Arrowhurt 〈TESTED ✧〉

"The pain is a liar, Kaelen," she whispered, her voice a grounding anchor. "The arrowhurt wants you to think the wound is your whole world. Look at me. Breathe the moss and the rain, not the sting."

One. The forest held its breath.Two. Kaelen gripped a handful of dirt, feeling the grit and life of the earth.Three.

"Told you," Elara said with a grim smile, handing him his bow. "Now get up. We still have a long way to run." arrowhurt

With a sharp tug and a flare of silver light from Elara’s palms, the arrow was gone. But the arrowhurt remained—a hollow, thrumming void where his strength used to be. For a moment, Kaelen felt himself slipping away, ready to let the cold take him.

"Not today," he breathed, sitting up as Elara bandaged the wound. The ache was still there, a dull reminder of how close he’d come, but the arrowhurt was broken. "The pain is a liar, Kaelen," she whispered,

Then he remembered the sun on the high ridges and the smell of roasting bread in his village. He pushed back. He didn't use a sword or a spell; he used the simple, stubborn memory of warmth. The black veins receded. The gray haze cleared.

"I know. The shadows are heavy," Elara agreed, her fingers finally brushing the feathered fletching. "But you are lighter than the dark. On three, I’m going to pull the physical steel. The spiritual hurt... that’s yours to push out." Breathe the moss and the rain, not the sting

The sky over the Great Forest was the color of a bruised plum when the final volley of arrows fell. Kaelen, a young scout whose only real talent was running fast and staying quiet, felt the sharp, hot sting in his shoulder before he heard the thwack of the shaft finding its mark.