We were woken up very early the next morning.

  Aurora's voice cut through my restless sleep. "Everyone up. Pack your things. We move out in ten minutes."

  I grabbed my bag, double-checking that nothing had been left behind, and made my way outside. The corrupted village looked even stranger in the early morning light, the purple growths seeming to pulse with a rhythm that matched my heartbeat.

  Within minutes, everyone had gathered near the village exit. I noticed Lina standing with Mira, deliberately avoiding looking in my direction. That hollow feeling in my chest from last night came back.

  "Today we follow the path deeper into the forest," Aurora announced, her voice carrying easily across our small group. "There are no other villages on our route, so we'll need to camp in the forest tonight. Stay alert. Stay together."

  She led us toward the far side of the village, where the exit was completely clear of corruption. The path ahead was pristine, almost inviting, while behind us the purple energy had crept closer to the inn during the night.

  The message was clear: go forward and be safe. Try to go back, and the corruption would stop us.

  I tried not to think too much about being herded like livestock. Instead, I found my attention drifting to Aurora's back as she walked ahead. She seemed exactly the same as yesterday, showing no sign that our conversation had affected her at all. Either it hadn't mattered, or she was remarkably good at hiding her feelings.

  Probably both.

  We fell into our usual formation and began walking. The morning passed in tense silence, broken only by occasional reports from Nico or Anya about the path ahead. The corruption formed those same unnatural corridors around us, guiding us deeper into the forest.

  Around mid-morning, Aurora called for a brief rest. We stopped in a small clearing where the corruption had left a patch of relatively normal ground.

  "Fifteen minutes," she said. "Drink water. Eat something if you need to. We have a long day ahead."

  I sat down near a tree, pulling out my water flask. Emberheart settled beside me with a quiet sigh.

  "How are you holding up?" he asked.

  "Tired. You?"

  "The same." He took a long drink from his own flask. "This place is exhausting in ways that have nothing to do with physical exertion. The constant wrongness of it wears you down."

  "Yeah." I knew exactly what he meant. Just being near the corruption created this low-level anxiety that never quite went away.

  Across the clearing, I could see Anya sitting alone, Serin floating beside her. The spirit kept glancing in my direction, those glowing eyes unreadable. Anya noticed and said something too quiet for me to hear. Serin's attention shifted away, but I still felt watched.

  The Prince was standing with Mary, both of them alert despite the break. Mira had engaged Lina in conversation, probably trying to keep everyone's spirits up. Aurora stood slightly apart from everyone, studying the corruption around us with that intense, analytical gaze.

  She caught me looking and immediately glanced away. So maybe our conversation had affected her after all.

  "Alright," Aurora called out after what felt like much less than fifteen minutes. "Let's keep moving."

  We continued through the afternoon, the path winding deeper into the forest. The corruption grew thicker around us, the safe corridor narrowing until we were walking almost single-file in some places.

  Then, as the sun began its descent toward evening, the forest opened up ahead.

  "Stop," Anya commanded from the front, her voice sharp.

  We all froze. Even the Prince didn't question the order, sensing the urgency in her tone.

  "What is it?" Aurora moved forward to join her.

  "The corruption ahead. It's different." Anya's hand rested on Serin's head, and the spirit was completely still, focused on something I couldn't see. "Stronger. Much stronger."

  We advanced carefully as a group, emerging from the narrow path into a wider area. What I saw made my breath catch.

  The corruption had formed a wall. Not a barrier we could walk around, but a solid vertical surface of condensed purple energy that stretched as far as I could see in both directions and rose higher than the tallest trees. It pulsed with visible power, waves of darkness rippling across its surface.

  As we approached, the wall began to shift. A section directly in front of us started to pull apart, creating an opening. An entrance. An invitation.

  "There's no going back from here," Aurora said quietly, staring at the opening. "Once we go through, we'll need to fight our way out."

