[Core Formed: Corruption Core — Tier 5]
The cold inside Averik changed. The pressure knifing through the bond was still there, still trying to claw deeper through Snow, but something lower and heavier had opened beneath the familiar pull of his Star Core. For one disorienting instant, he felt both Cores at once. His Star Core had not gone anywhere. The second presence existed beside it.
[Affinity Manifested: Frost | Darkness | Soul]
::···:::···:::···::
’Two.’
Snow jerked in his arms before he could give the thought another second. Averik dropped fully to his knees, one arm braced beneath her chest while his free hand cupped the back of her head clear of the floor. Her hind legs lay near the sofa where they had folded, and every breath dragged through clenched teeth.
Evelyn remained beside him with her palm firm against his upper chest, the warmth of her protection holding around him. Her gaze stayed on Snow’s ribs. "Averik... she’s getting worse."
"I know," Averik said.
Now he could feel the second Core clearly, lower and heavier than the Star Core. When the pressure of the red night brushed against it, the Core drew some of that cold inward and held it without pain. What came through Snow was different. Another wave dragged across the bond. Averik’s jaw tightened. Pain flashed behind his eyes, but the cold stopped short of where the last wave had reached.
Snow whined low in her throat. "Yeah, I know," Averik muttered, tightening his hold without crushing her. "This night is shit."
Evelyn glanced at his face. "Averik... your breathing changed. Is it still getting through?"
"It’s not getting as far," Averik said.
Averik shut his eyes for half a heartbeat. The red night’s pressure was everywhere, broad and cold. The current inside the bond was narrower, uglier, and aimed straight at him. ’There.’
He opened his eyes. "Not the same." Evelyn waited, watching him instead of crowding the silence. Averik reached through the bond. Snow’s eyes were still on him even while her muscles seized against his arm. He didn’t waste breath giving her another order.
He pushed the new stabilizing force into the connection between them. Snow stiffened so violently that Evelyn’s free hand snapped toward her shoulder. Averik cut the pressure at once. "Too much."
Evelyn watched Snow drag in a breath. "Averik... was that you?"
Averik grimaced. "Yeah. Pushed too hard."
Her fingers tightened once against his chest before easing. "Can you try again? Just... slower."
Averik did. This time he followed the place where Snow pressed against him through the bond and fed in less. Her shoulders tightened, though not as violently. The tearing against his soul eased by a fraction. He knew the motion. Pressure was the problem. His first push had nearly locked her rigid.
Snow’s next breath came in raggedly, then escaped without breaking halfway. Evelyn noticed it too. "There," she said softly. "She’s breathing easier."
Averik repeated it. Snow continued to tremble, but the shaking stopped getting worse. He didn’t wait for another spasm. "Move your protection to her," he said.
Evelyn looked at him at once. "Are you sure?"
"I can hold it now," he said.
She took her hand from his chest. The Holy warmth around Averik thinned immediately, and the sharper pressure through the bond bit deeper the moment her protection left him. The second Core held. Averik drew a slow breath. "Do it."
Evelyn was already dropping to one knee beside the wolf. She set a hand against Snow’s ribs to feel the broken rhythm of her breathing while her Sentinel protection shifted to guard Snow. Snow’s foreleg stopped scraping weakly against the boards. The muscles along her back stayed locked, but the spasms lost some of their violence.
Averik sent his influence through the bond again. Snow shuddered, and the wrongness inside her gathered rather than fading. His first impulse was to crush the gathered Corruption until nothing remained. The moment he pressed that way, Snow’s body tensed harder beneath his arm. Averik stopped. ’Wrong.’ He eased off the gathered pressure and concentrated on keeping Snow steady instead.
Evelyn’s protection pressed around the wolf while Averik worked through the bond. Then the Corruption stopped spreading wildly and drew toward the place where Snow’s Star Core burned. Averik felt the change without knowing what, exactly, had tipped it. "Something’s happening to her Core," Averik said.
Evelyn’s eyes snapped to him. "Breaking?"
"No." Averik watched Snow’s breath catch and waited through the next pulse in the bond. "Changing."
