Hanna blinked,
her gaze unfocused.
"Jane…?"
Her voice was hoarse.
"Wha… what happened?
I remember the VeinBorn showing up…
we ran…
then… everything went black."
Jane let out a breath she'd been holding.
Her lips curled into a shaky smile.
She sat down beside her, leaning on one arm.
"That thing threw a tree at us.
A full tree.
You slammed into a tree.
Didn't move for a while.
Scared the hell out of me."
She paused.
"VeinBorn.
You said that name.
You know what that monster is?"
Hanna shifted,
eyes still hazy,
but voice gaining strength.
"I saw it somewhere.
Places that stay sealed off,
or untouched by Explorers for a long time,
sometimes they build up too much raw tekke.
If the stone's saturated enough…
and the environment's right,
a VeinBorn can form.
They're not made.
They grow.
Stone fusing with raw tekke and whatever's nearby."
She leaned her head back against the dirt.
"The common ones are sand-fused.
Desert types.
Or magma-based,
near volcanic zones.
But this?
I've never heard of one made from vine and forest."
Hanna exhaled slowly,
still catching her breath.
"What I do know—
they all share the same weakness.
You have to interrupt the tekke flow inside them.
Cut it off.
But that's never easy.
Especially with a kind I've never even seen befo—"
"Those purple crystals," Jane cut in. "It has to be them."
She leaned forward, still gripping her ribs.
"When I hit one with my shield,
it turned toward me immediately.
The light inside the crystal went dark.
But when I practically tore half its arm apart,
it didn't even flinch."
Jane glanced at the blood near Hanna's temple.
Then pressed her hand to her side again.
"Even if we know its weak point…
we don't have to do this.
We can go back.
Let another team handle it.
There'll always be more missions.
More tekke out there."
Hanna reached over.
Flicked Jane lightly on the forehead.
"It's not about tekke.
It's about no one else getting hurt.
What if the next team doesn't know what we do?
What if they don't have our experience,
especially in forests?"
She sat up straighter.
"I don't even want to think about it.
We can do this.
We just have to break those purple spikes.
Each one.
We've got the knowledge.
No one else should walk into this blind."
She smirked.
"Maybe we'll even find some tekke in that thing's core."
Jane looked at her,
half proud,
half worried.
"Alright. I'm in.
No one handles forests better than us."
She stood,
gripping her sword.
Let's go trim that overgrown weed."
The ground trembled again.
The VeinBorn was coming.
Hanna raised her palm toward Jane.
"Distract it.
I'll take care of the crystals."
Jane pressed her hand to Hanna's.
Gave a nod and a grin.
Then turned and ran.
"Hey! Rockface!"
She waved her sword, darting sideways between shattered trunks.
The creature twisted,
and followed.
Its arm swung wide,
ripping a tree from the ground and hurling it like a club.
Jane ducked, rolled, came up running.
A vine lashed out near her feet,
but she leapt, boots skimming the forest floor.
Behind it, Hanna moved.
Fast. Focused.
She slid her hands through the air.
A jagged ice spear formed,
narrow, sharp.
She hurled it at the VeinBorn's right shoulder.
It struck the crystal embedded there,
and cracked it.
The creature groaned, staggered.
Its head whipped around,
searching for her.
Jane saw the moment.
Sprinted between its legs.
Another tree flew past—
missed by inches.
Hanna raised both hands.
An ice wall burst up from the ground,
blocking the creature's view,
buying seconds.
She rushed wide,
angled behind it.
Jane kicked off a fallen stump.
A ramp of ice bloomed under her feet mid-leap,
boosting her upward.
She slammed her sword into the crystal lodged in the left forearm.
It shattered on impact.
Two down.
The creature roared.
Vines slammed into the earth,
roots cracking stone.
Hanna formed flat ice disks and flung them,
spinning fast.
They sliced through smaller vines,
cutting its footing.
Then she stomped the ground.
Frozen spikes erupted beneath it.
The VeinBorn buckled.
