The air cracked before dawn - a pulse, not sound but power.
Nani froze where he stood, halfway through a report to William.
The glass on the wall fractured with a hairline line.
Then came the echo - the shatter of his own ward breaking.
Sky.
The realization hit his chest like a blade.
Another second - and the faintest ripple of Est's protection charm screamed through the link, splintering into silence.
Nani's pupils dilated; the room dimmed around him. The threads of his enchantments, thousands woven through his city, vibrated with alarm.
William was already on his feet. "My lord-"
"They've broken Est's barrier," Nani said quietly, his voice too calm to be safe.
He turned toward the window.
From this high, the city lights flickered faintly under a strange silver haze - a reflection of power far too old to exist anymore. "The curse is stirring."
William's jaw tightened. "The Guardian-"
"-has breached my ward."
Nani's tone turned sharp as glass. "Gather everyone. The war is coming sooner than I planned."
And before William could reply, the Supreme simply vanished - dissolving into mist that shimmered gold and black, leaving the scent of iron and storm behind.
----
The Forest, Midnight
The forest was too still.
No insects. No wind. Only the sound of their own breathing - and the faint crackle of PP's protection ward humming weakly around the clearing.
Felix wiped the blood from his face with a trembling hand. "The venom's spreading faster than I thought," he muttered, pressing another bandage against Juno's mangled side. The alpha wolf barely stirred, his silver fur darkened with blood.
Est knelt beside him, whispering a human prayer under his breath - half comfort, half plea.
PP flicked his fingers, threads of runes glowing and fading along his arm. "I can patch their bodies," he said grimly, "but not their souls. They're terrified. And fear attracts the cursed."
That was when Sky lifted his head.
Every muscle in his body went rigid.
"Something's coming," he said - low, guttural.
Billkin, standing nearby, stiffened at once; his wolf eyes flashed amber.
The air thickened. A vibration moved through the ground, faint but building - like a heartbeat that didn't belong to anything living.
Joss turned sharply. "Positions!"
Gawin drew his blade, the motion fluid, silent. The two vampires moved instinctively - centuries of training snapping into place as they flanked the small group.
Felix looked around, panic climbing up his throat. "No... not again-"
Sky stepped forward, his eyes narrow and cold now.
"Stay behind the ward," he said. His voice had changed - deeper, steadier, carrying the echo of something ancient.
And then the forest breathed.
The trees swayed, though there was no wind.
A shadow moved between them - not one, but dozens. The sound came next: a wet clicking, like bone scraping stone.
"They're here," Billkin growled.
The first creature broke through the treeline - a thing made of sinew and ash, its form constantly shifting, its mouth a gash of darkness. It lunged.
Joss met it mid-air, blade flashing; black ichor splattered across the dirt.
Another came from behind - Gawin caught it, twisting its neck until it shattered into dust.
But there were more. Too many.
Sky shifted mid-run - his wolf form half-blooming, claws extending, eyes burning white-silver.
His movements were too fluid, too fast - each strike lethal, efficient.
Billkin mirrored him, smaller but equally fierce, the two wolves fighting as if they shared one heartbeat.
Felix and Est ducked low behind the protection ward, PP reinforcing it every few seconds, muttering curses between breaths. Sparks burst where the barrier absorbed impacts - flashes of black smoke, white light, the smell of burnt ozone.
"Sky!" Felix shouted as another creature barreled toward him. "Behind you!"
Sky turned too late - the monster's claws raked across his shoulder, tearing through flesh. He snarled, catching its head with one hand and snapping it clean in two.
Billkin was at his side in an instant, covering his flank.
Blood dripped down Sky's arm, the wound already sizzling as his body tried to heal faster than it should.
"Sky!" Joss called from across the chaos. "There's more coming!"
Sky didn't need to look - he could feel it.
The air pulsed. The forest trembled again, this time deeper, heavier.
He could sense it - not just the creatures, but the one pulling the strings.
The summoner.
