Page 53 of Unbound

But they're not alone.

A massive creature prowls among them, its body a living flame in the rough shape of a wolf. It's at least three times the size of any natural wolf, its paws leaving scorched prints on the black stones. As I watch, it lunges forward, jaws closing around a screaming air affinity. His body ignites instantly, becoming nothing but ash in seconds.

Another pulls back a long spear and jabs at the wolf. His weapon dissolves in his hand.

His body follows a moment later.

We’re not meant to fight these things. We never were. If they are hunting us…Gods.We’ll stand no chance.

The remaining students scatter, some running toward the twisted forest, others plunging into the still waters of a nearby lake. The fire wolf—elemental—chooses another target, a girl. She doesn't even have time to scream.

My stomach heaves as panic, disgust, and anger war for first place. Bile burns the back of my throat, but there's no time for weakness.

They sent us into a fucking slaughter, but I’m not going to join the dead. Not today.

If I want to stay among the living—if I want a chance of finding and helping my friends through this—I need to move. Now.

I scan my surroundings, looking for any sign of Mireen, Beck, or Ambrose. Nothing. I'm completely alone, and the fire elemental is working its way methodically along the shoreline, hunting down students one by one.

How long before more elementals show up?

Something in the water yanks one of them down suddenly, cutting off their scream before it has time to begin.

I need to run.

But which way? The twisted forest offers cover but no clear path. The water might provide safety from a fire elemental, but even worse things likely lurk below its surface.

The memory of the massive water serpent flashes through my mind—those intelligent eyes, the way it spoke to me."If you see me during Confluence Day, you must run."

Is it here? Is it hunting in these waters? I decide to follow the lake's shore toward the huge wall in the distance. It will keep me close enough to the trees to run for them if something else comes, and close enough to the water to dive in if the wolf spots me.

I've only taken a few steps when I feel it—a change in the air, a sudden chill across my skin. I freeze, instinct screaming at me to remain absolutely still.

The water beside me shifts, a gentle ripple marring its perfect surface. Someone else screams in the distance as the wolf continues its hunt.

I hold my breath, certain that the water serpent has found me. I can feel the twisted signature of its presence. I know it's close, and it fucking terrifies me.

But what emerges isn't the dragon-like creature from the lake. It's something smaller, more human-sized—a perfect sphere of water rising from the surface, hovering at eye level. Inside the sphere, colors shift and change, almost forming an image before dissolving again.

I take a step back, unsure if this is a threat or something else.

The sphere follows, drifting closer.

"Stay back," I warn, though I have no idea if it can understand me. Stupidly, I point my rapier at it.

The sphere stops, hanging in the air between us. Then it begins to change, elongating, taking shape. Water flows and reshapes until I'm staring at a mirror image of myself, perfectly formed in living water.

"What are you?" I whisper.

The water-me tilts its head, examining me with curiosity. Then it speaks, its voice like the distant sound of waves.

"What are you?" it echoes, though the inflection makes me think it's a genuine question, not simply mimicry.

Before I can answer, a roar echoes from behind me. The fire wolf has finished with the other students and is now turning its attention toward me, its flaming body rippling with heat.

The water entity looks toward the approaching predator, then back at me.

"Run," it says simply. "Do not enter the water. It waits for you there." The elemental dissolves back into the stillness of the lake.

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