Snow kicked once against the floor and made a strangled sound. Averik tightened his arm around her chest just enough to keep her from twisting into the sofa. "Easy." Her eyes found his, angry and hurting but aware. Snow knew him. That mattered more than the growl trapped behind her teeth.
The pressure surged again, and Averik nearly overcorrected. He caught the mistake as the bond hardened under the force he was pushing through it. ’Back off.’ He cut the pressure sharply. Snow’s jaw loosened enough for a rough breath to escape.
"Her breathing’s steadier," Evelyn murmured, her hand still against Snow’s side. Relief softened the words without pulling her attention from the wolf.
"Yeah." Averik kept the pressure where it was. He’d already learned what happened when he got greedy with it.
Evelyn glanced up at him for a heartbeat. "Averik... don’t push yourself just because she needs you."
"I’m not the one I’m worried about." His gaze never left Snow.
"I know." Her thumb moved once through Snow’s fur. "That’s why I’m saying it."
Snow convulsed again, and the brief humor died without either of them needing to say so. Averik bent over her until the room narrowed to fur, breath, the pressure of Evelyn beside him, and the bond running through his own soul. The Blood Moon burned beyond the window. Its cold pressure filled the room and kept slipping into Averik’s second Core without hurting him. What came through Snow still had teeth. He held that sharper pressure outside himself and kept his grip on Snow as something under his hands changed.
Snow went rigid for one long second before the violence began to drain from her body. Her hind leg trembled twice. Her breathing remained rough. A thin whine escaped when Evelyn shifted her hand along the wolf’s ribs, but the collapse had stopped. The tearing sensation in Averik’s soul faded into a heavy pressure he could regulate. Snow blinked at him, waited, then pushed her nose weakly against his wrist. There she was. Averik checked the change deliberately.
::···:::···:::···::
[Name: Snow]
[Core: Corruption Core — Tier 5]
[Talent: Seeker]
[Path: Sequence 7 — Tracker]
[Bloodline: None]
[Affinity: Frost]
::···:::···:::···::
The words vanished. Averik’s attention went straight back to Snow. "Her Core changed."
Evelyn looked down at the wolf before studying him. "And you? Is it still hurting?"
He let another pulse come and go before answering. "Still there. Different, but manageable."
Evelyn kept her attention on Snow. "Snow’s still herself?"
Snow lifted her head just far enough to bump Averik’s forearm with obvious irritation at being held down. A breath nearly became a laugh in his throat. "Seems offended enough."
Evelyn finally exhaled, though she kept Snow guarded. "Averik... what happened to you?"
Averik turned his attention inward and pushed his intent, wanting to see his own state again.
Information unfolded across his mind, clear and silent.
::···:::···:::···::
[Name: Averik]
[Core: Star Core | Corruption Core — Tier 5]
[Talent: Tamer]
[Path: Sequence 7 — Beast Tamer]
[Bloodline: Primordial Frost Devil]
[Affinity: Frost | Darkness | Soul]
::···:::···:::···::
He read through it, then stopped at the newly awakened Bloodline.
Averik pressed his intent deeper, focusing on the Bloodline itself.
A more detailed set of information unfolded across his mind.
::···:::···:::···::
[Bloodline: Primordial Frost Devil]
[Authority: Frost | Devil | Corruption]
[Effects: Accelerated comprehension, progression and evolution. Exceptionally broad evolutionary potential with no known normal ceiling | ...]
[...]
::···:::···:::···::
Averik looked toward the window. The moon remained brutally crimson, and its pressure still leaned against the windows. Evelyn had felt every convulsion under her hand and held her protection around them both. Feeding her half a truth now would be pointless.
Averik answered without looking away from the crimson window. "The thing that woke in me was a Bloodline. Primordial Frost Devil."
Her expression changed, but she stayed quiet and let him continue.
"My Star Core is still there." Averik touched his chest once, more habit than necessity. "I have another one now. Corruption Core."
Evelyn went still for a second.
"Three Affinities too," he said. "Frost. Darkness. Soul."
Her attention sharpened at the last one. "Three..." She looked from him to Snow, then back. "Does any of it hurt?"
"Not now." Frost, Darkness, and Soul all sat within reach. After what his first shove through the bond had done to Snow, reaching for any of them in this room would be stupid. "I’m not testing them beside Snow."
