"Mother, nooo!!"
Gugum's scream ripped through the valley like a wounded beast, hoarse with fear and despair. But it was too late. A fraction of a second too late.
Andini felt it, an overwhelming, coordinated assault closing in from every direction. Her instincts flared. She tried to retract her energy and form a barrier, but the enemy was faster. Too fast.
BLAARR!!
An explosion of terrifying force shook the valley as five attacks struck her at once. Her wind shield shattered like glass under a hammer. An unimaginable pain tore through her body, shredding her consciousness. It felt like her soul itself was being pulled apart.
Dark energy, foreign and freezing, surged into her chest. It pierced through muscle and organ alike, ravaging her from within. She coughed a torrent of bright red blood, her body flung like a broken doll. She landed beside Gugum, limp and trembling.
"Mother..." Gugum's voice trembled, the word barely escaping his lips as he stared in horror at her ruined form. Blood trickled from the corners of her mouth. Her breathing was shallow, her eyes dim.
"I'm... all right... my son..." Andini whispered, trying to smile, but all she could manage was a grimace twisted by pain.
"Hand over the scroll! Or... you both die right here!" one of the masked attackers growled, voice thunderous with menace.
Andini's eyes widened. The scroll... how do they know? Only she and Gugum had ever known about its existence. The ancient elemental scripture had been hidden for years, how could anyone possibly find out?
Then, like a phantom emerging from a locked memory, a figure from her past flickered in her mind. A face she had tried to forget. Could it be... him?
"What are you talking about?" she snapped, narrowing her eyes. She couldn't mask the shock in her voice.
"No more questions! We know you have it! Give it to us—NOW!" another shouted, his voice like a whip, shattering her moment of doubt.
Andini bit her lip hard. There was no time to hesitate. Leaning down, she whispered softly into her son's ear.
"My child... get ready. Stand up. Be strong..."
With an agonizing effort, she forced her trembling body upright, one knee pressing into the dirt. The dim glow in her eyes flared cold and bright. Rage, silent, frigid, and vast, rose within her. The five masked enemies surrounded them now, closing in for the kill.
If I can buy even a moment… if I can give my son a chance to escape… then it will be enough.
Slowly, she raised her quivering hands. The air around them thickened, wind pulsing with unnatural weight. Her elemental essence surged, Earth and Wind twisting together with unstable power. She slammed her palms to the cracked earth.
THRUMMM!
The ground trembled. Wind roared, forming a violent vortex that pulled debris, leaves, even stones into its spiral. Earth's solid might fused with Wind's wild motion, forging a chaotic pattern of glowing lines that radiated destructive force.
BOOOOM!!
The explosion rocked the entire valley. Air howled like a thousand storms. The ground split apart, stone spikes erupting violently in every direction. Wind and dust spiraled in a tornado of fury, ripping through anything in their path.
This was no refined technique, this was the desperation of a mother on the edge.
The two closest attackers were the first to fall. A shockwave hurled them into the valley wall. Their bodies struck with a sickening crunch, limp and bloodied. The other three, including the one with the silver mask, barely had time to react. They raised emergency barriers, but the barrage was relentless. Blades of wind cut through their robes. Chunks of stone hammered their limbs.
Weapons clattered to the ground. Blood splashed across the rocks. Their confidence turned to chaos as they stared into the face of raw, reckless power.
In the eye of this elemental storm, Andini's vision blurred. Her body screamed in agony, her energy draining fast. But she saw it, a single opening.
She reached for Gugum, clutching him tight. "Hold on to me," she rasped.
With what little wind energy she had left, she formed a thin protective shell of air around them. Then, directing the very storm she had unleashed, she used it to propel them away from the chaos, low and fast, gliding through the debris-filled sky.
"She's escaping! After them!" the silver-masked leader roared, clutching his shattered ribs.
The remaining enemies gave chase, leaping over trembling stones. But their bodies were battered, their footing unsure. The terrain itself had turned hostile. Jagged rocks, surging wind currents, and remnant elemental energy slowed them down.
They could only watch as the fleeing figures vanished into the dense forest beyond the valley's edge.
Rage blazed in their eyes. They had underestimated the woman. Gravely.
Meanwhile, Andini soared low over familiar terrain, cradling Gugum. Every heartbeat was a struggle. The darkness those attackers had injected into her was spreading, searing through her veins. Her vision flickered. Her thoughts blurred.
But instinct carried her onward.
At last, she saw it, the cliffside.
The same cliff where her fate had been rewritten years ago. The very same ledge that once marked the end, and the beginning.
She crash-landed near the edge, collapsing hard.
"Mother!" Gugum helped her up, eyes wide with panic.
He was bruised and bleeding too, scratches, cracked ribs maybe, but his concern was all for her.
"We have to get to safety," Andini gasped, eyes flicking down the cliff's face.
She remembered the ancient tree below, the one that had once caught her fall. It's our only chance. No tracks. No pursuit.
"Trust me... my son..." she whispered.
Without another word, she tightened her grip around Gugum, and leapt off the cliff.
Gugum screamed. The void opened below them. But Andini held him close, channeling the last threads of her wind affinity. She didn't just slow their descent, she steered it.
This was madness. To fall from such a height, while using crippled powers to guide their motion? One miscalculation meant death.
But for her son... she would defy even death itself.
The wind shrieked around them. Their descent veered dangerously, but at the final moment, she angled them toward the outstretched branch of the colossal tree.
BRUKK!
They hit it hard. Not gently. But not fatally either.
Gugum groaned. Andini coughed up more blood, her limbs barely moving. But they were alive.
Hidden halfway down the ravine, completely out of sight.
No tracks. No trail. Just silence and wind.
With trembling fingers, they crawled from the branch toward a narrow crevice in the cliff.
Toward the hidden cave.
Toward whatever future might yet remain.