The Gateway's rift pulsed behind them, a jagged wound in reality, but glance over her shoulder, as if expecting him to vanishor attack.
Leonis flexed his arms, the remnants of Duskblade Convergence still simmering beneath his skin. The Lich's warning echoed in his skull:
***"She is not what she seems.."***
He gritted his teeth.
Trusting Celia was suicide. But the Syndicate had made one fatal mistakethey'd underestimated how far a caged animal would go to chew off its own leg to escape.
Celia halted abruptly, her blade flashing up. Were being hunted."
Leonis didnt need her warning. The air reeked of iron and musk. Shadows pooled unnaturally between the trees, and the underbrush trembled with something far heavier than wind.
Then the growl camelow, guttural, vibrating through Leoniss bones.
A wolf the size of a warhorse lunged from the darkness.
Leonis barely dodged, rolling as obsidian claws gouged the earth where he' d stood. The beast wheeled on him, its fur matted with old blood, its eyes twin pools of molten gold. But it wasnt the fangs or the muscle that froze Leonis's breathit was the jagged, glowing runes carved into the creature's flesh, pulsing like a second heartbeat.
***"Bloodchained,"*** Celia hissed, backing toward him.
One of the Syndicate's hunting packs."
The wolf snarled, saliva dripping from its maw. Then it *spoke*.
***'Leonisss... Shadowblade."*** Its voice was a grotesque blend of beast and man, the words mangled by a throat never meant for speech. ***'The Master... hungers for your blood."***
Leonis's left arm ignited with shadows, but Celia's hand clamped onto his wrist. Dont. The runes feed on magic."
The wolf lunged again.
Celia's blade met its throat in a spray of moonlight and black ichor. The beast howled, recoilingbut the wound knitted shut before their eyes, the runes flaring brighter.
***"Foolish... little hunter,"*** it rasped, circling them. ***"You cannot kill
what is already dead."***
Leonis's mind raced. Bloodchained. *Undead." The Syndicate had turned living things into puppets, their souls shackled by those cursed runes. His gaze darted to the wolfs flank, where the markings converged into a single, pulsing sigila-weak point.
Distract it,"he muttered to Celia.
Her eyes narrowed, but she didnt argue. With a flick of her wrist, her blade split into a dozen shards of solidified moonlight, raining down on the wolf. It roared, swiping at the projectiles-
Leonis struck.
He channeled every ounce of stolen moonlight magic into his right arm, the flames turning cerulean as he drove his fist into the wolfs sigil. The runes*screamed*, their light fracturing like glass. The beast convulsed, its flesh peeling back to reveal something far worsea-human face, twisted in agony, embedded in its chest.
***"Fenrir!*** The face gasped.
Leonis recoiled. That name-
The wolfs body exploded into shadow and gore.
Silence.
Then, from the trees, a voice:
***"You... know my name."***
A figure staggered into the clearingtall, gaunt, his bare torso crisscrossed with the same runes that had bound the wolf. His golden eyes burned with feral intelligence, but his hands... they were human, trembling, the claws retracting as he collapsed to his knees.
Celia's blade didnt waver. Fenrir, last prince of the Frostfang Clan. The Syndicate's favorite experiment."
The manFenrircoughed up black blood. ***"Not... experiment. Prisoner."*** His gaze locked onto Leonis.***"You broke the chains. Why?"***
Leonis stepped closer, his shadow-wreathed left arm humming. Because I'm tired of being the only one tearing this place apart."
Fenrir's lips peeled back in a pained grin. ***'Then youll love this."***
He grabbed Leonis's wristand the world *split*.
A vision flooded Leoniss mind:
*A cavern, its walls lined with hundreds of glass pods, each containing a bodysome wolf, some human, all trapped in endless cycles of transformation. At the center stood a throne of frozen blood, and upon it sat a figure clad in shadows, their face obscured by a mask of living runes. The Shadowweave Sovereign. But beneath the mask...*
*Celia's eyes, staring blankly ahead.*
Leonis wrenched free with a gasp. Fenrir's grip had left smoldering marks on his skin, the runes briefly flaring to life before fading.
***"You see now,"*** Fenrir rasped. ***"The Sovereign is building an army. And your hunter... she is their masterpiece."***
Celia went rigid. Lies."
Fenrir laughed, a sound like bones breaking. ***'Then why do your scars burn when the blood moon rises? Why do you hear their voice in your dreams?"***
Leonis turned. Celia's hand had flown to the jagged mark beneath her maskthe Syndicate's brand. Her fingers trembled.
A notification seared across Leonis's vision:
***[New Quest: "The Cursed Princes Pact']***
*Help Fenrir break the Bloodchained curse. Reward: "Wolfs Instinct" passive ability.*
Fenrir coughed again, his body shuddering as the runes flickered. ***'The curse is reactivating. If you want answers... free me."***
Leonis exhaled. Another gamble. Another potential knife in his back.
He reached out, his left arms shadows coiling around Fenrir's wrist.
***"This will hurt,'*** he warned.
Fenrir bared his teeth. ***"Everything does."***
Leonis activated *Shadowflame Devour*.
The runes *screamed*.
---
The forest erupted in a storm of light and darkness as Leonis' shadows latched onto Fenrirs curse, his right armis flames searing through the necrotic energy. Fenrir convulsed, his back arching as the runes fought back, lashing tendrils of black magic into Leoniss veins. Agonywhite-hot and endlessfooded his nerves.
***"Leonis!"*** Celia's voice, distant.
He couldnt stop. The curse was a living thing, a parasite, and it was*fighting* him. Then-
A howl. Not of pain, but of *fury*.
Fenrir's body *rippled*, his form flickering between man and beast as the runes shattered one by one. The final sigil, embedded over his heart, pulsed frantically before exploding in a shower of black sparks.
The backlash sent Leonis flying.
He hit the ground hard, his vision swimming. When it cleared, Fenrir stood over himfully human now, his golden eyes clear for the first time in years.
***"You... actually did it."*** Fenrir's voice was raw with disbelief.
Leonis groaned, propping himself up. His arms felt like they'd been dipped in acid, but the system's notification glowed triumphantly:
***"Bloodchained curse lifted. Wolfs Instinct' unlocked: Enhanced senses and night vision in exchange for temporary bloodlust during combat.'***
Fenrir extended a handelawless, but no less deadly.
***"A life for a life, Shadowblade. Where do we hunt next?"***
Leonis grinned, sharp and bloody. Wherever the Syndicate doesnt want us
to."
Celia's blade suddenly pressed against Fenrir's throat. And why should we trust you?"
Fenrir didnt flinch, ***"Because I know where they're keeping the other prisoners. And because."*** His gaze flicked to Celia's scar.***"Youre running out of time before the Sovereign remakes you."***
Celia's hand twitched. For a heartbeat, Leonis thought she might slit his throat.
Then she lowered her blade.
The three of them stood in the ruins of the forest, the Gateways rift still throbbing in the distance. The Syndicate's game was changing.
And so were the players.