ZARA POV
The roar shook the cave walls.
Whatever made that sound wasn't human. Wasn't wolf. It was something ancient and massive and absolutely terrifying.
The Council members froze, their execution chains still glowing in their hands. Even Lysandra looked nervous, her jade eyes darting toward the cave entrance.
"What was that?" one of the guards whispered.
The roar came again, closer this time, followed by the sound of trees snapping like toothpicks.
Kael grabbed my arm, his grip iron-tight. Through the bond, I felt his fear mixing with mine until I couldn't tell where his emotions ended and mine began.
"We need to move," he growled at the Council. "Now. Before—"
The cave entrance exploded inward.
A monster crashed through—no, not a monster. A beastman, but corrupted. His elk antlers were twisted and black, his eyes glowed red instead of normal colors, and his flesh looked like it was rotting off his bones. The same creature that had chased me through the forest.
A Feral.
"Run!" Kael shoved me behind him as the Feral charged, its diseased antlers aimed straight at the Council members.
Everyone scattered. Guards threw their chains, but the Feral didn't even slow down. It crashed through them like they were made of paper, roaring that horrible sound that made my bones vibrate.
Lysandra vanished in purple smoke—of course she did. The Council members teleported away one by one, abandoning their execution for survival.
Cowards.
"This way!" Kael pulled me deeper into the cave, away from the Feral's rampage. His pack members appeared from side tunnels, forming a defensive line between us and the monster.
But I couldn't stop staring at my arms.
The tattoos—the marks that had appeared when I arrived in this world—were glowing brighter than ever. They moved under my skin like living things, symbols shifting and rearranging themselves into new patterns.
And they were pulling me backward, away from Kael, toward a different tunnel.
"Zara, come on!" Kael shouted.
But I couldn't move. My feet were frozen in place, and the marks on my skin burned hot like someone had set me on fire from the inside.
Then the world disappeared.
Not physically—I was still standing in the cave with chaos erupting around me. But my vision went white, and suddenly I wasn't seeing the cave anymore.
I was seeing memories that weren't mine.
A woman with marks like mine stood in a golden temple, surrounded by dozens of beastmen—wolves, tigers, bears, eagles, all bowing before her. She raised her hand, and light poured from her fingertips, connecting to each of them like golden threads. They weren't forced bonds. These beastmen chose this, wanted this, begged for it.
Because being bonded to a Tamer made them stronger. Faster. More powerful than they could ever be alone.
"We are the bridge between beast and magic," the woman said, her voice echoing in my skull. "We are the Tamers, and through us, this world finds balance."
The vision shifted.
Now I saw darkness spreading across the land like a plague. Beastmen turning Feral, losing their minds, becoming the monsters they feared. The same woman stood at the center of it all, her hands glowing as she tried to heal them, save them, stop the curse.
But there were too many. The darkness was too strong.
"Remember," she whispered directly to me across centuries of time. "The curse feeds on broken bonds, on isolation, on fear. Only connection can cure it. Only love freely given can heal what hatred has broken."
Then she looked straight at me with eyes that matched mine exactly. "You are the last of us, daughter. Finish what we started. Save them. Save yourself."
The vision shattered.
I gasped, stumbling backward into the cave wall. My whole body shook, sweat dripping down my face. The marks on my arms had stopped glowing, but now they felt different. Like they'd been asleep before and were finally waking up.
Kael was suddenly in front of me, his hands on my shoulders. "Zara! What happened? You just stood there staring at nothing!"
"I saw..." My voice came out hoarse. "I saw a Tamer. An ancient one. She showed me memories."
"Memories of what?"
"Of what I am." I looked up at him, and through the bond, I felt his shock as he realized I'd finally accepted the truth. "I'm not from Peru. I mean, I was, but that temple—it was a portal. Those ruins I was excavating weren't just old buildings. They were Tamer ruins. And when I touched that statue, it sent me here."
"Here?" Kael's voice was sharp. "You mean the Beastworld?"
"Is that what this place is called?" I laughed, but it sounded broken even to my own ears. "I'm not on Earth anymore, am I? This is a different world entirely. A world where humans went extinct and only beastmen survived."
Through the bond, I felt Kael's confirmation before he spoke it. "Humans vanished three hundred years ago. The legends say they caused the Feral Curse and then disappeared. We've been fighting Ferals ever since."
Three hundred years. The same timeline from my vision.
Behind us, the Feral roared again. Kael's pack was fighting it, but even their combined strength wasn't enough. The monster was too strong, too corrupted.
My marks started burning again, pulling toward the Feral like they wanted me to go closer.
"The woman in my vision," I said slowly, understanding dawning. "She said the curse feeds on broken bonds. On isolation. But Tamers create bonds. We connect beastmen to magic, to each other, to balance."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying maybe I didn't cause that Feral to appear. Maybe..." I looked at my glowing marks, then at the monster destroying Kael's den. "Maybe I'm supposed to cure it."
"That's insane. Ferals can't be cured. Once they turn, they're gone forever."
"But what if they're not?" I stepped away from him, toward the battle. "What if being a Tamer means I can heal them? Restore their bonds? What if that's why the marks pulled me here?"
"Zara, no!" Kael grabbed for me, but I was already running.
The Feral saw me coming and charged, its rotting body moving impossibly fast. Kael's pack scattered, shouting warnings, but I didn't stop.
I pressed my hands against my burning marks and thought about the golden threads in my vision. About connection. About healing instead of hurting.
"Please work," I whispered. "Please let me save someone instead of ruining everything."
My marks exploded with light—brighter than before, hotter than before—and I threw my hands forward just as the Feral reached me.
Golden energy poured from my palms, wrapping around the monster like chains made of sunlight. It roared, thrashing, trying to break free. But the light held strong, sinking into its corrupted flesh.
For one perfect moment, I thought it was working.
Then the light turned black.
The Feral's roar changed pitch—no longer angry, but agonized. Its body convulsed, and the corruption didn't heal. It spread. Faster than before. Worse than before.
And the marks on my skin turned the same sick black color, spreading up my arms like poison.
Through the bond, I felt Kael's horror.
The Feral collapsed, dead. Not cured. Dead.
I stared at my blackened marks in disbelief. "No. No, that's not what was supposed to happen. I was supposed to heal it!"
"Zara..." Kael's voice shook. "Your marks. They're turning Feral."
I looked down and saw he was right. The beautiful golden symbols were dying, turning into the same corruption that destroyed the monster.
And through the bond, I felt something else. Something that made my blood run cold.
Kael's marks—the ones I'd given him—were starting to turn black too.
"What did I just do?" I whispered.
Before anyone could answer, Lysandra's voice echoed through the cave, dripping with triumph.
"Exactly what I knew you would do, little Tamer. You didn't cure the Feral. You absorbed its corruption. And now, through your bond, you'll spread it to every beastman you've marked."
She materialized from smoke, smiling like a snake.
"Congratulations. You're not the cure for the Feral Curse."
Her jade eyes gleamed with malice.
"You're patient zero for the next plague."