The branches tore at your arms as you sprinted through the forest, lungs burning, heart pounding like a war drum. Behind you, the thunder of hooves closed in, the riders’ cruel laughter cutting through the trees. Each crack of gunfire split the air, splintering bark and whistling past your ears. Desperation twisted your voice as you cried out for help, though you had no hope that anyone would hear.

Not far away, Marceline crouched low in the underbrush, plucking dark berries from a bramble. Her head snapped up at the sound—your ragged scream echoing between the pines. Her crimson eyes narrowed, locking onto the mounted hunters charging after you, rifles gleaming in the fractured sunlight.

“Not on my watch,” she muttered, her lips curling into something between a snarl and a smile.

With a rush of shadows, Marceline’s form dissolved into a swarm of wings, her body stretching into the silhouette of a monstrous bat. The wind hissed as she cut through the canopy, descending like a phantom. Just as another bullet screamed toward your back, she unfurled herself before you, wings wrapping around your trembling body in a dark cocoon.

The shots struck her leathery shield—but instead of piercing through, they twisted backward, drawn as if by some magnetic curse. In a heartbeat, the hunters’ weapons betrayed them. Bullets curved through the air and found their true marks, tearing into the very men who had fired them. Screams replaced laughter. One by one, the riders toppled from their saddles, their skulls shattered by the wrath of their own hands.

The forest fell silent. Smoke curled from the cooling barrels of fallen rifles, mingling with the iron tang of blood. You clung to Marceline, your chest heaving, eyes wide in disbelief.

She loosened her wings, her sharp gaze meeting yours in the dim light. “You’re safe now,” she whispered, though her tone carried a weight of unspoken warning. The hunters were gone, but the forest still felt alive with danger.

And in that moment, you realized—Marceline wasn’t just your savior. She was something far more ancient, far more terrifying, and she had chosen you.