The colossal bone-hound lunged. Chains clattered as it moved, bound tight to the will of the tyrant above. Each step split the earth, and its howl shattered the last fragments of silence in the valley.
Kael didn't wait.
He ran straight at it.
The cursed dagger pulsed with each heartbeat, whispering dark truths in a language no man should understand.
"Unmake the false beast. Feed the throne."
Selene flanked left, her blade gleaming silver in the firelight. Elira circled wide, her hands weaving sigils in the air, threads of mirror-light trailing behind her like a web of stars.
Kael met the hound's charge, leaping high—dagger aimed at the creature's eyes.
It swatted him from the air.
Kael hit the ground hard, ribs screaming. He rolled to his feet, vision blurred.
"Not fast enough," he growled.
The beast reared, preparing to crush him beneath one massive paw—
—but Selene struck first. Her sword found a joint between bone and chain. With a cry, she severed the leg, and the creature toppled.
Elira's spell erupted. A wall of mirrored light burst beneath the wolf, reflecting all its many eyes back at itself.
The beast screamed.
And Kael saw his chance.
He drove the dagger into the creature's chest—into the very knot of chains binding it together.
The curse surged.
Visions flooded Kael's mind:
A drowned city.
A throne of rust.
A boy chained beneath it, fed lies until he believed he was king.
Kael ripped the dagger free, and the chains exploded into black fire.
The wolf collapsed, its form unraveling, bone and fear scattering like ash.
Above them, the masked tyrant staggered back, eyes wide.
He tore off the mask.
His face was pale, young—no older than Kael. And in his eyes… a mirror of the same pain.
"You… you took it from me." he hissed.
Kael lowered the dagger. "No. I freed you from it."
The tyrant dropped to his knees.
"Then kill me… and let me forget."
But Kael stepped forward, offering a hand.
"We don't need to be monsters."
The tyrant looked at it, trembling.
Then… took it.
---
End of Chapter 21
The tyrant of the Red Teeth falls—not by death, but by mercy. Kael's path grows darker, but his will remains his own. For now.
And far away, something ancient watches… and hungers.