“The year is 1742 of the Expansion Era, and we’ve just been stranded on this accursed planet. None of our magic is working correctly, and my Red Lords inform me that even our arrays are going haywire…There are things out there. Dangerous things…Intelligent things. I fear they sense our intentions are not ones of diplomacy.”

- Translated from an ancient journal of Artemis

The wolf’s fur glowed in a blinding light that had me covering my eyes in vain. There was no heat behind the sudden illumination, but I recoiled all the same. The air bubbled and I thought for a terrifying moment that a Zengo had appeared as reality was ripped to shreds for a split second. When my vision cleared, confusion replaced the shock I felt. The beast had one of his paws inside his powerful maw, and without hesitation, he bit down hard. A single droplet of golden-green ichor formed where his incisor met flesh. Then, with incredible care and precision, he brought the wounded limb toward me. I tried to back up, but without the use of my legs and the wall at my back, I had nowhere to go.

“I—I’m not going to drink that, if that’s what you’re offering,” I wheezed out, my head as far from the viscous liquid as possible. The monster chuffed and this time I felt the faintest breeze of hot breath come from his nostrils. I looked up, noticing that he appeared a bit more tangible than just moments before. His lip was curled in a silent snarl, and each movement of his giant form was tense and strained. Then it hit me. He was in pain, and I seriously doubted it had anything to do with his self-inflicted injury.

His paw shifted and the single droplet swirled down the back of his outstretched foot until the bead of liquid rested against one of his extended claws.

“What—what are you doing?” I asked, my voice a barely escaped gasp.

Giving you a chance. My blood will consume you if you flee or fail. But rise victorious over the interloper, and I shall exchange a shard of my power for your vow to help me.

“Why would I vow something like that to you? I don’t know you, and I can’t tell if you’re this dense, but you’re not giving me a ton of options here! What do you expect me to do? Go gently into the night, refusing to fight until my last breath?! Well, I WON’T! You do not scare me, wolf. So don’t play games with me.” I wasn’t wholly sure where my strength came from, but it surged in me nevertheless. The beast hesitated, taken aback by my resolve…or my stupidity. Honestly, both were shocking. Here I was, back-talking some sapient monster like I had a say in the matter. He could kill me in a moment, and yet I had to open my big mouth and question him on everything.

Why? You seek to aid your brother, do you not?

The question threw me off guard. How does he know that? I asked myself.

“...Yes. How do you know my brother?”

He made the same vow to my sister.

One sentence, and my brain nearly exploded from the revelation. My brother had met another creature like this? Was that what started all this, or was it just another thing in a long line of weird shÿnka my brother had gotten into? I needed to know. I needed to figure out what was happening to Kaelin.

Please, stay alive a little longer, I silently prayed on my friend’s behalf. Guilt riddled my psyche, but I shoved it down. I had a new, impossible, lead on my older sibling, and I would be damned if I didn’t see this through.

“Alright. Do what you must. I will slay this interloper of yours, and then we’ll see about that vow. You’ll have to answer all my questions about that sister of yours and what she’s got to do with my brother, alright?” I lifted my chin, refusing to back down as the being in front of me grimaced again in discomfort. When he spoke, though, his voice was level.

You will see, as he did.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

That’s about as good as I could get it.

“Fine. Now, you mentioned something about healing me, right? Because I don’t know how much fighting I’ll be doing from here. Unless the interloper is a tiny insect nearby. I could manage that.” My heart started to beat faster as the creature extended his claw with the large drop of ichor. It practically hummed with untapped power, and I got the sudden inkling of what was about to happen.

“Wait. Wait!” I tried to get out, but it was too late.

Blood, freely given, do I bestow onto you, Thea Shade.

The claw drove straight into my chest, directly into my sternum. And just like that, pain exploded through every cell in my body. My spine arced and I let out a silent scream right before I passed out.

***

Waking up from whatever appetizer from the seventh hell that was did not sit well in my stomach. Actually, it didn’t sit well with any part of me. My entire body felt like I had been the chew toy for that wyvern. Even my insides felt like they had just been swallowed up by a surge, only to be spat out again.

I groaned and rose to my feet, the pain lessening with each ragged breath I drew from the still air of this cave. My hand found purchase against the slick wall and I leaned heavily against it.

Wait… I thought, right before I looked down and saw that my legs were, in fact, not shattered messes. No bones protruded from them, nor were there any other noticeable injuries across my body. A hysterical laugh escaped my lips as I considered the absurdity of all this. I could see it now, trying to explain to the academy staff how I survived the fall so many other Orions had seen.

Yep, I fell. But don’t worry, a glowing dog stabbed me with a bloody claw and then my legs were healed! I’m sure there are no negative side effects.

Yeah, I was absolutely going to keep this entire fever dream to myself.

Heat pulsed from my chest, and I remembered all at once the strange sensation of the ichor entering my body from where I had been stabbed. Frantic, I fumbled with the buttons of my uniform and shoved the light chainmail away to expose where the wound was. My fingers began to tremble when I caught sight of the incision. I made two lightning observations back to back. First, there was no deep gouge in my chest. Second, there was a glowing tattoo with intricate scrollwork that encompassed a good portion of my sternal complex and upper breasts. Though I was looking down at it, I knew immediately that it was not in any language or even runes that I was familiar with.

The design pulsed slightly with each of my heartbeats, glowing the same golden green as the ichor had been. I gingerly touched the lines now etched beneath my skin, and while they were a little warm, no pain greeted my senses.

What is going on? I asked myself.

A foul stench interrupted my thoughts. It reeked of decay and malice, and for some reason, I had the sudden urge to follow it. It just smelled off, like discovering a deceased Pufflemur next to a bed of flowers. This sort of death did not belong here. Without much thought, I activated my two gauntlets from where they had gone dormant and used their light to help me navigate the darkness. Surprisingly, the surroundings did not feel so oppressive. It was like I could intuitively guess where the narrow path I was following dipped and turned, even without much light to aid me.

I continued to walk slowly but surely toward the source. I wasn’t sure how long I trekked. It could’ve been hours, even days. There was no source of light beyond my dim tattoos and gauntlets. Surprisingly, my body was up to the challenge. I occasionally sipped from the lake, but otherwise was content to keep going. After a while, the stench grew stronger.

Thin beams of sunshine dipped into the narrowing crevasse ahead. Relief swept through me. I quickened my pace, desperate to stand in the warmth the light offered. I sighed as I felt the sun’s attention on my face. Overhead, I witnessed the swaying foliage of giant trees occasionally rob me of my hard-earned illumination. A breeze tunneled through the craggy canyon I was in, and I gagged on the thickening stench. Whatever was causing that smell, I was close. Soon, a cloud covered the brief reminder of the world above, and I trudged onward. I had to shuffle at certain points through the narrow passageway, but after another hour or so, the canyon opened up to a large ravine.

Mountains and trees lined the edges of my vision, but even with their natural beauty, I barely paid them any mind. I couldn’t, as what I saw in the bowl of the ravine captured all of my attention instantly. There, the trees were not just knocked over, but sheared apart and tossed to the edge of a large clearing. The earth there was scorched and gray, as if death itself decided to take a nap on that patch of ground.

It was the creature settled above a large mound of corpses that rooted me to the spot. Zengos, Shardclaws, and all other manner of beasts native to this section of the Wilds were littered around the space. The thing was gnawing on their bones until the marrow spilled out. The wrongness I felt growing inside of me reached a peak when I observed this ungodly creature.

“Welp, I think I found the interloper.”