Chapter 6 – Cursed and Unbroken

The morning mist clung to the ruins like ghost-breath.

Riku sat sharpening his blade on a flat stone, the scrape of metal against rock cutting through the silence like a war drum. Beside him—well, not beside, but close—Selene sat cross-legged, humming faintly to herself as she inspected a floating cluster of glowing runes. Her fingers danced through the illusion, adjusting arcane fragments only she could touch.

They’d been traveling together for five days now. Or perhaps six. Time blurred in the Demon’s Forest.

But Riku had noticed something strange: the monsters weren’t hunting him like before. In fact, they were starting to avoid him.

Or maybe… they were avoiding her.

That morning, they faced three separate ambushes. Each time, Selene warned him seconds before an attack. And each time, Riku dodged and struck with brutal, surgical precision.

His system chimed with quiet approval:

[LEVEL UP → LV 19]
Companion Perk Progression: Bond Level 1.8/5]
Selene: Tactical Assist +15%. Spell Echo Integration: Pending]

After the last kill—a fangtooth boar with molten tusks—they stopped for a quick rest beside a stream. Riku crouched to wash his hands. The water ran red, then pink, then clear.

Selene stood nearby, arms folded, watching the treetops.

“You’ve stopped hesitating when you kill,” she said.

He grunted. “Hesitating gets you eaten.”

“Maybe. Or maybe you’ve just stopped seeing the difference between yourself and the monsters.”

He turned. “You saying I’m going soft?”

“No,” she said. “I’m saying you’re becoming hard in all the right places.”

He blinked.

“...Was that a compliment or an insult?”

She smiled. “Yes.”

Later, by the fireless camp they’d built in the hollow of a dead tree, Selene told him more about her past.

“When I was a child,” she said, tracing glowing symbols on the bark beside her, “I used to believe magic was just math with emotion. You feel something. You shape it. You solve it.”

Riku nodded. “Makes sense.”

“But in the Flame Queen’s court, emotion was considered dangerous. They taught us to detach. To calculate. Magic became politics. And I…” Her voice trailed off.

“You didn’t play the game.”

She shook her head. “I wanted to burn the board.”

Riku leaned back against the tree.

“Sounds like someone I know.”

She smirked.

“And you? What did you want to be before all this?”

He stared into the shadows.

“I didn’t want to be anything. I just wanted to stop feeling useless.”

Selene tilted her head.

“Do you still feel useless?”

“No,” he said. “I feel dangerous.”

The next day, it came for them.

A Fellhound—massive, sleek, silent. Cloaked in nightshade fur and moving faster than most humans could think.

Selene saw it first.

“Three o’clock, sprinting—move now!”

Riku rolled left as the hound lunged, its claws digging deep gouges into the earth. Its breath steamed in the air like smoke from a dying star.

Riku lunged in return, but it dodged—barely. Selene’s voice rang out again:

“Legs are armored—aim for the underside of the jaw!”

He obeyed. Slash. The hound yelped. Blood sprayed.

It turned and opened its maw wide, a spiraling glyph glowing inside.

Selene gasped.

“It’s casting something! Defensive weave incoming—brace!”

Riku didn’t ask questions. He ducked behind a fallen log just as the spell detonated. A wave of sonic force exploded outward, shattering trees and splintering stone.

Riku emerged coughing, ears ringing.

“Tell me you’ve got something to stop that,” he grunted.

Selene clenched her fists. “I can disrupt it—but I’ll need you to act as an anchor. Channel me through your system.”

“What?!”

“No time!”

[SYSTEM THREAD: Companion Spell Link Detected]
Shared Cast Channel: ACCEPT?
Warning: Temporary Magic Surge May Cause Harm
Accept? [YES] / [NO]

“Yes!” he shouted.

Magic slammed into him like a hurricane.

Selene stepped into the surge, her form glowing with unnatural violet light.

“Soul Lattice Break!” she roared, casting through him.

The spell collided with the hound mid-charge, splintering its magical defenses. Riku saw the opening and pounced.

One. Two. Three slashes.

The Fellhound collapsed in a heap of twitching limbs and bleeding jaws.

[ENEMY DEFEATED – Level 22]
XP GAINED: +260 (Boss Bonus + Duo-Cast Bonus)]
[LEVEL UP → LV 21]
New Bond Skill Unlocked: Spell Sync - Level 1
Effect: Selene may channel 1 spell per day through Riku’s body for +25% damage or effect. Warning: Magic feedback will cause short-term pain or disorientation.]

They collapsed beside each other beneath the fallen tree, panting.

Selene stared at the sky she couldn’t touch.

“That was…”

“Insane,” Riku groaned. “We’re doing it again tomorrow.”

She laughed.

And then, quietly, she added:

“I haven’t felt seen in so long, I almost forgot how good it feels to fight beside someone.”

He didn’t say anything.

But when he reached out—just once—his hand didn’t pass through hers.

It stopped.

Just for a second.

Like the world almost remembered she existed.

Her breath caught.

Then it passed through, like always.

She said nothing.

But her heart beat louder than any monster in that forest.