The forest was an endless, suffocating blanket of black pine and silver-leafed brambles. Raka hacked through a particularly stubborn thicket with a heavy, jagged piece of slate he’d scavenged from the temple ruins, his breath hitching in his chest. Behind him, the remnants of the unit trudged on, a chain of exhausted, mud-caked silhouettes."Hey, Raka," Leo panted, dropping his makeshift spear to wipe grime from his eyes. "Can we stop for a second? My legs feel like they’re made of lead."Raka didn't turn around, but he did slow his pace, his shoulders sagging just a fraction. "We aren't far enough from the gate yet, Leo. Keep moving.""We’ve been walking for hours, man," Marcus added, his voice raspy. "Even the guards aren't going to track us this far into the Ridge at night.""They don't have to," Sofia said, her voice cutting through the humid air. She was standing at the rear, her eyes constantly scanning the canopy above. "They have bounty hunters. Mercenaries who know these wood

Raka held the amber-lit disc steady as he crouched behind a thicket of silver-leafed brambles. The holographic projection of the Northern Ridge shimmered between his palms, a grid of light that revealed the cold truth of their situation. The white clusters—the heat signatures of the King’s hunters—were no longer distant. They were moving with a predatory rhythm, threading through the lower ravines like a tightening noose."They're getting closer, aren't they?" Sofia whispered, her breath hitching beside him. She didn't need to see the map to feel the change in the air. The forest had gone deathly quiet."A mile and a half," Raka said, his eyes scanning the glowing topography. "Maybe less. They’ve picked up the pace since the sun hit the horizon. They know we’re in this sector.""Can they see us?" Leo hissed from a few feet behind them, his hands white-knuckled around his makeshift spear. "Tell me they can’t see us, Raka. I’m not ready to be a gold crown in someone’s pocket.""Shut up,

"We stop being the harvest, kid. We start being the plague."The words hung in the dusty, metallic air of the canyon, sounding heavier than the landslide they had just escaped.Raka stared at the older version of himself, his brain struggling to process the visual paradox. "What... what did you just say?""You heard me," the older Raka said, adjusting the heavy strap of the railgun slung across his shoulder. He looked incredibly weary, the skin beneath his eyes dark and hollowed out. "Though, I guess to a kid who still thinks this is a fantasy novel, it sounds like some cheesy movie line."Sofia took a cautious step forward, her daggers still raised, though her hands trembled. "Raka, is this some kind of high-level illusion? A spell from the King?""It's not an illusion, Sofia," the older Raka said, his gaze shifting to her. A faint, sad smile touched his scarred lips. "You still use those daggers, huh? The ones you got from the Shadow Assassin class. Cute.""How do you know my name?"

"Raka, it’s gaining on us!" Sofia shouted, her boots slipping on the slick, wet clay of the ravine slope. "The whine is getting louder!""Just keep climbing!" Raka yelled back, his lungs burning as he hauled himself up by a exposed root. "Don't look back!""I don't need to look back to know it's right on our heels!" Sofia panted, scrambling over the lip of the ridge. She spun around, her daggers flashing in her hands. "It's right there! Look at the lens!"The small mechanical sphere drifted over the edge of the ravine, its single red eye pulsing with a vicious, rapid light. The soft hum of its internal fan turned into a high-pitched, metallic scream."Target locked," the drone's synthetic voice chirped, cold and completely devoid of emotion. "Disruptor matrix charging. Stand by for compliance.""Compliance? Are you kidding me?" Sofia spat, her knuckles turning white around her hilts. "Raka, what is that purple light in the center?""It’s a magical-disruption beam!" Raka warned, shield

"Wait. Read that again," Leo whispered, his voice cracking as he leaned so far over the console his nose almost touched the glass. "Please tell me I’m hallucinating.""You're not," Raka said, his fingers hovering an inch above the glowing touch screen. He swallowed hard, trying to clear the sudden dryness in his throat. "It says 'Welcome, Administrator Raka.'""An admin?" Marcus stared at the screen, his hand resting heavily on the pommel of his dull sword. "Like... you have the passwords to this entire place? To the whole kingdom?""I don't know," Raka muttered, his heart hammering against his ribs. He slowly pulled his hand back, staring at his index finger as if it belonged to someone else. "But it accepted my print. It didn't just bypass the lock; it recognized me.""But how is that possible?" Chloe asked, clutching her staff tightly to her chest. She was shivering, her eyes darting from the towering glass pods to the massive, glowing monitors. "You’re eighteen, Raka. You’ve never