"Are we running or fighting?" Theo screamed.
"It's too late, it already noticed us!" Kai'el replied through gritted teeth.
The beast moved slowly. Each step cracking the ice beneath it. The sound was deep and hollow, like the earth itself was splintering.
Its silhouette towered over the shattered valley, a twisted reflection of the creatures that came before. The remnants of fur clung to a frame of exposed bone and frostbitten sinew. Half its body looked melted, the other half frozen solid.
Theo took a slow step back.
"That…that's a Tier I Blighted….An Alpha Warg."
The glow in the Alpha's throat pulsed brighter. The air rippled around it.
Alain's grip tightened on his sword. "Shit. Kai'el, back up and focus on support."
Kai'el's breath shook, but he nodded. "Got it." He stumbled back several paces, dragging his injured arm close to his chest.
Alain turned toward Theo, about to speak—
The Alpha's head snapped up.
A sudden hiss cut through the air as a glob of black liquid burst from its mouth, streaking toward them with unnatural speed.
"Move!" Alain shouted.
He and Theo dove in opposite directions. The projectile struck where they'd stood, splattering across the ice in a molten spray.
The puddle stayed, sinking as it corroded the ground that they were standing on just moments ago.
Alain looked up from his slide, eyes widening.
The Alpha lowered its head again. Its throat began to glow for a second shot.
"Kai'el!" Alain barked. "Wind it off course!"
Kai'el raised his hand, forcing a weak Algiz sigil into the air. A wave of compressed wind expanded from the sigil, intercepting the next projectile and veering it off course.
Alain didn't waste the opening. He lunged in, Raido flaring beneath his boots. The burst carried him forward in a flash of red light. He swung low, his blade scraping along the Alpha's foreleg in a burst of sparks and frost.
The flesh beneath wasn't flesh at all. Black frost crawled from the wound, sealing it shut before blood could even fall.
The Alpha moved with it. Its tail lashed out, slamming into Alain's ribs with the force of a hammer. He hit the ground hard, breath torn from his lungs.
"Alain!" Kai'el shouted.
"I'm fine!" He forced himself up, coughing.
Theo had already reacted. Ingwaz flared bright blue, and the air distorted around him. In a heartbeat, he was gone—reappearing beside the Alpha's flank.
His movements blurred, each strike building speed upon the last, momentum folding into momentum. Every hit sounded like a thunderclap.
The Alpha staggered but didn't fall. For each gouge Theo left, black frost welled from beneath its skin, knitting the gashes shut.
Theo clicked his tongue, frustration bleeding through. "It's fixing itself!"
"Keep pressure on it!" Alain shouted back. "There has to be a limit!"
The Alpha lunged at Theo, claws sweeping through the snow with terrifying precision. Theo slid back, redirecting its force midair—his Ingwaz humming as he turned the beast's own weight aside. It crashed to the side, carving a trench through the frost.
Kai'el seized the moment. He raised his arm, carving Tiwaz into the air. A blade of wind burst forth, slicing toward the Alpha's exposed back.
The surface split open, but before the wound could deepen, the black frost pulsed again, a wave of crystalline growth spreading over the gash. The hole sealed, smooth as glass.
Alain stared, breathless. "It's… freezing itself back together."
Theo landed beside him, panting hard. "Great. What now! I'm running low here."
Alain didn't respond. The Alpha had already turned. Steam rolled off its back where Theo's last strike had landed.
It shook off the snow accumulated and immediately lunged at the still recovering Theo.
Alain raised his sword and stepped forward. Catching between the beast's canines.
The clash rang out like shattering glass. Sparks scattering across the frozen air. The impact numbed his arms, the sheer weight of the blow pressing him down into the dirt.
He pushed back with a snarl, igniting Raido beneath his feet. The push countered the Alpha's momentum, sending a shockwave through the ground. They separated, both sliding backward through the frost.
Alain's eyes flicked to its chest. The steam from Theo's last assault had stripped away much of the blackened shell on one side, revealing a faint red light pulsing deep beneath the frost.
For a heartbeat, the creature's movements slowed, and he saw it. Something glowing within the translucent layer of ice.
A sphere. Pulsing with each huff the Alpha took.
"There…" Alain muttered, breath visible in the cold. "That's it."
The Alpha lunged again, claws sweeping through the snow. Alain barely managed to move out of the way, its claws centimeters from his face.
"Theo!" Alain shouted, ducking under another swing. "It's got a core—buried in its chest!"
Theo blinked through the mist, eyes narrowing. "You're sure?"
Alain blocked another blow, boots sliding across the ice. "Positive. That's what's healing it!"
The Alpha pressed closer, its breath spilling black frost across Alain's arm.
