The sun hasn't risen yet, but the sky had begin to bleed faint shades of lavender and bruises oranges through the cracks of the broken apartment windows. I didn't sleep. Not even for a seconds.
Kael sat by the window, silence, unmoving — her silhouette outlined by the faintest traces of light. She hasn't said much after she told me to take some rest, but i couldn't. My body might have been still, but my mind ran fast.
About the Mark. About the Hunters. About Her.
I haven't ask why she stayed by the window all night. I didn't need to. I knew. She was watching. Protecting. Probably not for me, but the mission i didn't even understand yet.
Still, there was something strangely comforting about her being there – like a thread of steeling connecting me to reality.
"You should eat", Kael said. Voice low but clear, breaking the silence like a clean knife.
I blinked. Then slowly sat up. "What time is it?".
"Time to go". She stood up, stretching slightly. She turned to me, "But you will move faster with food."
She tossed me a protein bar from a dusty cabinet. I caught it, barely. My fingers were still trembling.
I tore it open, then took a bite. It tasted like paper and salt, but it was something.
"Where are we going?." I asked around the dry mouthful.
She strapped her blade to her thigh and glanced at me. "To someone who might have answers."
I paused. "You don't have the answer?."
Kael looks away, almost like the question irritated her, or maybe it hurt. "I have some, not enough."
We parked fast. I only had my hoodie, my phone – which no longer had service – and a cracked lighter, i didn't remember picking up.
Kael handed me a small knife.
"Keep it hidden." She said. "Use it only if u have too."
I slid it into my boot.
Minutes later, we were back on the streets, moving through shadows as the city slowly woke around us.
This version of the city — After the Queen's Marking system started – didn't feel like home. It felt like a battlefield.
Every walls have graffiti — some with symbols i didn't reconize. Some that matches Kael's tattooed Mark. Posters of the Queen with slogans like Obedient brings order were defenced and torn.
Kael led us through an alley i would never dared entered alone. Narrow, damp, with vines crawling down one side of a crumbling building. She knocked twice on a steel door.
It slid open a inch.
An eye appeared.
Kael didn't say a word. She just turned her wrist up to show the Mark glowing faintly beneath her skin.
The door creaked open.
We entered a room, filled with foggy glass,flickering bulbs,and the strong scent of oil and metal. Machines hummed. Weapons lined the walls. Maps and red strings covered the far corner.
And standing in the middle of it all was a woman — tall, silver-streaked hair pulled into a braid, arms crossed, her eyes were sharp.
"You brought thr flare," she said, looking straight at me.
I froze.
Kael nodded once. "She lit a Hunter up last night."
The woman tilted her head. "Did she now?."
I swallowed. "I didn't know what i was doing. It just.... happened."
She studied me for a moment longer. "The one who burned bright, always say that."
I stepped closer. Trying to sound braver that i felt. "Do you know whar happened to me?."
The woman walked to the Map-covered wall, fingers tracing one of the red lines. "Your kind, the one who Mark without choice – weren't meant to survive, you were meant to be eliminated before your powers activated."
Kael's jaws tensed. "She wasn't caught. That means something."
The woman signed. Turned to me again, "what's your name?."
"Kae". I hesitated.
And you still thinks this is about survival, Kae?. She asked. "This is about war, you are in it now, whether you like it or not."
Kael's eyes flicked to mine. "We'll train her."
"We". I asked. The word felt too heavy.
The woman raised a brow." You think she is staying with you?"
Kael didn't respond.
I looked between them. "Wait hold on, what does training means?, How long?, i have a life. A family. I can't just–
"You didn't have a life anymore". The woman cut in, not unkindly. "Not the world you knew. You are Marked. That changed everything."
I backed away slightly, chest tight. It was too much. I wasn't suppose to be part of this. I didn't ask for any of it.
Kael moved closer, voice low. "I know it feel like you are drowing. But if you didn't swim now, Rae, they will drag you under."
My throat burned. But i nodded. I didn't know why i trusted her.
Maybe because she never sugarcoat anything. Maybe because even when she was cold, it feels like she cared.
The woman pointed to a hallway. "The training start now!"
************************************************
The next few hours was brutal.
I was taught how to use the knife. How to feel the enery inside thr Mark. How to channel it, not to fight it. I failed every tasks atlease twice.
Kael barely said a word during it all. But everytime i fell i saw her watching.
When i finally collapsed in the corner, sweating and exhausted. She came over. Sat next to me.
"You did better than i did in my first time," she said quietly.
I looked at her, suprised. "You?"
She nodded. "I nearly burned the whole buliding down".
I laughed – a short, breathless sound. And for the first time, Kael smiled. Not the smug kind. A real one. Small. But real.
I wanted to froze that moment.
But outside we heard the sound of a distant explosion.
The woman ran into the room."They have found us!"
Kael was already on her feet. Hand on her blade.
I stood up. Knee shaking. "What do we do?"
Kael looked at me. Eyes unreadble. "We run. And this time, you fight too".
My Mark flared on it own. Heat spreading through my veins.
Something inside me shifted.
No more running without reasons. No more waiting for answers.
If this was war – i would rather fight beside her than to be hunted alone.
To be CONTINUED...