Vivienne surged through the dense forest, her revenant form a flickering shadow weaviweerunks and underbrush. The sharp tang of aether still g to her senses, an unwele reminder of her assaint’s presence. She pushed herself faster, but the oppressive weight of that strange energy g her resolve. Whoever they were, they hadn’t stopped hunting her.

  Behihe fai sound—leaves g underfoot, branches snapping—echoed through the darkness. They were close, too close. Vivienne’s form blurred and wavered as she darted to the side, slipping behind a t oak to momentarily break their line of sight.

  Her breathing was steady, but her focus was fraying. That aether... it was ging to her like a predator’s mark, and she couldn’t shake it.

  Vivienne hissed under her breath. “Fine. Let’s see how long you keep up.”

  She unched herself fain, weaviically to throw off her pursuer. Her smoky form slipped between trees like mist, but the energy ging to her refused to fade. Each flicker of movement in the periphery set her nerves alight.

  Ahead, the forest thied, the opy casting the terrain into even deeper shadows. A fleeting thought of Rava crossed her mind, but she shoved it aside. She had no time to worry about whether the wolf-like warrior had made it out; she could only hope she had.

  The distinct hum of aether magiapped her focus back to the chase. Her pursuer wasn’t just trag her—they were herding her, f her toward some urap. The realisatio a spark of anger c through her.

  Vivienne slowed her pace just enough to gnce back, her glowing eyes sing the darkness. For a fleeting moment, she saw them—a masked figure, red eyes burning like embers, their leather coat shifting with unnatural grace as they pursued her. Their twin bdes glinted faintly in the moonlight, and their presence sent a ripple of uhrough her form.

  “Persistent,” she muttered, her cw flexing.

  Suddenly, the forest ahead broke open into a small clearing. Moonlight spilled down onto the soft grass, illuminating a narrow stream cutting through the tre. Vivienne cursed under her breath. Open ground. No cover.

  She darted across the clearing, her cwed feet skimming the ground, but the aether mark burned hainst her essehe hunter was closing in.

  Before she could fully cross, a searing bde of light sshed through the air behind her. Viviewisted, her single cw catg the edge of the magifused strike. The force sent her skidding across the ground, her revenant form momentarily flickering uhe assault.

  “You’re really starting to irritate me,” she snarled, straightening.

  The masked figure stepped into the clearing, their coat rippling in the breeze. They didn’t speak, but the crag energy around them spoke volumes.

  Vivienne’s grin sharpened, even as her form shimmered faintly from exertion. “Fine. Let’s py.”

  The figure luheir twin bdes fshing like silver lightning. Vivienne tered, her cw swinging in a wide arc, the force of the collision sending sparks flying. For a moment, the two were locked in a deadly daheir movements blurring uhe moonlight.

  But Vivienne’s earlier wounds slowed her, and the straher ging to her essence was taking its toll. The masked figure pressed their advantage, f her back with calcuted strikes.

  Her smoky form flickered dangerously, and she cursed under her breath. This wasn’t a fight she could win—not here, not now.

  Viviened to the left, drawing the figure’s attention before surging upward into the shadows of the trees. Her form dissolved partially, blending into the darkness as she retreated.

  The masked figure didn’t pursue immediately, their glowing eyes sing the treetops. Vivienne used the momentary reprieve to push herself farther away, weaving bato the forest’s dense embrace.

  The taste of their aether still lingered, but the immediate danger was fading. She pressed on, her foow on putting as much distance as possible between herself and the relentless hunter.

  As she slipped deeper into the forest, her thoughts turned briefly to Rava. “You better be alive, wolf,” she muttered to herself, her voice a faint rasp. “Because I don’t have the patieo expin this mess alone.”

  Vivienne’s mind raced as she fled deeper into the woods. She could hear the hunter’s pursuit growing louder—closer. The sound of their steps was deliberate, sharp, calcuted, eg the weight of their determination. She had to outpace them, outsmart them—whatever it took.

  She darted betweerees, her revenant form fluid and eerily silent, weaving through the underbrush with uling speed. Her body was not what it had been, weaker than iher forms, but the heightened senses of the revenant still served her well. She could feel the pulsatiher growing behihe flicker of the hunter's energy like a pulse in the air. They were relentless, but Vivienne had learned a thing or two about evasion.

  With a sharp turn, she slid into the shadows of the forest, her body dissolving into the darkness for just a split sed. She stilled, holding her breath, letting the presence of the hunter pass her by.

  The hunter’s steps slowed, cautious. They couldn’t see her, not yet. They were still too close. Vivienne khat if they caught her, it would be over. But she had one more trick left.

