After Sachi, Lori, and Artag spent a long time talking and explaining everything that had happened, exhaustion finally began to settle over the camp. One by one, they retired to their tents to sleep.
But sleep did not come easily to Lori.
She lay on her bedding beside her daughter, staring silently through the opening of the tent toward the dark night outside. The firelight from the camp flickered across the ground, while the distant sounds of the guards keeping watch drifted through the darkness.
Her thoughts were somewhere far away.
With her husband.
She had received word that he had escaped. That should have brought her relief, but it only replaced one fear with another.
He was still somewhere inside the Empire.
An enemy of the very people who ruled it.
And he was being hunted.
Lori's fingers tightened around the edge of her blanket.
She could not accept the thought of her husband hiding somewhere in enemy territory, constantly looking over his shoulder, while she and their daughter were safe here.
She glanced at Sachi.
Her daughter was finally sleeping peacefully.
For a moment, Lori simply watched her.
Then a decision formed in her mind.
Once she was certain that Sachi was safe—and once her daughter had entered the academy, where she would be protected—Lori would leave.
She would find her husband.
No matter how dangerous the journey became.
No matter what stood between them.
She would not allow him to face everything alone.
Lori slowly turned her eyes back toward the night.
"Just stay alive until then."
That was the only thought she allowed herself to hold onto.
Outside, Artag was having no better luck sleeping.
He had returned to his tent after their conversation, but his mind refused to settle. Eventually, he stepped outside and sat beside the dying campfire.
He stared into the flames, slowly digesting everything his sister had revealed.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
Not at Lori.
At their father.
At the family.
At everything that had happened to his sister.
If their father had simply put aside his anger and supported Lori when she needed him, perhaps her life would have been very different. She would never have had to endure the humiliation, never have been forced to run, and perhaps her family would never have been torn apart in the first place.
Artag lowered his gaze.
Despite everything, there was one thing he was grateful for.
His sister had returned.
She had come back safely.
And she had brought her daughter with her.
The situation was far from perfect, but at least Lori was once again with her family.
And, perhaps more importantly, their father had finally accepted Sachi.
Artag watched the flames dance before him.
Then his expression hardened with determination.
Once this exploration was complete, he would begin searching for his brother-in-law.
He would find him.
And he would bring him back.
Only then, Artag believed, could his sister's family finally live together in peace.
A faint smile crossed his face.
"I'll bring him home."
Around the camp, the ordinary guards continued their watch.
They stood at their assigned positions, carefully scanning the surrounding darkness.
But they were not the only ones watching.
Hidden among the trees and shadows, the shadow guards moved silently.
Their eyes constantly swept across the wilderness.
Nothing escaped their attention.
Or at least, that was what they believed.
Far beyond the camp, beyond the reach of the firelight and the watchful eyes of the guards, another nightmare had already begun.
A village lay beneath the darkness of night.
Its streets, once filled with life, were now filled with screams.
People ran desperately through the narrow paths, stumbling over one another as they tried to escape.
Behind them came the creatures.
Dark, twisted figures with movements that were almost human—but not quite.
Their bodies lurched forward as they hunted the villagers.
One creature seized a fleeing man.
His scream echoed through the village.
Another creature tore through a doorway, dragging a terrified family into the darkness.
The streets were becoming a slaughterhouse.
The creatures devoured everything in their path.
Men.
Women.
Children.
No one was spared.
And while the camp slept peacefully miles away, the village slowly disappeared beneath the shadow of the creatures.
The darkness was spreading.
And no one at Sachi's camp knew that it had already begun moving toward them.