Evelyn’s mouth tightened, not quite a smile. "Then... don’t rush." Her fingers brushed Snow’s fur. "Please."
"I won’t." His hand stayed buried in Snow’s fur.
"Mm." The sound carried more relief than agreement.
Her focus returned to the wolf. "Will she be all right while the Blood Moon’s still up?"
Averik settled his attention over the bond again. The red night’s pressure still flooded the fortress, but Snow wasn’t flinching from every swell now. Her new Core seemed to drink from the same cold that had nearly torn her apart. Underneath that, a thinner jagged pressure still worried at the bond, only weaker than before.
"For now," he said. "The moon isn’t hurting her the way it did before. Her Core’s taking the surge. Something uglier is still pushing through the bond, but it has less bite."
Evelyn stroked once along Snow’s side. "So she’s safe?"
"For now." He kept his attention on the bond.
Her shoulders eased a little. "Then that’s enough."
Snow shifted with enough strength to pull one foreleg beneath herself. Averik loosened his hold rather than pinning her down. She made no attempt to stand and leaned against his thigh while she caught her breath. He ran a hand through the thick fur at her neck once. Snow was alive and still herself. Averik could deal with the rest later.
Evelyn watched his hand move through Snow’s fur. She was quiet for a moment. "Do you want Unit 1 to know?"
"Let them believe what they know." Averik looked back at Snow. "They already decided I’m a weak Beast Tamer. Let them keep believing it."
Evelyn nodded. "All right."
Averik looked at the window again. "We tell them what they already know. I awakened as a Beast Tamer. The rest is our business."
"And if they examine you again?" she asked, softer.
"Then I’ll deal with it when someone actually tries," Averik said.
"Mm." Evelyn turned her attention back to Snow. "All right. Then that’s what we’ll tell them."
The next few hours never became quiet, but Snow didn’t collapse again. Crimson light pressed against the windows, and at intervals the outside pressure thickened enough for Averik to feel his Corruption Core draw in more of the surrounding Essence. Every time it happened, he checked Snow before he checked himself. Her new Core stirred with the Blood Moon too. She sometimes tensed or lifted her head, and once a low warning growl rolled from her chest at something Averik couldn’t see.
Evelyn kept Snow guarded through several more swells. When the wolf’s breathing stayed even through them, the Holy warmth around her finally eased. Evelyn remained beside them anyway.
Averik shifted back against the sofa while Snow stayed curled against his leg. "Rest."
Evelyn turned toward him. "Averik... I can stay awake."
Averik met her eyes. "I know. Sleep. I’ll wake you if Snow changes."
She studied his face for a moment, then moved into the space beside him instead of arguing. "All right." Her shoulder settled lightly against his. "Wake me if you need me too."
Averik glanced at her. "I will."
"Promise?" Evelyn asked.
He could have teased her. The tired concern in her eyes killed the impulse. "Yeah."
Only then did she let her eyes close.
***
Hours passed without another emergency. Snow slept in stretches and woke to watch the window. He spent the quiet hours paying attention to the two different pulls inside him. The familiar Star Core remained where it had always been. The second felt colder and heavier, quick to answer whenever the red surge thickened.
By the time the crimson outside began to thin, Evelyn had woken without being called. Her shoulder rested against his, hair slightly disordered from sleeping upright, and she checked Snow before looking toward the window. "Dawn," Evelyn said. Averik watched the change himself. The moon remained red, as it always had, while the bloody intensity that had flooded the night slowly receded. The heavy surge of Corruption Essence pressing across the fortress thinned with it.
Snow raised her head without trembling. After a few seconds she pushed herself to her feet, stood still long enough to find her balance, then shook out her fur hard enough to scatter white hairs over Averik’s trousers. He looked down at them. "Ungrateful beast." Snow sneezed at him, and Evelyn laughed softly.
Averik scratched behind Snow’s ear once before standing. Despite the hours on the floor, his legs took his weight without stiffness. Evelyn rose beside him and swept a final glance over Snow.
The sitting room looked ordinary again, which suited Averik perfectly. There were too many new abilities to test at once, and he wanted control before witnesses rather than spectacle. When they were rested, he would start with Soul and see what it let him perceive.