After Leon declared that we were ready, Kenzo wasted no time in pulling us aside for a strategy meeting. The bandits had been terrorizing the area for months, and we finally had enough people to mount a proper resistance. But brute force alone wasn’t going to win this. We needed information, and that meant splitting into smaller groups to gather intel. It was Kenzo who organized the plan, his tactical mind working quickly.
“We need to know what the bandits are planning,” Kenzo said, his voice low but filled with authority. “They’ve got different factions spread across the region. If we want to strike, we need to know what each group is doing.”
He looked around at all of us, eyes sharp. “We’ll split into teams. Lyra, you’ll take a group to scout the forest. Yuki, you’re going to head to Sharpshot territory—see what you can find there. Mira, you’ve got Viperclaw. And Anne,” he paused, his gaze landing on me, “you’re going to Shadowveil.”
The mention of Shadowveil sent a shiver down my spine. I hadn’t been there in years, but the name alone was enough to stir memories I’d tried to bury. It was a place steeped in shadows, both literal and metaphorical, a part of my past that I’d rather not revisit. But Kenzo knew I had a connection to the place, and that made me the best person to go.
I didn’t argue. I couldn’t. The bandits were hiding something there, and if we wanted to defeat them, we needed to know what it was.
As we prepared to head out, the tension among the group was palpable. Everyone was gearing up, strapping on weapons, checking their supplies. The air was thick with anticipation. But when it came time to assign partners, I knew what I had to do.
“I’m going alone,” I said firmly, standing in the middle of the room, arms crossed.
Kenzo frowned, already shaking his head. “No way. It’s too dangerous, Anne. We’ve always worked in pairs, and that’s not about to change now.”
The others looked at me with varying degrees of concern. Mira, always the practical one, narrowed her eyes. “He’s right, Anne. Shadowveil is too unpredictable. We don’t even know what kind of defenses they have.”
But I didn’t budge. “I know Shadowveil better than anyone here. If we go in as a group, we’ll draw attention. I can move through there quietly, unseen. I’ve done it before.”
Yuki stepped forward, his voice calm but insistent. “We don’t care how familiar you are with the place. We need to stick together. If something happens—”
“I’ll be fine,” I interrupted, trying to keep my frustration in check. “Look, I get it. You’re worried. But this is the best way. I can handle it.”
Kenzo exchanged glances with the others, his jaw tightening. He didn’t like it, but he knew I wasn’t going to back down. After a long pause, he finally sighed. “Fine. But if anything goes wrong, you’re getting out of there. No heroics.”
I nodded, though we both knew it was a promise I might not be able to keep.
The journey to Shadowveil felt like a homecoming I didn’t want. The forest path grew darker the closer I got, the trees twisting together above me like a canopy of secrets. Every step felt heavier, memories pressing down on me. Shadowveil had been a place of nightmares once, and now I was willingly walking back into its grasp.
When I arrived at the edge of the old compound, I crouched low, scanning the area. The buildings were as I remembered—dark, looming structures that seemed to absorb the light around them. Shadows danced across the stone walls, and the silence was almost suffocating. But I knew the layout, knew where to avoid the patrols. I moved quietly, slipping through the cracks in the defenses like a ghost.
The halls of the main building were eerily silent. My footsteps barely made a sound as I crept through the dimly lit corridors, every nerve on edge. I could feel it—a presence, like the place was watching me, waiting. And then, just as I turned a corner, I felt it.
Someone was behind me.
My pulse quickened, and I froze. The presence wasn’t moving closer, but I could feel their eyes on me, waiting for me to make the first move. Whoever it was, they weren’t hiding their presence. They wanted me to know they were there.
I took a deep breath and turned slowly, already suspecting who it was before I saw him.
“Kairo,” I muttered under my breath as soon as my eyes met his.
There he was, standing casually a few feet away, leaning against the wall as if he’d been expecting me all along. His eyes were cold, calculating, but the sight of him sent a shiver down my spine. He hadn’t changed much since the last time we met, though the years had only made his features sharper, his aura darker. He looked at me like a predator sizing up its prey.
“We’ve met again,” I said, forcing my voice to remain steady.
Kairo’s lips twitched into a smirk, but his eyes stayed cold. “Seems like you can’t stay away from places you shouldn’t be.”
