Chương 56: LITTLE THORNE

The air within Elias's Spirit Domain was a calm, crystalline void, silent save for the omnipresent, low hum of his unique and terrible internal Flow system. For weeks, he had labored here, pushing the boundary of his Resonant Taimed at a certain operation, He stepped away from the central obsidian slab he'd manifested in his domain, revealing his creation. It was a perfect, silent double of himself, mirroring his seven-year-old form down to the specific way his golden-blonde hair fell across his brow.

The clone was nearly indistinguishable from the original, a manifestation of pure, crafted Flow that had always been unstable. Its problem was duration. Maintaining such a complex structure from a distance required a constant, detectable stream of external Flow that would instantly give away his location. But Elias had found a solution. He knelt beside the clone's chest and gently touched the area just beneath its synthetic skin.

There, nestled where a heart should be, was a small, faceted core of crystallized Flow. This crystallized nucleus would provide the slow, self-regulating energy the clone needed to remain stable and active for at least four hours, allowing him to slip away undetected. Manifesting the clone in the real world, he leaned over.

"You are Elias Dukker," he whispered to the copy, his voice utterly devoid of emotion.

"You are tired. You are going to bed." The naked replica nodded and wore the night clothes folded on the bed with a drowsy expression. As it did, Elias walked over to his wardrobe and pulled out the coat his mother had got for him for his birthday. Once prepared, he Suppresed his immense internal energy inward until his presence was a barely flickering candle flame. He became still. He checked the clone once more, watched it slowly and deliberately walk toward the bed with a yawn and then quietly exited the room.

The Keep was vast and silent, the stone hallways cool and dark. His initial exit was easy. He glided past the kitchens, hearing muffled, irrelevant chatter from servants about the high cost of imported salt. He ignored the guards near the main armory, whose mundane conversation revolved around their women and picking one a member whi still wasn't an item. No one sensed as he moved passed them. His plan nearly shattered in the main corridor leading to the main exit.

Aina was walking toward him, her footsteps light and quick on the polished wooden floor. She moved with a stack of aged leather-bound tomes—likely Flow theory texts—which floated beside her as she moved. Elias had less than a second. He pressed himself against the cold stone of the wall, instantly using his Resonant to fix parameters and create a focused, micro-layer of light refraction and sound absorption around his body, an immediate, multi-layer concealment he had developed just to prevent bumping into her.

He was standing directly in her line of sight, yet the light bent around him, altering her perception. This and the fact that he pushed his Supressiom to prevent detection was putting starin on him. Aina who had just passed noticed a glitch in the air. She stopped and stared directly at Elias wither her cold emerald eyes causing him to tighten his hold on his concealment. Seemingly finding nothing was off, she turned and walked away. He let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding.

'That was too close.' Once clear, he quickly moved through the last checkpoints and through the main gate, slipping out onto the road leading toward the city of Blackhaven. His purpose for leaving was simple. He was searching for a way to bypass his automatic healing that denied him the release of death. He figured the Iron Forest, being a energy dense location would hold some way for him to bypass this either through the environment itself or whatever lived there.

Well it was a theory he developed after being struck by that Grimboar and having his ribs broken.

'By all means, there should be a beast of a higher level with something that negates regeneration.' He'd never entered the Node so he'd never know until he did. Now safely outside the Keep's perimeter, he accelerated his movement. He surrounded his body with a new, three-tiered parameter complex. Altering the sound and light distortions as he moved all while calculating and reducing hinderances along his path—air friction, drag, and inertia as much as he could currently manage.

The effect was exhilarating and terrifying. As he moved, the world became a continuous, dark blur. He didn't feel like he was running; he felt like he was being carried by an irresistible, invisible hand. The sensation was less about speed and more about perfect, effortless efficiency. The rough cobblestones of the city rushed beneath his feet, the smells of late-night charcoal and fermented yeast from the distant taverns streaking past his nose.

The atmosphere was a rush of cool, dark air, the sights a smear of brown and grey structures. He traversed the city limits of Blackhaven in minutes, clearing the tall, defensive walls and entering the outer plains. Those with good senses would have percieved a shadow or a pocket move past them but due to its speed they'd struggle to pick it up again and eventually ignore. Once outside the wall, he maximized his speed, focusing solely on the fastest, straightest route to the boundary of the Iron Forest.

It would normally take an hour and half to walk to the Node but with his current speed it tppk him only fifty, a little over half the time to arrive, Once he was some distance away, he used force to push himself up onto the massive, outermost branch of a dead, sentinel oak, instantly dropping the high-speed parameters while retaining the Suppression and Muffling layers.

He settled high above the ground, hidden by the dead branches, and peered through the darkness toward the Hunter Outpost, a kilometer away with a lense he had swiped off a gaurd. Clouds obscured the moon so aside a single fire, he could not make out what was going on there. Hunters didn't use light anyway, they relied on thier knowledge of the forest and Flow senses to move around. The fire was probably what they used in preparing a meal and allowed to burn out on its own. Elias would have to use Flow Perception.

Only problem was the law of mutual sight. They would most likely pick up on his spying. Not that this would be a problem...

'Depending on who'spresent.' Elias thought remembering that Roric was on night duty. He really didn't want to run into him tonight. Still, he cast his Perception to see who was on duty, and determine the safest path past their patrols and into the ancient trees. He felt the Flow signatures of the hunters: seven distinct, heavy presences, moving in a practiced, staggered perimeter. They were skilled.