I can't feel my arm. Is this going to be where I die?
Alain gritted his teeth, forcing his sword upward. Enhanced by Raido, the creature's head propelled upwards, leaving its underside exposed.
"NOT A CHANCE IN HELL!"
Alain screamed, using his dagger to aim directly at the pulsing red sphere. Propelled by Raido, the dagger imbued itself into the armor.
It struck true, piercing the ice, but it was shallow.
The blade splintered against the crystalized frost surrounding the core, scattering shards of steel and ice in every direction. The recoil blasted through Alain's arm, sending a jolt up to his shoulder.
He screamed as the impact hurled him backward. His body slammed against the frozen ground, sliding several feet before stopping.
"Alain!" Theo's voice cut through the storm.
The Alpha staggered, clearly surprised by the move.
Alain's dagger clattered beside him…or what's left of the hilt.
His breath came in sharp, uneven gasps. He stared down at his hand— pale, unresponsive, laced with thin black veins of frost.
"Damn it," he whispered, voice breaking against the wind. "Move…"
Alain panted, holding his hand.
I can't stop here. If only I could melt that ice…
His vision swam. The sound of his heartbeat drowned beneath the hum of his runes.
Then, a glow.
ᚷ — Gebo (Exchange)
Alain blinked, disoriented. Symbols flickered behind his eyes. Shapes, shifting like pieces of an old memory.
One of them seared itself into focus.
ᛈ — Perthro.
[Exchange completed.]
The meaning sank in before he could question it. His hand steadied, the frost beginning to crack along his arm as ether surged back into his veins.
Alain exhaled shakily, staring down at the faint afterimage of the rune now glowing beside Gebo.
"So that's it…" he murmured, the corner of his mouth twitching upward.
The Alpha's roar shattered the silence, black frost spilling from its chest as it advanced again.
He stood up, carving the sigil as naturally as he breathed.
ᛈ — Perthro (Enchant)
"Theo, catch!" Alain yelled, throwing his sword through the sigil.
Fire caught on, like oil doused on top of his sword. It flew through the air, burning bright.
Theo barely managed to catch the blade—after narrowly avoiding a claw slash from the Alpha.
"How do you know Perthro? I thought you said you weren't combat-trained???" Theo yelled, confused.
"Save it for later! Buy me 15 seconds!"
Theo nodded, engaging with the Alpha immediately. The beast clawed ferociously, but every hit just seemed to miss Theo.
"Kai'el, help me out here! Carve Tiwaz!"
"What? How does that—?"
"JUST DO IT!"
Kai'el flinched, but nodded again. He raised his good arm, fingers glowing, and carved the sigil in the air.
ᛏ — Tiwaz (Cut)
Alain raised his fingers, going back to the only sigil that he had ever known.
ᚱ— Raido (Push)
The two sigils stacked on each other, aimed at the wolf. Alain held his left hand up, eyes ready.
"THEO, NOW!"
Theo didn't waste time. With a single step, he managed to close the distance again. With a clean strike, the burning sword melted through countless layers of the ice armor until…the red pulsing core was exposed once more.
The core throbbed, light spilling through the cracks like blood through glass. The Alpha staggered, howling as molten shards sloughed off its chest.
"GO!" Theo shouted, voice cutting through the storm.
Alain thrust his left hand forward.
"REALIZE—ISA!"
The rune on his wrist flared violently, shifting shape. The gentle vertical line of Isa unfurled, its ends branching out like a frozen tree.
A surge of gold ether shot through his veins, racing up his arm and into the twin sigils hanging in the air.
The sigils reacted. Their light twisted, merging into a single spiral that burned white at its center.
ᚱ— Raido (Push) + ᛏ — Tiwaz (Cut) = ᛈᛁᛖᚱᚲᛖ (Pierce)
A spike of ice erupted from the earth, clear as glass and sharp as a blade. It didn't just grow, it darted. Cutting through space like a lance of frozen light.
Striking dead center.
The spike pierced straight through the Alpha's chest, impaling the red core with a sound like shattering crystal. The light within the creature's body exploded outward, fracturing across its form in crimson cracks.
For one blinding moment, the entire field lit up—red and white colliding, fire and frost screaming in unison.
Then silence.
The Alpha froze in place, body splitting along glowing seams. Steam rolled from its wounds as the red light inside flickered once… twice… and went out.
Alain stood still, breath fogging in the aftermath. His arm was coated in frost up to the shoulder.
"We…we did it, huh?" Alain muttered.
His eyelids went heavy, his body light. He stared at the beast. It almost looked like an ornate statue, carved meticulously from years of hard work.
"...Beautiful."
He fell to his knees, embracing the cold snow. The world turned dark.