We eat the last of the mage's rations—dried meat that tastes like leather, hard crackers that taste like nothing. Fenris devours his portion like he hasn't seen food in days. Probably hasn't.
"How old are you?" Lilith asks him gently.
He pauses mid-chew. "Eleven. In human years. Mama said we age different, but she counted in human years so I'd know."
Eleven. Barely more than a child, even by human standards. And he's already seen more horror than most people experience in a lifetime.
"What happened to your village?" I ask. "The Empire, obviously, but... why? Was it just because you're demi-human?"
Fenris's face twists. "They were looking for someone. A woman. An elf, I think. She ran through our village the night before, hurt and bleeding. Mama helped her. Hid her. When the white men came..." He swallows. "They said hiding tainted blood made us tainted too. Said we all had to be purified."
Purified. Such a clean word for murder.
"Do you know if the elf survived?" Lilith asks.
Fenris shakes his head. "I don't know. They caught me before I could see. Put me in the cage and said they'd come back for me after they 'processed the rest.'" His voice cracks on the last word.
Processed. Another clean word for something filthy.
{System Alert}
{New information: The Empire is actively hunting specific demi-humans. "Tainted bloodlines" being targeted.}
{Probability: Multiple survivors may be scattered throughout the region.}
{Quest Updated: The Forgotten}
{Additional subjects may be located by following Empire patrol routes.}
I file that away for later. Right now, we have more immediate concerns.
"We need to move," I say. "The Empire will keep searching. This cave isn't safe forever."
Fenris looks at his leg. The splint. His jaw tightens. "I'll slow you down."
"Yeah. You will." No point lying about it. "So we'll figure out how to carry you. Lilith can fly a little, I can carry you some. We'll manage."
"You'd do that? Carry me?" His eyes are wary again. "Why?"
"Because leaving you behind isn't an option." I say it simply. Like it's obvious. Because it is.
He stares at me. That same searching look.
Then, quietly: "You really are weird."
Lilith laughs—a real laugh, warm and genuine. "You have no idea."
---
We leave at dusk.
Better to travel in darkness, Lilith argues. Less chance of running into Empire patrols. I agree, though navigating rocky hills in the dark comes with its own risks.
Fenris rides on my back, his small arms wrapped around my neck, his broken leg carefully positioned so it won't bump against anything. He's light—too light—but after a few miles, my shoulders start to ache.
Lilith notices. "Switch with me."
"You just flew reconnaissance—"
"And now I'm rested. Give me the cub."
Fenris makes a sound of protest. "I'm not a cub. I'm a warrior."
"You're a warrior with a broken leg who weighs less than my wings." Lilith grins at him, and something in her expression makes him stop arguing. Maybe it's the kindness in her eyes. Maybe it's the fact that she's clearly not going to take no for an answer.
He transfers to her back. She adjusts him carefully, her wings half-spreading for balance, then rises a few feet off the ground.
"This is amazing," Fenris breathes. "I'm flying!"
"Don't get used to it. My wings are still recovering." But she's smiling.
We make better time after that. Lilith skims low to the ground, carrying Fenris with ease, while I jog beneath her, ready to catch them if she falters. The terrain grows rougher as we go—rocky outcroppings, narrow passes, the occasional scree slope that threatens to send us tumbling.
By midnight, we've made it through the worst of the hills. Ahead, mountains loom against the stars, their peaks lost in clouds.
"The Verdant Basin is through there," Lilith says, landing gently. She sets Fenris down on a flat rock, stretching her wings with a wince. "There's a pass. Narrow, dangerous, supposedly haunted."
"Haunted how?"
"Old stories. Something about a guardian. A Stone Wyrm, petrified at the entrance, that wakes if you try to pass." She shrugs. "Could be myth. Could be real. Either way, we'll deal with it when we get there."
I nod, scanning our surroundings. The night is quiet—too quiet. No insects. No animal sounds. Just the wind and our breathing.
Something's wrong.
{Danger Sense: Tingling}
{Host ability: Bloodline Sense activating automatically}
{Detection: Multiple life forms. Approaching fast.}
{Classification: Monsters. Dire Wolves. Pack of 8.}
{ETA: 2 minutes}
"Company." I'm already moving, pulling Fenris behind me, positioning Lilith at my back. "Dire Wolves. Eight of them."
Lilith's eyes flash gold. "I can fight."
"You just carried a kid for hours. Your wings—"
"Will manage." Her aura flares—Succubus Queen's Aura, but different. Sharper. More aggressive. {Fear effect activated}
The wolves burst from the darkness.
