I knew I could barely stand on my own, but I still wrapped my arm around her and pulled her up. Her body weighed almost nothing, light enough that lifting her didn't strain me the way it should have. Small blessing, I guess.

Her skin was freezing against mine, her breath shallow enough that I wasn't even sure she would stay conscious long enough to escape. But there was no time to think about that.

My wings snapped open and I forced them to beat as hard as I could. The tunnel walls scraped against the edges, far too narrow for proper flight, but I managed to lift us anyway.

Pebbles and chunks of loose stone rained down on my wings every time they brushed the walls, sending sharp jolts up my spine. The air was cold and stale, barely giving me anything to breathe. Each flap felt like pushing against mud, heavy and suffocating.

The footsteps behind us grew louder, closing in at a pace that made my chest tighten. I didn't stop. I flew like my life depended on it… well, it did. Heh. Wrong time for jokes... My breath grew ragged, scraping at my throat like sandpaper, but I refused to slow down.

I didn't care where this tunnel led. Anywhere was better than the cell. But Silver's shout from behind told me enough. She wouldn't panic like that unless this path had an exit. If it was a dead end, she would've laughed instead of barking orders. That alone was all the hope I needed.

I pushed forward, carrying the half-dead girl and every bit of my remaining strength with me into the dark. My arms were shaking under her weight, but I tightened my grip around her anyway. Her heart beat faintly against my chest, barely there, like it could flicker out any moment.

I raced against time as the whole tunnel began to rumble. Dust shook loose from the ceiling, raining down like ash. The ground behind me softened, turning into sand that swallowed whatever touched it. Good thing I chose to fly. That had to be Silver's doing. The stone warped and twisted under her influence, waves of earth rolling like a living creature chasing after me.

"Vampire!" her voice cut through the dark, sharp enough to slice skin. "If you stop now, I will consider not killing you. Or else!"

Pure rage filled every word. Her pride must have been burning; she truly believed she had full control over everything here. The air behind me quivered with her presence, heavy enough to make my bones ache.

I ignored her and pushed harder, wings scraping the walls as I picked up speed. Pain flared across my left wing as a jagged stone bit into it, tearing a thin line of skin, but I clenched my teeth and kept flying. The tunnel stretched endlessly, so long that for a heartbeat I wondered if I was trapped in some twisted time loop, flying over the same stretch again and again.

But then, I saw a tiny light ahead.

My heart skipped in my chest. A way out. I might actually make it. What I would do afterward… that didn't matter right now. Anything was better than dying in their hands. Even if that light turned out to be another trap, I would still choose it over giving Silver the satisfaction of catching me.

I flew toward that light with everything I had left. My muscles screamed. My wings stung. The girl in my arms trembled once, then went still again, making my stomach twist.

But before I could reach the exit, the entire place burst into a blinding light that forced my eyes shut. They burned as if someone was rubbing hot iron across them. Even my skin tingled so violently I wanted to claw it off. The heat hit me like a wall, pushing against my face, drying out my throat in an instant.

I pushed forward anyway, fighting through the pain, until the sensation changed. It no longer felt like I was flying at all. My wings were immobile, stiff at my back, as if the air itself had turned to solid stone.

When I opened my eyes, golden lines wrapped around my body, tightening like a spider's web. I hung suspended, caught like an insect struggling in the wrong place at the wrong time. The bindings dug into my skin, humming with a pressure that pressed into bone.

"Enough of this madness."

An authoritative voice rolled through the tunnel, shaking the stone. My body dropped instantly. My knees hit the softened ground created by Silver's magic, but I still could not move. I could barely breathe. Whoever this person was, their power dwarfed everything I had seen so far. It felt ancient, raw, and suffocating.

"So he came for me…"

The weak voice came from the woman I held in my arms. Before I could react, she touched my skin with a single finger. Every restraint shattered at once, vanishing like dust in a gust of wind. My body felt weightless, almost unreal, like I was falling in slow motion.

She rose from my hold, unsteady but determined, and then the green light around her erupted. The explosion tore through the chamber, sending stones, sand, and everything in between flying through the air.

Daylight burst outward as if the entire underground had been sliced into a million fragments. My hair whipped wildly around my face, and for a second I thought the world itself was falling apart.

"You should run. And thank you. This kindness, I shall never forget. If you ever need my help, hold this to your heart, and I will come to meet my fated friend, no matter who you offend." She pressed a small round object into my palm and closed my fingers around it.

Her voice made my skin shiver. Every hair on my arms stood up as I staggered back. Whoever she was… she was even more terrifying than the one who tried to bind us.

And a single thought crept up my spine like ice.

What kind of monster did I just unleash on this world?

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.