The sunlight felt amazing against Rena's skin, warming her from ears to tail as she, Cayden and one carried, unconscious phoenix ate away at the distance one step at a time.

"How'd you get that scar, anyway?"

Cayden grunted as he shifted Nazine on his shoulder. "What, the one over my nose?"

"Yea," said Rena, glancing at the silvery line that started at Cayden's jaw, used his nose as a bridge to the other side of his face before curving up around his eye. "Just seems like a weird place for a scar, that's all. They're usually straight."

"Not when they're intentionally inflicted," said Cayden. "You know I come from a farming background, right? Well, everything isn't all that safe out at the farmlands. Chaotics and feral Mythics come to investigate, and they can do some damage."

Rena kept her face neutral. "What kind of damage?" 

"The feral ones were more like pests, if I'm honest," said Cayden. "Usually came, poked their noses around and most of the time left straight after. But the Chaotics... well, you've seen the spectre, and that isn't as bad as some of those that I've seen."

Pests. "What's the worst?" 

"Well, the one that gave me this scar was a Lethifold. A dae Mythic that looks like a black, shadowy blanket and converts fear into ley. It usually does it through dreams, since it's safer, but I woke up to it giving my brother nightmares and stopped it. It, uh, didn't like that much, and it covered my face.The only thing I could think to do was cut it off, and in my panic, I cut too deep."

Rena looked down, once more focusing on her feet. "That must have been an experience."

"Something like that," said Cayden. "I didn't even notice the blood until the Order showed up. They brought a few angel Mythics with them and banished the chaotic. It was around that time I decided the farmhand life wasn't exciting enough for me, that I wanted to learn to protect the Mythics. One of the angels was impressed by my resilience to the Lethifold's effects and recommended me, and that was pretty much that."

"And then you got stuck with pigeon boy here," said Rena. 

"And then I got stuck with pigeon boy," agreed Cayden. 

He sighed, a signal Rena had come to recognise as 'pigeon boy is getting heavy'. Sure enough, Cayden placed Nazine on the ground a few seconds later and moved to examine the phoenix's key.

"He's getting low," said Cayden. "Missing out on a feeding last night didn't help anything. If we don't feed him by tomorrow, I don't know if he'll still be with us." 

Rena clenched her fists. "I can't, Cayden."

"Then we need another solution, and we need one fast," said Cayden. Rena knew what the other option was: they risked it. "Either way, we'll eat now. It's a good of a spot as any. Think you can fill up our flasks at the river?" 

"Sure," said Rena, struggling to keep her tails from dragging in the dirt as she collected their flasks and walked to the river. 

She curled her tails around her leg as she examined the unassuming flasks, anything to give her a distraction from the looming deadline of 'feed Nazine or watch him reach burnout'. The metal, while cool, tingled in her hands from the ley imbued into its structure. The flasks were some of the few things Kat had managed to retrieve for their journey and Rena was glad to have them. The ley cleansed the water or anything else they put into it, making it instantly safe to drink. 

A happier feeling spread through her body, unfurling her tails by the time she reached the river. She had problems, true, but with this sunlight, she shouldn't be spending every moment under a stormcloud. Why not take the few moments where she felt warm and strong, these few moments when she felt like she could do anything? 

The thought stopped Rena mid-stretch. 

She looked to her hands. The flask metal. Her eyes jumped up and scanned the edges of the river and the land that dipped over a hill on the other side. The land that, when she opened herself to the ley, lit up with an unmistakable silvery cloud of ley. 

Rena couldn't believe it. 

She'd found a hotspot.  

She barely managed to scoop water into the flasks before bolting back the way she'd came. Her tails flared behind her for balance as the wind smoothed their fur, her chest heaving with excitement. She crashed into Cayden's temporary camp with such speed that he reached for the usual place of his sword and jumped to his feet. 

"What's wrong?" he asked, scanning the way she'd come. 

"Nothing!" said Rena with a laugh. "Nothing's wrong, Cayden! I know what we can do!" 

"What?" 

"A hotspot!" she said. "I found a hotspot, just on the other side of the river! I don't have to feed from you--by the nine, I could fill up Nazine's key and myself for later and it might just last us until we get to Leristith!" 

Strangely, Cayden didn't share her joy. "A hotspot? All the way out here?"

"It's not that uncommon," said Rena, her excitement fading. Had he been hoping to force her into another feeding, to feed his growing addiction? "This is a good thing, Cayden!" 

Cayden ran a hand through his hair. "Isolated hotspots like this, away from civilisation or places where the Order's Mythics would feel drawn to... they're dangerous, Rena. Hunters often trap them to catch any unlucky Unbounds or ferals that might pass by and be tempted by it." 

"I've been to plenty of outside hotspots," said Rena. "And I've never heard of anything like that."

"You've never truly been outside civilisation," said Cayden. "The ones you visited--around Faissi and Biarla, I'd assume?--they're all Order protected hotspots. Even if you thought you were roughing it, why do you think you never came across another feral or Unbound?" Rena didn't have an answer for that. "The ones out this way aren't protected by the Order, and your ley is valuable. Your key is priceless, and there's more than one poor man in this world willing to risk it all against a Mythic for a chance at glory."

