then it drank.
The blood did not stain it.
It vanished into it.
The veins flared crimson.
Aleric froze. "Maze…?"
The ground beneath the mushrooms cracked open like thin glass.
Light spilled upward — not bright, not dark — empty.
A hole formed where no hole should exist.
Space folded inward.
Aleric had no time to scream.
The world pulled him down.
Maze reached for him.
Her hand passed through air.
Blaze turned.
Too late.
Aleric vanished.
The mushrooms collapsed into ash.
Silence slammed into the forest.
Maze spun toward Blaze, panic burning through her composure. "Master— he— he's gone—"
Blaze stared at the empty space.
Her expression did not change.
But the forest around her did.
Trees leaned away.
Roots recoiled.
Wind reversed.
Idiot, she thought coldly.
He touched a gate fungus.
Maze whispered, trembling, "What did he open…?"
Blaze stepped forward, gaze sharp and ancient.
"A sealed corridor," she said calmly. "Between layers."
Maze swallowed. "Did he… die?"
Blaze's eyes narrowed slightly.
"No."
Her voice lowered.
"He woke something."
The air rippled.
Far away — far deeper than sound — something shifted.
Not in the forest.
Not in the world.
But beneath both.
Blaze closed her eyes briefly.
So this is how you repay survival, she thought. By opening doors you were never meant to see.
She opened her eyes again.
Cold.
Focused.
Annoyed.
"Maze," she said, "remember this moment."
Maze looked at her.
"This," Blaze continued, "is why humans are dangerous."
Not because they are strong.
But because they touch what gods sealed.
Blaze did not move.
She stared at the empty space where Aleric had vanished, then turned away as if the forest itself had offended her.
"So be it," she said calmly. "If he is trapped there, it is his fate."
Maze's flame flickered. "Master—"
Blaze cut her off. "But what. I do not meddle in other lives unless they interfere with mine."
Maze hesitated.
Her voice softened. "But… you spent money on him. If he dies, it goes to waste."
Blaze scoffed lightly. "Should I care about such a small amount? I have plenty."
Maze bit her lip, thinking.
Then she tried again, quieter. "But… he cooks really well. You didn't even taste his food properly. If he dies, you'll never taste his cooking again."
Blaze froze.
Just for a fraction of a second.
Her thoughts sharpened.
Wait.
I am not accustomed to missing what belongs to me.
I deserve every delicacy this world can offer.
Her fingers tightened slightly inside her sleeves.
She turned back toward the tear in space.
It still trembled faintly, the wound between worlds pulsing like a heartbeat that did not belong to the forest.
Blaze stared at it.
Her expression remained cold.
Unmoved.
Regal.
But her thoughts were no longer entirely still.
I do not abandon what is mine.
She exhaled once, slow and controlled.
"Well," she said flatly, "that is a reasonable argument."
Maze blinked. "…It is?"
Blaze did not look at her.
"Do not misunderstand," Blaze continued. "This has nothing to do with concern."
She lifted her chin slightly. "It is about ownership."
Maze hid a small smile.
Blaze stepped toward the tear in space. The air warped around her, resisting instinctively—then collapsing under her presence like fabric beneath a blade.
"Follow," Blaze ordered.
Maze obeyed instantly.
The forest vanished.
They crossed the threshold.
The world inverted.
Sound folded inward. Light stretched into long, broken threads. Gravity hesitated, unsure of its role. The dimension beyond was not dark—it was unfinished. Floating fragments of land drifted in slow spirals, stitched together by faint glowing veins of energy. Shadows moved without bodies. Distance meant nothing.
Maze shivered. "This place… feels like it was never meant to exist."
Blaze walked forward as if walking through a hallway.
Of course it wasn't.
Someone failed to destroy it properly.
A voice echoed through the void, layered and distorted.
"Blood has already been offered…"
Maze stiffened.
Blaze's eyes narrowed.
They saw him.
Aleric stood on a fractured platform of translucent stone, frozen in place. His hand was still bleeding faintly. The mushrooms he had touched now hovered around him like broken symbols, glowing with unstable energy.
He looked up.
Relief shattered across his face.
"S-Sister— I— I couldn't move— the ground started talking— I thought—"
Maze rushed toward him. "Aleric!"
Blaze raised one hand.
Maze stopped instantly, held in place by invisible force.
"Do not rush," Blaze said calmly. "This place reacts to emotion."
She stepped forward alone.
The dimension responded to her presence.
The floating fragments stabilized.
The glowing veins brightened.
Even the shadows retreated.
Something beneath the platform stirred.
A presence.
Old.
Bound.
Aware.
Aleric felt it and trembled. "There's… something under me…"
"Yes," Blaze said. "And you were foolish enough to wake it."
The presence shifted, forming the outline of a massive sealed entity beneath the fractured floor—its body incomplete, its shape stitched together from broken space and forgotten rules.
Its voice layered through the void.
"The Veiled One walks again…"
Maze inhaled sharply.
Blaze did not flinch.
She looked down at the thing with mild irritation.
"You should have remained asleep," she said. "You are not interesting enough to awaken."
The entity tried to rise.
The dimension screamed.
Blaze lifted two fingers.
Reality bent.
Not shattered.
Bent.
The platform beneath Aleric stabilized instantly. The floating symbols shattered into harmless dust. The entity froze mid-movement, crushed back into its seal by nothing but her will.
The dimension quieted.
The voice broke.
"…Authority…"
Blaze lowered her hand.
"You will forget," she said.
The seal closed.
The presence vanished.
Silence returned.
