Every Glowfang from the pack stood on their feet, shaking, sheltering their loved ones from the commotion in the yawning tunnel.
Then—
The mother Glowfang emerged from the darkness of the tunnel.
Everyone in the pack started to howl at the sight of her safe return.
Lana and Zai still clung to her back, their minds spinning with tangled thoughts and confusion.
They slid down as she knelt, then watched
as she gently nudged her pup with her nose,
her soft eyes blinking with care and relief.
Zai tapped Lana on the shoulder to get her attention.
"You saw that dark energy on that thing when we slashed its eyes?"
Lana nodded. "It's the shadows' influence… I'm certain."
Suddenly, the noise of flapping wings echoed through one of the tunnels.
The pack's horns lit up in lemon yellow, taking their stance of defense,
while Lana and Zai reached for their weapons, fingers tightening around the hilts.
"LANA!"
The voice—distant, yet close.
"LANA… ZAI!…"
"It's Swan!" Lana gasped, recognizing Swan's voice in a heartbeat.
From the darkness of the tunnel she emerged, flapping her wings with desperation,
her chest pumping fast and her breath sharp.
Lana let out a breath of relief, smiling
like a child seeing its mother.
Swan threw herself at Lana and melted in her embrace.
"Missed me?" Lana chuckled.
The mother Glowfang instantly understood that Swan was not a threat, seeing how Lana held her close.
"I guess you didn't miss me," Zai smirked.
Swan gave him a deadpan look, as usual—just like anytime he opened his mouth.
Then she rubbed her head against Lana's cheek,
then squinted her eyes with hints of worry and said,
"Let's get out of here… we need to hurry.
I found another exit."
Zai tilted his head and squinted his eyes in suspicion.
"…Another exit?"
Lana turned her head to Zai.
"Then… what was that portal, if it's not the exit?"
Swan: "No! No no… that portal is not the exit—"
She then quickly shut her mouth, as if she'd said something she wasn't supposed to.
"Lana, can I talk to you for a second?"
Zai said to Lana, who was holding Swan.
"In private—" he added.
Lana knelt and let Swan on the ground,
and walked aside to talk to Zai.
Lana: "Is there a problem?"
Zai: "Don't you find this a bit suspicious..?
How did she know about the portal if she just came in?
Why did she say another exit if she knew portal is not even an exit?
And why does she look like she's hiding something?"
Lana crossed her arms and rested her chin on her fingers as she mulled over Zai's words.
"I'll go talk to her," she said, her gaze sharp and her jaw clenched in determination as she squared her shoulders.
She walked toward Swan and knelt,
and asked her:
"How did you know about the portal if you just came here?
Don't be alarmed—I'm just curious."
Swan tilted her neck to the side, looking at Zai,
who was behind Lana.
She sighed. "I… just met a Glowfang in one of these tunnels… and I can actually communicate with them."
Lana: "Communicate with them?"
Swan: "Well, a long time ago, I had a friend who ruled a kingdom that lives in harmony with these creatures, so I learned how to communicate with them."
"And what kingdom is that?" he asked, his eyes sharp, staring at her while crossing his arms.
"The Silent Kingdom… the one we're heading to next."
Zai's eyes widened, and his arms dropped from their folded stance.
"Continue what you were saying, Swan…"
Lana wasn't taken by surprise. She just kept gazing into Swan's eyes, determined to listen to what she had to say.
Swan: "Yeah, so… I just met a Glowfang in one of these tunnels… long story short…
It told me about this portal.
It's guarded by the beast that was once their leader. The shadows have him in a chokehold."
The mother Glowfang squinted her eyes in sadness at Swan's words,
as if she understood what she was saying.
"That portal… it leads to the Shadows' cage."
Lana stood on her feet after hearing that, her body motionless and her eyes unblinking.
She turned to look at Zai.
They stared at each other,
as if no words were needed to say.
They had just realized the grave danger they were in if they had crossed the portal back then.
Swan: "Their leader's mind and body are barely holding on…
He's using what strength is left in him to guard that portal,
to stop anyone from his pack from entering…
even at the cost of death."
Lana covered her mouth with her palm,
her eyes shocked, and looked at Zai again—
remembering that they slashed its eyes.
Still… that was the best they could think of back then,
in the heat of the moment and threat.
Zai sat down and crossed his legs, intrigued and curious.
"Why do the shadows want to put them in a cage?"
"To use them for their army," Swan said, squinting her eyes, her voice deepening.
Lana knelt beside Zai, thinking. Something about this didn't sit right.
"I still don't understand… if they want them that bad, why didn't they just force them into the portal?
The Shadow forces are strong enough to do that."
Swan: "They're useless to them if their mind and soul are in the right place.
They need a devoted army—a blind one, spiritually at that.
That's why they're waiting for their leader to fold and devote himself to them,
so that he will command his pack to do so too and order them to go into the portal.
You can think of the portal as a test, and a signal—
a way to know the pack has weakened and surrendered to the ways of the Shadows."
Lana: "And if they refuse?"
"They will be ki—"
Then she raised her wing and sliced it across her throat.
Gasps and growls echoed behind them from the pack.
"Because an enlightened, strong soul and mind is the biggest threat to the Shadows."
Swan came close to Lana and Zai,
looking into the depths of their eyes.
"You are a threat to them."