Stone rushed by my face as Viktor and I made our way through the ravine. We needed to get as close to the edge of this seal as we could, so that we could best escape Damien. This meant it would take a lot longer for us to be able to make our way out of the circle and away from Damien, but it would also be a lot safer than if we tried to cut straight through the center.

After a few minutes of running, we reached the end of the ravine and quickly hopped out and back in to the forest. The trees were a little less dense in this part of the forest, but they were still fairly tightly packed. I drew Dextrus just in case there were any particularly nasty patches of trees that we happened to encounter on this route that we were taking. Usually, if I’d had more rest, I’d have been able to keep my observer’s eye active for a longer time, but for now, it was a much more efficient idea to only use it in small bursts to check our position in relation to the seal.

We were nearing the furthest edge of the seal fairly quickly. We would probably be there within the next twenty minutes. As we continued to run, I noticed what looked like scratch marks beginning to pop up on the trees around us. I didn’t think much of it. It was probably just some sort of animal that got a bit angry and decided to take it out on the trees in this section of the forest. Then the marks became a lot more frequent. Then the trees started to think and some were even missing tops.

I began to grow worried. I turned to Viktor and saw a bit of anxiety in his expression. He must have known something. “Viktor, what-“ Before I could answer, we entered a clearing and I immediately stopped in my tracks.

“What is that…” I questioned as I slowly moved forward.

“Avien don’t! We need to go back. We shouldn’t be here. We have to take a different route!” I could hear the panic welling up in his voice as he seemed to be just barely choking out the words.

I stared at the object in front of me. It didn’t seem very special to me, it was just a red banner with a black emblem on it. The emblem seemed to be a wolf’s face with the left eye scratched out. It didn’t mean anything to me, but it felt vaguely familiar.

Viktor appeared next to me and I turned towards him to be met by a deathly serious expression. “Avien. We need to leave. Now.”

I gave him a confused glance. “What are you talking about? What is this thing?”

He shook his head. “We don’t have time for that right now. I can explain later. I just need you to trust me that this isn’t somewhere that we should be and that staying here is only going to end with bad things happening for us.”

I sighed. “Okay, but you’re explaining as we head back. Just… give me a moment. I need to figure out a new route for us.”

He nodded and flopped down on to the ground, crossing his legs as I flicked my finger over my eye. I looked at where we were inside of the seal and then I flew in to the air and tried to push my vision as far as I could to find out route through the forest. After a few minutes, I had it all mapped out. I descended to the ground and turned to Viktor. “It’s all good. I have a new path that should be as short and safe as possible without us being able to go this way.”

He nodded and I took off, increasing my speed once I knew he was following behind me. We took a few intricate turns through the forest. I wasn’t going to make him talk until we were at a straighter section of the route. I didn’t want to end up losing him. After about fifteen minutes of running, we reached a straight section in our route. I slowed down a little bit so that I was side-by-side with Viktor. “Alright. We’re on a straight path for around an hour now. Tell me what was up with that flag.”

He sighed. “That was the banner of the Black Fang. They’re a specific faction of Camp X and if they mark a specific territory, you know not to go there because they will kill you. They do not at all take kindly to people disrespecting their territories.”

The Black Fang! That’s where I had seen it before. The Dincy in the shady part of Aertol had had that symbol on one of the bricks in their shop. I had assumed it was a symbol similar to the other one that had gotten us to that island in the first place, but I never gave it much though. I thought to maybe ask Viktor about why they did all of their underworld marking that way, but it wasn’t really the right time for that.

“You said Camp X, right? Who are they? I know that the first seven camps are for the order of creation, but you guys also said Damien was from Camp IX. That implies that there is also a Camp VIII. Who are these camps?”

Viktor seemed a bit nervous to answer, but I glared at him. “Geez… Okay. You’re pretty convincing with your glares. It’s a little scary, honestly.”

I smirked. “I’ve picked up a thing or two from Lilith.”

“Right… Well, there is a Camp VIII and just liked Camp IX, Camp VIII and X are assassination guilds. The three of them make up what is known as the Death Trinity. You may have heard of them before.”

I nodded. “They were mentioned, but I don’t actually know anything about them.”

“That’s for a pretty good reason since most people don’t know anything about them. The only people that know anything about them are those that are a part of them. The little information we do have is because of a couple spies who are all now dead.”

I was about to ask why before the obvious answer came to me. “I’m assuming there isn’t anyone who leaves the camps and ends up being able to tell their stories either. They kill anyone who doesn’t stick in the camps, right?”

Viktor just nodded. From what I could guess, Camp X was somehow linked to the Dincy. Great, just adding to my poor interactions with them. It was like the world wanted me to hate them. Though, I hadn’t been in this world long, so I had very little to actually go off of. Most of them were probably well-meaning people.

I returned my attention to the task at hand, running as fast as I could and getting out of this damn forest. I had been here for far too many days and one day was already more than enough. I flicked my fingers and checked out position inside of the seal. “Alright, in about two minutes, we’re going to be taking a pretty fast turn left followed by another turn to the right. Be ready.”

