Dexter’s POV

Chill wind bit at my nose. My fingers, numb, twitched with a shocking tickle. White haze blurred past my face.

As a fierce cold overtook my senses, the last thing I remembered came back to me in a rush. My mind flooded with memories of the fight against the panther and I tried to raise my shoulder. It was fine, completely healed, and moved easily.

The wind howled like sad music shifting from high to low, then back high again. A Fuzzy blur passed by me, then I heard Jyanna yell, “How many are there?”

“Just kill them!” Amhir shouted back, his eyes shifting with fear not reflected in his tone.

“Stay back!” Alex—or Thor—boomed, as he descended in a blue flash in front of me.

A huge white wolf with gorgeous blue eyes and dangerous black horns, whimpered as it slid to a stop. Snow swirled around the creature, quickly hiding it in a dizzying storm as the beast scrambled back from Alex.

Electricity arced from his body, flowing into the ground and melting the accumulated snow. He stepped forward with a flash that carried him to the heavens. When he came down again, Thor, Alex, or whatever, drove his foot down, apparently striking the creature in the face and sending it tumbling several meters. A thunder clap sounded on impact as a shockwave exploded out, flattening the trees and shrubbery around him.

“Fr…frost wolves?” I mumbled, my mind reeling to catch up with the chaos.

Something long and black whistled through the air as it flew up high, then fell again, spiraling towards me.

I rolled aside.

A sharp bone like object, about as long and thick as my arm, stabbed into the ground between my legs. Thick purple fluid oozed up from a small hollow on the broken end.

It was a frost wolf horn. The edge was sharp enough to cut. It could probably make a good weapon, but I crawled back from it.

The wolf with a broken horn sprang up, snapping and snarling at Alex as he retreated into thick storm clouds. Aside from being a little off balance, the beast appeared fine.

My hands jerked through the snow in search of Valentina. My breathing grew anxious. I felt lost without her and fell into a deeper state of panic.

Val grabbed me from behind, pulling me to my feet. Her lips curved with unease as tension furrowed her brow. Her eyes held me in a moment of silent comfort before she reverted, darting to my hand.

Her gaze wasn’t only comforting, it was also a warning. A warning that I couldn’t afford to hold back or hesitate, A reminder that she had only had one means of defending me from creatures like these and even a spell like the dark hands might not be enough against these vicious beasts.

Jyanna danced between two wolves barely managing to avoid fatal strikes, though blood trailed down her left arm and her chest heaved in an apparent struggle for air.

Amhir and his summoned dark colossus seemed to be keeping one wolf at bay, and Alex, in his possessed state, was forced to keep his focus on the largest beast to keep it from interfering with the others.

I gripped Valentina and began reading, saying, in a low voice. “Hands of darkness, rise from the earth, seek flesh and return it to dust in your grasp.”

My eyes squeezed shut as the ground gave way to black hands. My heart raced at the sound of wolves snarling and flesh being shredded. I took another breath. It was going to be fine, the battle would be over soon, and—

I gasped at the sound of another snarling beast, far too close for comfort.

My eyes snapped open.

The wolf with a broken horn, stood just in front of me, his icy eyes fierce and vicious as his lower jaw fought against a dark hand.

The beast took a step forward, overpowering the hands wrapped around his legs. Still unable to shake his jaw free, he arched his whole body and bent his neck, slashing at me with his remaining horn.

I tried to jump away, but my legs gave way and I dropped. A sharp burning pain pierced my thigh as the beast's horn slid down, cutting open my leg.

As it twisted and pulled its head up, it dragged the horn along my flesh. Blood streamed down my leg as the creature stumbled backward. A dozen hands left the other frost wolves, grabbing tufts of thick fur on the biggest wolf’s underbelly.

The hands seemed to slow the creatures, but it slightly eased the pressure on the others.

Jyanna cast a curse of some kind that brought forth black mist, strengthening my dark hand spell, though still not enough to turn the tide.

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Several beams of lightning descended one after the other, striking the pinned creature’s in turns.

The smell of burning fur filled the air and my heart pounded as Alex dropped from the sky with a loud crack of thunder.

With a bolt of lightning in his grasp, Alex slammed into the largest wolf. Electricity jumped between the beasts as they thrashed on the ground. Grabbing several big chunks of flesh and fur, my dark hands retreated back into the ground. The spell was done, but their damage was limited and the wounds healed even as Alex continued his assault, hammering Broken Horn with a fresh bolt.

Lightning between the beast’s eyes, spreading over his body, then jumping to strike all four of the other wolves.

Amhir summoned two additional colossi, though I wasn’t sure what benefit they might be. Each of them was less than half the size of the smallest wolf. I doubted they would do more than serve as distractions, but they did manage to drag one wolf away from Jyanna.

