Kael's POV
Twenty shadow wolves charge at the glowing girl.
She has no training. No control. No idea what she's doing.
She's going to die in the next five seconds.
Not on my watch.
I blur past Seraphina so fast she gasps. My sword sings as it leaves its sheath. The first wolf dies before it realizes I moved. The second loses its head. The third and fourth go down together.
But there are too many. Always too many.
One leaps over me, jaws aimed at Seraphina's throat.
"Down!" I roar.
She drops flat. My blade catches the wolf mid-air, cutting it clean in half. Black blood sprays across the burning village.
"Stay down!" I snap at her.
More wolves circle us. Smart. They're herding us, cutting off escape routes. These aren't mindless beasts—something's controlling them.
A massive wolf—twice the size of the others—steps through the flames. Its eyes glow red instead of yellow. Alpha. The pack leader.
It speaks. Actually speaks in a voice like grinding rocks. "The Lightbearer. Fresh. Weak. Perfect."
My blood turns to ice. Shadow wolves shouldn't be able to talk. Shouldn't be organized. Shouldn't know what a Lightbearer is.
This is a trap. We walked right into it.
The alpha wolf grins, showing teeth like daggers. "The Voidborn King sends his regards. He wants the girl alive." Its eyes slide to me. "You, guardian, are unnecessary."
Ten wolves lunge at once.
I move on pure instinct—three hundred years of battle experience taking over. My blade becomes a silver blur. Wolf after wolf falls. But for every one I kill, two more appear from the shadows.
Behind me, I hear Seraphina scrambling to her feet. "I can help! Just tell me how!"
"You can't!" I cut down another wolf. "Your power is too unstable. You'll kill us both!"
"I can't just watch you die!"
"That's exactly what you'll do!" I snarl. "I've been fighting since before your great-grandmother was born. Trust me!"
The alpha wolf laughs. "Such loyalty. Such devotion. How sweet." It tilts its massive head. "Tell me, guardian—does she know the real reason you hate being bound to her?"
My next strike misses. Just barely. But enough.
A wolf gets through my defense. Its claws rake across my ribs. Pain explodes through my side. Blood soaks through my shirt.
Through our bond, Seraphina feels my pain like it's her own. She screams.
And her power explodes.
Golden light erupts from her in a wave. It's not controlled. Not aimed. Just pure, raw divine energy flooding outward like a tidal wave.
The wolves caught in the blast turn to ash instantly. The flames on the buildings extinguish. Even the ground beneath us heals—scorched earth becoming fresh green grass in seconds.
But the power doesn't stop. It keeps growing, spreading, becoming more intense.
She's going to burn herself out. Kill herself with her own magic.
Move, you idiot!
I sheathe my sword and tackle Seraphina. My hands close around her glowing wrists. "Stop! You have to stop!"
"I can't!" Tears stream down her face. "I don't know how!"
The bond between us flares hot. I feel her terror. Her desperation. The power tearing through her body with nowhere to go.
Without thinking, I do something I swore I'd never do again.
I open my side of the bond. Completely.
Her power slams into me like a physical force. It floods through our connection, pouring from her body into mine. Light blazes through my veins—hot, painful, overwhelming.
But I hold on. Channel it. Let my three centuries of control guide the raw energy into something focused.
The chaotic explosion narrows. Condenses. Becomes a beam of pure light shooting from our joined hands straight into the alpha wolf's chest.
The creature howls. Tries to run.
Too late.
The light consumes it. The alpha wolf doesn't just die—it's unmade. Erased. Like it never existed.
The remaining wolves scatter, fleeing into the forest.
Silence falls over the village.
Slowly, carefully, I release Seraphina's wrists. The light fades from both of us. My hands shake—something that hasn't happened in decades.
I just used the bond. Actually used it instead of fighting it.
And it felt... right.
No. No, I can't think like that. Can't let myself feel anything.
Seraphina collapses against me, gasping. "What... what did you do?"
"Saved your life." I pull away quickly, putting distance between us. "Your power was going to consume you. I channeled it through our bond to give it direction."
"You can do that?"
"I shouldn't have to." My voice comes out harsher than intended. "If you had any control, any training, any—"
"I've been alive for less than an hour!" she snaps back. Fire sparks in her eyes—the first real anger I've seen from her. "Sorry I'm not perfect at being a magical warrior yet!"
Despite everything, I almost smile. Almost.
