Chapter 3 – Shadows on the Plains
The moonlight poured over the plains like water, two pale orbs mirrored in the dew-slick grass. We had been walking for hours—Nox ahead, all silent confidence, Luka pacing at my flank like a silver shadow. The night smelled of dust and wildflowers, of fur and iron, of a world that did not sleep.
I was still learning to breathe here. My lungs wanted city air, filtered and tamed, yet every breath in this body came full of life—heartbeats I could hear miles away, the musk of antelope, the faint tang of lightning that clung to Nox's mane.
I didn't shift back to lioness form yet. I wanted to hold on to the human shape, to remind myself that I hadn't vanished into this place entirely.
The Scent of Power
Nox slowed, shoulders rolling beneath his dark cloak of fur. His aura pressed over the land like thunder before a storm—steady, impossible to ignore. Luka's tail flicked once, catching a glint of starlight.
"We cross into borderlands now," Nox said. "Feral territory."
The words crawled down my spine.
"You keep saying that word—feral. What makes them so different?"
Luka's voice was low, careful.
"They're Beastmen without warmth. Some are born that way—cold-blooded creatures who never learned compassion. Others lost themselves to rage until nothing was left but hunger."
Nox looked back over his shoulder. "They take what they want. Females most of all."
A pause hung heavy. The lion in him spoke from instinct, the man from memory. I couldn't tell which chilled me more.
Instinct and Fire
Hours passed. My legs ached, though this body felt stronger than the one I'd been born with. The rhythm of their steps guided me forward—the quiet pad of paws, the soft brush of tails against grass. Once, Luka brushed close enough that his warmth bled into my skin; the air between us shimmered with something that felt like promise and warning at once.
When Nox finally called a halt, the plains had turned to rolling shadow. "Rest," he said, and crouched to inspect the earth. He drew a claw through the soil, leaving deep grooves that caught the moonlight.
I knelt beside him before thinking.
"What are you doing?"
"Reading," he murmured. "Tracks." His hand shifted, fingers hardening to talons before returning to human shape again, effortless as breathing. "A serpent passed here. Large. Too recent."
Luka's ears lifted. "We're being watched."
The breeze changed. I felt it before I heard the hiss—a slither, low and wet, threading through the grass.
The Feral Ambush
The first strike came from the dark. Nox moved before my eyes caught the motion, intercepting a blur of scales with a roar that shook the ground. Golden light rolled off him, half-shifted now—lion's claws, human form.
More shapes followed: six, seven serpentine bodies gliding through the grass, their eyes glowing the same sickly green as the crystal light beneath the soil.
Luka dropped low, fur bristling. "Behind me," he growled, voice already thickening as bone rearranged. Silver light flared, and a wolf the size of a horse leapt past me, teeth catching moonlight.
Something inside me responded—an echo of instinct older than fear. My body remembered what it was. The shift came like breath; skin rippled to fur, and I was no longer human.
Sound sharpened. The grass sang against my paws. I could taste the blood in the air before it spilled.
I lunged.
The feral serpent hissed, rearing back, but I met it with claws outstretched. The impact jarred through muscle and bone; scales split, hot fluid spraying. It writhed, tail lashing, but I held fast until it went still.
Across the clearing, Nox tore through another with ruthless grace. Luka darted in and out of shadows, fast as light itself. The night filled with snarls, with the ring of fang on scale, until—
Silence.
The grass lay flattened, littered with broken bodies.
The Crystal Heart
I shifted back, chest heaving, and knelt beside one of the fallen serpents. Its flesh was cold even before death finished claiming it. Nox crouched next to me, claws tracing along its chest. With one precise motion he opened it, revealing a pulsing green glow inside.
Luka's breath caught. "A gem crystal. Strong one."
The thing inside throbbed softly, like it still had a heartbeat. Nox plucked it free, holding it up between two blood-stained fingers. The light painted his face in emerald fire.
"The monsters that hold these live long," he said. "Their power seeps into every scale, every drop of venom. Those who eat the crystal gain years—sometimes centuries."
"You've done it?" I asked.
His eyes met mine—gold on gold. "Once. But the cost is steep."
He closed his hand around it, and for a heartbeat the glow reflected in his pupils. The air between us thickened, humming with energy and something more primal, something that made the lioness inside me pace.
"You could keep it," I said quietly. "For yourself."
A half-smile curved his mouth. "Perhaps I will. Or perhaps I'll see if the little lioness can handle what she's killed."
He pressed the crystal into my palm. It pulsed once—warm, alive. My breath hitched. When I looked up, his face was closer than I expected, the scent of him heavy with heat and dust and blood. My pulse answered before I could stop it.
Luka cleared his throat softly. "We should move before more come."
Nox's gaze lingered one heartbeat longer before he rose. The night wind cooled my flushed skin, and I hated how much I missed the weight of his stare.
The Quiet After
We didn't travel far before making camp. Luka gathered dry grass and lit it with a spark from a flint stone; the flames licked upward, painting gold across his face. Nox sat opposite me, elbows on his knees, the crystal turning slowly between his fingers.
"You fought well," Luka said finally, voice low.
"I barely knew what I was doing."
"Instinct guided you," Nox murmured. "That's more than most have their first hunt."
I wanted to say something sharp, but fatigue stole my words. Instead I watched the fire and listened to their breathing, steady and alive. My body ached in ways I'd never known, half from battle, half from the weight of this strange world pressing in.
The flames danced, reflecting in Nox's eyes, in Luka's silver gaze. For a moment, the air hummed again—that magnetic pull that lived somewhere between fear and longing.
When sleep finally claimed me, I dreamed of claws tracing against skin, of gold and silver light twining together, of the crystal pulsing between our hands like a second heartbeat.