Thor didn't hesitate as he pulled lightning from the sky again. The bolts were like mallets slamming the beasts to the ground. Their shockwaves shook the earth and brought down trees. The vibrations rumbled through my bones like the deepest bass in all of Syrinthia.

As powerful as his strikes were, each seemed less effective than the last. The frost wolves were like demons from a frozen hell, impervious to all punishment.

Moving as one, almost too quick to see, the beasts rushed Alex. They took the thunder as it fell, snarling and snapping, but no longer falling or slowing. One after the other, the wolves swiped at Alex with their sharp claws.

His speed was enough to outpace them, but he couldn’t counter, and they’d soon have him cornered.

With a burst of speed, the largest wolf jumped onto his back. They crashed to the ground as a wave of snow erupted, obscuring Alex from view. The white flurry quickly settled, but Alex had disappeared.

Bolts of blue fury crashed on the wolf, but only seemed a minor annoyance as it lowered its maw.

“Dexter! You have to—”

Another wolf snarled, grabbing Jyanna by the arm. The beast shook and thrashed, slinging the girl around like a ragdoll. Blood spurted from her wounds as her body tumbled across the snowy ground, leaving a dark red trail as she stopped a few feet short of the biggest wolf.

I winced at the sight of her lying in crimson snow. The smell of her blood filled the air. If she wasn’t dead already, she wouldn’t last long.

“Nightshade nightmare! break their will with visions of hell!”

Amhir’s spell seemed to disorient the wolves, though it also made them more aggressive. Each trashed and snapped at invisible foes, creating an opening for Alex to get free. Jyanna’s close proximity to Broken Horn made her situation more precarious.

Valentina flipped to a spell. It was the same magic I used to defeat Spiky Head’s imp.

The words passed my lips easily. It should've been the first thing I cast, but I hadn’t even thought of it until now.

The flaming beast took form, dashing forward in a hellish blaze. Broken Horn barked a chilling blast at it, but the freezing wind failed to slow its approach.

My creature was small by comparison to the massive frost wolf, but its flames were fierce and unrelenting as they enveloped the wolf, leaving no opening for counter.

Alex struck down with lightning, pounding Broken Horn again, and again, and again.

With the other wolves distracted and confused by Amhir's spell, they could do little as their companion fell, writhing and howling with a desperate fury.

Still it wasn’t enough to end the beast. The fire beast might eventually devour the frost wolf, but I wasn’t going to wait around to find out.

I flipped through Val’s pages until I found a spell so powerful I was sure it would work. My hands shook, my knees locked. A lump formed in my throat, my stomach tightened with a painful knot, and a sharp ringing filled my ears as the words came out in a stutter.

It was almost more than I could manage, but glancing at Jyanna freezing in the snow, then looking at Amhir who was clutching his ribs and gasping as blood ran through his fingers, gave me strength.

“Two worlds, always side by side. Light and shadow, in each other they do hide. Now, I call to you beasts of night. Step out of shadow, come to me across the divide!”

The shadows quivered. Light seemed to flee as a dark fog spread over everything. The trees and their leaves, even the snow itself, seemed to darken as if a blanket had covered the entire world, and yet the shadow remained, deepening and growing even further still.

Like strange stars in the night sky, violet eyes opened in pairs. They were all around us, above us, below… the creatures of darkness emerged with a thunderous roar that shook my very core.

Like vultures, they descended on the frost wolves, ripping them apart and consuming everything in a whirlwind of teeth, claws, scales, fur, and dark feathers.

There was no sound, no smell, no blood. Nothing remained of the wolves. No trace remained of the shadow beasts who tore into the wolves.

When everything was done I stood in a field of snow surrounded by dozens of downed trees. Alex fell forward, coughing blood on the powder as his spell tome personified beside him.

“Weak.” Thor spat. “It’s embarrassing that you managed to—” He shook his head. “—nevermind.”

Amhir stood staring at me, his eyes wide as saucers. The color drained from his face. He tried to say something, but only gibberish came out. He tried a second time and managed to force a few words past his lips. “What was that spell?”

I shrugged. I didn’t really know.

My eyes turned to Jyanna, or the spot where she should’ve been. Her blood was still there, but her body was gone.

“She must have been teleported for treatment.” I said, thinking out loud.

“No.” Valentina personified beside me. “I never felt the magic.”

“Well, she isn’t here so that must mean she’s somehow healed herself and run off.” Amhir said with a dismissive tone. He glanced over at Jyanna's blood in the snow, then turned to me again. “We should be more concerned about what chased those wolves down from the mountain. It must have been either Crusher or Shebaltor.”

Frost wolves were twenty five points each. The five of them amounted to a hundred twenty five points, but Crusher was two hundred and twelve points by himself. Shebaltor was…

I shuddered at the thought of facing either creature.