The same presence he'd felt in his dreams. Dark. Cold. Familiar in a way that made his chest hurt.
"Stay close," he ordered Billkin, voice like a growl.
Then he sprinted forward, cutting through the chaos - slashing, biting, tearing, leading the line before Joss or Gawin could stop him.
Felix's voice echoed faintly behind him. "Sky, wait! You can't-!"
But the Guardian was already gone, swallowed by the darkness of the trees, chasing the invisible pulse that called to him - the one that whispered his curse by name.
At that same moment, the second wave began.
The ground ruptured.
PP stumbled, nearly breaking his concentration as a fissure of red light split the earth. The faint hum of the barrier shrieked in protest.
"Oh, stars," he breathed. "There's more-"
Dozens of new shapes surged through the smoke - faster, stronger, drawn to the blood.
Joss and Gawin fell back to defend the barrier, but fatigue dragged at their movements.
"Felix!" Est cried. "They're coming from the north too!"
"I see it-dammit, hold the line!" Felix shouted, tossing another anti-venom vial toward Gawin. He turned to PP. "We can't keep this up!"
"I know!" PP snapped, his glowing hands shaking as cracks spidered across the ward. "Either that Guardian of yours does something or we're dead!"
Felix froze, chest twisting. "He can't-his power's not stable yet-"
Then came the howl.
Low, deep, ancient - a sound that split the night wide open.
Every creature froze mid-motion.
Every wolf lifted its head.
The howl still hung in the air - long after the echo should have died.
It rolled through the trees like thunder through glass, making every creature hesitate, their twisted limbs twitching mid-lunge.
Then came the answering chorus.
One voice. Then five. Then dozens.
Wolves - fierce and primal - breaking through the shadows, silver eyes glinting beneath the fractured moonlight.
The forest came alive again.
Through the dark, Alpha Kazen led the charge - massive, black-furred, with streaks of white down his back like lightning scars. His presence alone shifted the battlefield. The creatures turned toward the new threat, screeching in unholy fury.
"Hold your line!" Kazen's voice rang out, clear and commanding even in wolf form. "Defend the wounded!"
The Blue Moon Pack surged forward. Claws against teeth, blood against darkness. The wolves and vampires fought side by side now - instinct over politics, survival over pride.
Joss was bleeding, Gawin half-kneeling beside him, still slashing at anything that came close. Felix was shouting orders he could barely hear over the screams and growls. PP's ward flickered, struggling to hold even the faintest boundary between life and oblivion.
Sky darted between the wolves, his movements almost invisible, a blur of silver and shadow. He was fighting like he'd done this a thousand times - like he'd died for this before. His claws tore through one creature's throat, his fangs met another's spine.
Billkin fought beside him, smaller but fierce, his loyalty written in every strike.
Kazen caught sight of Sky through the chaos - the unknown wolf who fought like a force of nature. His aura was strange, old, laced with something no wolf should carry.
"Who is that?" one of the Blue Moon betas barked, panting.
"Doesn't matter - he's ours tonight!" Kazen snarled, leaping to Sky's flank, teeth sinking into a creature's neck before it could blindside him.
The three wolves - Kazen, Sky, Billkin - moved as one.
For a moment, the tide turned.
But only for a moment.
The forest began to move.
The trees bent as if bowing to something rising - something deeper, darker, crawling up from the soil.
Felix froze mid-cast. "No, no, no-"
PP's eyes widened. "They're multiplying."
It was true. The creatures weren't dying; they were splitting. Every kill gave birth to two more, shadows bleeding into flesh. The ground boiled black.
Joss stumbled, catching Gawin before he could fall.
Kazen's pack cried out - one wolf went down, then another. The air was thick with ash and rot.
Sky's chest burned. He could taste it now - the curse, the venom, the summoner's call.
He could feel the Moon's pull in his veins, and the blood of the First Guardian screaming inside him.
He looked around: Joss and Gawin falling back, Felix bleeding from his shoulder, PP's light flickering, the Blue Moon wolves collapsing one by one.
