The answering howls faded slowly into the distance.
Instinct remained still, Moonfall in his hand, listening until the forest finally settled again.
“They’re communicating,” he said.
Arwen looked toward the trees.
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“No.”
Instinct glanced at the seven bodies scattered around the remains of their camp.
The faint cyan markings on their foreheads had already begun to dim, their luminous eyes extinguished.
“Do you think they’ll come back?”
Arwen wiped her dagger clean.
“The alpha survived.”
“That’s a yes.”
“That’s a very strong yes.”
Instinct sighed.
“Wonderful.”
” ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, YOU WANTED EXPERIENCE.
”
I wanted training.
” THIS IS PRACTICAL TRAINING.
”
You’re enjoying this.
” IMMENSELY.
”
Instinct sheathed Moonfall.
“We should move.”
Arwen nodded.
“First the bodies.”
Instinct looked at the dead Wolftlers.
“Why?”
“Blood draws predators.
And if these creatures are what I think they are, I would rather not leave them lying here.”
“What do you think they are?”
Arwen’s gaze lingered on the nearest body.
“I don’t know.”
Instinct raised an eyebrow.
“That was convincing.”
“I know what they’re called.
I’ve heard stories.
That doesn’t mean I know what made them.”
Made them.
The wording caught his attention.
Before he could ask, Nyx spoke.
” SHE MAY BE RIGHT.
”
Instinct went still.
About what?
” GIVE ME A MOMENT.
”
That was unusual enough to concern him.
Arwen began gathering dry branches.
Instinct joined her.
They dragged the Wolftler bodies together and piled wood around them.
Even dead, the creatures looked unnatural—the bodies of enormous black wolves crowned with branching antlers, faint cyan markings still visible beneath the dark fur of their foreheads.
Instinct lit the wood.
Flames caught slowly before spreading across the pile.
The smell forced them several steps back.
Arwen watched the fire in silence.
Instinct waited.
Finally—
” I FOUND SOMETHING.
”
About the Wolftlers?
” MAYBE.
THE RECORDS ARE OLD, AND THEY DON’T AGREE ON EVERYTHING.
”
What do they say?
There was a brief pause.
” THEY AREN’T NATURAL.
”
Instinct looked at the burning bodies.
I guessed that much.
” THEN CONGRATULATIONS.
YOU’RE LEARNING.
”
Nyx.
” FINE.
”
Her tone became more serious.
” THE NAME APPEARS IN REFERENCES TO FORBIDDEN RITUALS.
CREATURES ALTERED THROUGH MAGIC.
BRED, CHANGED, SOMETIMES COMBINED WITH TRAITS THEY SHOULDN’T POSSESS.
”
Instinct’s eyes moved to the black antlers disappearing beneath the flames.
Abominations.
” THAT WORD APPEARS MORE THAN ONCE.
”
Who made them?
” I DON’T KNOW.
”
Why?
” ALSO DON’T KNOW.
SOME RECORDS DESCRIBE THEM AS HUNTING BEASTS.
OTHERS AS GUARDS.
A FEW REFER TO THEM AS SOLDIERS.
”
Instinct frowned.
Soldiers?
” I SAID THE RECORDS ARE INCONSISTENT.
I WOULDN’T BUILD A THEORY FROM IT YET.
”
That was fair.
He looked toward Arwen.
She was watching him.
“What?”
“You disappeared again.”
Instinct blinked.
“I’m standing right here.”
“Physically.”
He almost smiled.
“Thinking.”
“You do that often.”
“Occasionally.”
Arwen clearly didn’t believe him, but she let it go.
They waited until the flames had consumed enough of the bodies that nothing large would easily drag them away.
Then they left.
⸻
They traveled southwest for several hours.
Neither spoke much.
Arwen kept them away from obvious trails and open ground, choosing harder routes through rocks and dense vegetation.
Instinct understood why.
The alpha had seen them fight.
It had watched.
Learned.
And escaped.
The thought bothered him more with every passing hour.
By midday, Nyx spoke again.
” I FOUND SOMETHING ELSE.
”
Good something or bad something?
” HAVE YOU MET ME?
”
Instinct sighed internally.
What did you find?
” ONE OF THE REFERENCES MENTIONS MARKINGS.
”
Instinct immediately thought of the faint cyan symbols on the Wolftlers’ foreheads.
Like the ones we saw?
” POSSIBLY.
I CAN’T CONFIRM THEY’RE THE SAME.
THE DESCRIPTION IS TOO VAGUE.
”
What does it say?
