She stopped breathing.One heartbeat.Two.Three.
The larger one lunged at the smaller.They rolled away, a tangle of glowing scales and fury, their roars echoing off rocks she couldn't see.
Move.Move now.She ran.
Bare feet slapped against smooth dirt—a path, she realized dimly.Someone had made a path.That meant safety.That meant civilization.
The gate rose ahead of her, iron bars tall and open.Beyond it, the land stretched out in predawn gray—and her heart sank.
Nothing.There wasnothing.
Just a rolling field of tall grass disappearing into mist.Maybe ten acres, maybe more, she couldn't tell.The edges were lost in the dim light and what looked like a faint shimmer—the shield wall the AI had mentioned?Had to be.
Behind her, another roar.Closer.
Her legs pumped harder.The leather purse bounced against her hip.Five more steps.Three.
She crossed the threshold.
The air shimmered yellow as she passed through—she felt it, like pushing through a soap bubble.
Something whistled through the air behind her.
White—hot pain sliced across the back of her calf.She stumbled, went down hard.Her palms scraped across dirt and pebbles, skin tearing.
A massive impact against the shield.The yellow flare turned red where claws raked against it.Again.Again.The monster wasright there, so close she could see its eyes—milky white, no pupils—and smell its breath.Rotting meat.
She scrambled backward on her torn hands, gasping.
The monster slammed against the barrier again.The red damage spread like cracks in ice, then slowly, slowly faded back to yellow.
It circled the barrier, testing.Hit it twice more.The red cracks returned, faded.
Then it gave up.
She watched it lumber back toward the woods—woods?Where had those come from?But yes, there was a thick treeline to her left now, dark and impenetrable in the growing light.The monster's glow disappeared into the shadows.
Wren sat there shaking, one hand pressed to her bleeding calf, the other clutching the purse.
The wind picked up.Cold bit through her thin dress.
A drop of rain hit her cheek.Then another.
She looked around wildly.The field was empty.No house.No barn.No shelter of any kind.Just grass and that slight rise in the distance—a hill?—and the dark press of woods along one edge.
The rain came harder.
"This sucks," she whispered.Her voice cracked."Thissucks."
She forced herself to stand.Her calf throbbed.Her palms burned.The rain was already plastering her hair to her face.
The purse.The AI said there were seeds.
Her hands shook as she opened the purse.The leather was soft, well—worn, and the inside was...impossible.
She could see darkness, but not a bottom.When she reached in, her hand didn't hit anything.Just kept going, further than the purse should allow.
Then her fingers brushed something small and smooth.
