They unsheathed the Severance Dagger. Silver. Angel-blessed. It hummed with ancient magic.
The blade sliced into my back, right over the mark.
And then the world screamed.
Flames—deep crimson, edged with shadow—burst from my spine, throwing half the circle back.
The mark seared through the cloth of my tunic, glowing like a second sun.
I cried out, pain splitting through every cell in my body—not from the blade, but from the bond trying toprotect me.
“You are mine. And I am yours. And I will not let them take you.”
I saw it—just for a second. Rheon’s face, hovering at the edge of my mind. His eyes blazing, his hand reaching for mine.
And then everything inside meignited.The dagger melted in the elder’s hand. The air turned molten.
“Stay away Rheon” I say through the bond, I don’t want him to get hurt. I don’t want him to see me like this.
“Seize her friends,” Master Jin shouted, his voice ragged with fear.
Yuna tried to fight, but wards pinned her down like chains of light. Minji screamed my name before she was slammed against the stone, magic flaring from her fingertips in desperation.
“She’s not yours to control!” Yuna spat. “We protect each other!”
“Then you’ll fall with her,” came the reply.
I tried to rise. My body was broken. But I lifted my head just enough to see their faces — bruised, bloodied…unmoving.
But never afraid.
The Guild had taken everything from me. But the mark wouldn’t break. And neither would I. Because now… the hunter they trained has turned against them. And she’s not alone.
Seori
Ashes Between Us
I woke up on stone. Not the cold, sterile kind from the Guild’s upper chambers, but damp, cracked rock—like the earth itself had been broken long ago and never forgiven.
My body ached. The bond mark throbbed like a living thing along my spine, still glowing faintly beneath my blood-crusted shirt.
It hadn’t let them take me. And it had made sure they didn’t take my friends either. A groan echoed beside me.
“You’re awake,” Yuna rasped, her voice dry but laced with defiance. “Took you long enough..”
I looked at them I felt the wounds trying to close, but not quite able too.
“You tried to heal me?”
I asked them Minji nodded but said,
“Not with that ward,” Minji muttered from the shadows. She was sitting cross-legged, her back against the wall, wrists singed from the failed spell she must’ve tried.
“You would've just exploded."
Despite everything, I smiled. They were here. I wasn’t alone.
“What happened?” I asked, my voice barely audible.