They're huge—each one the size of a pony, with matted gray fur and eyes that glow red in the starlight. They surround us in seconds, circling, snarling, foam dripping from massive jaws.
But they don't attack.
The aura is working—I can see it in their hesitation, their confusion. They sense something wrong. Something dangerous. Their instincts scream at them to flee.
But hunger is stronger.
The alpha—a massive brute with a scarred muzzle and one missing ear—snarls at the others, driving them forward. Two break from the circle, charging.
Lilith meets them head-on.
She's beautiful in motion—wings half-spread, hands crackling with drained mana, eyes blazing. The first wolf leaps. She sidesteps, grabs its leg mid-air, and throws it into the second. They tumble together in a tangle of limbs and yelps.
{Lilith: Combat power 318}
{Dire Wolves: Combat power 85 each}
{Matchup: Favorable}
But there are six more. And I'm not at her level yet.
The alpha howls. The pack surges.
I draw my scavenged sword.
The first wolf reaches me—I duck under its leap, driving my blade up into its belly. Hot blood sprays across my face. It yelps, thrashes, goes still.
{Kill confirmed: +50 System Points}
No time to celebrate. Two more are on me.
I'm not a trained warrior. I'm a mercenary—self-taught, survival-honed, good enough to stay alive against humans. Against monsters, against this—
I fall back, letting instinct take over. My new stats help—I'm faster than I should be, stronger. I dodge one set of jaws, block another with my forearm, feel teeth scrape bone—
{Damage taken: 12 HP}
{HP: 154/166}
Lilith screams—not fear, fury. She tears through two wolves like paper, her hands leaving trails of drained light in their wake. But the alpha is smart. It circles behind her, waiting for an opening.
Fenris.
The alpha is going for Fenris.
I see it happen in slow motion—the massive wolf veering away from the main fight, racing toward the flat rock where Fenris sits, helpless, his eyes wide with terror.
"No!"
I'm too far. Too slow. Lilith is engaged with three others. No one can reach him in time.
Fenris looks at the charging wolf. At the death bearing down on him.
And he moves.
His broken leg screams—I can see it in the way his face twists—but he throws himself off the rock, rolling, scrambling, putting distance between himself and the alpha. He's crying. He's terrified. But he's not giving up.
The alpha adjusts course. Closes in.
Fenris grabs a rock. Throws it. It bounces off the wolf's head, useless.
"FENRIS!"
My voice tears out of me. I'm running, fighting through the wolves still in my way, but I'm not going to make it—
Fenris looks at me.
His gold eyes meet mine across the blood-soaked grass.
And I see it—acceptance. He's going to die, and he knows it, and he's not afraid anymore. He's just... sad. Sad that he never got to be a warrior. Sad that he never got to avenge his mama. Sad that he never got to trust the weird human who carried him.
No.
{System Alert}
{Bond Level: Critical}
{Subject Fenris: Willing to sacrifice}
{Host: Emotional spike detected}
{Blood Harmonization: Possible in current configuration}
{Requirements: Mutual consent, physical contact, mana sharing}
{Risk: High. Subject is injured. Host is exhausted.}
{Reward: Survival. Evolution.}
I don't think.
I just move.
The alpha leaps. I dive.
I catch Fenris in my arms, roll with him, feel the wolf's jaws snap shut inches from my skull. We tumble down a small slope, rocks and dirt and blood—his blood, from his leg—mixing together.
We stop at the bottom.
Fenris looks up at me, bewildered. "Why—"
"No time." I press my forehead to his. "I need you to trust me. Really trust me. Can you do that?"
His eyes search mine.
Above us, the alpha howls. It's coming.
"I..." He swallows. "You came back for me. You jumped in front of a wolf for me."
"Yeah. I did."
"...okay."
{Consent: Confirmed}
{Initiating Blood Harmonization}
{Subject: Fenris (Wolf Beast-kin)}
{Warning: Subject is critically injured. Harmonization will accelerate healing but will be extremely painful.}
{Proceed?}
Yes.
Light explodes.
---
This is nothing like Lilith's transformation.
Where hers was graceful, beautiful, a flower blooming—this is raw. Primal. A star being born in a furnace of pain and fury.
Fenris screams.
Not in terror—in power. His small body arches in my arms, bones cracking and reforming, muscles tearing and knitting stronger. His fur—patchy and matted before—erupts in a cascade of silver-white, each strand gleaming like moonlight.
His leg snaps straight. Heals. Grows.
He grows.