Before I could respond, I saw him raise his hand. The glint of metal caught my eye, and my heart stopped. A gun. He had a gun. And it was pointed directly at me.
Time seemed to slow down. My mind raced, screaming at me to move, to do something. But my body wouldn’t listen. I was frozen in place, staring at the barrel of the gun as Kairo’s finger moved to the trigger.
He pulled it.
I braced myself for the impact, my breath catching in my throat as I closed my eyes. This was it. This was how it ended. I waited for the pain, for the darkness to swallow me whole. But it didn’t come. Instead, I heard a low grunt behind me, followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.
Slowly, I opened my eyes. My heart was pounding in my chest, adrenaline surging through my veins. I looked down, expecting to see blood, to feel the burning sting of a gunshot wound. But there was nothing. I was untouched.
My eyes snapped back to Kairo, who was now sitting at the windowsill, his expression unreadable. The gun was still in his hand, but it wasn’t aimed at me anymore. Instead, he looked almost… amused.
“What the hell?” I whispered, my voice shaking.
Kairo tilted his head, watching me with that same cold gaze. “You really think I was going to shoot you?” he asked, his tone dripping with disdain. “If I wanted you dead, you’d already be on the floor.”
I stared at him, trying to piece together what had just happened. The grunt—the sound behind me. I spun around, but there was nothing there. No body, no sign of anyone else. My mind was racing, trying to make sense of it.
Kairo stood up from the window, his movements smooth and deliberate, each step slow and measured, like he had all the time in the world. He walked toward me, stopping just a few feet away, his piercing eyes locked on mine. His gaze was cold, but there was a flicker of something else in those dark eyes—something I couldn’t quite place.
“Can you stop being such a headache to me?” he muttered, his voice low and filled with exasperation. The words stung more than his tone. It wasn’t exactly a threat, but there was something about the way he said it that made me feel small. Like I was just an obstacle in his way. A nuisance.
I opened my mouth to respond, to say something—anything—but the words caught in my throat. The relief of being alive, combined with the confusion of the entire situation, left me utterly speechless. My heart was still pounding, adrenaline coursing through my veins as I stared at him, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
For a moment, neither of us said anything. The tension in the air was thick, almost suffocating. The silence was broken only by the soft rustling of the wind outside and the distant sounds of the compound creaking. I swallowed hard, forcing myself to regain control, to shake off the shock that was keeping me rooted in place.
“So it was you,” I finally managed to say, my voice barely above a whisper, but filled with certainty. The realization hit me like a punch to the gut. This wasn’t the first time Kairo had shown up at exactly the right moment, and the more I thought about it, the more pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place.
Kairo raised an eyebrow, his expression unreadable. He glanced down at the gun in his hand, then back at me, his smirk returning with a hint of amusement. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said smoothly, his voice dripping with feigned innocence. But I could see through it. I could see the truth behind his eyes.
I narrowed my gaze at him, taking a small step forward, emboldened by my frustration. “Every time I was about to get into trouble—every time things should have gone wrong—it was you, wasn’t it?” I demanded, my voice growing steadier. “You’ve been watching me. You’ve been pulling the strings. Why, Kairo? Why are you doing this?”
Kairo’s smirk didn’t falter, but his eyes darkened, a hint of danger flashing behind them. He took a step closer, closing the distance between us until he was just inches away. His presence was overwhelming, and I could feel the heat radiating off him. He leaned in slightly, his voice barely a whisper. “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret anymore, would it?”
That phrase. That same cryptic phrase I’d heard the first time we met. The same one he’d used every time I pressed him for answers. It was infuriating. Kairo was like a shadow, always there, always just out of reach, never giving me the full picture. He thrived on secrecy, on keeping everyone in the dark.
“Why are you making things so complicated?” I asked, my frustration boiling over. “Why can’t you just tell me the truth for once? Why are you playing these games?”
Kairo’s smirk faded slightly, his expression becoming more serious, but he didn’t answer my question. Instead, he pulled the gun from his jacket once more, spinning it casually in his hand before slipping it back into its holster. “Next time, don’t make it so easy,” he said, his voice calm, as if we were discussing something trivial.
And just like that, he turned on his heel and started walking away, leaving me standing there in the shadowy hallway, my mind racing with questions. I watched him go, the dim light casting long shadows as his figure disappeared down the corridor. My heart was still pounding, but not from fear. It was something else—something more dangerous