Elantra:
The moon had barely begun to rise when I slipped into the corridor with nothing but the clothes on my back, the ring on my finger, and the silver feather tucked into the lining of my cloak.
Lucien was already waiting, cloak drawn tight, eyes cutting through the shadows like knives. He didn't speak. He didn't have to. His expression told me everything: we were already being watched.
The bond between us hummed, sharp, tense, coiled like a bowstring. I could feel his emotions, even if he'd never admit them out loud. Frustration. Fear. A flicker of something that felt disturbingly like guilt.
"We'll go through the archive tunnels," he murmured as we moved. "There's a breach point in the west catacombs. Old. Forgotten."
"Won't the guards be posted—"
"They'll be looking for the obvious exits. Not the cursed ones." he interrupted.
"…Cursed?"
He didn't answer. He just pressed a hidden panel in the stone wall. It clicked open with a sigh, revealing a narrow passage behind a tapestry of the Moon Goddess, eyes hollow, hands raised in eternal blessing.
As the door shut behind us, sealing the corridor in black, I whispered to the system.
"Are you still with me?"
"Active. Tracking."
"Good," I muttered. "Keep me alive."
"No guarantees."
I paused. "…You're getting sassier."
"Adaptive protocol. Current risk level: critical. You respond better to sarcasm."
Lucien glanced back. "You're talking to it again."
"It's my only friend in this moment."
"I'm right here."
I rolled my eyes. "Debatable."
The tunnels were colder than I expected.
Moisture clung to the walls like sweat. The air smelled like rust, old stone, and something older. Something that pulsed beneath the surface of the earth, as if the ground itself remembered secrets no one had asked for.
Our footsteps echoed, soft but not silent.
Lucien moved with unnatural grace, every step calculated. I tried to copy him, but my boots still caught on uneven ground and debris. It wasn't long before he reached back and gripped my hand.
The contact sent a wave of electricity through me.
He felt it too.
"I'm not letting you twist an ankle while we're running for our lives," he muttered, as if that explained everything.
But his hand didn't let go.
And mine didn't try to pull away.
We moved for what felt like forever. Stone gave way to iron, then to brittle wood as we entered an older wing of the tunnel. Faded sigils glowed faintly on the walls, wards that hadn't been touched in years.
And then… I felt it.
A shift in the air.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
"We're not alone," I whispered.
Lucien's jaw flexed. "I know."
"Warning," the system intoned, sharp now. "Unregistered lifeforms detected."
"Where?" I asked aloud.
"All directions. Converging."
I grabbed Lucien's arm. "Trap."
"Too late to go back."
He dropped my hand, drew his blade, and spun as a shriek ripped through the air.
Figures lunged from the dark, pale, twisted, half-formed things. Not human. Not wolf. Something in between. Their eyes glowed faint gold. Their claws scraped the walls as they crawled on all fours.
"What the hell are those?" I cried.
"Failed bond experiments," Lucien growled. "System rejects. Lost souls."
They came at us in a blur of motion and snarls.
Lucien moved first, fast, brutal, a blur of dark steel and black magic. I stepped back, raising my hands in reflex, and to my shock, my fingertips glowed.
The mark on my chest seared.
I didn't know what I was doing, but I felt it.
Energy swirled in my palms, gathering heat and light. The system pulsed through me like liquid moonlight.
"Luna Protocol unlocked. Initiating first defense cast: Starlight Pulse."
"What?"
"Brace yourself for impact."
A burst of silver light exploded outward.
The creatures screamed, disintegrating mid-lunge. Lucien covered his face, stumbling back as the glow receded. When I lowered my hands, the tunnel was still again.
He stared at me.
"What was that?"
I looked at my hands, still crackling faintly. "I… I don't know."
"You glowed."
"I noticed."
His expression was unreadable for a moment. Then he reached out and wiped a streak of blood off my cheek with his thumb.
"You're full of surprises."
"I'm not done yet."
We made it to the catacomb breach ten minutes later. The wall had collapsed long ago, revealing a drop into what looked like a forgotten cavern system. The air reeked of sulfur and mold.
Lucien went first, lowering himself with inhuman ease.
I stared down after him, hesitating.
"Elantra," he called, voice echoing up. "I've got you."
I took a breath, and jumped.
He caught me easily, arms strong around my waist.
For a heartbeat too long… he didn't let go.
"Lucien…"
His eyes met mine, cool steel softening into something I wasn't ready to name.
Then he stepped back.
"We keep moving."
We didn't speak much after that.
The tension had shifted, thicker now. More electric. But there was no time to dwell on it. The system's map guided us through the tunnels until the air began to change, cleaner, colder, touched with night wind.
A light glowed ahead.
An exit.
We reached the surface just as the moon touched its highest peak in the sky, bathing the cliffside forest in silver.
I stumbled forward, gasping as the fresh air hit my lungs. The fresh feel of nature welcoming as always.
Lucien stood beside me, scanning the trees, every muscle tense.
"We're out," I said, voice hoarse.
"For now," he replied. "But they'll come."
I looked back at the tunnel, barely visible behind thick brush.
"What happens now?"
Lucien turned toward me. "Now… we disappear."
The system pinged suddenly.
"System Alert: Bond Disruption Detected."
"Cassian Valemont – Severance Attempt in Progress."
My heart froze.
"He's cutting the bond," I whispered.
Lucien's head snapped toward me.
"Not unless someone forced him to."
Then the wind carried a sound, distant, sharp, rising.
A howling chorus of wolves… heading our way.