It was all her fault. She was the reason everything went wrong. The Zakhira, once growing larger and joining the ranks of the Great Tribes, no thanks to her, was now diminished and splintered. If she had not meddled in the coalition's strategy meeting, perhaps they would have won against Mong Rau, and everybody would be happy now.

  Viyal's thoughts spiraled out of control as she sat beside the headless horse skeleton. There was no thought about what would happen if the pursuers caught up to her somehow. She was alone now, a child with no home to return to, tossed into a hostile world without rules. How could she survive on her own?

  A bird's call startled her. The rustling of something nearby caused her to shiver in fear. When she realized that she could still feel this way, an ember flickered in her heart. Even after everything, she did not want to die. The sacrifices that allowed her to get this far would be wasted if she were to give up now. It was her duty to carry their lives on her shoulders and keep going.

  Akashi Shizuru would not surrender to fate. Not because she was a chosen one but because she owed it to those she came to care about. To hell with being destined for greatness. She would start anew and make her own way, not follow some prophecy. It was as the Akhma Merkheleh told her: A prophecy only held as much importance as one afforded it. And she had let hers get to her head.

  Viyal stood up and looked around. The forest was abuzz with wildlife, but there was no hint of Shinoona hooves echoing off the pillar-like trees. Rowen's magical mount had carried her faster than anything she had ever seen before, but if the bridge still stood, it would only be a matter of time before her pursuer caught up.

  She walked a few steps on unsteady feet and leaned against a tree. This was the second time she had fallen off a mount's back in the past few hours. Although she landed in the relatively soft pine straw, the impacts still affected her. However, this would not stop her from continuing. As long as she was alive, she would struggle to survive. Even if she had to crawl on all fours, this was not where her story would end. Gathering her resolve, she continued to walk once more.

  She could not tell where West was since the forest canopy obscured the sun. According to Rowen's calculations, it would have been a month as the Shinoona traveled to leave the mountainous range and come upon a dry steppe. On foot, it would likely take much longer. But that thought no longer deterred her. She would make it to his homeland and build a new life for herself there.

  For now, she followed the dirt path. It was connected to the bridge she passed a while ago, so it was likely a pilgrims' trail or a trade route. Surely, she would come upon a settlement or a homestead within a day or two. She had nothing on her to trade for supplies, but at least their inhabitants could point her the right way.

  A few hours passed, and she felt her stomach rumbling. A growing Mosyv ate a lot every day, but she had to starve during their escape from the Selemur hunters. She should have been half a head taller at her age, but her growth had been stunted from months of not being able to fill her belly as was necessary. It would now likely only get worse.

  She opened the small pouch in her waistcloth. It contained some fire-dried meat from their hunting trip. Taking count, she found it was only enough for two meals. The rest of their supplies had been distributed among Yunil, Tashi, and Altuna since she took on Mamai as a passenger. This would have to last her for however long it took to reach civilization.

  Viyal's ears perked up when she heard a rustling noise nearby again. It sounded like a small mammal moving through the pine straw. The entire forest was filled with life, but it all seemed out of reach for her. She did not have her bow since it was in a holster on her saddle, which was buried under her fallen Shinoon. In their hasty escape, she could not pick up her spear either. All she had was her body. Now, she would find out how much of an apex predator a Mosyv was really.

  Hours passed with Viyal trying to find any of the sources that made the noises in the undergrowth. As if they taunted her, she never even saw the creatures scurrying around near her. Crow-like birds cawed down at her from the trees in mocking laughter. Instead of catching a meal, she only exerted herself and grew hungrier.

  She returned to the path dejectedly and continued her travel, consoling herself by eating what little supplies she had. If her hunting instincts did not awaken once she grew too hungry to think and she died from starvation because she could not do anything by herself, it would be a fitting end to her tale of hubris.

  Even now, there were no hints of any pursuers. Perhaps Rowen had stopped them all before succumbing to his wounds from the battle. She could only offer a prayer for his sacrifice and trudge on down the sloping path. Rowen said the port town of Melua was a place where lost travelers would meet again but that her friends would find her before then. She chose to believe his words; Yunil, Tashi, and Altuna were still alive.

  The same was true with her family in her uncle's grasp. She would reunite with her friends, travel to the Cranog Kingdom, and grow stronger there. Strong enough to stand up to Gavro. And then she would return and free her mother and father. She would take over the tribe and lead it back to glory. Not as the Omen Child, not as the one chosen to conquer the world, but as Akashi Shizuru. As Viyal of the Zakhira.

  She caught herself grinning at the prospect, revealing her front row of sharp teeth. Thinking about future plans made her keenly aware that she had overcome her mental barriers. She would no longer waver in her drive. She could stumble; she could fall. But she would stand up every time and keep going.