  No one spoke. The implications were clear. This was the point of no return. Whatever the corruption wanted us to see, whatever it had been leading us toward, lay beyond that wall.

  "Does anyone want to turn back?" Aurora asked, giving everyone a chance. "No judgment. This is voluntary."

  Silence. No one moved to leave.

  "Alright then." She took a breath. "Let's go. Nico, Anya, you're first. Everyone else, standard formation. Stay close."

  Nico and Anya entered first, disappearing into the purple opening. Then the Prince, then Aurora. I followed with Emberheart and Lina, and Mary brought up the rear as always.

  The moment I stepped through the wall, the air changed. The corruption wasn't just around us anymore. It was everywhere. I could feel it against my skin, a constant pressure that made breathing harder. Every surface was coated in that dark purple energy. Trees, ground, even the air itself seemed thick with it.

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  "Keep moving," Aurora's voice came from ahead. "Don't touch anything unless you have to."

  We walked through the oppressive darkness for maybe five minutes before Nico's voice called out from somewhere ahead. "Here. I found something."

  We hurried forward and found ourselves in a small clearing. The corruption here was absolute. It covered every surface, every inch of ground, pulsing and moving like a living thing. The air itself seemed thick with purple energy.

  But that wasn't what made everyone freeze.

  At the center of the clearing, surrounded by corruption that seemed to be feeding on him, was a boy.

  He couldn't have been more than twelve years old. He lay on the ground, barely visible beneath the layer of corruption clinging to his body. His small frame was far too thin. His clothes were tattered, barely more than rags. The corruption pulsed around him in waves, like it was drawing something from him.

  And his hair, even matted and dirty as it was, shone with a distinct light red color in the purple glow.

  The same shade as Anya's.

  "No." Anya's voice was barely a whisper. Then, louder, filled with something between hope and desperation: "No, no, no—"

  She moved before anyone could stop her, charging into the clearing toward the boy. The corruption immediately responded, tendrils rising from the ground to block her path.

  "Anya, wait!" Aurora called out, but Anya wasn't listening anymore.

  She fought through the grasping corruption with single-minded determination, Serin circling around her, creating barriers of blue light that gave her precious seconds. But the corruption was relentless, reforming as fast as she could push through it.

  "I'll help her," Mira said, her hands already moving through spell patterns.

  "Be careful," Aurora warned, her voice tight. "Everyone, be ready to use whatever mana you need to escape if this goes wrong."

  Mira's magic manifested as a shimmering dome of golden light that expanded outward from where Anya fought. The corruption pressed against it immediately, eating at the edges, but Mira's defensive magic was strong. It held.

  Protected by the barrier, Anya finally reached the boy. She dropped to her knees beside him, hands hovering over his body like she was afraid he'd disappear if she touched him. The corruption clinging to him began to retreat as she got close, pulled away by her presence. Then she pulled him close, carefully, gently, and more corruption peeled back, revealing pale skin underneath.

  I could see him more clearly now. He was terribly thin, like he hadn't eaten in weeks. His breathing was shallow, his skin pale. Unconscious, but alive.

  And in the brief moment where Anya had pushed the corruption back, I caught a glimpse of what lay beneath. Stone. Patterns carved into the rock. Runes.

  "I've got you," Anya whispered, her voice cracking. "I've got you. You're safe now."

  She stood, cradling the boy against her chest with a tenderness that seemed impossible from someone usually so stoic. Her face, normally so controlled, was twisted with panic and relief and a dozen other emotions I couldn't name. This wasn't the calm scout who'd been guiding us through the corruption. This was someone terrified of losing something precious.

  A brother? A cousin? Family, certainly. The resemblance was too strong to be coincidence.

  She ran back toward us, and Mira adjusted her barrier to cover her retreat. The corruption surged forward the moment they cleared the area, like it had been waiting for them to leave, covering the ground once more.

  "This place..." Lina said suddenly, pulling out her notebook and staring at where the boy had been. "Did anyone else see those carvings? There were runes under the corruption. Complex ones. This site was used for a spell. Probably only a few months ago based on the wear patterns."

