The darkness pressed down like a living thing, thick and suffocating, grinding against their skin until even the air felt too heavy to breathe. Sowhere within the black void ca a crackling sound, splitting like lightning behind the ears. It was layered over a low, endless groan that vibrated through their bones.
Mozrael’s skin shivered. Scales flickered across her flesh, appearing, vanishing, as if her body itself couldn’t decide what to do. A cold dread crawled through her, deep enough to make her tremble.
Lynnor fared no better. Her body was still broken from Agaboz’s overwhelming gaze, and here in the real world, the weakness bound her like chains. She lay frozen, eyes open but lifeless, unable to even twitch a finger.
She rembered clearly.
Aramith was there and not there. Mozrael was there and not there. She saw Mozrael’s form fade into existence, then flicker.Nothing in this place held steady.
What is this? In all her years of power, Lynnor had never felt so utterly defeated.
The suffocating weight reminded her of Agaboz’s pressure, yet it carried the wildness of Aramith’s darkness. It felt dangerous and chaotic.
It was almost like she was in a storm after being beaten. She would’ve been able to move under normal circumstances, but Agaboz’s weakening her made her easy to pin down. She needed space to restore her strength.
She tried to move, to draw upon her power, but her body betrayed her. Nothing answered her call. The darkness swallowed all sound, she learned when she tried to speak. She was getting colder.
Mozrael sensed her. She couldn’t see Lynnor, not clearly, but she knew she was close, drowning just like she was. She tried to call out, but her voice never made it past her throat.
It’s not safe here.
Her body reacted instead. The marks along her arms blazed gold, spilling fire into the dark. A storm of fla burst outward, but the void devoured it whole, snuffing it out in an instant. Yet, that flicker was enough. For the briefest mont, Mozrael saw Lynnor lying prone, eyes staring. She looked trapped.
Without hesitation, Mozrael seized her, wings of fire ripping into existence from her back. She launched herself forward like a cot. The darkness clawed at them like a net, but she burst through its hold, rolling across the ground, gasping.
The suffocating cold vanished. Air filled their lungs again.
Lynnor stirred, color returning to her face, heat crawling back into her limbs. She staggered upright, brushing ash from her shoulders."What’s wrong with that boy now?" she muttered, anger masking her unease.
Mozrael’s eyes lingered on the swirling black mass, and her chest sank."I don’t know... he was just—" Her voice cracked, the worry unhidden.
The darkness pulsed again, alive, and she bit her lip.
"I want to help," Mozrael whispered, more to herself than Lynnor.
Lynnor’s gaze hardened. "Let’s wait and see. He’s not easy to deal with... not when he loses himself like this, right?"
Mozrael only stared at her, silently pleading for a different answer.
"Can’t we do sothing?"
Lynnor shook her head. Unless you had the weight of Agaboz in your veins...that kind of power would easily...
The mory of the dragon’s gaze crept over her, shrinking her heart in her chest. She rembered how small she had felt, how fragile, and the thought of that pressure again made her shiver.
No. I don’t ever want to et him again.
She couldn’t believe it. "To think the day would co when I would fear so much," she muttered
But sothing else frustrated her.
Her jaw tightened. "What’s wrong with this stupid boy and losing control?" She sounded angry, though the fire in her tone was blunted by unease. She knew her strength and could deal with Aramith. That, she was sure. But she hadn’t faced him before to know how he fought when he was out of control.
She rembered a report once when she was a Deadlock that when he lost control, he could be ranked at the platinum gate. And that was years ago. Not knowing his limits made it difficult for her to act without causing too much damage.
Before they could decide, the do of darkness twisted and morphed like it wanted to spit sothing out. For a breathless mont, it swirled like a storm tearing itself apart, then collapsed into its own center, vanishing as if it had never been. The trees and land remained untouched.
Lynnor and Mozrael blinked into the sudden emptiness. But sothing was there.
A massive black wolf stood where Aramith had once been. Taller than a man. Its fur rippled with pulsing runes that crawled across its body like living script. Its eyes, glowing, intelligent, and wrong, locked on them.
It was just like the one that appeared before.
Fear and confusion gripped them both. Mozrael’s lips pulled into a snarl, fire bursting alive around her hands."Where is Aramith?!" she barked, heat warping the air around her. "What did you do to him?!"
The wolf didn’t move, only turned its head slowly with a restless gaze, almost as if searching for sothing lost.
Lynnor shifted and glanced at Mozrael’s fire. She would have attacked, but her eyes narrowed, suspicious. Sothing didn’t add up.
Inside the wolf’s body, Aramith exhaled in relief. He could see Mozrael and Lynnor. They were safe, standing, alive. But why were they looking at him like he was a monster?
