Chapter 2 – Page 1: “Ghosts in the Fog”

Yumi woke screaming.

Her voice cracked against the silence of the early morning mist, echoing through the trees like a wounded animal. Elenia was already at her side, steadying her shoulders, whispering gently as Kuro stood a few steps away, arms folded, eyes scanning the treeline.

The fire had long since died. The forest around them lay soaked in fog, dampening sound and swallowing color. Birds didn't sing here. No insects buzzed. Just breath. Just heartbeat.

Kuro didn’t look at Yumi when she clutched her chest, gasping for air.

He didn’t speak when she whispered, “Where… where are we?”

Elenia answered, her voice soft but firm. “We’re safe—for now.”

Yumi’s eyes flitted around the roots, the canopy above, then landed on Kuro.

“You… saved me?”

He didn’t respond.

Elenia glanced at him, then back to Yumi. “He found you in the ruins. You would’ve died otherwise.”

“I thought…” Yumi swallowed hard. “I thought he left us.”

Kuro finally spoke, flat and low. “I did.”

Yumi winced, not from pain this time.

“You weren’t the target,” he added, eyes still on the horizon. “You were just bait.”

She didn’t understand. Not completely. But Elenia’s gentle hand on her shoulder anchored her enough not to argue.

Kuro turned to the two of them. “We can’t stay here.”

“I can’t move,” Yumi muttered.

“You’ll have to,” he said. “We’re three days from the nearest town, and by now, they know exactly which direction we ran.”

Elenia stood. “I’ll support her.”

Yumi looked at her. “You’re with him?”

Elenia hesitated. “I am.”

Kuro stepped forward, knelt beside the fire pit, and began packing the remnants of their gear into a tightly wrapped bundle.

Yumi stared at him. “Why?”

Elenia met her eyes. “Because the rest of the world wants to use us. He just wants to survive.”

They moved slowly. Yumi’s arm over Elenia’s shoulder, her steps uneven, pained. Kuro led the way through the Mistral Woodlands, his blade drawn, eyes always moving.

The fog thickened as they climbed deeper into the hills.

At one point, they came upon a dried riverbed filled with bones—some human, most not.

Elenia stopped. “What is this place?”

“A grave,” Kuro said. “From the last time someone tried to escape the kingdom.”

He didn’t linger.

They camped again beneath an old bridge half-swallowed by the forest. Kuro built a fire using bark and soaked twigs, coaxing it to life through skill rather than spellwork.

Yumi sat wrapped in the scarf Elenia had once given to Kuro. Her eyes rarely left him now—uncertain, wary, but different than before.

“You could’ve kept running,” she said.

“I should have.”

“So why didn’t you?”

He didn’t answer.

“Do you hate us that much?” she asked quietly.

“No,” he said. “I just don’t want to be used again.”

Yumi bit her lip. “You think we do?”

He looked at her. “All of you were willing to become weapons. I’m not.”

She looked away. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

Elenia handed Yumi a canteen, then sat across from Kuro.

“You could’ve let her die,” she said softly.

“I know.”

“You didn’t.”

“I know.”

They sat in silence.

And then, from the trees, a new sound:

A soft whistle. Three short notes. One long.

Kuro rose instantly.

“What is it?” Elenia asked.

“Hunters,” he whispered. “Human.”

He scanned the woods, grabbing his makeshift blade and motioning for silence. Elenia pulled Yumi close behind the bridge.

Two figures emerged between the trees—hooded, dressed in gray cloaks, crossbows drawn. They were not royal guards. Not demons.

But killers all the same.

“Kuro Hayashi?” one called softly. “Or should I say: Subject 14?”

Kuro didn’t move. His jaw clenched.

“Orders from the capital,” the figure continued. “Return alive… if possible. Otherwise, kill the healer and bring the girl.”

Kuro exhaled slowly. “They sent bounty hunters.”

Elenia’s face went pale.

He didn’t hesitate. The first hunter raised his crossbow—Kuro moved before the bolt left the string. A spin, a roll, and then steel clashed with flesh. The hunter cried out, dropped his bow.

The second fired at Elenia—Yumi shoved her down.

The bolt missed, grazing Yumi’s back.

“Stay down!” Kuro shouted, spinning on the second attacker.

Two strikes. One to the knee. One to the throat.

Both men fell. One dead. One moaning.

Kuro crouched over the survivor, dagger at his eye.

“Who hired you?”

“Royal… in black robes,” the man gasped. “One of your own…”

“Kenji,” Kuro said flatly.

The hunter nodded before going limp.

Later, after dragging the bodies deep into the forest, Kuro sat beneath a tree, his hands soaked in blood, his expression unchanged.

Elenia approached, kneeling beside him.

“You did what you had to.”

“I always do.”

She didn’t touch him this time.

Instead, she sat beside him, close, both of them staring into the dark.

“You can’t keep running forever,” she said softly.

“I can try.”

“I don’t think you want to.”

He looked at her. “I don’t want to fight for people who’d kill a healer in her sleep.”

Her voice barely above a whisper: “Then fight for me.”

He didn’t answer. But his hand shifted. Rested lightly against hers.

She didn’t pull away.

Back under the bridge, Yumi stirred from half-sleep, watching them through half-lidded eyes. Her lips moved silently.

“I was wrong about you…”

Above them all, on a ledge high in the trees, a figure watched with a spyglass.

Kenji.

He lowered it, his expression blank.

“They’re bonding,” he said.

Beside him, a mage in red robes nodded. “Shall we move in?”

“Not yet,” Kenji said, eyes cold. “Let them think they’re free.”

[End of Chapter 2 – Page 1]