When Love screamed, Nyx didn't ask a single question.
He didn't have the strength to. He was still reeling from the terror of that monstrous scream back in the village—his limbs still numb, his chest still tight from holding back sobs. So when Love's voice tore through his mind again, panicked and shrill, something primal inside him responded.
He jumped to his feet.
And ran.
There was no hesitation. No thought. Just pure, unfiltered instinct. His legs moved before his brain could catch up, propelling him forward through the trees like a startled animal fleeing the jaws of a predator.
Love didn't explain anything. She just shouted directions into his head, and he obeyed.
[Left]
He followed her every word without question. The fear in her voice—it was real. More real than anything he'd heard from her before. It wasn't her usual teasing tone or exasperated grumbling. This was the voice of someone terrified. And if she was scared, it meant something was terribly wrong.
Whatever was out here, it was big.
And it was close.
He didn't need more reason than that. He just ran.
After several exhausting minutes, he broke through the underbrush and stumbled onto a narrow dirt road. The sudden flatness beneath his feet startled him—he nearly tripped—but the terrain made running a little easier than the twisted, root-infested forest behind him.
Still, the road offered little relief.
He was starving. His stomach had been empty the entire day, gnawing at itself. His mouth was bone-dry. His throat raw from all the screaming earlier. Each breath scraped through his lungs like fire. His legs burned. His arms ached. And yet, he didn't stop.
He couldn't stop.
He kept running, kept breathing in ragged gasps that sounded more like choking.
Minutes dragged into an hour. The road stretched on endlessly, vanishing into the shadows ahead.
And still, he ran.
Finally—when his body began to sway from exhaustion and he was nearly ready to collapse—he whispered in his mind, too afraid to speak aloud:
'Hey, Love… what's happening? Why did you tell me to run?'
There was a pause.
Seconds ticked by in eerie silence before her voice returned.
But it was different this time. Trembling. Uneven. Almost like she didn't want to say it.
["The night… it's full of darkness,"]
She whispered.
["And in darkness, there are monsters. Not like the ones you've heard of in bedtime stories. Real ones. Faster than any human. Stronger than any soldier. And the worst part is…"]
She hesitated.
Nyx's breath caught in his throat.
["…they drink human blood."]
A cold shock rolled down his spine like ice water.
His knees nearly buckled, but instead of slowing, his legs found a second wind. Panic surged through him like fire. He didn't speak. Didn't scream. Didn't think. He just ran faster.
And then Love continued—her voice barely a whisper, yet heavy with dread.
["There are two of them in this forest right now. I can feel them. They're moving."]
["Run, Nyx. They can smell human blood."]
He clenched his fists as he sprinted, his legs throbbing, lungs threatening to give out. The fear pushed him harder than any pain could.
He opened his mouth, but spoke only in his mind.
'How… how do you know that? How can you tell there are two?'
Love didn't answer immediately. When she did, her tone was still tinged with fear—but also a flicker of frustration.
["Didn't you understand by now?"]
She snapped.
["I can see by only eyes. But I can sense living things around you without seeing them. Their heat, their pulse, their movement. Every breath they take near you—I feel it."]
The realization hit him hard.
'That's why she couldn't tell me to turn over in my sleep earlier, he thought, his mind reeling. She sensed something else nearby… The girl with the bread.'
It all made sense now.
'Then why didn't she sense that screaming thing?'
The question struck Nyx suddenly, sharp and cold as a dagger.
Even as his legs carried him forward and his breath came in frantic, burning gulps, his mind stumbled. A terrible chill slithered down his spine—not from the forest around him, but from the thought itself.
'Why didn't Love sense it?'
She could detect the faintest signs of life. The girl in the village. The movement of birds. The presence of predators in the dark. She had guided him countless times based on things he couldn't see.
'So why not that?'
Why hadn't she warned him about the thing that screamed? The one that shattered his soul with a sound that wasn't just noise but something wrong—something inhuman.
He wanted to stop and demand an answer. Wanted to scream and beg her to explain. But he knew now wasn't the time.
His survival depended on motion, not questions.
So he forced the thought down. Buried it beneath fear and exhaustion. Locked it away in the back of his mind like something poisonous.
This wasn't the time to unravel those thoughts. He shoved them aside, buried them under raw survival, and forced his body to keep moving.
Faster.
Farther.
He ran like death itself was clawing at his heels.
Then, just as his legs began to falter and his body screamed for rest, Love's voice returned.
Urgent.
["There are two humans nearby."]
Nyx's eyes widened.
["They're up ahead. Just a bit further down this road. Maybe… maybe they can help."]
["So run. Run fast, Nyx."]
And he did.