Jane ducked under another swing,
rolled again,
panting now.
Hanna spotted the crystal near the lower back,
the one behind the right shoulder.
She ran,
used the ice ramp again to gain height.
Midair, she formed a short blade of frost,
sharpened for speed,
and drove it straight into the crystal.
Three.
The creature lurched.
Its steps grew heavy.
It turned wildly,
eyes glowing harder, faster.
Hanna slid under a twisting root,
caught her balance,
and froze a patch of streamwater near its left foot.
The leg stiffened, slipped.
It caught itself on one arm.
Jane didn't hesitate.
She climbed its arm again,
jumped high,
this time landing near its back.
The crystal on the left rear shoulder,
she drove her sword deep.
It cracked,
then burst.
Only one left.
The VeinBorn howled,
its chest rising and falling like something alive.
Its movements grew desperate.
Stronger, but slower.
Hanna looked up.
The final crystal,
center of the neck.
Just beneath the back of the head.
She skated forward,
formed a new ice spear as she moved,
but stopped.
Jane was too close.
The angle was wrong.
"Jane! The neck!"
Jane heard her.
Nodded.
She backed up,
gritted her teeth,
then sprinted,
one last charge.
Hanna saw it coming.
She stomped,
formed a quick ramp,
and Jane launched off it like a missile.
She rose,
twisted midair,
and slammed the edge of her shield into the final crystal.
The strike connected—
but didn't break it.
A fracture appeared, faint.
Not enough.
Before she could react,
the creature's head snapped toward her.
The crystal near the base of its neck surged with light.
Then it struck.
A tendril of hardened vine whipped out,
and caught her mid-air.
Her body twisted in the hit.
She crashed against a root,
then hit the ground hard, her shield falling beside her.
Dust kicked up.
Her breath caught.
Her legs were pinned beneath fallen moss and vine.
The creature loomed over Jane,
raising one massive foot.
A shadow fell across her body,
poised to crush her.
Then—
a sharp sound pierced the air,
followed by a spiral of light flaring from behind the VeinBorn.
"Hanna! No!"
Hanna had seen it moving toward Jane.
She raised both hands.
Blue in her right palm.
Red in her left.
She fired a spiral beam—
a twisting thread of fire and frost,
the two elements coiling as one.
It struck the crystal at the back of the creature's neck.
Didn't shatter it.
But locked it in place.
The VeinBorn froze,
its limbs trembling under the force.
The crystal began to crack.
Slowly.
But not alone.
Hanna's fingers were icing over,
frost creeping from her fingertips to her forearms.
Her neck glowed red,
a burning ring etched into her skin,
like fire sealed beneath flesh.
The crystal kept fracturing.
A line of blood ran from Hanna's nose.
She didn't waver.
From the other side,
Jane pulled against the vines that held her.
"Hanna, no—
please."
Tears hit the ground.
Still, Hanna held her stance.
The spiral beam surged,
and the VeinBorn remained locked in place,
unable to move, unable to breathe.
Then,
finally—
Jane pulled one last time.
The vines snapped.
She fell forward, gasping,
then scrambled to her feet.
A sound like shattering glass.
The final crystal exploded.
The VeinBorn collapsed forward,
stone smashing into earth.
The ground quaked.
Smoke drifted through the trees.
And through it—
Hanna appeared.
Standing,
arms still raised,
ice climbing to her elbows,
her tunic stained with blood,
a deep burn glowing around her neck.
The beam had vanished.
Only silence remained.
She looked at Jane,
and smiled.
Then her body gave out.
Jane was already running.
She caught her just before she hit the ground.
"Han,
Han,
Please…
it's going to be okay—"
Hanna's eyes fluttered open.
Her left hand rose,
slowly.
She pressed it to Jane's chest.
And mouthed the words.
"Du... (From)
lar'... (my)
eth... (hearth)
ta... (you)
es'... (are)
ek. … (blood)
veshan 'eth." (and trust)
Her eyes closed,
a soft smile still on her lips.