“Come on,” I sigh, “just give him one.”
“One?” Wyll scoffs like I just insulted his honour. “I’m a growing man, I need at least three.” Caleb and I both shoot him the same deadpan look. He throws his hands up.
“Alright, fine. I’ll be happy with two.” I roll my eyes and toss him two muffins and then grab one for myself, because why not?
We get moving again and do our rounds. When we finally make it back to the manor, I tell the guys, “We should check our bikes.”
Caleb raises an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Call it a hunch. Feels like we’re gonna need 'em real soon.” Last time we patrolled the Mundane World, I ended up with Avilyna under my charge and a damn horde of norous at our feet. We barely made it out in one piece.
The demons are getting bolder, showing up more often, hungrier. That’s never a good sign. Something’s shifting out there, I can feel it in the air.
Hell, I can taste it.
23
Avilyna
DUTY OF A WARRIOR
I must’ve taken a longer dragthan I thought, because next thing I know, I’m deep in the woods with no idea how I got here.
Typical.
Leave it to me to get a little high and end up in a literal enchanted forest. The trees here tower over me, ancient things that breathe with you. There’s moss underfoot and light filtering through the leaves as in some old painting.
It’s beautiful, so of course, I keep walking, brain foggy but weirdly at peace. I let my thoughts unravel. Something I’ve been trying to avoid lately. But out here, it feelssafer. Like maybe the trees aren’t judging me for being a mess, and that’s when I see it. A tiny flicker of light, moving way too deliberately to be a bug, coming closer.
A pixie, a real one.
Glowing wings, delicate as glass, flutter so fast they blur. She circles, its newest curiosity, eyes twinkling. Then, without warning, she drops a tiny flower into my hands. A soft chime follows, like someone plucked a harp string straight out of the air.
A greeting?
“…Thanks?” I manage, trying to sound a lot less high than I currently feel. Apparently, that was the right thing to say because she twirls like she just finished a ballet solo, then zips off into the trees, leaving a trail of tinkling music behind her.
Okay, cool.
That happened. I keep walking, no idea where I’m going, but following an undeniable pull in my chest. Until I step into a sun-soaked clearing and everything just stops. Time. Thoughts. Even my damn breathing.
Because standing right there, as if it’s waiting for me, apegasus. I pinch myself, hard. But nope, the pristine white horse is still there. Its wings appear to be spun from clouds and light. The kind of mythical beauty that makes your heart stop. Its eyes are a deep brown, thoughtful, way too knowing. And the second they meet mine, I forget how to function. There’s something about this place, this creature, that feels…familiar.
Like I’ve been here before.
Or dreamed it so many times, my body believes it’s real. I take a slow step forward, then another. It doesn’t run, just dips its head as if it's been waiting for me to catch up with the truth. My hand reaches out without thinking, because that’s a theme today, and when I touch its mane, it’s warm, soft, real. I feel grounded, awake.
Maybe, through all the chaos, the pain, and the mess I keep pretending doesn’t get to me, there’s a reason I ended up here. As if I’ve been on my way to something all along, something that’s been waiting for me. And in that moment, wrapped in the quiet magic of the forest, with this majestic pegasus standing calmly before me, I feel something I haven’t in a long time.
Peace.
Not the kind you fake to get through the day. The real kind. The kind that settles deep in your chest and makes you think, maybe I’m going to be okay. If something this pure can stillexist in a world like this, then maybe I’ve still got a shot. I lean in, resting my forehead gently against its smooth coat. My eyes close, and just as I start to breathe it in.
Everything shifts.
Lightning behind my eyes, a vision tears through me, violent and blinding. My knees buckle, breath stolen from my lungs as images explode in my mind, flashes of something else—somewhere else—take over my mind.
I walk through the woods,my hand small in my mother’s, though I can’t quite see her face. She’s shrouded in a golden haze, her armour glowing softly in the sunlight that filters through the trees, casting ethereal light on everything around us. Each step she takes seems to pulse with power.
