Episode--------- 31
Rain wept through broken beams, dripping cold along the stone floor. Beyond the cracked doorway, footsteps echoed — slow, deliberate, as if darkness itself had grown legs and come hunting.
Aria's breath caught in her throat. Raian stood before her, pistol gripped tight, pain ghosting across his features each time he shifted.
"Ayan," Raian called, voice low but edged with command. "Take Lina. Guard the east flank."
Ayan's gaze burned with fresh guilt, but he nodded. "Don't die, old friend," he rasped, sword heavy in his grip.
Raian's lips twitched — not quite a smile. "Not planning to."
---
They moved — shadows on either side of the vast, broken hall. Aria stayed at Raian's back, the warmth of him a strange anchor against the tide of fear swelling inside her chest.
"Stay behind me," he ordered, voice rough.
"You can barely stand," she shot back, heart hammering so hard it hurt. "Let me help."
Raian turned, eyes storm-grey and raw. "And if helping me means dying beside me?"
"Then so be it," she whispered, surprised at how true it felt.
---
A metallic clang cut the air — closer now. Raian raised his pistol. For a heartbeat, silence coiled around them… then five figures stepped into the flickering lamplight.
They wore black, soaked by rain, faces hidden behind cloth masks. But even hidden, there was something deliberate in the way they moved: measured, unhurried, like predators circling prey they had already decided to kill.
One stepped forward, blade catching the lamplight. "Raian," he rasped, voice distorted, "the empire you built dies tonight."
Raian didn't flinch. "You should have brought more men."
---
Aria saw it then: the tremor in Raian's arm, the sweat breaking along his temple despite the cold. Pain carved hollows under his eyes, but his gaze stayed hard as steel.
The masked man gestured. Three figures peeled off — moving toward the east, where Ayan and Lina waited.
Raian's jaw clenched. "Damn it," he hissed.
"They'll hold them," Aria whispered, though fear choked her words.
"They shouldn't have to," Raian rasped. Then, without looking at her: "If this turns bad, run."
"I'm not leaving you," she whispered, voice cracking.
"Then stay close," he murmured, as if that cost him more than the pain lancing through his side.
---
The masked men lunged.
Gunfire shattered the silence — Raian's pistol roaring, flash brightening the gloom. One attacker staggered, clutching his shoulder, but the others kept coming.
Raian fired again — click. Empty.
The nearest man raised his blade — steel sweeping for Raian's throat.
Before she could think, Aria moved.
She shoved Raian sideways — the blade grazed his jacket instead of his skin. Pain sparked in Aria's side, hot and sudden; the knife had sliced across her ribs.
She gasped, stumbling, hand pressing to wet warmth spreading under her palm.
---
"Aria!" Raian roared, voice breaking.
The attacker raised the blade again — but Raian was faster. He lunged, pain twisting his features, and slammed the pistol's heavy grip into the man's temple. Bone cracked under steel; the man crumpled to the ground.
Raian caught Aria by the arm, pulling her back. "Where are you hurt?" he rasped.
"I'm fine," she gasped, though her vision swam.
"You're bleeding," he hissed, fury burning brighter than fear.
"So are you," she shot back, breath ragged. "We don't have time—"
---
Another attacker charged. Raian tried to lift his arm, but the pain finally betrayed him — his grip faltered.
In that heartbeat, Aria moved again. Hands trembling, she grabbed a broken steel rod from the ground, swinging with desperate force.
The blow glanced off the attacker's arm — not enough to stop him, but enough to slow the blade.
Raian surged forward, teeth gritted against pain, and buried his knife under the man's ribs. The attacker gasped, steel falling from numb fingers.
Raian caught Aria's wrist. "Don't ever do that again," he rasped.
"I didn't have a choice," she whispered, breath shaking.
---
Across the hall, a crash of steel — Ayan and Lina locked in frantic struggle with the other attackers.
Ayan staggered, blood dripping from a fresh cut along his forearm, but his sword flashed out — a raw, desperate arc. One attacker fell, clutching a ruined knee.
Lina swung her iron rod, striking another across the jaw. The man cursed, stumbling — but didn't fall.
They were outnumbered. Outmatched.
And still, they stood.
---
"Raian!" Ayan's hoarse voice ripped through the chaos. "More coming!"
Raian turned, gaze narrowing as shadows shifted beyond the broken doorway — reinforcements, drawn by gunfire and blood.
He looked at Aria, something raw breaking through his mask. "Go," he whispered, voice cracking. "Run."
"No," she breathed.
"They'll kill you," he rasped, agony and something deeper twisting in his gaze.
"Then we die together," she whispered, tears burning hot trails down her face.
Raian's jaw worked, words dying behind clenched teeth. Then, softer, "You're a fool, Aria."
"And you love me for it," she breathed, voice breaking on the truth she could no longer hide.
---
For a heartbeat, the world shrank — rain, blood, ruin, and the wild, terrified love beating between them.
Then the moment shattered.
A gunshot cracked — loud, close. Stone burst beside Aria's head, spraying dust across her face.
Raian pulled her down, voice a raw snarl. "Stay behind me!"
---
Across the hall, Ayan roared, swinging his blade with reckless fury. The attacker before him stumbled, but another moved in — knife sweeping low.
Lina saw it — too late.
"AYAN!" she screamed.
Pain exploded across his thigh; Ayan fell to one knee, vision swimming. But as the attacker raised his blade for the kill, Lina lunged — iron rod cracking against the man's skull. The blow sent him sprawling, blood darkening stone.
"Ayan!" Lina gasped, dropping beside him, hands shaking. "Don't you dare leave me."
"I'm… fine," he rasped, though his leg burned with white-hot agony.
---
Across the hall, Raian rose to meet the next attacker — body screaming with every breath.
Aria grabbed the fallen man's pistol, hands slick with blood. Her fingers trembled, sight blurred by tears and fear.
But when the attacker lunged for Raian's exposed side, she fired.
The gun kicked back, deafening in the ruin.
The man jerked, surprise frozen on his face before he collapsed to wet stone.
---
Raian turned, eyes wide — not in anger, but raw disbelief. "Aria…"
"I told you," she whispered, breath trembling. "I won't watch you die."
---
More shadows gathered beyond the doorway. Too many.
Raian's jaw clenched. "We can't hold them."
Ayan pushed himself upright, sword still in blood-slick hands. "Then we die standing," he rasped.
Lina's eyes shimmered, but she nodded. "Together."
---
Aria looked at Raian, her voice small but fierce. "What now?"
Raian's gaze burned — storm-grey, haunted, alive. "Now," he rasped, voice low, "we show them what monsters they chose to hunt."
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Teaser for Episode 32:
Blood, betrayal, and sacrifice: as enemies breach the sanctuary, secrets buried in Raian's past surface — and Aria must choose: keep her hands clean, or stain them to save the man she loves.