The ground vibrated again.
Dust fell from the cave ceiling as a guttural roar tore through the mountain air.
Not human.
Not wolf.
Not anything Kael had ever heard from the wild.
Lira clutched Kael's arm. "Kael… what is that?"
Kael stepped forward, placing himself fully between her and the cave mouth.
His wounds burned.
His shadow pulsed weakly.
His body was exhausted.
But his eyes—
They glowed with a darkness ready to kill anything that came near her.
"It's a Voricar," Kael said quietly.
Lira sucked in a breath. "A what?"
Kael didn't look back at her.
"An ancient mountain predator. Part spirit, part beast. They hunt anything that bleeds."
The monster roared again.
Kael tasted iron in his mouth.
And he realized something worse—
The creature was tracking HIM.
The bond with Lira had made his shadow unstable. His essence was leaking into the air like a beacon.
And the Voricar was following it.
A massive shadow moved outside the cave.
A hulking silhouette.
Long twisted horns.
Four glowing amber eyes.
Muscles like stone plated with bone.
Kael's breath hardened.
"It's found us."
The Voricar thrust its massive head into the cave, jaws opening wide. Rows of razor-sharp fangs glistened with black venom.
Lira gasped, stumbling backward.
Kael stood unmoving.
The beast sniffed the air—
shuddered—
and growled, recognizing something strange.
Shadow.
Light.
A bond not meant to exist.
It lunged.
Kael shoved Lira back, raising his arm—
But the shadows were too weak.
They sputtered, trying to form spears, but collapsed like dying smoke.
"Kael!" Lira screamed.
The beast's jaws snapped—
Kael dodged, barely, the teeth grazing his shoulder.
Blood splattered onto the cave floor.
Lira cried out, collapsing as if SHE had been struck.
Kael's eyes widened.
"Lira—?"
She clutched her shoulder—the SAME side Kael was bitten.
"I… I felt that…" she gasped.
Kael froze as the truth hit him:
Their senses were merging.
Their pain shared.
Their bond deepening.
The Voricar lunged again.
Kael shoved Lira to safety and rammed his elbow into the beast's snout. Bone cracked. The beast recoiled with a furious bellow.
Kael staggered.
His strength was fading too fast.
If he kept fighting… the bond would kill her long before the beast killed him.
"No…" Kael growled. "Not her. NEVER her."
The Voricar slammed its claws into the ground and leaped again, jaws aimed straight for Lira.
Kael's vision snapped into tunnel focus.
Lira screamed.
Kael roared—
not with shadow, not with power, but with pure instinct.
And for the first time…
The bond answered HIM.
A burst of light erupted from Lira's pendant—
but this time, it wasn't Lira activating it.
It was Kael.
Shadow surged from his body.
Light surged from hers.
The two collided midair—
swirling into a massive blast of silver-and-black flame.
It slammed into the Voricar's face.
The beast howled, stumbling backward, claws raking the stone.
Kael collapsed to one knee, panting violently.
Lira dropped beside him, gasping for breath.
"Kael… what just—?"
He stared at his trembling hands.
"I… used your light magic," he whispered, horrified.
Lira stared wide-eyed. "Through the bond?"
Kael nodded slowly.
The realization hit them both:
He could access her light.
And she could feel his pain.
They were becoming two halves of one force.
The Voricar roared again, enraged, shaking off the blast.
It charged.
Kael grabbed Lira and pulled her behind him.
Even wounded, even exhausted, even shaking—
He stood tall.
The shadows rose behind him.
The light flickered around Lira.
Together—uncontrolled, unstable, but united—
They stepped forward.
The Voricar roared, claws raised.
Kael whispered through clenched teeth:
"Lira… when I move, release everything."
Lira swallowed. "My light?"
"And my shadow," he said.
A pulse went through their bond—
A silent understanding.
Trust deeper than fear.
The Voricar leaped.
Kael tightened his grip on her hand.
"Now!" he roared.
Everything exploded.
Shadow and light burst outward in a violent cyclone. White and black flames intertwined, spiraling around them like a storm given life.
The Voricar met the force head-on—
And was obliterated.
The mountain shook.
Rock split.
Dust exploded outward.
And then… silence.
The beast lay collapsed, its massive form reduced to ash.
Kael and Lira dropped to their knees, both panting, both shaking uncontrollably.
Lira touched her chest, stunned. "We… did that."
Kael stared at his hands—hands that held shadow and light.
"No," he whispered.
"We survived because of you."
Lira grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her.
"No. We survived because of us."
Their bond pulsed once more—
Soft.
Warm.
Alive.
But Kael's face suddenly darkened.
He sensed something.
Many somethings.
Heavy footsteps.
Weapons.
Magic.
Approaching fast.
Lira whispered, trembling,
"Hunters?"
Kael's eyes turned pitch black.
"No."
A long pause.
Then he said quietly—
"Worse."