Maze rushed to Aleric and grabbed him, pulling him away from the platform. His legs gave out and he collapsed against her, shaking violently.
"I—I thought I was going to disappear," he whispered. "I thought I was already dead…"
Maze held him tightly. "You're safe. You're safe now."
Blaze turned away.Barely.
She opened a path with a flick of her fingers.
The dimension began to collapse back into the forest.
"Move," Blaze said.
Maze helped Aleric up. He stumbled after Blaze, terrified but alive.
As they crossed back into the forest, the tear closed behind them with a soft, final sound—like a page being shut.
The forest returned.
Birds sang again.
Wind moved.
Reality remembered how to exist.
Aleric dropped to his knees, breathing hard.
Maze knelt beside him. "You're really okay now."
He looked up at Blaze, eyes red.
"…You came back."
Blaze did not look at him.
"I dislike wasted investments," she replied coldly.
Then she walked past him.
Aleric watched her back.
Maze understood.
Blaze pretended it was about ownership.
But the dimension had known better.
And so had Maze.
The forest closed around them once more.
And this time, Aleric knew—
He had almost disappeared from a world ruled by someone who refused to admit she had chosen to bring him back.
Maze shifted Aleric onto her back without a word.
He was light—too light. His body still trembled faintly, exhaustion and shock layered deep into his bones. His arms slipped loosely around her shoulders, his forehead resting against her back as his eyes finally closed.
Within moments, he slept.
Maze straightened. "Master… I can carry him."
Blaze had already turned away.
"Keep up," she said.
They moved.
The forest vanished into streaks of shadow and wind. Blaze's steps were not running—they were displacement itself, space yielding beneath her will. Maze followed, wings of flame unfurling briefly before folding back into controlled speed, the world blurring past them.
Miles dissolved in seconds.
Aleric dreamed without knowing he was moving.
Maze adjusted her grip gently. "He's not heavy," she whispered.
Blaze did not answer.
Her eyes, however, were no longer focused ahead.
They shifted.
Subtly.
Precisely.
Still following.
The presence from the dimension had not remained behind.
It clung to the thin fracture left in Aleric's blood. Not fully free. Not fully bound. A parasite between worlds, too weak to emerge openly, too arrogant to retreat.
Blaze's lips curved faintly beneath the veil.
So you chose to crawl after me.
How entertaining.
She slowed her pace slightly—just enough.
Not for safety.
For invitation.
Come.
Show me what you think you are.
Maze felt it a moment later. Her flames flickered uneasily. "Master… something is—"
"I know," Blaze said calmly.
Her thoughts sharpened.
I allow you to exist because I am bored.
But understand this.
If you dare cross your boundary…
You will regret every fragment of consciousness you possess.
The forest darkened subtly.
Shadows stretched.
Wind stilled.
The presence hesitated.
Blaze continued walking, unbothered.
You are not prey.
You are entertainment.
A faint distortion rippled behind them—just enough to prove it was still there.
Blaze did not turn.
She only smiled slightly.
Maze tightened her hold on Aleric.
He slept on, unaware that something from another world now measured the distance between itself and a woman who had already decided how his story would end.
And Blaze walked forward—
Allowing the hunt to begin.
The forest thinned.
The shadows loosened.
And then—
They stood at the edge of nothing.
To Aleric's sleeping eyes, there was only empty land.
To Maze, faint distortions of heat and light.
To Blaze—
A mansion.
Vast.
Towering.
Forged of gold and black stone, wrapped in slow, eternal flames that did not consume, only obeyed. Pillars rose like molten crowns. Windows glowed like sealed suns. The gates bore ancient markings that no language dared remember.
Blaze stopped.
…Long time, she thought. Let me check on this estate of mine.
She looked back.
Maze met her eyes and nodded once.
Blaze lifted her sleeve.
The flames parted.
Not extinguished.
Not weakened.
They simply stepped aside, bowing as if recognizing their master.
Blaze walked forward.
Maze followed, carrying Aleric carefully.
The gates opened without sound.
They crossed the threshold.
Behind them—
The presence from the forest reached the boundary.
The flames surged.
Not violently.
Not angrily.
Decisively.
The creature recoiled.
Unable to enter.
Unable to see.
Unable to exist within Blaze's domain.
The gates closed.
Silence returned.
Inside, the mansion breathed.
Warmth.
Power.
Stillness.
Blaze walked ahead, robes whispering over marble floors veined with gold.
Maze finally exhaled.
"…Home," she whispered.
Blaze did not answer.
But for the first time in a long while—
She did not feel watched.
Blaze ignored everything.
The air, the walls, the echoes of her own domain — all beneath her notice.
She walked alone through silent halls until she reached a door sealed with sigils only she could command.
Her room.
She entered and closed it behind her with a soft click.
For the first time since the forest, she removed her veil.
It fell onto the marble floor like discarded authority.
She stepped before a tall mirror framed in gold and flame-glass.
Her reflection looked back at her — sharp eyes, flawless skin, beauty untouched by time or mercy.
She adjusted the crimson flower tucked behind her hair.
At her thought alone, her robes shifted, flowing from black into deep crimson red, rich as blood and royal silk.
A faint, satisfied breath left her lips.
Finally, she thought. Time to admire what the world is unworthy of.
She sat before the mirror and began to comb her hair slowly.
It spilled past her waist, past her hips, down beyond her knees like a living curtain of night.
She watched every movement with quiet devotion.
Not vanity.
Ownership.
This beauty is mine.
This perfection is mine.
For a moment, Blaze was not a destroyer.
She was simply herself.
The gates closed.
Silence returned.