The rain that fell that night did not feel cold. It tasted bitter, carrying the stench of stale diesel and wet asphalt from the overpass above.Billy staggered forward. His left palm pressed against his right ribs, which felt cracked, throbbing with a hot, needle-like pain every time his lungs dragged in air. His right hand gripped a small, flat object inside the pocket of his torn parachute jacket: a black flash drive sealed with red adhesive.The soles of boots pounded through puddles behind him. Not one pair, but three."Stop right there, you little mutt! Nobody's gonna help you down here!"The hoarse voice echoed beneath the bridge. Billy did not look back. With nothing but a pair of busted sneakers on his feet, he kept dragging himself through the mud along the riverbank.Dead end.Ahead stood only a three-meter-high rusted wire fence separating the embankment from the swirling waters of the Ciliwung River, swollen and murky brown. The stench of rotten mud and carcasses burned hi

Dawn in Whisperwood Forest brought no warmth from the morning sun. Instead, a thick, pale-green fog crept across the land, carrying the scent of wet moss and copper.Billy huddled beneath the hollow of a massive root, shivering from the cold. He had spent the last three hours since the terror of those claw marks the previous night without daring to close his eyes for even a second. Every time a branch cracked in the distance, he held his breath as carefully as possible.But as the dawn fog began creeping across the ground, a savage hunger started tearing at the walls of his stomach, far more agonizing than the throbbing pain in his broken ribs."Damn it..." Billy whispered, pressing a hand against his loudly growling stomach. "I'm gonna die like an idiot if I don't eat."He slowly peeked out from behind the root.Ten meters ahead, a narrow stream cut through slick black stones. At the water's edge, a strange creature about the size of a wildcat was lapping at the water.It looked like

Drip. Drip. Drip.The slow rhythm of water striking limestone rocks gradually pulled Billy's fading consciousness back to the surface. The stench of poisonous moss and the weasel carcass had been replaced by the scent of wet cedarwood smoke and the smell of animal fat roasting over glowing embers.Billy tried to move his hands, but his wrists were locked tightly behind his back. The rough rope, braided from strips of bark fiber, immediately bit into his already blistered skin."Damn... what now?" Billy rasped, opening his swollen eyelids.He was no longer at the bottom of the muddy ravine.Billy was tightly bound to a smooth limestone stalagmite inside a narrow, dark cave alcove. A few steps ahead of him, a small campfire burned between a pile of river stones, casting dancing shadows across the damp cave walls.Across from the fire sat the figure who had aimed an arrow at him earlier.The figure was tall and slender, dressed in a worn gray cloak made from coarse fibers that seemed alm

Cshhhh.Faelan did not waste a single second. In a flash, his hand scooped up a handful of wet clay from the corner of the wall and slammed it onto the campfire. The embers died instantly, leaving behind a thin cloud of smoke that Faelan immediately swept away with his cloak to keep it from rising outside.The limestone cave sank into absolute darkness."Hold your breath," Faelan whispered directly beside Billy's ear. His voice was barely louder than wind scraping against stone. "Don't make the slightest sound, even if your heart wants to leap out of your chest.""I know the rules," Billy whispered back, pressing his back against the cold stone wall. His hand instinctively pressed against the burn wound on his abdomen to keep himself from groaning as the sulfurous stench outside grew stronger.Through the narrow opening of the cave entrance, a massive shadow slowly passed by.It stood nearly four meters tall, walked on four legs, and had a horribly hunched back resembling an ancient w

Faelan's grip on Billy's shoulder tightened like an iron vise."Don't move, idiot," Faelan whispered sharply. His silver eyes remained fixed on the three monsters in the village square. "Three trained Orc soldiers against one Ranger with limited arrows and one crippled human kid. That's not a fight. That's tactical suicide.""Let me go, Faelan!" Billy hissed through clenched teeth, his eyes locked on the village girl being dragged across the ground. "You see that? They're about to cut her throat! You just wanna stand there and watch, like when I was about to die in that ravine?!""That's the law of this world!" Faelan snapped coldly. "One girl's life isn't worth both of ours! We have to take this warning to the Ashen Kingdom!""Fuck the Ashen Kingdom!" Billy cut in, his voice strained beneath the surge of rage. "Back home, men in suits watched orphan kids die from overdoses and called it 'the cost of doing business.' And now you want me to stand here and watch someone's throat get cut