  As they circled, moving carefully through the trees, Vivieepped back from the edge of the thicket, careful not to make a sound. Her body shimmered, a barely perceptible distortion in the shadows of the forest as she extended her influence over the surrounding darkness. The trees, the ground, even the air itself—she reached out and absorbed the surroundiher into her form, deepening the dark fabric she had woven around herself. The forest was full of hidden paths, secrets in the shadows, and for a brief moment, Vivienne became oh the darkness.

  The hunter paused. Vivienne could feel their eyes sing, their seretg, trying to pinpoint her exact location. But they would never find her now. She had bee the night itself.

  Her griurned, sharp and predatory. For just a moment, she savoured the silehe tension. The hunter couldn’t see her. Couldn't track her.

  Vivienne pressed herself deeper into the shadows, moving again—quicker this time, with the fluidity of a wraith—taking advantage of her camoufge to slip past the hunter ued.

  When she was far enough away, she let the cloak of darkness fade, releasing the aether she had absorbed. The forest opened up before her once more, and though the hunter was still out there, they would find nothing but empty trees and fotten whispers in the wind.

  The shadow shifted again, this time closer. Rava’s sharp eyes caught the faint gleam of moonlight refleg off somethiallic—armour? A on? She couldn’t tell, but whatever it was, it moved with a purpose that sent a shiver up her spine.

  “Vivienne?” she called again, a little louder this time, her voice steady despite the tightness in her chest.

  No response.

  She pressed her back against the tree, cws digging into the bark for stability. Her mind raced. If it wasn’t Vivie could be one of the hunters from the tower—or worse. She hadn’t seen much of Vivienne’s pursuers, but their discipline and anisation had been clear even from a distance. Rava doubted they’d give up the chase so easily.

  The shadow broke free of the underbrush, and Rava tensed, ready t. What emerged, however, was not what she expected.

  A small figure stumbled into the clearing—a child, no older tha, their face pale and streaked with dirt. They wore a simple tunic, torn and bloodstained, and their eyes were wide with fear.

  “Help... please...” the child whispered, colpsing to their knees.

  Rava hesitated. This didn’t feel right. The st of blood was to, too fresh, and the way the child’s aether felt—wrong, as though it didn’t belong.

  Her muscles coiled, every instinct screaming at her to keep her distance. But she couldn’t just ighem, could she?

  “Who are you? What happened?” Rava asked, her voice low but firm, as she sloroached.

  The child looked up, tears glistening in their eyes. “They’re ing... Please, don’t let them find me...”

  Rava’s ears twitched, catg a faint sound in the distance—a rhythmic pounding, like footsteps.

  The child’s head soward the heir expression twisting into something far too knowing for someone so young. “They’re almost here. You have to help me!”

  Rava’s cws flexed against her palms. This was a trap. It had to be. But the footsteps were real, and they were getting louder.

  “Get behind me,” she growled, positioning herself between the child and the approag threat.

  The child clutched at her leg, their trembling fingers cold as death.

  The forest erupted. Figures emerged from the shadows, dark leathers and wielding strange, crag ons. They moved with the precision of hunters, spreading out to encircle the clearing. Rava’s sharp eyes ted four, maybe five of them, eae radiating the same unnatural energy she’d felt earlier.

  “Hand over the bait, and we’ll let you walk away,” one of the hunters said, their voice calm, almost bored.

  “Bait?” Rava snarled, her stance l into a defensive crouch.

  The hunter gestured toward the child, whose grip on Rava’s leg tightened. “You’re smarter than you look. That thing at your feet isn’t what it seems.”

  Rava didn’t have time to process their words. One of the hunters lunged, a crag bde slig through the air toward her. She twisted away, kig out with her leg and sending the attacker sprawling.

  The child screamed, but the sound was hollow, too perfect—a performance.

  Damn it.

  “Whatever yet out of here!” Rava barked, shoving the child away as another hunter closed in.

  The fight erupted into chaos. Rava darted betweetackers, her cws fshing in the moonlight. She was fast—faster than them—but they had the advantage of numbers and those strange ons that crackled with energy.

  One of the hunters swung wide, their bde grazing her arm. Pain seared through her as the on's energy bit into her skin, but she didn’t falter. She dropped low, sweeping their legs out from uhem before driving her cws into their exposed side.

  The child watched from the edge of the clearing, their expression unreadable.

  “Vivienne,” Rava muttered under her breath, sshing through atacker. “Where the hell are you?”

  The fight dragged on, and exhaustion began to creep into Rava’s limbs. The hunters weren’t giving up, and for every one she knocked down, another seemed to take their pce.

  Her gaze darted to the child. They were still standing there, untouched, their eyes gleaming with something cold and unnatural.

  “Run!” she shouted at them again, but they didn’t move.

  In that moment of distra, a bde caught her across the shoulder. She stumbled, pain fring white-hot, but mao twist away before the follow-up strike could nd.