  Now, she only needed to catch dinner and survive the wilderness.

  Two starving days later, Viyal came upon a sign of civilization at a road crossing. It was a literal sign, a milestone carved with words she could not read. She had left the forest the previous day and entered an open region with little vegetation. The trampled path disappeared into the rocky terrain at one point, and she was unsure if she had gone the right way. But she could now follow the direction of the sun and keep traveling west.

  The milestone seemed to stand in the middle of nowhere, but she finally recognized that the gravel under her feet was slightly different from the surrounding landscape. She had instinctively walked on the path and not lost her way. But now, she was at a fork in the road and unsure where to go.

  One way led up a mountain, the other down into the valley. As long as she continued to go west, it would all work out somehow, but her hunger became unbearable. Humans could survive without food for several weeks, but she was not sure if the same applied to Mosyvvi. And unlike the lively forest, this rocky region ahead seemed lacking in animal life.

  A bird shrieked high in the sky above her, and she craned her neck to find it. Her heart beat out of her chest, hoping that it was Ravi, but she could not tell from this distance. It flew past her and disappeared behind a mountain. If that was Altuna's companion, he would inform her of Viyal's whereabouts. But if it was a local predator, then there was hope yet. After all, it needed local prey to survive.

  Of course, the issue remained that she had yet to catch her own food once in this or her previous life. With that in mind, she decided to descend into the valley. There were small gatherings of trees one could hardly call forests at the bottom, so perhaps there was some wildlife. Furthermore, she hoped to find fish in the river, but at the very least, she would be able to fill up her waterskin. She had been lucky to discover a tiny spring along the way and restock, but the landscape ahead of her looked less forgiving.

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  The path disappeared near the bottom of the valley and seamlessly connected to the wider riverbed. The water was shallow, and silvery bodies darted around in it. Viyal pulled up her pant legs and dipped a foot into the water before stumbling back. It was freezing meltwater from the nearby snowcapped peaks. Summer was around the corner, but so high up in the mountains, the rivers would not get much warmer than this.

  Gathering her resolve, she stepped in and shivered from toe to head. The fish approached her slowly instead of escaping, curious about this new creature entering their realm. Viyal understood the light refractive index of water and calculated her angle of attack. She had no spear or other tools, so she had to roll up her sleeves and use her clawed hands.

  When a fish was close enough, she thrust her hands into the water below where she saw it. But it slipped right through her grasp and darted away just far enough for her to be unable to reach it. She pulled her freezing-cold hands back out of the water and rubbed them together. Rather than catch a fish, she would die from hypothermia at this rate.

  Viyal resolved herself to try again and waded a little deeper into the water. It reached up to her knees, and it felt like her legs would freeze off. But she concentrated on her target and thrust both her hands at it. Again, the fish escaped her grasp and swam out of range to turn around and look at her, almost mockingly.

  And Viyal leaped right at it, splashing into the water. She felt her claws digging into something soft even as she could not tell up from down in the painfully freezing stream. She held on for dear life and took a moment to regain her bearings. When she stood up, shivering from the cold, she held a struggling fish with both her hands. She had made it!

  A low and rumbling growl from behind made her spin around on the spot. A quadrupedal creature resembling a bear but with an elongated muzzle sporting a crocodile-like jaw stood on the shore. It walked right over where she left her few belongings and headed toward her, snarling intimidatingly. Its claws were as long as Viyal's hands, and its arms were thicker than her torso. This creature could rip her head off in a single swipe.

  It was not an enemy she could fight. However, she had expended time and energy on this catch and was thoroughly drenched. She would have to swim through the river to escape. The likelihood of her surviving the cold in her starving state was about as low as if she stood her ground. But most of all, she did not want to run away again.

  "You're not getting this!" Viyal shouted, baring her three rows of sharp teeth. The crocodile bear seemed stunned by her fearlessness but then roared in response. It stood up on its hind legs and reached the height of a grown male Mosyv. That was a threat display, telling her to run now, but Viyal did not shy back. She stuffed the fish into her mouth and swallowed it whole. She could swear the creature blinked in confusion before lowering itself back onto all fours.

  Then it charged. She would obviously make for a more satisfying meal than the fish, but they both now came in a package deal. However, it suddenly stopped when it noticed the scorpion tail rise behind her back. The crocodile bear had never seen a Mosyv before, so it did not know about their sting. All it could see was a flimsy creature with a thick white tail that stood up as a threat. How dangerous could it be? Its instincts as the apex predator of the region told it that it would win with a single strike.