He could smell their fear. Their pain.
He could hear their hearts breaking.
Then Kazen roared - struck down by a creature's tail that tore through his flank. He hit the ground hard, coughing blood.
And something inside Sky snapped.
The power he'd been holding - the light he'd been afraid to touch - rose up from within him like the sun being born inside a dying star.
His mark burned through his skin, spreading down his arms, across his chest.
His eyes turned pure silver light.
The air exploded.
Light roared through the forest, a wave that split the darkness in half. The creatures screamed - their forms burning away in silver fire. Trees caught flame, the ground cracked open, and every living being dropped to their knees.
The wolves - Kazen's pack, the survivors, even Billkin - were forced down, their instincts overriding reason. They felt it - him.
The Guardian. The one from their legends.
The one who burned and blessed.
Kazen lifted his head weakly, eyes wide with disbelief. "By the moon..." he whispered. "The Guardian lives."
But the light didn't stop.
It kept growing - blinding, consuming, wild.
The soil turned molten beneath Sky's feet; the very air screamed. His body trembled under the weight of it, his veins burning silver, blood searing as it turned into fire.
"SKY!" Felix shouted, voice lost in the roar.
Billkin tried to reach him, but the light lashed out, throwing him back. Even the wolves howled in agony, unable to stand the radiance. The power wasn't meant for the mortal world.
Sky was breaking.
His light was turning inward now, tearing him apart.
"Sky-don't-" Felix's voice cracked, horror lacing the word.
Too late.
The Guardian screamed.
The ground split open.
A surge of silver-gold light erupted from him, pouring through every root, every tree, every stone. The shockwave tore across the clearing - creatures disintegrating into ash before they could scream.
The forest burned white.
The wolves fell to their knees, their fur glowing faintly under the divine light.
Those too close - even the strongest - whimpered, their bodies trembling from the sheer force.
Felix's small barrier barely held, the sigils flaring violently around Est, PP, Joss, Gawin and the wounded.
Gawin's voice was raw. "He's... he's burning everything-"
Joss grabbed him before he fell. "Stay down!"
The air screamed. The light howled.
And in the center of it - Sky, his body shaking, eyes hollow, the mark of the Guardian across his chest blazing like a star ready to die.
"Please-someone-" Felix whispered, unable to move through the blinding radiance. "He'll destroy himself-"
Then the wind changed.
The night stilled.
And the light bent - not fading, but yielding.
----
The light was everywhere - white and corrosive, a sound that felt like glass breaking in the bones.
It washed over the trees, turned leaves to ash, and made the wolves crouch low as if the world had become a thing they could not trust.
Then the world stilled on a single inhale.
From the edge of the burning ring, where shadow met flame, a figure stepped forward.
Nani moved as if he were walking through water - deliberate, unhurried, every step an argument against the world's insistence that this should end in ash. The flames licked at him and recoiled like cats at a scolding voice. Heat tried to eat the hem of his coat; the fabric smoked and then snapped open with a soft, terrible sound.
Up close, the air was an ocean of burning light. The scent of scorched pine and hot iron filled Nani's nose. His skin tightened where the heat found it; tiny beads of smoke rose from his shoulders. He felt it: the way Sky's light seared at the inside of his bones, the way the Guardian's song called to him like a wound calling for a blade.
He did not hurry. Each step measured. Each footfall a promise.
The wolves trembled and watched, jaws partly open, as if trying to make sense of a shape that should not exist - The Supreme walking straight into a sun to take it in his hands.
When he was three steps away, Sky's head turned. Silver eyes met gold. For an instant, everything quieted to the sound of two breaths and a single, fragile word.
Nani whispered, and his voice cut through the roar: "Love."
It was not an order. It was not a plea. It was the only vow left in a world that had nothing left to give.
Sky's light faltered like a candle in wind; the scream of the fire bent in toward Nani's voice as though it understood the meaning of the word. Sky tried to push back the tide - he tried to let the light go - but the glow moved like a tide and he was the shore.