  The hunters pressed closer, their circle tightening. Rava’s breaths came fast and shallow. She couldn’t keep this up.

  And then, from the darkness beyond the clearing, a low, guttural growl echoed.

  Rava’s ears perked, her heart leaping with both hope and dread.

  Vivienne.

  The acrid taste of aether lingered in Vivienne’s senses, leadihrough the dense forest. It g to the air like smoke, thid unnatural—a sign of the hunters. Despite her exhaustion, she forced herself onward, her revenant form slipping soundlessly betweerees.

  Where are you, Rava?

  Her foarrowed orail: disturbed underbrush, cw marks in the bark of a tree, and faint traces of blood that shone like starlight under her enhanced vision. Every step was a reminder of hile her current form was. Her single hand twitched, ag for the power she’d had as a colossus.

  She paused, tilting her head at the faint sound of metal strikial, followed by a guttural growl. Voices carried through the trees—sharp ands, the csh of bat, ah it all, the desperate rhythm of Rava’s breaths.

  Vivienne’s lip curled, a dangerous grin f as her pace quied. “You’re a stubborn one, aren’t you?” she muttered, weaving through the forest like smoke.

  The sight that greeted her as she reached the edge of the clearing was a se of chaos. Rava was a blur of motion, dartiween shadowy figures, her cws sshing at anything that came close. Sparks flew as crag ons cshed against her, their strange energy biting into the air with a sharp hum.

  Vivienne’s many eyes shifted focus, catg sight of the supposed child lingering at the clearing’s edge. The gleam in their eyes and the unnatural way they stood set Vivieeeth on edge.

  Oh, delightful. A trap. I love traps.

  A hunter lu Rava, their bde arg toward her exposed back. Vivienne didn’t hesitate. She surged forward, her body elongating unnaturally as she moved, her single hand shing out to snatch the attacker mid-strike.

  The hunter barely had time tister what was happening before Vivienne’s cws pierced through their chest. She leaned in close, her teeth bared in a wicked smile. “My turn.”

  The hunter’s body vulsed as she syphoheir aether, their form withering before colpsing to the ground.

  Rava spun, eyes wide as she caught sight of Vivienne. “About time!” she snarled, her breath ragged.

  “Miss me?” Vivienne cooed, stepping into the fray. She flexed her fingers, revelling in the surge of stolen energy. “You’re not looking your best, darling.”

  “Shut up and help!”

  Vivienne’s grin widened, her amusement darkening into something feral. “Gdly.”

  Her form shuddered violently, shifting and expanding as though the flesh beh her skin couldn’t wait to be free. Her spine elongated, her shoulders bulging grotesquely as two additional necks, then four, stretched from her frame, their growth apanied by the siing ch of bones rearranging. Her legs bent and thied, her hands retrag into powerful cws. Scales rippled across her body in a tide of bd deep crimson, and her six heads twisted skyward to release a guttural, overpping roar that echoed through the clearing.

  The hunters froze, their faces betraying shod fear. Whatever fidehey had evaporated at the sight of the hydra now standing before them.

  One of the huook a cautious step back, whispering, “What is that thing?”

  “Your worst mistake,” one of Vivienne’s heads hissed, its voice loredatory.

  Before the hunters could regroup, Vivienne lunged. Her massive bulk moved with terrifying speed, and her cws tore through the earth as she closed the distance. One of her heads snapped frabbing a hunter by the arm and flinging them into the air. They hit a tree with a siing thud before crumpling to the ground, motionless.

  Another hunter swung their crag on at her, but Vivienne’s sed head intercepted, biting down on the bde. The energy surged through her jaws, but instead of recoiling, she seemed to absorb it, her eyes glowing faintly with stolen power. She crushed the on in her jaws and spat the fragments to the ground.

  The third hunter aimed a strange, drical device, a faint hum building as it charged. Vivienne’s tral head swisting to shield Rava with her body as the devileashed a blinding pulse of energy. The bst struck her fnk, scorg scales and flesh, but instead of faltering, Vivieurned her burning eyes toward the hunter and roared, a sound so deafening it forced them to their knees.

  Rava, bleeding and exhausted, watched Vivienne’s rampage with a mix of awe and horror. “You couldn’t have dohis earlier?” she shouted, her voice strained.

  Vivienne’s tral head turoward her briefly, one bre raising in mock amusement. “And deny you the fun?”

  “Shut up and finish them!”

  Vivienne grinned—or at least, the hydra equivalent of a grin—and turned her attention back to the remaining hunters. With a powerful swipe of her cws, she sent two of them flying. The st one froze, their on trembling in their hands.

  Vivienne’s heads tilted in unisarding the hunter with eerie synicity. “Run,” she growled, her voices yered and eg with menace.

  The hunter didn’t hesitate, dropping their on and sprinting into the forest.