  It stood up again and lunged forward to swipe at Viyal. She dodged backward, and the attack missed. But instead of taking her distance, she jumped forward and opened her jaw to its maximum size to bite the extended arm. In the same motion, she instinctively thrust her stinger at the creature, stabbing it in the shoulder. The venom delivery was blindingly quick, causing it to roar in pain from the combination attack. Her razor-sharp teeth dug through its stiff fur and thick skin as if it were paper, as did the stinger.

  The crocodile bear raised its arm, lifting Viyal off her feet as she continued to hold on, and swung her around. Her teeth tore off a sizable chunk of meat from the arm, and she flew in an arc onto dry land. The impact on the rocks was painful, and she rolled over herself twice before jumping back up onto her feet. With great effort, she swallowed the fur-covered meat in her mouth before showing off an almost crazed expression as she grinned with bloody teeth. She knew now that she stood a chance. This was not where she would die.

  The crocodile bear was stunned in fear and confusion. In its black eyes, this small, mostly hairless creature with almost blindingly bright white skin now appeared far larger than before. It considered if it was worth it to attack again and risk it all for this meal. Then, a sharp pain started to spread from the sting in its shoulder. Within the blink of an eye, its arm became unusable, and it struggled to stay upright.

  Viyal realized that her venom was incredibly potent. If it was anything like a scorpion's, the sheer amount of toxins a stinger of her size could inject would be able to kill this bear in a few more seconds. She could have fought by her friends' side all along!

  She stepped forward, ignoring her aching body, and grinned madly at the creature. It was a mixture of elation from the adrenaline pumping through her system and self-loathing at her lack of self-awareness until now. She had lived being protected and moving within the rails of her own mind. Only after losing everything could she break out of that mindset and become who she was meant to be.

  The beast tried to turn around and run away but fell onto its backside and fumbled around with its weakened arms. It did not understand what was happening since no animals in these lands were venomous. Terror overcame it, and it tried to roar to scare away Viyal. But she walked toward it fearlessly as only a whimper emerged from its throat, seizing up from the venom.

  As it succumbed to the toxins coursing through its body with every beat of its weakening heart, Viyal laughed with insane joy. But when it breathed its last and stopped moving, her laughter turned into relieved sobbing. She was freezing, and her body was covered in cuts and bruises. Her throat felt disgusting from the raw fish and hair-covered meat she swallowed. She just took a life over a fish.

  Viyal had never felt so alive before.

  Starting a fire was no easy task with shaky hands. But when it finally burned, the naked Viyal crumbled into a shivering pile beside it. She had taken off her wet clothes and placed them on a large rock next to her while making the fire, underestimating how long it would take her. It would be a miracle if she did not get sick.

  When her body warmed up, she looked at the crocodile bear carcass. Since she had no tools for dressing it, she looked around and picked out a suitable rock. She knapped it and made several makeshift stone knives of different sizes.

  As she cut the creature open along the stomach, her mind wandered to who taught her all of this. Since her father was much busier with his work as the chief and later vice-leader of the coalition, her uncle had been her teacher. Every child of the steppe learned these basic techniques no matter how large their tribe became, and she was grateful for it now.

  She absentmindedly took the crocodile bear apart and reminisced about the better times when her uncle did not want her dead. Gavro had been such a positive influence in her life, so it hurt even more that he had turned around and become her greatest enemy. But that was all in the past now. Considering where she was headed, they would likely never meet again.

  Soon, the giant creature lay skinned before her. She considered the meat on one side and the pile of hide on the other. Since she was already cold traversing this region in her normal clothes, perhaps she could use this fur. Although she had not learned how to make it wearable, she had seen workers of the tribe prepare Shinoona hides. All she could do was copy what they did to the best of her abilities.

  Working her body made Viyal forget her circumstances. She even entertained the possibility of remaining in this region and living off the land, never to be seen again. Of course, it was a mere passing thought; her story would not end here, either. She would not be able to forgive herself if she took the easy way out.

  As she ate some of the grilled bear meat, she looked up at the reddening sky. Several birds circled high above, likely waiting for her to depart and leave behind some scraps for them. She hoped that Ravi was among them, but they did not let out any audible cries and were too far away for her to see anything but black outlines.

  Viyal decided to seek shelter in the grove near the river for the night and complete her work on the fur the next day. The pine straw would make for an acceptable bed, and the sound of the river was calming. With no more pressure from being chased, she would take her time before continuing.

  However, as she considered how to accommodate the fire in her temporary camp without burning it down, she heard the echoes of Shinoona hooves against the mountainsides. She felt hope rise in her heart for a moment before she realized there were more than two sets of hooves. A bellowed command carried on the wind: They had spotted her campfire.

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