Eclipsed

Chapter 18

Ren had been running for two straight days, pushing his body to its limits. His legs ached with each stride, his lungs burning for air as the relentless wind bit at his skin. The exhaustion was beginning to weigh on him, but he kept going. The thought of Ozythar, the destruction of his village, and the need to get revenge kept him going. "I won’t let anyone I care for get hurt again," Kael’s words echoed in his mind, the weight of them making his fists clench tighter.

Kael... Ren thought, the bitter taste of regret rising in his chest. He didn't want to involve his friends in this mission, but they insisted. And now, even as the journey stretched out before him like an endless road, he couldn’t escape the memories of the people he lost. His village, his family... he'd grown up with that loss hanging over him like a cloud, never quite able to escape the shadows of his past.

The map he had been given guided him through forests and over hills, winding through lands both foreign and familiar. As he made his way through the dense woods, the crunch of his boots on the underbrush was the only sound he could hear. The air was thick, suffocating with the humidity of the early summer. Every few miles, he found a small patch of open ground where he could catch a breath and sleep for a few hours, though it was never enough. He barely allowed himself to rest, always on edge. Every snapping twig, every rustling leaf made him tense, expecting an ambush.

The days blurred into one another, the grueling pace stripping him of his humanity. He had learned to eat what he could forage—berries, small animals he hunted, whatever would keep him moving. As the hours stretched into days, Ren found himself growing more and more attuned to the world around him. His senses sharpened as the trees, the wind, and even the earth beneath his feet seemed to whisper to him. The distant memory of his family faded, but the anger never left. It was the fire that burned in his chest, keeping him alive, pushing him forward.

But halfway through his journey, something changed. The air grew heavier, charged with an unsettling energy. Ren’s instincts flared. He stopped, his eyes scanning the shadows between the trees. It was a feeling he couldn’t shake, a creeping sense of something wrong, something sinister lurking just beyond his sight.

Then, it happened. A cold gust of wind passed through the clearing, rustling the leaves, and Ren felt it—the sharp, overwhelming presence of someone or something that wasn’t supposed to be here.

Without thinking, Ren dropped into a combat stance, his hand instinctively gripping the hilt of his katana. His senses were on high alert as the figure emerged from the darkness. A tall, dark silhouette moved with unnatural grace, stepping out from the shadows like a ghost. Its face was deformed, twisted, its features hidden beneath a mask of shadow. The figure raised a long, black blade, its edge glinting dangerously in the dim light.

Ren’s heart raced. Who the hell is this?

The figure spoke, its voice low and distorted. "Why are you going to His Majesty’s lair?" it asked, its voice sending chills down Ren’s spine.

Ren narrowed his eyes. "So you work for Ozythar then?"

The figure’s eyes glowed with a violent, red intensity. "You must not speak of his name!" it hissed. And in an instant, it lunged at Ren.

The dark blade cut through the air with lethal speed, but Ren was ready. He ducked, the blade narrowly missing his head as it sliced through the space he had occupied moments before. Ren instinctively rolled to the side, his katana already in hand. The figure was fast, but Ren was faster, his training and instinct kicking in as he leaped to his feet and faced his assailant.

The figure attacked again, slashing with precision and force, but Ren parried each strike, his katana clashing against the black blade with a ringing sound that echoed through the clearing. The dark figure was relentless, but Ren's reflexes were honed from years of training. He was dodging and blocking with fluid ease, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. The figure was powerful, but it was also reckless. It relied too heavily on brute force, leaving openings that Ren began to exploit.