His Baby Daddy [ Taekook ]

Chapter 25

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Fog bled violet through charred branches as Taehyung's party crossed into the heart of the Blight.

Every tree here had been hollowed from within - bark unburnt, but soft as rot. Birds no longer sang. Even Zephyr's hooves fell soundless on the brittle soil. The air pulsed strange, like breathing through silk soaked in vinegar.

Dara and Dain moved ahead, sweeping their silver staves in slow, circular arcs. The runes at their tips flickered weakly - like candlelight choking in soot.

Namjoon rode beside Taehyung, jaw tight. "The Blight's adapting. It's feeding off old magic. Even light bends wrong here."

"This is the center," Dara murmured, pale. Her wardstone dimmed in her hand. "It should be ash, but it's alive."

The air stank of metal and rot.

Ash fell like slow snow as Taehyung stood before the clearing of bloodroot, ringed by trees charred into brittle bone. Beneath the soil, something ancient breathed - not with lungs, but hunger. It pulsed in sync with the land.

Then he heard it: not a howl, not a growl - something deeper.

Like a voice that had forgotten language, calling from under the skin of the earth.

Dain froze. "It's here."

Taehyung dismounted, blades drawn. "Cover the camp."

Namjoon and Dara raised a dome of mist between the camp and the ruin.

The druids murmured protection wards. Dara clutched her moonstaff tighter; Namjoon unsheathed his bone dagger. Even Zephyr snorted uneasily, muscles twitching under enchanted armor.

Taehyung stepped into the ruin alone, facing the thing directly.

And then it rose.

From the hollow of the earth, a shape unfurled - taller than trees, stitched from shadow and scorched sinew. Antlers twisted from its head like blackened branches. Its mouth was a vertical slit full of flame.

Between the husks of two trees, a shadow uncurled - liquid and crawling, with no visible form. It oozed forward, dragging heat with it, draining color from the grass.

The druids shouted, slamming their staves into the ground. A ring of sigils erupted, but the shadow didn't flinch. It absorbed the magic.

The Guardian of the First Vein.

"You want me," he said.

The shadow paused - almost recognizing
him.

Its voice hit like a drumbeat to the sternum: