CHAPTER 31 — Aiden Leaves the Town
Aiden didn’t move until the last echo of the Rift Guild transports faded into the distance. The morning sun had fully risen now, casting long beams of gold across the fields. Dew clung to the grass, sparkling like tiny shards of glass. The world looked peaceful—too peaceful for what had just happened.
He rose slowly from the ridge, muscles stiff from staying still for so long. His shoulder ached from the hybrid’s strike, but the pain was manageable. He rolled it once, testing the range of motion, then tightened his grip on the rebar.
He needed to leave.
The Guild was tracking him.
The hybrid’s corpse was proof of something impossible.
And the longer he stayed near this rural town, the more likely someone would connect the dots.
Aiden slipped down the ridge, Sound Force muting his steps. The fields stretched wide and open, but he stayed low, weaving between patches of tall grass and scattered rocks. His Perception picked up faint tremors—Guild patrols sweeping the area, drones humming overhead, vehicles moving along the dirt roads.
They were searching.
Not randomly.
Not blindly.
Methodically.
Aiden kept moving.
He reached the outskirts of the rural town just as the first signs of life began to stir. Smoke rose from chimneys. A few early risers stepped onto porches, stretching in the morning light. A dog barked somewhere in the distance.
Aiden stayed in the shadows.
He didn’t belong here.
Not anymore.
Not with Guild scanners glitching around him.
Not with hybrid corpses pointing toward an unknown hunter.
He skirted the edge of the town, avoiding the main roads. He passed behind barns, through narrow alleys, and across empty lots. His Sound Force dampened the noise of his footsteps, letting him move like a ghost.
A pair of farmers walked past him on a dirt path, talking about the strange lights they’d seen in the night. Aiden pressed himself against a wall, letting the silence bubble swallow him. They passed without noticing.
He exhaled slowly.
He needed to get to a Safe Zone city.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
He needed information.
He needed supplies.
He needed a place to train without drawing attention.
The rural town was too small. Too exposed. Too close to the Rift Guild’s sweep.
Aiden reached the far edge of town, where the buildings thinned into open fields and a cracked highway stretched toward the horizon. A faded sign leaned crookedly beside the road:
**SAFE ZONE CITY — 42 MILES**
Aiden stared at it for a long moment.
Forty?two miles.
He could walk it.
He could run it.
He could cross it in a day if he pushed himself.
But the road wasn’t empty.
His Perception picked up faint vibrations—vehicles moving in the distance, drones scanning the sky, Guild patrols sweeping the region. The Guild wasn’t just searching the field where the hybrid died. They were expanding outward, widening their net.
Aiden stepped off the road and moved parallel to it, staying hidden in the tree line. The forest here was thinner than the Wild Zone he’d traveled through earlier, but it still offered cover.
He walked for hours.
The sun climbed higher, warming the air. Birds chirped overhead. The world felt deceptively calm, but Aiden’s senses stayed sharp. Every vibration, every shift in the wind, every distant sound fed into his awareness.
He passed an abandoned gas station, its windows shattered, its pumps rusted. A Guild drone hovered overhead, scanning the area with a soft blue beam. Aiden crouched behind a fallen sign, Sound Force muting his presence. The drone passed without detecting him.
He continued.
By midday, he reached a stretch of forest that ran parallel to the highway. The trees were tall and dense, their branches forming a canopy that filtered the sunlight into scattered beams. Aiden slipped into the shade, grateful for the cover.
He paused near a stream, kneeling to splash cold water on his face. His reflection stared back at him—tired, bruised, but focused. His eyes looked sharper now, more alert. Perception had changed him. Sound had changed him. The hybrid fight had changed him.
He wasn’t the same person who had fled the city after the Titan.
He stood and continued walking.
The forest grew thicker as he moved deeper, the air cooler and quieter. Aiden’s Perception picked up faint tremors—small animals, distant footsteps, the hum of insects. Nothing dangerous. Nothing Guild.
He allowed himself to relax slightly.
Hours passed.
The sun dipped lower, casting long shadows across the forest floor. Aiden reached a small clearing and stopped. Through the trees, he could see the faint outline of the Safe Zone city in the distance—tall buildings, shimmering barriers, and the glow of energy shields.
He exhaled.
He was close.
But getting inside wouldn’t be easy. Safe Zones had scanners—Force detectors, heat sensors, motion grids. And after the Titan incident, after the hybrid kill, after the Guild sweeps, those scanners would be on high alert.
Aiden stepped back into the shadows.
He needed a plan.
He needed to approach carefully.
He needed to stay unseen.
He tightened his grip on the rebar.
Tomorrow, he would reach the city.
Tomorrow, he would slip past the scanners.
Tomorrow, he would disappear into the crowd.
But tonight, he needed rest.
He found a sheltered spot beneath a cluster of trees, Sound Force muting the rustle of leaves around him. He sat with his back against a trunk, letting his breathing slow.
The forest was quiet.
The city lights flickered in the distance.
And the world kept turning.
Aiden closed his eyes.
He wasn’t safe yet.
But he was moving forward.
And that was enough.
