A slow smile crept onto my lips, though my mind was already issuing commands.

I didn’t need to speak.

From the dense bushes behind me, Sacril burst out like a streak of gray lightning,

Without hesitation, I threw myself onto his back, gripping onto his fur as I gave him the only order that mattered.

Run like hell.

Sacril didn’t need to be told twice.

His muscles tensed, and then we were off, speeding through the forest at a breakneck pace.

The wind howled in my ears, my heart pounding in sync with his rapid strides.

I risked a quick glance behind me.

Elenora stood still, her expression unreadable.

She hadn’t moved an inch.

Around her, the masked mages tensed, ready to give chase, but before they could act, a voice cut through the night.

"Stop."

It was Elenora.

Eduardo, who had been poised to sprint after me, turned sharply to her, disbelief written across his face.

"We’re just going to let him go?" he demanded.

"You know what kind of problem that’ll cause later, don’t you?"

Elenora didn’t even look at him.

Her eyes were still locked onto me.

"We can’t catch the wolf," she said simply.

"He’s too fast. Trying would be a waste of effort."

Eduardo let out a frustrated sigh, shaking his head.

"Letting him leave with revenge burning in his heart isn’t the smartest move either," he muttered.

His words barely reached me as I disappeared deeper into the forest.

But he was right.

They shouldn’t have let me go.

The sheer arrogance of it made my blood boil.

They attacked me.

They tried to kill me, to eliminate me before I could even decide where I stood.

And now, after failing to do so, they thought they could just let me go and I’d disappear into the wind?

No.

No, this wasn’t over.

I clenched my teeth, my grip on Sacril tightening.

I had always been cautious, careful with my choices. But this? This was different.

I had just been marked as a threat.

Not because of what I’d done, but because of what they thought I might become.

And that alone was enough reason for me to become that threat.

Sacril ran tirelessly, his powerful strides carrying us farther and farther away from Crimson Berry Town.

The night air was cold against my face, but the fire inside me burned hotter than ever.

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I had no allies. No faction to rely on.

But I had knowledge.

I had power.

And now, I had a reason.

This wasn’t just about survival anymore.

This was war.

----------------------------------------

We didn’t stop running for a long time.

The forest blurred past us, trees stretching into shadowy figures under the pale moonlight.

The further we went, the more my mind replayed everything that had happened.

The explosion.

The ambush.

The fact that they had waited for me.

They had no intention of negotiating.

No intention of offering me a choice.

They had decided that I was a risk and moved to erase me.

And that… that was my mistake.

I had been too slow to act, too willing to wait and see.

I should’ve known better.

The world doesn’t wait for people like me.

It crushes them before they become a problem.

I exhaled sharply, my fingers tightening against Sacril’s fur.

If they wanted to treat me like an enemy, then I would become one.

But first, I needed a plan.

I had spent too much time playing defense, reacting instead of taking control.

That had to change.

No more hiding.

No more second-guessing.

First, I had to secure a safe location, somewhere far enough from town but close enough to keep watch.

Second, I needed information.

More than what I had gathered from my captive mage.

More than what I had learned from Elenora’s deception.

I needed to know the real scope of the Morningstar Act.

What Eval was planning. What his enemies feared.

And most importantly… what role I played in all of it.

Because whether they realized it or not, they had already pushed me into this game.

Now, it was time for me to start playing.

Finally, after what felt like hours,

Sacril began to slow.

He was fast, but even he had limits.

I glanced around, scanning the terrain.

We had reached a denser part of the forest, with thick underbrush and large, uneven terrain that would make it difficult for anyone to track us.

This would do for now.

I slid off Sacril’s back, placing a hand on his side as I whispered,

"Good job, buddy."

I though it is best to rest for some time before going on.

I did not wanted to tire out to Sacril much.

-

As Sacril kept running, the wind howled past me, the trees blurring into streaks of green and brown. My thoughts, however, remained sharp.

Questions filled my mind, ones that needed no real answers only understanding.

Did I have value?

Why was I important enough to be hunted?

What did they really want from me?

For three hours, I sat on Sacril’s back, lost in thought as we moved through the endless forest.

Three hours of escaping in a direction that they didn’t even need to know about.

Three hours of replaying everything in my mind, trying to make sense of it all.

And finally, after all that thinking, I had my answer.

My worth is only recognized if I allow myself to be controlled.

I laughed.

A dry, bitter sound that even the rushing wind couldn’t drown out.

I had been a fool.

The second that Freedom Of Amber and their backers thought I was working with Eval, they sent people to kill me.

And the second that Eval and his Morningstar Act supporters thought I might have even a slight chance of siding with Freedom Of Amber, they tried to kill me too.

It wasn’t about right or wrong. It wasn’t about good or evil.

It was about control.

Neither side saw me as a person.

To them, I was just a variable, an unpredictable factor that needed to be removed if I didn’t fall into place.

And that, more than anything, made me furious.

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists, feeling the raw energy swirl within me.

No.

I would not be a pawn in their game.

I would not be a piece they could move or sacrifice as they pleased.

If both sides feared my potential enough to try and erase me before I even chose a side, then I would make them fear the reality of what I would become.

They wanted to erase me before I could rise?

Then I would rise so high that they would bow down to me.

They would regret ever trying to control my fate.

Sacril let out a low growl, sensing the shift in my emotions. I placed a hand on his back, steadying myself as I whispered, "Keep running, buddy. We have a lot of work to do."

And for the first time in my life, I knew exactly what I needed to do.