A woman was running.
No one seemed to be chasing her, yet she never stopped.
She could not afford to — not with the Beings from the Abyss lurking somewhere behind, unseen but ever present.
Her body ached. Her vision blurred. She was badly injured, and with every step, the pain reminded her of something worse — she was soon to give birth.
In this ruined, wretched world, she wondered if her child even stood a chance.
Not now, she thought. Please, not now.
Just as she slipped deeper into fear, a voice yanked her back to reality.
"Mom!"
A boy clung to her hand, breathless.
"How long do we have to keep running? We've been on the run for months now, Mom. Where are we going? And… where is Father?"
She didn't respond immediately. Her chest tightened. Her eyes welled up.
But her son — too tired, too young — didn't notice her tears.
She bit back her sorrow, steeled herself, and knelt beside him. Brushing the sweat from his face, she said softly:
"Ilan… Mom will explain everything… when we reach—"
A sudden rustle cut her off.
She froze.
A tall silhouette stood ahead, motionless under the full moon.
As it stepped forward, its voice sliced through the air like a knife.
"You thought we'd let you run, after what you did?"
With each step, his body began to twist and mutate. His limbs elongated, joints bending the wrong way. Legs dissolved, replaced by a coiled, obsidian-black tail, glistening like volcanic glass.
His skin hardened into dark, scale-like armor.
His eyes glowed sickly yellow, pupils narrowing into reptilian slits.
The woman — Kayal — felt her pride crack.
She had faced kings and monsters.
She had never begged in her life.
But now… she whispered something she had never allowed herself to say before.
"Please…"
It didn't matter.
The creature was unmoved — by words, by tears, by history.
He kept gliding forward, silent and relentless.
Kayal's breath steadied. Her eyes sharpened.
She pulled Ilan behind her.
With no other way out, she stepped forward —
Ready to fight.