Chương 88: RUNNING QUIET

The metallic trees grew thicker the closer Elias and Jamie moved toward the Iron Forest's border. Their trunks were dark and twisted, bark veined with mineral streaks that caught and reflected light in dull, fractured glimmers. Snow lay thinner here—not smoothed by wind, but torn apart by movement. Wide tracks cut through the frost. Clawed impressions overlapped hoof-like prints. The ground was churned and scarred, as if something large had passed through in agitation rather than purpose.

Jamie slowed, crouching instinctively, fingers brushing the disturbed earth. There had been a development"They're awake," she said. Excitement crept into her voice despite the tension beneath it.

"Way too early." Elias didn't ask who they were. He could already feel it. Flow pulsed unevenly through the forest—not the deep, dormant rhythm of hibernating beasts, but a restless churn. Jagged. Unstable. Hunger and irritation bled into the ambient energy, staining it like ink dropped into clear water.

"A herd," Elias murmured.

"And not small." Jamie's mouth curved into a grin.

"Awesome." He gave her a flat look.

"That is not the correct reaction to have in a situation like this." She straightened, rolling her shoulders as if preparing for a spar.

"Relax. Hunters are already out handling the sleepy heads. We just need to not get caught—and not die."

"That's an extremely optimistic 'just.'" Jamie flashed him a grin. They moved anyway. The Iron Forest loomed to their right, its edge marked by a faint distortion in the air—like heat shimmer trapped in winter. That was where S. K had gone last time.]This was where the old man had vanished to so if they were going to start searching, it would have to be from here. The first beast charged without warning. It burst from behind a stand of low trees, snow exploding outward as a massive shape barreled toward them.

For a heartbeat, Elias thought it was a boar—until antlers split upward from its skull, branching and jagged, Flow-crystallized growths threading through bone. White fur matted its broad body, streaked with gray and iron-dark patches, its legs too long, joints bent wrong for something that heavy. Tusks curved from its jaw, translucent and glowing faintly from Flow saturation. Its eyes burned a dull amber, unfocused and furious. An Awakened Beast. Driven half-mad by premature waking.

"Left!" Jamie shouted. Elias reacted instantly. He didn't pull Flow. He tilted it—adjusting parameters rather than exerting force. Sound folded inward, the thunder of the beast's charge dispersing into nothing as if swallowed by the forest itself. At the same time, he bent light just enough that their outlines blurred, edges softening into the background. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Jamie dropped low, boots skimming ice, sliding beneath the beast's tusks.

She slammed her palm into the ground. Frost erupted. Anti-Flow surged outward in a violent bloom, flash-freezing the earth beneath the creature's forelegs. Momentum betrayed it. The beast skidded, legs scrambling uselessly, before crashing shoulder-first into a tree hard enough to crack bark and send snow drifting into the air.

"Move!" Elias snapped. They didn't stay to finish it. The forest answered the impact with motion. Shapes surged between the trees—dozens of them. About three out of the heard were Apex Beast, their presence was heavy, oppressive—Flow condensed around them like pressure before a storm. Each step they took warped the ambient energy, lesser beasts instinctively aligning their movement around them.

They were leaner, larger and more wolf-like, white-furred bodies stretched long and sinewy, wider antlers crowning narrow skulls. The rest were reletively smaller, like the one that had just attacked them. All had Flow-hardened plates forming along their shoulders and spines. Hooves like claws tore through snow and root alike. At the center of it all, Elias felt them. Hunters' signals flickered faintly in the distance. Too close.

"Lets move before the hunters spot us." Jamie cracked her knuckles and nodded and they darted through the trees. Elias worked constantly, adjusting parameters in rapid succession—lowering the volume of their footfalls, dampening shockwaves from snapping branches and crashing bodies. He thinned their energy signatures, compressing his vast Flow inward while nudgingthe ambient energy around them just enough that it bled outward, misleading anything trying to sense them directly.

When Flow Perception brushed past them, he further supressed his aura. Such techniques seemed to bounce of Jamie's turbulence. Sh'ed probably appear as a tree or inanimate object because of that so she was fine. Occasionally, they'd have to evade one of the Diredeer that had awoken but they managed to keep a low profile. Or they would have if Jamie was'nt so energetic.

She moved like chaos given direction, sprinting ahead, skidding and leaping between roots, chuckling and breathless as she hurled bursts of frost at precise points—freezing exposed roots mid-stride, slicking stone faces, creating sudden drops where beasts collided with one another in panicked confusion. She never lingered. Never overcommitted. Still, Elias felt a migraine slowly building.

'This girl...' An Apex lunged. The air screamed. Elias body reacted before his mind. He reached out and reduced inertia while increasing momentum, nothing major but just enough. He then simply sidestepped and the massive creature betrayed itself. Its charge stuttered, weight shifting wrong. Jamie narrowly dodged being knocked away and created a sheet of ice beneath another creature and it slipped sliding and crashing into the one Elias had taken down and tripping the beast in that area who fell over them.

By the time they were away from the herd, Elias's head throbbed. Each time he made adjustments he felt it get slightly easier but he was still a long way from perfection. The duo dropped behind a fallen tree, breathing hard. Jamie sprawled onto her back, staring up through the canopy.

"Did you see that one flip? That was awesome." Elias pressed a hand to his temple.

"You almost got crushed."

"But I didn't."

"That's not the—" She rolled onto her side, grinning at him.

"Relax. You had it covered." He didn't answer. Part of him was still listening—not to sound, but to Flow. Making sure none of the pulses turned back. Making sure the forest stayed loud enough to hide them.

"I don't even know why I came with you. Finding that old guy is going to be hard," he said finally. Jamie shrugged.

"Maybe. But this is cool. You should stop overthinking and enjoy the awesomeness." Despite himself, Elias let out a quiet breath that might've been a laugh. Artifacts. The thought surfaced unbidden. During their last encounter, S. K's tools had been precise. Specialized. Not the work of a deranged hermit scavenging scraps.

'I wonder....,' Elias thought. The idea lingered. And beneath it—faint, almost imperceptible—another sensation brushed the edge of his awareness. Not beast. Not hunter. Something else.

'Wait, who is that?'