” THAT CERTAIN ALTERED CREATURES WERE MARKED BY THE HAND OF THEIR MASTER.
”
Instinct slowed.
Arwen noticed.
“What?”
“Something about those creatures.”
Her expression sharpened.
Instinct chose his words carefully.
“I think the markings may mean they belong to someone.”
Arwen stopped.
“Belong?”
“Or serve.
I’m not certain.”
“How do you know?”
“The information I found mentioned creatures like them.”
Arwen’s gaze remained on him for a moment before she looked back the way they had come.
“A master.”
“Possibly.”
“That would explain the way they fought.”
“And make the fact that three escaped considerably worse.”
“Yes.”
Instinct looked around the forest.
“If they report back?”
“Then whoever controls them knows something killed seven of their pack.”
“Us.”
“If their master can understand them.”
Instinct considered that.
“We don’t know that.”
“No.”
Arwen started moving again.
“But I would prefer not to discover the answer while standing still.”
Instinct followed.
“Reasonable.”
” I LIKE HER SURVIVAL INSTINCTS.
”
So do I.
” AW.
”
Instinct ignored her.
⸻
They found the tracks shortly before sunset.
Arwen stopped so suddenly Instinct nearly walked into her.
She crouched.
Instinct followed her gaze.
Prints.
Large ones.
Many.
The earth beneath the trees had been disturbed by dozens of paws.
Arwen touched one impression.
“Fresh.”
Instinct looked around.
“How fresh?”
“Very.”
His hand moved toward Moonfall.
Arwen rose slowly.
“They’re not following us.”
Instinct frowned.
“No?”
“They moved ahead.”
He looked toward the darkening forest.
“They circled around.”
“Yes.”
The alpha had learned.
Instinct drew Moonfall.
“How many?”
Arwen studied the ground.
“More than last night.”
“That’s not a number.”
“No.”
“Arwen.”
She looked at him.
“Twenty.
Perhaps twenty-five.”
Instinct stared at her.
“That’s a number.”
“You asked.”
“I’m beginning to regret it.”
Arwen drew her dagger.
“You wanted experience.”
Instinct looked at her.
“Have you been talking to Nyx?”
Arwen frowned.
“Who?”
Instinct froze.
A fraction of a second.
Too late.
” OH, THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL.
”
Shut up.
Arwen’s eyes narrowed.
“Who is Nyx?”
Instinct opened his mouth.
A howl cut through the forest.
Close.
Another answered from the opposite direction.
Then another.
Arwen’s attention snapped toward the trees.
Instinct silently thanked every god he could not remember believing in.
“We’ll discuss that later,” she said.
” YOU ABSOLUTELY WILL.
”
This is your fault somehow.
” I WASN’T THE ONE WHO SAID MY NAME OUT LOUD.
”
Instinct tightened his grip on Moonfall.
Shapes appeared between the trees.
Cyan eyes.
Pairs upon pairs of them.
The Wolftlers emerged slowly.
Black bodies moved through the shadows, their branching antlers forming twisted silhouettes beneath the canopy.
Twenty.
Maybe more.
And at their center—
The alpha.
Its cyan eyes locked onto Instinct.
The faint marking on its forehead glowed against its black fur.
A low growl rolled from its chest.
The pack spread out.
Different from before.
Last night they had surrounded them.
This time they were cutting off routes.
Instinct noticed immediately.
“So it did learn.”
Arwen shifted beside him.
“Yes.”
The Wolftlers moved farther apart, forming a broad circle around them.
Instinct watched the gaps close.
“They’re trying to stop us from breaking through.”
“Yes.”
He glanced at Arwen.
“You sound remarkably calm.”
“I’m deciding how many I need to kill.”
Instinct smiled despite himself.
“How many?”
“All of them.”
Something in her voice had changed.
Instinct looked at her.
Arwen rolled one shoulder and adjusted the dagger in her hand.
Last night, she had fought carefully.
Controlled.
Enough to keep the Wolftlers away from her while allowing Instinct to fight.
Now her emerald eyes were fixed on the pack.
Cold.
Focused.
“I was holding back before,” she said.
Instinct raised an eyebrow.
“I noticed.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Before he could answer, the alpha howled.
The forest erupted.
Wolftlers charged from every direction.
Arwen disappeared.
Instinct barely saw her move.
One moment she stood beside him.
The next, she was among them.
Her dagger flashed.
A Wolftler collapsed before it completed its first leap.
She turned.
Another lunged.
Arwen stepped beneath its antlers, drove the dagger into its throat, and was already moving before the body touched the ground.
Instinct stared for half a heartbeat.
