C5 **CHAPTER 5 — The Hunter Who Knows Her Name**

The hunter emerged into the moonlight, revealing a tall figure clad in armor that appeared to be crafted from shadow and steel. His eyes glimmered faintly, silver, sharp, predatory. Aira immediately felt the chilling weight of his gaze settle on her, despite Lucian standing like a barrier between them.

“Lucian,” the hunter said, his voice unsettlingly calm. “Move.”Lucian didn’t budge. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t breathe.

Aira had witnessed his anger, tension, and guardedness, but this was different. There was a profound stillness about him now, like the calm before a storm that could shatter entire worlds. She didn’t completely grasp it, but she felt its intensity.

“She is under my protection,” Lucian asserted. The hunter tilted his head slightly, amusement dancing in his eyes.

“You can’t shield her from her own blood. You can’t shield her from what’s coming.”

Aira clutched Lucian’s coat. “Lucian… who is he?”

Lucian remained silent, not because he chose not to answer, but because responding would give the hunter precisely what he sought.

The hunter smirked. “So the girl doesn’t even know?” His tone dripped with a cruel delight. Aira’s heart raced. “Lucian, why won’t he say my name? Why does it matter?”

The hunter's gaze snapped to her, hungry and sharp. And then she realized: He didn’t just want to kill her. He wanted to claim her, bind her, and own her.

Lucian stepped forward, positioning himself directly in front of her.

“You utter her name,” Lucian warned, “and I will tear your throat out with my hands.”

Aira's breath caught in her throat. The hunter chuckled, a dark sound that echoed through the cathedral's crumbling walls.

“You forget,” he said, “I trained you. I know every weakness you try to conceal.”

Aira's jaw dropped.

“You… trained him?”

Lucian didn’t refute it; his silence spoke volumes.

Aira stared at him in shock as disbelief coursed through her. “Lucian.”

“Not now,” he replied quietly. “Aira, I need you to move back. Far back.”

“But.”

“Now.”

There was something in his tone that brooked no argument, not fear but urgency. Aira stumbled backward across the cracked stone floor, heart racing as the hunter’s gaze tracked her every movement.

The hunter raised a hand, and a peculiar glowing sigil illuminated across his palm.

Lucian tensed up.

Aira felt a knot tighten in her stomach.

“What is he doing?”

Lucian’s response was brief:

“Calling her.”

Aira froze. “Calling who?”

The hunter’s smile widened.

“You.”

And then

Aira felt it.

A heavy pressure filled the air, like invisible chains wrapping around her ribcage, tightening until she could barely breathe.

It wasn’t physical.

It wasn’t magic.

It was a connection.

Binding.

Recognition.

It was as if something deep within her blood responded to the sigil the hunter held.

Aira gasped. “Lucian, something’s happening but I can’t.”

She staggered, clutching her chest.

Lucian reacted immediately, lunging forward. His hand slammed against the sigil on the hunter’s palm. The air erupted with a surge of dark energy. Symbols shattered like glass. The hunter hissed in irritation and stepped back.

“You’re delaying the inevitable, Lucian. She will belong to the Order. All cursed heirs do.”

“She is not theirs,” Lucian growled.

Aira struggled to catch her breath, her vision blurring. “Lucian, I felt, I felt something respond to him.”

Lucian gently but firmly grabbed her shoulders. “Look at me, Aira. Focus on my voice.”

“I, I don’t understand.”

“You will,” he said. “But right now, you need to breathe. Stay with me.”

His voice was calm and steady, grounding her.

Aira focused on it, everything else inside her felt like it was fracturing.

The hunter watched, amused.

“So protective,” he remarked. “Just like you were with her mother.”

Aira froze.

Lucian’s entire body went rigid.

The hunter took a slow step forward.

“How long will you hide it from the girl?” he asked. “Does she deserve to know how much of her fate has been shaped by?”

Lucian moved faster than Aira could blink.

Shadows burst from his hands, crashing into the hunter’s armor with such force that it cracked the cathedral floor beneath them. The hunter slid back several feet before hitting the ground hard.

Aira gasped.

Lucian had never unleashed that much power before, not in front of her.

The hunter stood up, brushing off his armor.

“Touchy,” he murmured.

Lucian's chest rose and fell rapidly.

He wasn’t out of breath.

He was furious.

“Aira,” he said without looking at her, “run.” She stared at him. “What?”

“RUN.”

The hunter leaped.

Lucian intercepted him mid-air.

Steel clashed with shadow.

The impact shook the cathedral.

Aira stumbled backward as the floor cracked beneath them. Dust rained down from the ceiling as Lucian and the hunter moved too quickly for her eyes to follow, clashing and striking, shadows slicing through the air like blades.

Lucian shouted without looking at her:

“Aira, GO!”

For one brief moment, Aira hesitated, because something inside her whispered that leaving him "Meant to lose him.

But then the hunter’s blade cut across Lucian’s shoulder.

Lucian staggered.

“LUCIAN!” He didn’t turn, He wouldn’t allow himself to. He only yelled again.

“RUN!”

Aira's lungs burned as she turned and sprinted toward the cathedral doors.

But just as she reached then, a voice whispered from behind a broken pillar:

“Aira…”

Not Lucian.

Not the hunter.

Someone else, Someone who shouldn’t know her. Someone who definitely shouldn’t be in this cathedral.

Aira’s blood ran cold, She turned. And saw a second figure emerge into the moonlight, A hooded stranger.

And the first words they said were: “You were never meant to survive the curse.”

Aira froze.

Her escape route vanished."