Instead, I press a hand to my bleeding ribs and look around the village. A few villagers peer out from hiding places, eyes wide with fear and awe.
The woman with two children steps forward hesitantly. "Thank you," she whispers. "You saved us."
Seraphina's anger melts instantly. "Are you okay? Are the children hurt?"
She moves toward them, but I catch her arm. "We need to leave. Now."
"But they need help—"
"They need us gone before more wolves come." I meet her eyes. "That alpha wolf said something important. The Voidborn King knows about you. Knows you're a Lightbearer. This attack wasn't random—it was a test."
Her face pales. "A test?"
"To see how strong you are. How well protected." I glance at the forest where the wolves vanished. "They'll report back. Next time, they'll send something worse."
"Next time?" Her voice shakes. "How many next times?"
"As many as it takes until you're strong enough to stop running." I start walking, not waiting to see if she follows. "Which means we start your real training. Today."
I hear her footsteps behind me. Feel her exhaustion through the bond she doesn't know how to shield yet.
"Kael?" Her voice is small. Uncertain. "Back there, when you opened the bond... I felt everything. Your pain. Your fear. Your—"
"Don't." The word comes out sharp as a blade. "Whatever you think you felt, forget it. The bond shares emotions sometimes. It doesn't mean anything."
Silence. Then: "You're lying."
I stop walking. Turn to face her. "Excuse me?"
She lifts her chin, meeting my glare without flinching. "You're lying. I felt what you felt, and it wasn't nothing. You were terrified I was going to die. Not because of duty. Because you—"
"Because you're my assignment," I interrupt coldly. "If you die, I fail. I haven't failed a mission in three hundred years. I'm not starting now."
It's a good lie. Convincing.
But through the bond—the bond I forgot to close again—she feels the truth.
I was terrified. Not of failing. Of losing her.
This girl I've known for less than a day. This mortal who should mean nothing to me.
Somehow, impossibly, she's already gotten under my skin.
Seraphina's eyes widen. "Kael—"
A scream cuts through the air.
Not from the village behind us. From ahead. Deeper in the forest.
A child's scream. High. Terrified. Desperate.
Seraphina starts running toward it immediately.
"Wait!" I grab for her, but she's already gone. "Damn it!"
I chase after her, every instinct screaming that this is wrong. Too convenient. Too perfectly timed.
We burst into a small clearing.
A little girl—maybe six years old—stands frozen in the center. Tears stream down her face. She's surrounded by shadows that twist and writhe like living things.
"Help me," the girl sobs. "Please, somebody help me!"
Seraphina moves forward. "It's okay. I'm here. I'll—"
"Stop!" I grab her shoulder, yanking her back. "That's not a child."
"What? Of course it is!" She tries to pull free. "She needs help!"
"Look closer."
Seraphina stares at the crying girl. At first, nothing seems wrong. Then the shadows shift, and for just a second, the girl's eyes flash solid black. Her smile stretches too wide. Too many teeth.
"Clever guardian," the thing wearing a child's shape says. Its voice distorts—multiple voices speaking at once. "But not clever enough."
The shadows explode outward.
And standing in the clearing now—where the fake child was—is something that makes the alpha wolf look like a puppy.
A creature ten feet tall, made entirely of writhing darkness. No face. No features. Just a vaguely humanoid shape that radiates wrongness.
A Voidborn. A real one.
"Oh no," I breathe.
The creature's voice echoes from everywhere and nowhere. "The Voidborn King sends a message to the new Lightbearer: Join us willingly, or watch everyone you try to save die screaming."
It raises one massive shadow arm.
And behind us—back in the village we just saved—flames erupt again. Brighter. Hotter. Screams fill the air.
The creature tricked us. Drew us away so it could circle back and attack the defenseless villagers.
Seraphina's face drains of color. "No. No!"
She spins to run back toward the village.
The Voidborn moves faster than anything that size should. Its shadow arm catches Seraphina around the waist, lifting her off the ground.
"On second thought," it purrs, "why wait for you to choose? I'll just take you now."
The creature begins to fade—pulling Seraphina into the shadows with it.
She screams my name. Terror floods through our bond so intense it nearly drives me to my knees.
I have maybe two seconds before she's gone forever.
Two seconds to make an impossible choice: save Seraphina, or save the village full of innocent people dying behind me.
I can't do both.
The Voidborn knows it. I can hear its laughter as the shadows swallow them both.
"Kael!" Seraphina's voice is fading. "Help—"
The shadows close completely.
She's gone.