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

By the second night, the cold had crept into everything.

It slithered into Yumi’s bones, pressed into Elenia’s hands, and hovered in the silence between words Kuro refused to speak.

They had made it halfway to Vel’s Hollow, a hidden settlement whispered about in rebel camps and hunter dens—neutral ground, unaffiliated with kingdom nor demon. Smugglers went there to disappear. Refugees found false names. And if Kuro remembered correctly, assassins once used it as a dead drop zone.

He didn’t trust it.

But he trusted staying in the woods even less.

“You haven’t said anything for hours,” Elenia murmured as they crossed a shallow stream, her voice barely above the ripple of water.

Kuro moved ahead, scanning the tree line. “Words won’t keep us alive.”

“I know. But silence doesn’t bring peace either.”

He stopped briefly to help Yumi, who was limping worse today. Her bandage had come loose. He crouched without a word and redid it in seconds—tight, efficient, clean. She watched his hands, then his face.

“You’ve done this before,” she said.

He didn’t answer.

Elenia crouched beside him. “You knew what that whistle meant before you even saw the hunters. You knew how to kill them faster than they could blink. Kuro… how much of your life was spent like this?”

He looked at her—not coldly, not sharply. Just honestly.

“All of it.”

They camped that night beneath an outcropping of stone. Kuro built the fire. Elenia boiled herbs into a weak tea for Yumi’s fever.

For a long time, none of them spoke.

Then Yumi said softly, “Do you think the others made it back?”

Kuro said, “Kenji made it back.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Kuro stared into the flames. “Most of them weren’t ready. Some will be dead. The rest will be sent on more missions until they break.”

Yumi tightened her scarf. “I used to think being chosen meant something. That we were special.”

Kuro glanced at her. “You still think that?”

She shook her head slowly. “Now I think we were just lucky. Or unlucky. Depends on who you ask.”

Elenia stirred the tea. “Do you regret coming with us?”

Yumi looked at them both. “No.”

Later, Kuro stood watch at the edge of the firelight, arms crossed, eyes trained on the forest’s black. Elenia walked up quietly, handing him a fresh cloth to clean his blade.

“You always take first watch,” she said.

“I don’t sleep well.”

“I’ve noticed.”

He accepted the cloth, wiped the dried blood from the jagged demon claw he used as a weapon.

“You know,” Elenia said gently, “you act like someone who wants to be alone—but everything you do says otherwise.”

Kuro stopped. Looked at her. “And what do you want me to say?”

“I want you to tell me the truth,” she said. “About what’s following us. About what you left behind when you came to this world.”

Kuro’s voice dropped. “Why?”

“Because you look at me like you want to tell someone—but you’re afraid of what it makes you.”

He said nothing for a long time.

Then, quietly: “There was a girl. Back home.”

Elenia’s eyes flickered. “What happened?”

“She smiled like you do. Gentle. Like the world hadn’t taught her cruelty yet.”

He turned his blade over in his hand.

“She found out what I was.”

Elenia waited.

“I thought she’d run. But she didn’t.” He paused. “Not until she became one of my targets.”

Elenia’s breath caught. “Did you…?”

“No.” His voice cracked, just barely. “But I let someone else do it.”

Silence fell between them like snow.

Elenia reached forward and gently took the blade from his hand, setting it on the ground.

“You’re not that person anymore.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I don’t care,” she said. “I’m not afraid of what you were. I see who you are now.”

He stared at her.

And for the first time, he didn’t look away.

They reached the cliffs above Vel’s Hollow by dawn. Smoke rose from scattered chimneys. Hidden beneath layers of fog and pine, the village looked more like a forgotten shadow than a town.

Yumi leaned against a tree, barely holding herself up. “That’s it?”

Elenia smiled. “We made it.”

Kuro didn’t move. “Not yet.”

“What is it?” Elenia asked.

He pointed to the ridge. “Smoke’s too heavy for that few fires. Something’s wrong.”

He stepped forward and crouched behind a boulder, motioning the others to stay.

Below, at the far edge of town, horses stood tethered. Not village horses—royal breeds. Black armor. White crests.

“They found us,” Kuro whispered.

Yumi paled. “The guards?”

“No,” he said, eyes narrowing. “Kenji.”

Inside the town, a man in noble robes stood in a candlelit tavern, speaking to a merchant in hushed tones.

Kenji leaned against the bar, swirling a glass of wine. “You’ve seen him.”

The merchant nodded. “Came through two years back. Picked up a bounty from the ledger. Silent type.”

Kenji smiled. “He’s still silent. But not for long.”

Outside, two knights entered a nearby shop.

A third disappeared into an alley.

Kuro saw it all from above.

“They’ve planted watchers,” he said.

Elenia gripped her staff. “We can’t go in.”

“We don’t need to,” he said. “We just need to draw them out.”

He turned to Yumi. “You think you can walk?”

She nodded, barely.

Kuro pulled a folded piece of parchment from his coat—a map. He laid it on a flat stone.

“There’s a smugglers’ cave under the cliffs. Connects to the southern forest road. We’ll use it.”

Elenia looked at him. “How do you know this place so well?”

Kuro met her eyes. “Because I used to kill people here.”

As they prepared to move, Yumi stood and touched Kuro’s arm.

“I thought you were a monster when we got here,” she said. “But now I think… maybe you’re just someone who forgot how to be human.”

He didn’t reply.

Instead, he turned to Elenia. “Stay close. We’ll only get one chance.”

She nodded.

And together, the three of them disappeared into the shadows of the forest—toward the caves, toward uncertainty.

Toward freedom.

Or something that looked like it.

Far behind them, Kenji stood atop the tavern roof, staring into the trees.

“He’s moving again,” he said.

A knight asked, “Should we follow?”

Kenji smiled.

“No,” he whispered. “Let him run.”

He turned, eyes glinting with cruel confidence.

“He’ll come back to us eventually. They always do.”

[End of Chapter 2 – Page 2]