In my arms, an eleven-year-old boy becomes something else. His frame lengthens, fills out—not into an adult, but an adolescent. A teenager now, lean and powerful, with the promise of more to come. His face sharpens, losing its baby fat, becoming something wild and beautiful.
His eyes open.
Gold. Burning gold, like Lilith's, but different. Wilder. More wolf.
And above us, the alpha Dire Wolf—who was about to kill us both—whines.
It drops to its belly. Whimpers. Presses its muzzle to the ground.
Fenris looks at it.
Something passes between them—a communication I can't hear, can't understand. The alpha whines again. Crawls forward. Licks Fenris's feet.
{<
The System window blazes across my vision, but I barely see it. I'm too focused on the boy—no, not a boy anymore—rising from my arms, standing on two legs that were broken moments ago.
{Subject: Fenris (Wolf Beast-kin) → Primal Fenrir}
{Combat Power: 28 → 265 (+846%)}
{New Abilities:}
{- Alpha's Howl (Party-wide +25% stats for 5 minutes)}
{- Moon Fang (Devastating single-target attack, scales with moonlight)}
{- Pack Bond (Share senses with bonded allies within 1km)}
{Host Upgrades:}
{STR: 42 → 78}
{MANA: 97 → 134}
{New Ability: Lesser Regeneration (Passive HP recovery)}
{Bond Level: 8 (Pack-Bound)}
Fenris—Fenrir—looks down at his hands. His claws. His silver-white fur.
"I'm..." His voice is deeper. Stronger. "I'm not broken anymore."
Above us, the remaining Dire Wolves have stopped fighting. They're all on their bellies now, whimpering, submitting. Lilith stands among them, covered in wolf blood, staring at Fenris with wonder.
"The alpha," Fenris says quietly. "It didn't want to attack. The pack was hungry. Starving. The Empire killed all the game in this area." He looks at me. "They're not evil. Just desperate."
I stare at him. "You can... talk to them?"
"I am them." He holds up his clawed hand. "Or... they're me. I don't know how to explain it."
{Primal Fenrir: Connection to all canines}
{Can communicate with and command wolves within intelligence limits}
{Pack expands. Sanctuary defense improves.}
The alpha whines again. Crawls toward Fenris on its belly.
Fenris reaches down. Places a hand on its massive head.
"I forgive you," he murmurs. "You didn't know."
The alpha's tail wags—a tiny, hopeful movement.
Then, slowly, the other wolves rise. They surround Fenris—not attacking, protecting. They're his now. His pack.
Fenris turns to me. His gold eyes are wet.
"Big brother."
The word hits me like a punch to the chest.
"Yeah, kid?"
"I... I can feel you. In my head. Like she's there." He gestures at Lilith. "Warm. Safe. Pack." He takes a shaky breath. "I've never had a pack before. Not since Mama died."
I open my arms.
He's in them in an instant, burying his face in my shoulder, his new body shaking with silent sobs. I hold him tight, the way I wished someone had held me when I was his age and alone in the world.
"You've got a pack now," I whisper. "Me, Lilith, and apparently eight very large wolves. We're not going anywhere."
Lilith joins us, wrapping her arms around us both. Her wings spread, curving around us like a shelter.
"We're family," she says softly. "All of us."
{Party Bond: Deepened}
{New Title Unlocked: The First Pack}
{Effects: +10% to all stats when fighting together. +15% to healing when resting together.}
{Your sanctuary grows. Your bonds strengthen.}
{The Forbidden Kingdom has taken its first steps.}
---
We make camp again, deeper in the hills, closer to the mountain pass. The wolves—now officially part of our pack—take up positions around us, watching for threats. The alpha, whom Fenris has named Shadow, lies at the mouth of our small cave, one eye open, ever vigilant.
Fenris sleeps between Lilith and me, his silver fur soft against my arm. He's still adjusting to his new body, still learning its limits, but for now, he's just a kid who needs to feel safe.
Lilith reaches across him, her hand finding mine.
"Two down," she murmurs. "Three to go."
I squeeze her hand. "We'll find them. Build something. Somewhere safe."
"And then?"
"Then we show the Empire what happens when you push people too far."
She smiles—a slow, dangerous smile that makes my heart skip.
"I like the sound of that."
{Quest Update: The Forgotten}
{Progress: 2/5 compatible subjects acquired}
{Next subject detected: Scanning...}
{Location: Eastern Ruins (secondary site)}
{Species: High Elf}
{Status: Captive - Empire patrol en route}
{Time remaining: Approximately 48 hours}
I read the notification. Memorize the details.
Tomorrow, we move again.
Tonight, we rest.
Together.
---
End of Chapter 3