**At dawn the next morning.**

"Gren. Wake up."

Mother gently shook my shoulder.

Outside, the sound of feet striking the ground echoed one after another.

*Thud. Thud.*

Boots kicking against dry earth.

It was still dark.

I lay there, only half awake.

But the footsteps never stopped.

The door opened.

Kruk stepped inside.

He didn't bother closing it.

His eyes swept across the tent.

Then they found mine.

The corner of his mouth lifted ever so slightly.

"Come."

At that moment...

it felt as though every other sound had disappeared.

Mother's hand reached for my arm first.

She tried to hold on.

But in the end...

her fingers loosened.

I stood.

And walked out.

Refusing...

wouldn't have changed anything.

—

The moment I stepped outside, Murkan beckoned with one hand.

The line began to move.

Shaka walked at the front.

His stride was fast and relentless.

"Carry the supplies."

Kruk watched the procession from several paces to the side.

The slave children walked first.

Behind them came the beastfolk children.

Then the adult slaves.

Murkan brought up the rear.

Then Shaka's eyes stopped on me.

"You."

"Walk beside Murkan."

Without a word, I stepped into place beside him.

The chatter around us faded.

"Halt."

The entire line stopped.

People swallowed nervously.

Someone muttered a curse under their breath.

"Forward."

The murmuring died.

When the order came, everyone stopped.

When a hand was raised, everyone moved again.

My legs had already stiffened.

My breathing grew heavier.

Then—

Murkan lowered his hand.

For the first time,

the ever-smirking Kruk lost the smile on his face.

The beastfolk children fixed their eyes straight ah..

**Twelve Years Later**

**The Forest Within Gravalk Territory**

I was running.

Not as the hunter.

As the prey.

My lungs burned with every breath.

The air I drew in refused to leave my chest.

My vision blurred.

The path between the trees dissolved into a green haze.

But I couldn't stop.

Heat pressed in from behind.

A presence—

warm and heavy, like the breath of a beast.

A low vibration scraped across the forest floor, drawing closer with every heartbeat.

Then—

the ground vanished beneath my feet.

It wasn't that I'd missed my footing.

It felt as though something holding my body upright had simply disappeared.

My balance collapsed.

*Crunch.*

My foot twisted beneath me.

A small hill slick with wet moss.

My body slid sideways and slammed into an exposed tree root.

My shoulder struck first.

Thud.

Then—

I hit the ground hard.

Pain shot up my spine the instant my back struck the earth.

"Ugh—"

But before the pain came—

my ankle told me something was wrong.

That strange sensation...

the one that always came before real pain.

It was out of place.

It wouldn't support my weight.

Damn it.

If I stopped—

I died.

My body understood that long before my mind did.

Grinding my teeth, I drove my elbows into the dirt and dragged myself forward.

Hah...

Hah...

Every ragged breath made the heat in my ankle flare even hotter.

Still—

I didn't stop.

*I'm used to this.*

Since when?

When had enduring pain simply become normal?

Survive until the designated point.

That was all.

No one here taught us how to fight.

They taught us something else first—

the order in which people died.

Who ran.

Who stayed behind.

Who was abandoned.

The survivo..

**The Forest Within Gravalk Territory**

As the forest fell silent, shapes hidden in the darkness began to emerge one by one.

The first to move was Kruk.

His nose twitched.

Lowering himself over the crushed leaves, he drew in a short breath.

*Sniff.*

The scent of blood still lingered faintly in the air.

Kruk glided toward the body of a fallen human.

Keeping low, he brought his nose close, inhaled once, then nudged the corpse with the tip of his boot.

The body rocked limply.

"...Hah."

"...So it's over."

He put a little more force behind his foot.

Thud.

"If Shaka comes back empty-handed, he won't even smell a drop of ale tonight."

Just then, footsteps approached from behind.

Not the rustle of leaves—

the dull pressure of boots sinking into soil.

It was Murkan, the village chief.

Before his shadow had even reached him, Kruk nudged the corpse once more with his foot.

"Hey... wake up."

He stepped back with an awkward grin.

"Didn't think they'd be this weak."

Murkan said nothing.

Without even lowering his gaze, he pushed another corpse aside with the tip of his foot.

Then he stopped.

His eyes drifted beyond the trees—

toward the direction the humans had fled.

Branches brushed together.

Shaka returned, slipping silently through the forest before stopping in front of Murkan.

"I lost them."

Shaka shrugged as if it hardly mattered.

Murkan's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"All of them?"

Shaka avoided his gaze.

"They moved strangely. They pretended to scatter, but kept their spacing. Even overlapped their own tracks on purpose."

Murkan's eyes grew colder.

"Trained."

He paused.

"No wonder you couldn't catch them alone."

