We raced back, and the entire time, my blood began to boil.

Another buzz forced the connection to waver.

Come on!

I sent mana flowing through the connection, hoping to keep my wolf alive.

Putting my head down, I found myself gain on Alice. She glanced my way but kept her head straight as we burst through the tree line.

Another paw swiped at my wolf. My wolf moved out of the way, but the spray of rocks clipped its hide and sent a salvo of flare-ups through the connection. Luckily, the summon had aimed the monster away from the circle, where Devon's blurry form vibrated through the static.

The massive bear-like creature roared, its orange fur rippling. Its muscles bulged, and it lunged for my wolf, but the wolf sunk into the ground and popped up a foot away.

I shifted the pickaxe in my arms and let it trail behind me. As the bear reared up, ready to squash the pesky shadow summon, I stepped forward and stomped. Planting pressure on the ball of my left foot, I swung the pickaxe in a wide arc, releasing it as it arced in front of me.

The pickaxe rotated end over end before the head impacted the bear's jaw, tearing across its eye. Spit flew from the beast's snout as it recoiled from the surprise attack.

Like an idiot, I stopped to watch as my wolf made a passing swipe and dug its claws into its belly. It roared again and stumbled to the side, but Alice capitalized on its confusion.

Iron axe met stomach; her weapon slid across the fat and skin before the beast reacted. Its orange fur puffed up, and her axe stopped its momentum. A heavy claw swung for her shoulder, but she released her axe and ducked.

"Graagh!"

"Cain!" she called out.

My wolf jumped onto its back and bit at its throat, but fur bulged and covered the bear's neck like a thick scarf.

I raised my arm. Fire sprung to life, and the rune connected to my mana.

"Step back!" I yelled.

She rolled away from another wild swing, and my wolf leapt away, landing beside me.

Burn, Blaze, Incinerate!

“Ek kalla heiðarloga!”

I felt the lava flow through my veins, sputtering before pooling again at the center of my hand. I squeezed the flow shut, forcing it to steady itself.

The fireball zipped through the air and exploded as it met its fur. I saw the orange flames burst around its eyes, but it didn't matter as the fur burned away and spread the blaze across its neck. It smashed its head into the ground and began desperately pawing at its face. The fur around its stomach loosened and retracted, and Alice's axe slipped to the ground. Instead of grabbing her weapon, she reached for the heavy pickaxe and clubbed the bear's skull.

A sickening crunch rang out, and she leaned back. Her arms blurred, and she swung again, using the pick end to sink it into the bear's eye.

It roared a final time as the fire rapidly consumed its body in an inferno before dropping dead onto the forest ground.

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"Help me," she commanded as she removed a flask from her satchel and quickly poured it over the grass around the bear.

Oh crap!

I rushed over and started stomping on the patches that began to burn. The water worked, but the flames continued to spread from the fur to the ground.

"Move back," she commanded.

Complying, I waited, and she raised her arm. A layer of frost coated her hand before sending out a wave that doused both the bear and the ground. Spots on its fur continued to burn, but they were quickly extinguished as steam began to rise.

The smell of burnt hair and roasted meat reached my nose. It was awful, and I used my shirt to screen out the smell. At that exact moment, a breeze decided to blow, carrying the acrid smoke into my face.

"Ugh. This isn't going well," I groaned.

She pointed to her ears.

Right. The static.

Bending down, I grabbed and lifted her weapon off the ground. In exchange, she handed me back the pickaxe.

"Thanks!"

She smiled and stared at the smoking corpse. I joined her and crossed my arms. The circle remained unscathed, and the corpse now served as a makeshift barricade, but I didn't like how close to the line it was.

"Leave it. It's too heavy to lift," she declared.

"Alright, then. I'll send my-"

I stopped and tackled Alice away from the corpse. Her eyes widened, but my cloak screamed in warning, and we dove to the ground with me over her.

There was a split second where nothing happened, and her eyes glanced at mine, but then the world shook.

A force rippled at my back and squashed me against Alice as a hail of pieces bombarded me. My cloak dulled the blows, but the fourth hit smashed into my shoulder, and I groaned in pain.

Buzzing filled my ears, and my head swam. For a moment, I forgot where I was, but something squirmed beneath me.

A rough hand gripped my shoulder and lifted me up before gently lowering me to the ground. I watched Alice reach for my face, and I leaned back, but she lunged and pulled my hood back over my head.

I hadn't noticed it had slipped off.

Once the hood was back, some of the disorientation faded away, and a subtle ringing stopped. My cloak shifted, but weakly. Looking down, I patted my chest, and it tightened again, only to stop and flap back to the ground.

Huh.

I raised my head and met Devon's eyes as he grabbed the side of my skull, forcing me to be still.

"What's the issue?"

He snapped his fingers in my face.

"Hey!" I yelled.

Then his hands turned cold, and it felt like something was squirming across my brain. I jerked out of his grip, and he leaned back as I rubbed my temples.

"Can you hear me now, pup?" he asked.

"Yeah, I can. Did you just inject mana into my head? What did you do?"

"I broke up the corrupted mana stuck to your skull. Can you stand?"

With a bit of effort, I stood up. My back felt worked over, but I could move without yelping. "Yes."

"Good."

Alice stared, but she had a complicated look on her face that dropped the moment she caught me looking. Her eyes hardened, and she nodded once before looking toward Devon, who approached the spell circle.

Half the circle was gone, the dirt torn up and disrupted as the once-black ground became a dull and lifeless grey.

"What happened? It was dead. Why did the thing explode?"

I searched, but the bear's corpse was gone. Dirt, rocks, and ash mixed with scattered black tar and pieces of bone. A crater had taken the place of the bear's corpse, a sizeable chunk missing from the earth.

"The bear was corrupted by excessive mana, then had its Lore Strain corrupted after the fact. When you two combined your mana types, it created a volatile reaction with the mana inside its body."

So we messed up…

"Can we still do the ritual?"

He held up a small series of vials in his hand. "We've got one more shot. Help clear the circle."

We moved and helped pull pieces of bone and scraps of fur from the circle while shoveling dirt into the holes and flattening the ground by stomping. It looked rough, but Devon didn't comment further, so we continued.

Eventually, I stopped next to a particular pile of bone stuck into the ground. I reached down and grabbed it, holding it up to the light.

A piece of skull… So this is what clipped me.

Fury overtook me, and I crushed the bone, sending shards tumbling to the grass. When the last piece fell from my glove, I stepped back and took a deep breath.

In. Out. In. Out.

I wasn't sure why I felt so angry seeing the bone fragment, but it made the energy in my chest rage strong enough for me to grind my teeth.

"Cain. Focus," Devon commanded.

I snapped to attention and watched him step into the circle. The ground was already pitch black, and he resumed his sitting position. The familiar static returned as his arms sank in, scratching at my skin. The effects were still muted, but they bothered me a lot more than before.

Alice flexed her fingers and hefted her axe.

"I'm ready," I called out.