Viktor nodded and sure enough, two minutes later, we came to a large plateau that we had to turn around before quickly turning again to avoid a large outcropping. We continued on and I found that we only had a few more hours before we were actually outside of the circle. Unfortunately, the sun was almost fully set, so we’d have to rest soon.

I was going to start looking for a place to stop when we suddenly came to an area of smashed, burnt, and destroyed trees. In the middle of the trees was a large black chunk of something almost completely unidentifiable, but I knew what it was. This was the piece of the stadium platform that I had fallen in on. That meant that Viktor’s piece was somewhere nearby.

I was so absorbed in my own thoughts that I almost didn’t notice as my vision was enveloped in teal, the world slowing to a crawl. From the corner of my eye, I saw a sharp javelin of blood heading right for me. I dodged out of the way and grabbed Viktor to prevent him being hit as well. My vision returned to normal and I quickly scanned the area.

“Avien, what did you… Duck!”

My vision once again slowed and I grabbed Viktor, dodging out of the way and attempting to trace the blood spike to its origin. There was no way that Damien could attempt to hit this accurately without visual contact. We didn’t have to wait very long though because a massive blade of blood quickly sliced through the trees all around us, flattening the forest. Trees collapsed to the ground and as we stood up, I could see him coming towards us through the fallen trees, his pool of blood trailing behind him.

Blood darts shot forth from the pool towards us and we managed to dodge them, but I stood shocked as I saw what they had done to the ground behind us.

“Avien, run!” Viktor shouted as he vaulted in front of me, a seal already formed on the back of his hand.

A golem erupted from the ground and was quickly blasted to pieces by a few more blood darts.

“You’re going to have to use something much stronger than that!” Damien shouted as he continued to glide towards us.

We ducked behind the slab of platform and Viktor motioned for me to run, but I shook my head. I didn’t have much of a choice though, as I was quickly thrown forward towards the empty forest. I turned back just as I heard a loud sloshing behind me. When I turned around, I came face to face with a massive curtain of blood behind me. It had sprung up from underneath the ground somehow and was blocking my movement.

“Did you really think I was going to let you let him escape again?!” Damien shouted.

“Well, I’ve already managed to make that happen plenty of times, so yes, I did,” Viktor retorted.

Instead of saying anything in response, Damien shot four javelins of blood through the chunk of platform, splitting it in to pieces and limiting our cover. Viktor managed to dodge all of the javelins, thankfully, but now we had extremely limited cover. That problem soon vanished and was replaced with a complete lack of cover as Damien retracted his javelins, moving them violently to completely destroy the remaining bits of platform.

With no other options left, I sprinted forward, my sword drawn. Hopefully, I could get the jump on Damien and land a hit before he could control my blood, but that was dashed before I could even get close. My body froze mid-air and my sword fell to the ground.

Without missing a beat, Viktor leapt forward, his body completely covered in thorny vines. He plowed in to Damien, apparently he hadn’t been able to control his blood strong enough to stop the momentum. Damien crumpled to the ground and Viktor ran back my way. “Let’s go!”

We turned back towards the wall of blood and began sprinting. Viktor formed a hollow pathway of wood right in the middle that we jumped in to. I thought we were home free, but just before I jumped down from the pathway, I felt a shooting pain in my leg. I stumbled and fell, the javelin having greatly hindered my movement.

“Get back here, you little shits! I’m not done playing with you!”

Viktor ignored his cries and threw me over his shoulder, hobbling out of the pathway and past the wall of blood. Damien was pretty banged up, so he wouldn’t be approaching for at least a few minutes. I watched as Viktor activated his powered eye and immediately began sprinting, even with me over his shoulder. “You’re going to be okay, Avien. I promise.”

I wanted to thank him, but before I could, my vision turned solid black as my consciousness faded completely. When I awoke, Viktor was sitting in front of me propped against a cave wall.

“So, you’re awake. That’s good. How did you sleep?”

I shook my head. “Not at all good.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t think so, but I think, since we’ll probably be escaping tomorrow, we can get some real rest tonight. You can go back to sleep, but first, you should drink some healing elixir, that attack was a lot nastier than it seemed at first. I got you some bandages, but I couldn’t get you to drink the elixir while you were asleep.”

“Okay. I can do that now,” I said as I sat up.

He handed me the golden drank and I pour it in to my mouth, a familiar warmth spreading throughout my entire body.

Viktor smiled. “I’m glad you’re not dead. I don’t know what I would do if you died while I was around…”

I shook my head. “Viktor, you really don’t have to put your life on the line for me. I’m serious. I don’t want you dying for me. I’m not worth it…”

Viktor scowled. “You absolutely are worth it! You are one of the most kind-hearted and compassionate people I’ve ever met. That on its own is a reason you deserve to be alive. So don’t you ever say you aren’t worth it.”

“I-“

“Save it. You need to rest and I need to do the same. I’ll see you in the morning. Sleep well, Avien.”

I wanted to argue, but he was right. I closed my eyes and allowed sleep to take hold of me.