"Should I go after them again?"

Murkan did..

Near the outskirts of Gravalk territory, deep within the forest.

Splash—

The first man to reach the creek plunged his face straight into the water and drank greedily.

The one behind him stopped with mud caked to his knees before collapsing onto the ground. He scooped up handfuls of water and scrubbed his face roughly.

Another simply threw himself onto a nearby boulder.

"Haa..."

No one spoke.

One by one, they stretched out where they had fallen, until only the murmur of the creek remained.

When their breathing had finally steadied, Hirk spoke without lifting his head.

"Two?"

The soldier who had just raised his face from the water answered on instinct.

"Three of us are—"

Thud!

The man beside him smacked the back of his head.

"You idiot. Learn to listen."

The soldier lowered his head without a word.

The one who had struck him answered instead.

"Two, sir."

Only then did Hirk look up.

"You're certain?"

"Yes. Bill and Rail. Those two."

Hirk asked nothing more.

His gaze drifted toward the upper forest where they had abandoned the basket.

One of the men spoke carefully.

"We can't continue without reinforcements. Searching the Gravalk settlements is suicide."

Silence settled over the group.

Another soldier scraped at the mud with the tip of his boot before stopping.

Hirk finally spoke.

"This isn't the time to give up. We find which settlement they're in. For everyone's sake."

"We've already lost two men. Please reconsider. Even if we find them, we can't bring them back. We should return first—"

From behind them came a weary curse.

"...Damn."

Someone exhaled shakily.

"I seriously thought I was dead."

"I almost pissed myself."

The last member of the squad had finally caught up...

At the boundary where the city met the northern forest.

A dark silhouette stood at the end of the alley.

A man who looked like a Bolton swept his eyes across the surroundings, leaving no blind spot.

DS pressed himself deeper into the shadows.

Diti's ragged breathing trembled against his shoulder.

The weight of her full-term belly rested heavily in his arms.

"We're blocked."

"...What do we do?"

His gaze drifted upward.

Wooden houses overlapped one another, stacked like steps.

Eaves. Railings. Protruding beams.

Routes unfolded and overlapped in his mind.

"There's only one of them."

He pulled Diti closer.

"We won't be seen. Hold on tight."

The instant the Bolton turned his head to scan the opposite direction—

DS kicked off the ground.

His foot landed lightly on the edge of an interlocking eave before launching him higher.

The identification code engraved on the back of his hand—

DS2—

flashed.

Then—

Their figures wavered.

A faint afterimage stretched across the rooftop.

And vanished.

Sensing something out of place, the Bolton snapped his head around.

There was nothing.

Moments later.

Deep within the distant forest.

Behind the trunk of a massive tree, the air split apart a heartbeat too late.

Folded space unfurled.

As if the world had spat them back out, the two bodies burst into view.

A searing pain surged through them.

Leaves drifted down only after they had arrived.

The city was already far behind.

The forest swallowed them whole.

ㅡㅡㅡ

Creak—

The old wooden floor groaned beneath every step.

As he pushed the door open and entered the room,

the air spread across his vision.

Scents separated into colors.

The lingering trace of a half-blood Owlin.

An..

"DT. Wake up."

He grabbed her shoulder and shook her.

Moonlight spilled through the cracks in the wooden floor, stretching across the room.

When he shook her harder, the old bed let out a low creak.

"...DS."

"...Now?"

The blonde woman exhaled softly as she pushed herself upright.

Heavily pregnant, she instinctively wrapped one arm around her swollen belly.

The tiny inn room was thick with the stale scent of old timber.

"We don't have time."

"...Have they already caught up?"

"I left enough false trails."

DS was already stuffing their belongings into a travel bag.

Bathed in moonlight, DT's face was deathly pale. Cold sweat glistened across her forehead.

She steadied herself by gripping his shoulder.

"...Have the Volens already entered the city?"

DS didn't answer.

His eyes remained fixed on the door.

The inside of his ears tightened.

Before any sound reached him, the shapes had already formed in his mind.

*The Volen hounds are moving.*

Eight of them.

They aren't spreading out.

But—

They're close.

Organized.

"...Even if it hurts... we have to move."

ㅡㅡㅡ

Inside the northern district of Heian.

A man in a long black leather coat cut through the darkness before dawn.

The brim of his fedora cast half his face in shadow.

The tip of the cigarette between his lips glowed a deep crimson.

A man waiting at the mouth of the alley lowered his head.

He stepped aside, clearing the way.

"You're here."

Hirk never slowed.

He took a long drag from his cigarette...

...then exhaled slowly.

A ribbon of smoke drifted into the cold dawn, dissolving into the darkness.

"Any sign of them?"

"They definitely entered the city.

We still haven't found them."

"They're hiding."

Hi..