Ari's POV

My lungs burned as I ran.

The fissure made in the cave wall had swallowed the storage cave, created a dark hole in the stone, and I could still feel the presence of Rylan as a blade in my back. The alarms he had set on his way resounded in the mountain, the low angry ones rustling dust out of the trees as I jumped out into the forest. I ached in my legs, my shoulder seemed to ache, but I made no pause. Fear sharpened my focus. I had endured worse than this.

To my right, I said to myself, Left, and went along the road I...