  The clearing fell silent except for the boured breaths of Rava and the faint rustle of leaves.

  Vivienne shrank back to her smaller form, her hydra features retrag into her humanoid body with an uling smoothness. She wiped the blood from her with her forearm, fshing Rava a sharp smile. “Well, that was exhirating.”

  Rava leaned heavily against a tree, gring at her. “I hate you.”

  “You’re wele.”

  Before either could speak further, the child stepped forward from the shadows, their small frame eerily calm amid the age. Vivienne’s grin faded instantly, her predatory instincts fring.

  “What’s that?” she asked, her tone low and cautious.

  Rava straightened, her cws flexing. “Not a child. Stay on guard.”

  Vivienne rolled dozens of her eyes. “Clearly.”

  The child smiled, their gaze unnervingly serene. “Such dramatic dispys. You’re more eaining than I expected.”

  Vivienne’s eyes narrowed, her unease deepening. “Great. Another problem. You pnning to expin yourself, or are we skipping straight to the part where I tear you apart?”

  The air in the clearing grew heavy, the child’s presence suddenly oppressive. They tilted their head, the motion slow and deliberate. “You’ll uand soon enough,” they said, their voice yered with an otherworldly resonance.

  Vivienne’s cws flexed, her stance l. “Bad answer.”

  The oppressive silence hung in the air like a thick fog, and Vivienne’s instincts screamed danger. Her hydra form still ached from the transformation, muscles taut and ready t. Yet the child didn’t move, their expression a mask of calm that only deepened her unease.

  “Rava,” Vivienne said slowly, her gaze fixed on the figure before them, “get baow.”

  Rava hesitated, her cws flexing as though unwilling to retreat. “You think I’m leaving you aloh that thing?”

  Vivienne’s lips curled into a snarl. “It’s not a suggestion.”

  The child—or whatever they were—chuckled, a sound far too deep and resonant for their tiny frame. “How sweet, the beast cares for its panion. I wonder…” They raised a hand, small and unassuming, yet charged with a crag pulse of aether. “Which of you will break first?”

  The grouh Vivienne’s feet quivered, and she lunged without waiting for an answer. Her cws sshed through the air, aimed straight for the child’s chest. But as they struck, the figure dissolved like smoke, the attack passing harmlessly through.

  “Typical,” Vivienne growled, spinning on her heels. “Illusions. Predictable.”

  The child reappeared a few paces away, their form flickering at the edges like static. “You misuand,” they said, their voice reverberating. “I am no illusion. I am merely... evaluating.”

  Rava growled low ihroat. “Evaluating what? Who sent you?”

  The child’s eyes gleamed, and for a moment, their youthful fa?ade cracked, revealing something a and malicious beh. “Someohey hummed. “To see what you could bee.”

  Vivienne didn’t wait for further cryptisense. She leapt again, this time splitting her form mid-air as her hydra heads erupted from her shoulders. Her six sets of jaws s once, aiming high, low, and the araight for the child’s throat.

  But as before, the child simply stepped bao, drifted back, as if untouched by the ws of physics.

  The smirk they wrew wider. “Impressive. Yet inplete.”

  “Stay still and I’ll show you plete!” Vivienne snarled, her cws raking the dirt as she nded.

  Rava, keeping her dista ready t, growled, “What does it even want? Why hasn’t it attacked yet?”

  “Because it doesn’t o,” Vivienne snapped, cirg the child like a predator. “It’s pying with us.”

  The child tilted their head again, their gaze falling on Rava. “And you, warrior. You’ve seen enough battles to know when you’re outmatched. Yet you stay. Why?”

  Rava didn’t falter. “Because I don’t abandon my allies.”

  The child’s smile faltered, and for a fleeting moment, there was something almost human in their expression. “Iing,” they murmured, as if to themselves.

  Then the oppressive air lifted, the weight of their presehdrawing. The child stepped bato the shadows, their form fading into the darkness. “We’ll meet again soon enough,” they said, their voice eg unnaturally. “And when we do, I expect you to be… more.”

  As the st traces of their presence dissipated, Vivienne’s hackles finally lowered. She let out a sharp breath, her form rippling as the hydra heads shrank bato her humanoid body.

  “What the hell was that?” Rava demanded, stepping closer, her cws still drawn.

  Vivienne shook her head, sing the clearing for any lingeriher. “Something worse than those hunters, that’s for sure.”

  “Thanks for narrowing it down,” Rava muttered, her tone sharp. “Think it’s ing back?”

  “Oh, definitely,” Vivienne said, her to. “Things like that don’t just vanish food.”

  Rava wiped blood from her arm, her eyes narrowing as she looked to Viviehen we’d better be ready ime.”

  Vivienne smirked, but there was no humour in it. “Indeed”

  SupernovaSymphony