He stepped toward them, but froze....Why did the ground feel so far below?Why am I moving on all fours?
His vision was sharper, stretched, alive. Every detail cut into focus. His ears twitched at sounds he hadn’t known existed. And scents painted trails through the air, each one rich with story. He slled the crackle of fire still clinging to Mozrael, the sharp sll of Lynnor’s aura, and even the earth beneath their feet.
Confusion slamd into him. His head snapped around, scanning. What was happening to him?
From their view, the black wolf turned in circles like it had lost sothing, searching, restless.
Mozrael’s anger boiled over. She scread, hurling a blazing orb of blue fire. The wolf darted aside, the flas streaking past to obliterate a tree in the distance with a thunderous crack.
"What have you done with him?!" she roared, already gathering another.
The wolf snapped its head toward her, eyes wide. It opened its mouth and shouted, "Mozrael!"
The fire died in her hands. She froze. Her na. That voice."...Aramith?" Relief washed over her.
Carefully, she stepped forward, the flas guttering out entirely.
Aramith didn’t get her reasoning. What was her problem?
"Did sothing happen while you were in the realm?" He asked, but Mozrael ignored the question and rushed to him.
He watched as she scuttled to his side to hug him. But...she was hugging a leg, her arms dwarfed by its size.
She looked up. Startled, he looked down.The limb she clutched was black. Furry. His.
"So the wolf is really you, huh?" Lynnor’s voice was flat, casual, though her eyes glead sharp with interest.
Aramith’s mind spun. Him? This... thing? He stumbled back, and as the thought crashed through him, the darkness surged. Like smoke, it spilled from his body.
The fur receded, fangs shrinking back into teeth, and claws dulling into fingers. In re heartbeats, Aramith stood once more in his human form, chest rising and falling with unsteady breaths.
He blinked rapidly, swaying slightly as if his body was struggling to rember itself. A dazed expression lingered on his face until Mozrael caught his arm to steady him.
"You’re back," she said softly, though her eyes searched his as if uncertain this was truly him.
Aramith touched his chest, then his face, then stared at his hands—whole again, yet trembling. "I was... the wolf," he murmured. "I... I could feel everything. It was ."
Lynnor’s voice broke through his daze, calm yet edged with curiosity.
"Can you try shifting back?" she asked, tilting her head as if studying every twitch of his wolf body. The words cut sharper than he expected, stirring panic and hope all at once. Could he even do that?
Aramith looked up at her, startled. The idea hadn’t crossed his mind until she voiced it. He gave a shaky laugh. "I—I don’t know. Maybe."
"Then see," Lynnor said simply.
Mozrael stepped closer, her brow furrowed. "Are you alright? How do you feel?" she asked softly, searching his face as though she feared he might shatter.
He opened his mouth, then froze, realizing the truth. His veins were thrumming with sothing wild and electric, the way his senses seed sharper, his very heartbeat louder. Then, his eyes widened in exhilaration.
A grin broke across his face despite the haze. "I feel it—I must’ve broken through! I’m stronger, I can tell!" he exclaid, eyes alight with raw excitent.
But Lynnor’s asured gaze cooled his fire. She shook her head after a slow scan.
"No...you haven’t broken through. Not yet. But—" she admitted reluctantly, "there’s no denying your strength has grown."
For a mont, disappointnt flickered across Aramith’s face, but then determination replaced it.
Her words lingered in the air before she crossed her arms. "Then prove it. Try shifting again. Back into the wolf." The challenge in her tone carried weight.
He hesitated, closing his eyes, reaching for that strange pulse inside him. It resisted at first, slippery and untad, but the more he focused, the more it stirred, until the ground trembled under his claws once more. The wolf’s body reford around him with a shudder, leaving his chest heaving from the strain.
Lynnor stood to the side, thinking of what this all ant.
Mozrael was not just a girl with a dragon ability. She had in her cultivation realm an eternal dragon that had enough power to shake the world.
And for Aramith... he hadn’t broken through any gates, so where did this power co from? His attribute was an odd one, yes. But how could he have control over his power like—
"So that’s what he ant!"
She suddenly rembered what Agaboz’s last words were to her. But the thought frightened her.
I SHALL SEND YOU ALL BACK, BUT HE HAS TAKEN ENOUGH FROM . IF HE IS LUCKY, HE WILL HAVE CONTROL.
"Are you okay?" Mozrael asked Lynnor.
Lynnor looked at her and Aramith. I must have shouted.
"Sorry, little ones. I guess a lot is changing." She glanced at Aramith, who was grinning at his newfound power.
So this kid now has a piece of Agaboz’s power? She couldn’t believe it. In the long run, they may surpass before I even realize it.
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