'Do I cause a diversion?' As he wondered howto get past them, a strange, intermittent presence registered on the edge of his Flow perception. He glanced shifted some distance to the west of the Node. It was elusive, a subtle, rhythmic Flow signature that kept appearing and vanishing. After a moment, Elias frowned. It felt like a visual flicker, a strobe light pulsing in the corner of his eye, too fast to properly register. He focused his mind on it. Trying to lock onto it felt like holding water with an open hand.

It slipped through his fingers no matter how hard he concentrated. The energy itself confused him; it seemed too "refined" to be a wild Beast, but far too erratic and unpolished to be a trained human. It was something suspended between the two.

'How does that work?' Elias grumbled softly, the sound barely escaping his lips thanks to the Muffling layer. His curiosity, always his greatest vulnerability, was overriding the desperate logic of his mission. He tried to ignore but the elusive signature intensified, drawing him in like a moth. He cursed internally.

'I am supposed to be risking my life, not investigating a strange twitch. But, then again, what if its what I'm looking for?' Against his better judgement, he adjusted his parameter for absolute stealth and moved toward the source, a tangled thicket. Just as he was about to arrive, the pulsating presence vanished entirely. Elias froze, dropping his speed to a cautious crawl. The air was dead quiet. He stopped at the exact location the presence had vanished from, peering into the thick, low bushes.

He heard a twig snap.

"Who's there?" he called out, immediately cursing himself for drwing attention, as he should. He cocked his hand like a gun, accelerating a high-pressure burst of focused wind at a nearby patch of shaking foliage. The leaves whipped violently, but nothing emerged. Before he could process the empty strike, something slammed into his back—a heavy, cold impact that knocked the air from his lungs and sent him staggering forward. He barely regained his balance when another strike sent him flying into a nearby tree.

He heard whatever was responible shriek as it darted around in the darkness.

'Why do I keep getting knocked around by beasts?' Frustrated, he got to his feet and cautiously scanned around him. He realized the implications: the strobing Flow signature hadn't been a random twitch; it had been a highly focused, oscillating lure—a trap, similar to how deep-sea anglerfish emit light to captivate prey.

'Tch. Well, lets hope this thing is at least capable of slowing my healing.' Something flew at him from the darkness and he jumped back, stumbling behind a massive, moss-covered tree, immediately firing a set of razor-sharp Windblades aimed where he believed his attacker would be. They struck only the heavy bark of a neighboring oak, slicing deep grooves. He ducked low just as a dark, clawed hand swung violently over his head, tearing a massive chunk of bark from the tree. It clung to the wood and shrieked at him.

He starightened, finally getting a good look at his attacker. It looked like a Squirrel, but grossly warped. It was the size of a large dog, its tail thicker and comprissed of quills like a porcupine tipped with a razor-sharp, bony spike. It fur was dar brown and its yellow eyes had two vertical slits in them. Its fur stood on end and hardened. Elias immediatly blasted himself back with wind narrowlyavoiding the barrage, realizing that its fur could be hardened.

Elias tried to fire another concentrated blast of wind, but the squirrel was impossibly fast. Turned out it was a flying squirell that aside having quills for fur, could briefly defy gravity, flying effortlessly while flicking quils at him with its tail. Elias shielded himself with his hand which got pierced and one almost took out his eye but he tilted his head and the quill stuck in his ear like a wierd earing.

He pulled them out and slid on the ground, grabbing a handful of loose dirt and threw them, accelerating the fine particles like a shotgun round toward the beast's face. To his astonishment, the stream of dirt seemed to subtly curve around the creature's serpentine eyes and pierced the foilage around it. The squirrel lunged again, its jaw snapping. In a desperate attempt to dodge, Elias tripped over a large root and crashed onto the ground.

The squirrel descended onto him, but before its claws could make contact, it was hit by something—a sharp, wet impact. It shrieked, landing awkwardly in a nearby bush. Someone ran past Elias—a fast, dark blur—and immediately knelt down beside the fallen creature. Elias heard a soft groan, followed by a heavy thud.

"Tch, this one's already hardened its fur. Guess I'll have to hunt another one." A feminin voice said. He quickly scrambled to his feet, squinting through the shifting gloom. The clouds parted momentarily, allowing a brief sliver of moonlight to illuminate the clearing. A young girl, about his own age, was standing over the now still squirrel. A long, crystalline icicle was sticking directly out of the creature's chest, melting slightly in the night air.

She had short, stylishly cut hair of a deep purple-black hue, and her eyes, wide and focused, were a startling, bright blue against her smooth, almond-toned skin. She wore practical, dark hunter's trousers cinched into boots, covered by a deep navy tunic and a leather vest, blending utility with a slight, personal edge of style.

What truly arrested Elias's attention was her Flow or rather, her Anti-Flow signature—It was highly unstable, fluctuating violently with every movement she made, yet somehow maintaining a core harmony that should have been impossible.

'She looks... familiar' Elias thought, squinting. The girl turned her head, her blue eyes fixing on him, causing him to flinch. She walked up him, looking him over critically, assessing the dirt on his clothes and marks that remained after he healed.

"Um..." Elias began nervously.

"Elias," she said happily wrapping her arms around him, her voice low surprisingly musical startling him into full alertness.

"Huh? How do you-''"I've been wanting to meet you, but Daddy said you were busy..." She cut him off.

'Daddy?' Elias thought, confusion warring with adrenaline. He noticed the heavy, familiar obsidian band on her left pinky finger a perfect replica of the silver one he was currently wearing. She gently took his arm, her grip surprisingly strong, and tugged him away from the ambush site.

"You probably came out here to watch him at work. Come on, he and the others just headed that way. We need to hurry." As she pulled him deeper into the forest, Elias's mind finally provided the name, confirming the impossible truth. This was Roric's daughter, Jamie Thorne.