Lost Divinity

Vanished

The forest was supposed to be hidden. I had hidden it — every living thing here bends to my will. How did they find me? Only one person could possibly know. He couldn't have. He shouldn't have! He promised me.

Voices behind me, louder now. Closer.

"Come on... just give us the child! The boss will take very good care of her."

I didn't stop running. On a rock ahead, a man stood, barking orders. "Go around! Surround her! She can't stay hidden for long!"

"No time for that now." Her voice cracked. She pressed her palm to the baby's cheek — so soft, so unknowing. "I love you, my dear." The spell came next, words tumbling out before the hunters closed the gap.


She finishes the chant. The sky tears open, golden light swallowing the baby — but a hunter lunges, hand closing around Selena's ankle as she fades.

The light screams. Not Selena. The magic itself, ripping between two anchors.

Then silence.

The baby is gone. The hunter stares at his empty fist, smoke rising from his palm. He howls — not in pain, but in fury. "You BLEW IT! The boss wanted her WHOLE!"

Mom collapses, smiling and crying, blood trickling from her nose. "She's safe. She's safe. She's—"

She doesn't finish. The forest goes dark. The trees, once bending to her will, now stand silent. Dead. The power she poured into the spell — it took everything. Her divinity, her bond to the living world, maybe pieces of her memory.

The hunters drag her away. Alive. Useless to them now, but alive.

The big man — the boss — walks up to them. His face couldn't be read but his stance told it all.
He wasn't happy with the results. "Where is the child?" His voice cold, A calm angry, if you will

The man from earlier shouting out orders now quiet as a mouse "sir..she vanished."
He stepped closer to the man's face. ""What do you mean, vanished."."


The boss didn't wait for the hunter to answer. He looked past him, straight at Mom. "You think you saved her." A pause. "You think hidden means safe." He smiled, and it was worse than his calm. "My bloodline traces deeper than your stars, goddess. I'll find the crack in your spell. And when I do—" He turned away. "—you'll wish you'd let us take her whole."