  I hadn't gotten a clear look, but now that she mentioned it, I remembered those brief glimpses of carved stone when Anya had pushed through.

  "The corruption was feeding on the runes," Lina continued, her voice taking on that analytical tone she used when piecing together a puzzle. "It's attracted to residual mana. That's why it was concentrated there."

  The implications made my skin crawl. Someone had cast a spell here. And the corruption had found it. Found the boy. Was using both somehow.

  But we had more immediate problems. The corruption was spreading around us aggressively now, rising up like a living wall, trying to enclose us in the clearing.

  "Do we leave?" the Prince asked Aurora, his spear already in hand. "I can cut us a path."

  Aurora stood frozen, her expression torn. I could practically see her mind working, analyzing the situation, weighing options. "We need more information. It wanted us to see the boy. This is bait. We need to understand why before we—"

  "We need to leave!" Anya's voice was nearly a scream, raw and desperate. "He needs medical attention. Now. I'm not leaving him here another second!"

  Aurora looked at her, then at the corruption closing in, then back at where the rune circle had been. Her jaw tightened with the weight of the decision.

  "Aurelius," she said finally. "Open an exit."

  She took three steps back, positioning herself defensively, but her expression was pure determination. She hadn't given up on getting answers. She was just changing tactics.

  The Prince moved to the front of our group, spear held ready. He drew his arm back and thrust forward with tremendous force.

  The impact was incredible. The corruption didn't just tear—it exploded outward, creating a tunnel through the wall we'd entered from. The force behind that strike seemed impossible for a physical blow alone, but I didn't have time to wonder about it. Clear forest showed beyond, our way out.

  But the corruption immediately began reclaiming the space, flowing back in like water filling a hole.

  Mira acted instantly, her defensive magic sealing the tunnel, creating a golden barrier that slowed the corruption's advance. But I could see it already eating at the edges. We had minutes at most.

  "Go!" Aurora commanded. "Everyone out, now!"

  Lina moved first, running for the tunnel. Then Anya, clutching the boy, then Mary, then Nico.

  "Kai!" Emberheart grabbed my arm as he passed. "Move!"

  But I didn't move. I stood there, staring at Aurora, who was still positioned defensively, watching the corruption, looking for any last piece of information she could gather before we had to flee.

  She was going to stay until the last possible second. That's who she was. Always putting herself last, always carrying the responsibility alone.

  Emberheart looked at me, and I saw understanding dawn in his eyes. He knew what I was thinking. What I was about to do.

  "Think before acting," he said quietly. Then he let go of my arm and ran for the tunnel.

  "Mira, go!" Aurora called.

  Mira released her barrier and sprinted for the tunnel. The golden light shattered, and the corruption surged forward, sealing the opening rapidly.

  I had only moments. My courage would fade soon. Aurora could force me out if she wanted to. She was faster than me, stronger than me. She could grab me and throw me through that tunnel before it sealed.

  My fingers moved behind my back, hidden from her view, writing quickly in the air. A simple rule, just in case this didn't work:

  'I am stronger than Aurora for the next ten seconds.'

  Aurora moved toward me, probably intending to do exactly that. Grab me. Force me to safety. Take all the responsibility herself like she always did.

  "Remember what I said about trust?" I said, and she stopped, confusion flickering across her face.

  I grabbed her arm before she could react. The rule took effect, and suddenly I could feel the difference. Strength that shouldn't have been mine. I pulled her forward with force that surprised even me.

  "Trust me," I said.

  And I threw her through the tunnel.

  She tumbled through, too surprised to resist, hitting the ground on the other side just as the corruption sealed the opening behind her.

  I was alone in the clearing. Surrounded by corruption. Cut off from everyone else.

  The temporary strength from my rule faded instantly, leaving me with just my normal, average power.

  And at last, I was alone.