The forest around Drakar grew denser with every step, as though the trees themselves were trying to conceal something deep within their shadows, and the farther he moved away from the roots of the World Tree the more he felt the air changing—no longer filled with the lingering power of storms or the scent of scorched earth left behind after the fall of a god, but instead slowly filling with a quiet, cold energy, something that resembled the pale glow of moonlight that does not warm the skin yet still pierces through the darkness.
Drakar walked slowly.
His chains slid quietly along the ground.
The runes etched into the metal flickered faintly, reacting to the power that still lingered within him after his battle with the guardian of the roots.
"Do you feel her?" the Serpent whispered.
Drakar stopped.
Yes.
He felt it.
Somewhere ahead, there was magic.
Not divine.
Not demonic.
Something else.
Ancient.
Like moonlight dancing on still water.
"She is close," he said quietly.
"Yes…"
He took a few more steps.
Then the forest suddenly opened.
Before him lay a small clearing illuminated by a pale silver glow that fell from above through a break in the canopy, and in the center of that light stood a figure.
A woman.
She stood perfectly still.
As though she had been waiting for him.
Her long dark hair fell over her shoulders, and silver symbols painted across her skin glowed softly like delicate threads of runic light.
In her hands she held a staff.
At its top rotated a small crystal, shimmering like a fragment of frozen moonlight.
Drakar stopped.
They looked at one another for several seconds.
"You walk very loudly for a hunter of gods," she said.
Her voice was calm.
Almost cold.
But there was no fear in it.
Drakar tilted his head slightly.
"And you stand very calmly for someone facing a man with chains."
The woman smiled faintly.
"I wasn't waiting."
"Then why are you here?"
She slowly raised her staff.
The lunar crystal flared softly.
"Because I felt a god fall."
The silence between them thickened.
Drakar did not move.
"Gods fall often," he said.
"Not by mortal hands."
Her eyes carefully studied him.
Especially the runes.
Especially the chains.
"You are Drakar," she said.
It was not a question.
He answered calmly.
"And you are Selene."
Her eyebrow lifted slightly.
"Rumors travel faster than storms."
Drakar shrugged.
"So do mages."
Selene took a few steps forward.
The moonlight seemed to move with her.
"Do you know what happens when a god dies?"
"I take their power."
"And you leave a crack in the world."
Drakar remained silent.
"The World Tree holds the pantheons together," she continued."But every rune you tear away weakens it."
"You think I don't know that?"
"I think you don't think about the consequences."
His eyes flashed with dark flame.
"I think about only one thing."
"Revenge?"
"The end."
Selene stopped walking.
She studied him for a long moment.
Then quietly said:
"Then you are exactly what Nyxaroth is waiting for."
The air grew colder.
Even the wind in the forest fell silent.
Drakar tilted his head.
"You know that name."
"I study the fractures between worlds."
She raised her hand.
A lunar symbol appeared in the air.
The clearing filled with silver light for a moment.
"Every god you kill opens a door."
"For him."
Drakar said nothing.
"And you think I will stop?" he asked.
"No."
Selene lowered her hand.
"But I think you don't want to destroy the world."
"The gods are already doing that."
"Which is exactly why you cannot become like them."
Drakar laughed.
Dry.
"You came here to lecture me?"
"No."
She stepped closer.
"I came to make sure you don't become a monster."
And then the ground trembled.
Both of them felt it at the same moment.
Drakar turned his head.
Selene raised her staff.
"Too late," she said quietly.
The air before them tore open.
A crack.
Deep.
Dark.
Several shadows crawled out of it.
This time they were larger.
Stronger.
Their bodies were made of fragments of stone and emptiness, and at the center of each chest burned a twisted rune.
Drakar understood instantly.
"They feed on the death of gods."
Selene nodded.
"They are born from the fracture."
The first creature lunged forward.
Drakar dashed toward it.
His chains spun.
The blade cut through the air.
But the creature dissolved into shadow.
Then appeared behind him.
Selene raised her hand.
A beam of silver light struck the monster.
It howled.
Drakar used the moment.
He leapt.
And drove his hand into the creature's chest.
"Rune Devouring."
His fingers grasped the twisted symbol.
And tore it free.
The monster exploded into dark dust.
But the fracture widened.
Selene turned sharply toward him.
"I told you!"
Drakar stared at the rune in his hand.
It was cold.
Foreign.
"They are already here."
Three more creatures crawled out of the fracture.
Selene stepped forward.
"Then this time we do it differently."
"How?"
She looked directly at him.
"Together."
Drakar was silent for several seconds.
Then he spun his chains.
"Fine."
The monsters attacked at once.
Drakar leapt into battle.
Selene raised her staff.
And for the first time, the silver light of the moon merged with the dark flame of the dragon.
The battle had only just begun.