"Well it's not like I have a key anymore anyway," said Rena. "They can do whatever they like to me, because give it a week and I won't remember it anyway because I'll be feral."

Cayden shifted uncomfortably. "Rena, that isn't--"

"What other choice do we have?" she demanded, throwing her arms wide. "Feed off you again and just hope it works?" Rena shook her head, flattening her ears against her skull. "That bit of resistance in your mind is what I'm relying on to stop myself. If you become completely addicted, then it'll be a complete true feeding. I won't be able to stop myself. You'll be dead or unconscious and I'll be a feral who doesn't care whether Nazine makes it or not."

This time, it was Cayden without answers. 

Rena saw her chance and took it. 

She dashed over to Nazine's side and lifted the chain of his key over his head before placing it over her own, backing off to ensure she was well out of Cayden's range. He didn't make a move to stop her, though his expression said he'd rather pin her down and keep her here. 

"I'll be careful, Cayden," said Rena. She let fire lick her fingertips and gave him a gentle smile. "I'm not entirely helpless either, you know." 

"Just... be careful, Rena. You have until tomorrow morning to get back with Nazine's key, or I can't promise he'll be here when you get back." 

"I'll be back in a few hours, easy!" she called over her shoulder, once more running across the grass between the camp and the river. 

It felt good having a plan and being useful, even more so than the high the nearby hotspot threatened to induce if she wasn't careful. It didn't matter how much she wanted it--the most important thing would be to find the core of the hotspot, the point where the two realms almost touched, and seal its energy away inside Nazine's key. 

Rena kept her fingers in a loose, careful cage around Nazine's key to prevent further damage as she moved. The river proved a pain to cross. Not wanting to waste time, Rena gave into the inevitable and swam the length across. It took her a few minutes, especially having to keep Nazine's key above the surface but she'd made it, soaking wet clothes and all. 

The other side of the hill provided a surprise: swamplands. 

Her internal fire evaporated most of the moisture from her clothes but the swamp made it impossible to stay dry. Rena made her way through vines and the twisted limbs of trees alike through a sodden path of squelching mud, always careful of Nazine's key. Always on the lookout for Cayden's supposed hunters. 

Half an hour passed. An hour. Rena lost track. She kept her bearings somewhat. Her goal was a pillar of silver, brighter the closer she drew and the streams--while few--all ran back towards the river, and once there, she reasoned it shouldn't be hard to find Cayden. The little, tasty looking things scattering among the trees didn't seem to have trouble finding their way around--why should she, a kitsune, a beast Mythic, have problems when they didn't? 

Finally, with boots caked up to the knees in mud and her arms not faring much better, Rena found the hotspot's core.

Even without her ley-finding sense active, she would have known. The air itself seemed brighter, illuminated despite the lack of sun that managed to pierce the canopy above. It shimmered and sparkled and it called Rena in. It wanted her just as much as she needed it, and had she not been clutching the chain of Nazine's key so hard it left an imprint in her palm, she would have stayed for days just drinking it in. 

Amazing. 

Rena cleared her mind with a breath. She held out Nazine's key out, directly over the core of the hotspot. The ley within the second realm swirled in acknowledgement and caressed the key, imbuing every facet, every gleaming stone and twist of gold with its power until it glowed with a strength Nazine's key hadn't seen in days. 

Rena brought it back to her chest, holding it in front of her face to examine its glory for one perfect moment as she breathed in the ley for herself. 

And that was where it all went wrong. 

Something hard hit her in the back of the knees, sending Rena crashing into the mud. Nazine's key flew from her hand, landing with a dull splat a few metres from her reach. She squirmed forward, desperate to reclaim it but with mud in her eyes, she missed, but another hand didn't. 

"Ha! Second one for me! You've only managed one this cycle!"

"Mythics are always easy to catch around hotspots, bud. They're too busy getting high on ley to pay attention to anything else. I'd be careful though, this one looks like she's snapped out of it."

The first man didn't seem to care. Rena watched in horror as Nazine's key was claimed by a human in leathers, who lifted it up for inspection. 

"Huh, powerful Mythic, this one. Not sure what kind. Something to do with fire, I'd guess." 

"Marn," warned the second. "Pull her under control before she turns us both into bonfires." 

"Yeah, yeah," said Marn. He turned to face Rena, dangling Nazine's key in plain sight. His grubby fingers grabbed the surface of the damaged key. "See this, Mythic? You're mine now. Under my control. You do nothing unless I tell you to do so, so we'll be having none of that fire until I say so."

They thought it was her key. These humans were trying to use Nazine's key to force her into--into whatever they had planned, but Rena had other ideas. She got to her feet with fire blazing at her fingers, sparking the worried look 

"Damn Unbounds!" cried Marn, tripping over his own feet in retreat. "Richard, knock her out!" 

And from behind, a third hunter's footsteps made themselves known.

Everything went black, and Rena knew no more.

*+*+*+*

A/N - Vote, comment, throw subway cookies! 

Holy crap it's so cold here I'm trying to type and I can't feel my fingers. Sorry about typos and shiz, wanted to get an update out tonight so if quality is bad, sorry ._.