The night was heavy around them as Sophia and Elias moved through the woods.
Owls hooted in the distance, and the wind whispered like an old ghost.
Branches cracked under their feet, making stealth almost impossible.
Elias kept glancing over his shoulder.
It wasn't just the people chasing him now — it was the weight of everything he had learned, and everything he still didn't know.
---
As they walked, Sophia explained more about her life:
Age: 27 years old.
Profession: Investigative Journalist — freelancer because no media house would dare hire her now.
Physical Appearance:
Lean, wiry build.
Short, wild chestnut-brown hair.
Olive-toned skin with light freckles.
Sharp green eyes that seemed to see through lies.
Attitude:
Sharp-tongued.
Cynical but still secretly hopeful.
Didn't suffer fools.
Flaws:
Trusted almost no one.
Quick to anger if she smelled betrayal.
"I live in a world where trust is more dangerous than bullets," she said, pulling her jacket tighter.
Elias thought about how lonely that must be.
---
Thanks to his earlier rewards from the Watch, Elias was already evolving:
His physical strength let him keep pace even when exhaustion clawed at him.
His higher IQ allowed him to pick safe paths, notice hidden tripwires.
His charm helped when they stumbled into a suspicious old farmer who nearly sicced dogs on them — Elias talked them out of it with a grin and some fast lies.
The emotional intelligence boost from another reward helped him sense when Sophia was struggling but too proud to say so.
It wasn't just about surviving tasks anymore.
The Watch was molding him for something bigger.
---
At one point, they had to cross a shallow river.
Sophia waded in without hesitation.
Elias, distracted trying to figure out if crocodiles were native to this part of the country, slipped and fell face-first into the muddy water.
When he came up, gasping and covered in slime, Sophia burst into laughter — real, belly-shaking laughter that made even Elias chuckle through his misery.
"You look like a swamp monster," she teased.
"Good. Maybe it'll scare our pursuers away," he shot back.
---
As they approached a distant city skyline, Sophia suddenly stopped.
"Elias," she whispered, eyes narrowing.
"You feel that?"
He nodded.
The hair on the back of his neck prickled.
Without warning, headlights flared to life down the old dirt path ahead — black SUVs, engines growling like wolves.
Sophia grabbed his hand without thinking.
"Run!"
---
As they sprinted into the darkness, Elias felt the familiar buzz on his wrist:
> [New Task: Escape the Shadows.]
Reward: Ability to Predict Danger (Intuition Boost).
Elias smiled grimly.
He didn't know what the future held.
He didn't even know if he'd survive the night.
But he knew one thing:
He wasn't running alone anymore.
---