Nani closed the space between them. The air burned. His coat was gone now; the silk at his collar had blistered and fallen away, revealing skin like pale marble and a scattering of molten runes blooming across his chest. The sigil he'd hidden for centuries crawled into the open - gold, ancient, a cross of first-blood marks that flared with every step he'd taken to reach this moment.
No one had seen that sigil burn like that before: a map of vows and carnage braided across his torso. It shone, angry and holy.
He took Sky like a man taking a blade he knew would cut him.
His arms closed around the Guardian, not gentle but not violent - like someone seizing the last thing that mattered and refusing to let fate pry it loose. The heat seized him as if to punish the presumption. Smoke threaded his hair. Flesh at the edge of his sleeve blackened. Pain lanced - sharp, immediate - but his grip did not loosen.
Sky convulsed against him, the light flaring frantic at the contact. It clawed at Nani's skin, seeking a way out, and Nani answered by pressing his palm flat to Sky's chest, directly over the mark that pulsed with living silver.
The touch should have burned him through; the touch should have shredded both of them into screams. Instead, something fractured and reassembled in the space between skin and bone. Sky's light met Nani's palm like two rivers colliding - violent, blinding, then strangely, impossibly, slowing.
Nani did not pull his hand back. He pressed harder. His fingers drove down, as if he could reach the thing inside Sky and hold it like a hot coal against his own chest. The gold sigil across him flared in answer, braiding itself through the silver until their marks sang together - one wound trying to swallow another.
Smoke rolled off them in slow curls. Sparks fell like dead stars. The wolves around them bowed their heads, ears flat, because something like mercy was being handed over in a way they'd only ever been taught to fear.
Sky clawed at Nani's shoulder, weak and wet with sweat and ash. A sound - half sob, half prayer - escaped him. "Nani," he tried, meaning more than the name could hold.
Nani could only hold him tighter. He leaned his forehead against Sky's and said nothing grand, nothing clever. His voice was small, absolute. "I won't let you go."
The words were a physical thing in the smoke; they folded between the light and the dark and tethered them both. Sky's light shuddered - it did not die. It dimmed, bowed, became a slow burn under Nani's palm instead of a sun.
Nani felt the cost the instant the exchange finished. Pain tore through him like an animal with teeth. The sigil on his skin flared white-hot, then blackened as if inked in ash. His shoulders sagged under a weight that was not only physical. Wherever Sky's light flowed into him, he could now feel the Guardian's ache: the burn of dying for people he loved, the memory of every life and every ending folded into one furious heartbeat.
He did not let go.
When the light steadied enough that Felix and Joss could look up without being seared, Nani's legs gave and he sank to the scorched earth. Sky lay limp in his arms, breathing but hollowed. Nani's skin was charred across one side - half of his body browned and cracked, hair singed, the air around him smelling of copper and rain on hot stone. He had become a ruin and a shelter at once.
He did not cry aloud. He did not speak again.
He simply cradled Sky against him while smoke smoldered around their heads like a crown.
Far off, wolves whimpered and began to stir. Around them, scorched trunks held black like bones, and small lights - the wards Felix had managed to keep - flickered, fragile and human.
No thunder came to wash this clean. No miracle unmade the scorch of what they had done. Only the slow, terrible realization that Nani had walked through a sun for the one thing he could not bear to lose.
He had taken the burn. He had taken the price.
And when the light finally settled into a dull, contained glow beneath his palm, the Supreme's breath came shallow and ragged. He held Sky as if the next breath might pull them apart or stitch them whole.
He had one thing left to do - to keep him.
"Nani," Sky breathed one last time before slipping toward unconcerned sleep, his voice a sliver in the ash.
Nani did not answer. He could not find words that would fit what he had just stolen from fate. He only tightened his arms, the charred edge of his hand leaving a black print against Sky's skin, and the two of them-ruined and unbreakable-stayed that way as the forest around them cooled into smoking quiet.