Swillow ran after Wasting.

Blood rushed from Swillow's mouth. As Wasting went for Swillow, she grabbed him and body slammed him.

As the ground exploded into debris, Wasting yelled and writhed at his almost broken spine, until Swillow hopped over him. She laughed in his face, and he slapped her.

But Swillow didn't react, as she stared back at him. Her emotion went from happy to neutral. Wasting slapped her again, throwing her off of him. As he stood up, he went back to slapping again and again.

All slaps almost bounced off of Swillow. Wasting slapped her across the throat. And Swillow headbutted him, straight in the forehead. As Wasting's vision faded, she picked him up, threw him down, and went for a bite to the throat.

A tendril of water smashed into Swillow's side, and knocked her over. Wasting stood up, defiant to his fate. He made more tendrils of water, and kept hitting against her side, trying to knock her down for good.

As Swillow stayed down, and took deep breaths, Wasting realized Swillow had become a monster. "What the hell are you!?" Wasting stayed clear of the monster. Not Swillow anymore, but just a monster.

And the monster stood up again.

Wasting backed up. Took a breath. Thought again, best way to stop Swillow, would he stop Swillow? Spotted a hill, great idea. And he went up the hill, biggest hill. No, no, was that hill bigger?

Blue fire pursued Swillow as she rocketed towards him. All the flames evaporated the grass, and turned the rocks to lava.

Blue flames, hellfire.

Wasting lunged at Swillow, but Swillow slapped him midair. Wasting flipped over, onto his back. And oxygen rushed into his lungs.

Swillow shot out nine spheres of blue flames. And the dark blazes of hellfire went toward Wasting.

Wasting's eyes bulged, and he sent tendrils of water to swallow up one. But as the others landed, explosions and blue haze filled the air. Landscape smoked, while holes filled the area.

No grass, just naked, lava earth.

Where was Wasting? Swillow went towards the lake, only for Wasting to come from behind. He spun, grabbed her throat while upside down in the air. Then he used his arms to sweep her. Afterwards, both spun.

Swillow's back hit the ground, and Wasting ripped her throat out. As Swillow gasped for air, gagged on her own blood, Wasting used more tendrils to drag her into the water. More blood rose up, and Wasting backed away.

He was now almost black from the ash, but still alive.

A mass of blood rose, and took deep breaths. Wasting slumped and realized he just killed Swillow. "Oh dear gods," he said as he laid down.

An orb swam around Wasting, before forming into a wolf.

***

A few days ago, Citrus woke up. And saw the results of what happened from Snofall's Northern Lights. As they walked down the desert, Citrus said, "Hey, Snofall," Citrus said. "Just wanted to tell you, I'm sorry I never trusted you or Swillow."

The oasis grew closer, and Snofall said, "It's okay, Citrus. We're safe now, and we've taken down the hyena queen for now. We're done."

Citrus Snow thought about the victims. "Say, uh, what happened?" Citrus Snow asked. Were they all dead now?

Snofall said, "My power isn't meant to kill, and I don't know if it can, but they should be stuck in there until the ice melts. And that could happen soon in a desert."

Citrus Snow took a breath. "Damn, that means they probably escaped by now."

"That's not all the damage it does," Snofall said. "It does more damage than just freezing them. Or else I'd just have frozen them."

Citrus Snow thought about it and nodded, but asked, "So? What's it supposed to do? And what was the point of the whole aurora thing then?"

"All Ascended have an Ascended state, and Northern Lights is mine, but what it does is this. Kinda, well, basically those giant minions freeze with their touches. And they do what I make them do. As they are just the winds, and so they freeze and throw things. But with it on, all ice and wind is at my order."

Citrus Snow muttered, "Kinda awesome."

Snofall said, "Thanks."

"Weird, you're always the meek one. And I'm the one who gets into fights. But my powers are all about running away, and yours are all about fighting."

Snofall laughed. "You are awesome too, Citrus, and you do your powers well. Just that, we have different talents. You're more of a thief, and I'm more of a mage I guess. Well, anyway, where's Swillow?"

Citrus Snow blinked.

Both looked around. The grass seemed burnt, and the land was ripped up. "Signs of a struggle..."

Snofall said, "I think Swillow got into a fight. And the ship is gone, which means that Talizarin must have taken it. He had to have escaped."

"You think Talizarin and Swillow fought, and Talizarin kidnapped Swillow?" Citrus asked. Snofall nodded. Citrus took a deep breath.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Then Citrus sniffed around. Two scents, but neither were Talizarin. Instead, Citrus said, "One of these scents is Swillow's. But the other one is Wasting. I think he came around here, and same time Swillow was around. But it seems Swillow left after Wasting left."

"Alright, so both are alive?" Snofall asked.

"I don't know," Citrus asked. "It seems weird but I think I know what went on. Talizarin must have jacked the ship. They tried to fight him off."

"Great, that's more walking for us to do," Snofall said.

"Yeah, but it's great to know the pack is almost glued again, right?"

The survivors of the attack, Hemato, and Tanzanato, stared from behind a hill.

***

Queen Appul sat in the back of the palanquin.

Ignyous, queen of the military, led the charge with Lavendyr. Lavendyr had been straggling, and Ignyous asked, "Are you having problems?"

Lavendyr shook his head, and caught back up.

"Still thinking about your brother, aren't you?" Ignyous asked.

Lavendyr said, "Well, yes. Just weird that Wasting ends up disappearing during the invasions. And I know I have to accept he probably got killed at Kingsbirth. But still, after what happened with my sister, Swillow, just weird. My parents must be quite worried."