Level Eighty.
Right.
Three Wolftlers came for him.
He moved.
Moonfall cut across the first creature’s muzzle.
He pivoted before the second reached him.
Short movement.
No wasted motion.
The blade entered its neck.
The third attacked low.
Instinct jumped aside rather than backward.
Claws tore through empty air.
He landed, turned, and struck.
The Wolftler spun with a snarl.
Instinct didn’t chase.
He waited.
The creature lunged again.
One step.
One cut.
It fell.
Another pair came immediately.
Instinct breathed.
Distance.
Timing.
Efficiency.
The first leaped.
He stepped inside its reach and drove Moonfall upward.
The second struck from the side.
Instinct pulled the blade free and turned.
Antlers scraped across his shoulder.
Pain flashed.
Not deep.
He ignored it.
Moonfall came around.
Too wide.
The Wolftler retreated.
Instinct corrected.
It lunged again.
He shortened the strike.
The blade crossed its throat.
Better.
Across the clearing, Arwen was devastating the pack.
There was no wasted movement.
No hesitation.
She didn’t overpower the Wolftlers.
She simply wasn’t where their attacks landed.
Every step placed her somewhere useful.
Every dodge became an opening.
Every opening became a kill.
Instinct understood now what she had been trying to teach him.
Speed mattered.
Strength mattered.
But neither meant much if the movement itself was wrong.
A Wolftler attacked.
Instinct shifted.
Moonfall flashed.
Blood struck the ground.
Another came behind it.
Then another.
The pack wasn’t giving him time to recover.
They had learned that too.
” LEFT!
”
Instinct turned.
Antlers filled his vision.
He dropped.
They passed above him.
Moonfall cut through the creature’s foreleg.
It crashed down.
Instinct rose and finished it.
Thanks.
” YOU’RE WELCOME.
TRY NOT TO GET IMPALED.
IT WOULD BE EMBARRASSING AFTER ALL THIS TRAINING.
”
I’ll keep that in mind.
The alpha remained outside the fight.
Again.
Watching.
Instinct saw it between moving bodies.
Those cyan eyes never left him.
Not Arwen.
Him.
“Arwen!”
“I see it!”
The alpha growled.
Several Wolftlers immediately changed direction.
Not toward Instinct.
Toward Arwen.
Five at once.
Arwen turned.
Instinct understood.
“They’re trying to separate us!”
“I noticed!”
Three more moved between them.
The alpha was directing them.
There was no question anymore.
These weren’t simply intelligent predators.
They were following orders.
Instinct cut down the first creature blocking his path.
The second lunged.
He ducked beneath its jaws and drove his shoulder into its chest.
It stumbled.
Moonfall entered beneath its ribs.
He pulled the blade free.
The third attacked before he could turn.
Instinct felt it.
Not heard.
Not saw.
Felt.
He moved instinctively.
The Wolftler’s claws passed centimeters from his back.
Instinct spun.
Moonfall cut across its throat.
The body fell.
He looked toward Arwen.
Two Wolftlers were already dead.
A third fell as he watched.
The remaining two hesitated.
Mistake.
Arwen moved.
One.
Then the other.
Both collapsed.
She looked toward Instinct.
Their eyes met.
No words were necessary.
They moved toward each other.
The surviving Wolftlers began pulling back.
Instinct counted quickly.
Far fewer now.
The alpha released another howl.
This one different.
Shorter.
The remaining creatures retreated.
“No,” Instinct said.
He started after them.
Arwen didn’t stop him this time.
She ran beside him.
“They’ll regroup.”
“Not if we finish it.”
The Wolftlers disappeared among the trees.
Instinct followed.
For several seconds, he saw nothing but darkness and flashes of cyan between branches.
Then the forest opened ahead.
The alpha stood in the center of a narrow clearing.
Alone.
Instinct slowed.
Arwen stopped beside him.
The other Wolftlers were gone.
The alpha lowered its head.
Its vast black antlers framed its body like twisted branches.
The cyan marking on its forehead glowed brighter.
Instinct raised Moonfall.
Arwen’s dagger came up beside him.
The creature didn’t retreat.
This time, it had nowhere left to send its pack.
The alpha growled.
Instinct tightened his grip.
“Looks like it finally wants to fight.”
Arwen’s emerald eyes remained fixed on the creature.
“No.”
Instinct glanced at her.
“What?”
The alpha scraped one paw across the earth.
Arwen shifted her stance.
“It knows it has lost.”
The Wolftler’s cyan eyes burned in the darkness.
“And it intends to make us pay for it.”
The alpha charged.