"Well, at least they had one child who lived," Ignyous said. "You may feel like bearing an heir soon with your family's luck."

Lavendyr laughed to ease the tension, and Ignyous laughed too. But Lavendyr didn't think she was at all funny. Still, he had to play the game like anyone else, because upsetting the leader of the police for Canida was a great way to get killed.

Or end up like Swillow, unbeknownst to Lavendyr.

With their route, it would take a week to arrive at Decay, and have a talk about how to deal with the Hyenkayd hyenas. And that's why they told the leaders of the Decay they'd be coming there, when in reality, they were headed for Hyenkayd.

Because sometimes it was better to drop in unexpected.

Too bad they kept isolated, and none of them had any idea that Vycious ruled Hyenkayd and the Decay.

A small army of wolves stopped at the Divorcing Lake as a bunch of missiles popped out of the water. Missiles of weasels.

"Halt!" Granyt said. "This is the land of the weasels and otters!" None of their gods had come back for several weeks. Still, they had to make the offerings. "And we're going to get the gods to come back with all of you wolves."

"Kill them," Appul said from her palanquin.

Ignyous nodded, and sent out streams of lava.

The weasels screamed and screeched as the lava ran around them. All the wolves pounced, and ripped apart and ate otters and weasels.

Granyt backed up against a tree, and Ignyous bit down on her head. She gave one last scream. A squeeze, a twist, and snap.

***

Wasting saw the wolf's reflection, and saw he was black with white squares. "Who are you?" Wasting asked, not bothering to look up.

"My name is Tchyss, how may I help you?" He took a quick bow.

"Chess?" Wasting asked.

"Yes, and I lead Rubay of the hyenas. We have a lot to talk about. You know, I was looking at that fight between you and the Slaughterhound, and have to say, it seems like you're down on your luck."

Wasting said, "Well, I guess I plan to be part of the hyenas." He took a deep breath. "All this time, I've been trying to get revenge on my sister. Never knew I had wanted to hurt her for so long. And now I've drowned her, and yet, I still feel incomplete. But, I was born for a reason."

"What is that reason?" Tcyhss asked.

Wasting said, "While Swillow has always been a villain, I've always been a hero. And my parents never saw it that way."

"You're the hero?" Tchyss asked. "How have you arrived to that idea?"

"Because, Swillow was a rebel. Swillow was a rebel because she just didn't want to do stuff. And yeah, she had some points about the police, but it was never about fighting corruption, as much as she just didn't want to do the work. Swillow became a police officer because our parents made her, not because she wanted to."

"And what makes you a hero?"

"Because I did what I was told without a problem," Wasting said. "I did what I was supposed to do. And now that I know better, I know I'm still supposed to be a good person. And I'm supposed to save the town and protect the innocent and stuff. But Canida has no innocent, only villains."

Tchyss grinned as he heard Wasting. "And meanwhile, we have plenty of innocents in need of a good, strong hero."

"So, guess I'll serve Rubay," Wasting said.

"Well, Rubay's been a bit, out of sorts," Tchyss said. "How about I take you to Hyenkaydian tower? Up there, we can talk all day. You can be a new pawn, or perhaps a rook. About time you meet the others."

"The others?" Wasting asked.

Tchyss said, "Way more than you and Rubay."

"Well, what's the plan?" Wasting asked. "After all, you can't have me believe you plan to beat up Canida because they cheated the hyenas? You're not exactly a hyena."

Tchyss said, "My plan is to take down all the leaders of Torn and replace them with better leaders."

"So you're saying there's a chance I could be a leader of a small land?" Wasting asked, then shook his head. "Nah, don't answer that. Just happy to serve and protect as always."

"Good," Tchyss said. "So, you killed the Slaughterhound?"

Wasting stared back into the water.

"No."

***

Beginning of the End:

Beginning of the end

We're breaking their pretend.

With all the crimes I commit every day

Won't say I'm alright going their way

And yet you try to fight me when I'm right

What is the problem with you?

What do I have to do to please you?

I'll do this your way where I promise I will fight

I'm going on to break the kingdom of lies!

It starts at our bitter ends

A new path, a foundation to the end.

One of us must be left behind

To save the world, and to save our kind.

Should I believe you're playing the hero?

Or should I believe you're trying not to be the zero?

When you've failed and failed

Every other chance to get good assailed?

And now you're trying to make up for lost time

Trying to get back for every single crime

But I can't get over the fact I was betrayed

And that your soul was the one who got slayed

You think you're morally right

As you always did before your plight

And now you're stuck back where we started

Proving it ends right at the beginning.

I know you've lost your way

And I know you've felt a lot of pain

A lot of pain

A lot of pain

That I'll bring back to you.

It starts at our bitter ends

Where I break the pretend

And get you to admit

It's all an ego trip

You're not the only hero, I think you need to learn

I never was a hero, just a villain who'd rather let it burn

Well now it seems that's going well

And we're headed to hell

while it's violent let us disclose this

There's no other way to bring bliss

What makes this happen next

Is we're going forward

It starts at our bitter ends

Only one will come out

The other will die

But who will awaken?

From the depths of the ocean

A nightmare mutated, twisted

Or a brother trying to be reborn?

It starts again.

***

Hour after Wasting left, and before Citrus and Snofall arrived, Talizarin fiddled with the locks, and broke his thumb to escape his chains.

"Stupid wolves," he said to himself as he climbed up the stairs.

He came to the deck, but noticed a lack of wolves. "Hm, could have sworn there would still be one around." He stared off the side of the ship, only to see the damage to the world. "What in the hell did that?"

He grabbed the wheel, and turned on the button to the engine.

Swillow jumped him.