Late afternoon settled over the forest like a warm blanket, sunlight slanting through the trees in golden ribbons. The air smelled of pine, ash, and the distant promise of rain.
They'd found a quiet clearing beside a gentle brook, flat ground, good cover, and just enough space for a fire and five leaf-beds. The kind of place that, for a night, could feel like safety.
The group had started to unwind.
Kyra knelt across from Sylthea, hands glowing faintly as she tried to form a clean flame.
"Not too fast," Sylthea coached, her voice patient. "Separate the elements. Focus on one, not all of them at once."
Kyra frowned, squinting. "But it's easier to mix them!"
Korrak, sitting beside them, grinned as he held a tiny flame in his palm. "She says that, meanwhile I can finally make my fire the size of a fart and not a wildfire."
Sylthea chuckled. "Progress is progress."
Kyra stuck out her tongue, then lifted her hand. A swirling orb of water formed, then lightning, then air, and finally fire, each vanishing as she cycled to the next.
"I can do them all separately now," she said proudly. "That means I'm basically a super mage."
"Don't let it go to your head," Korrak said. "I'm still stronger."
"You're stronger at being smelly!"
They both cackled, and Sylthea smiled faintly, hiding the way her eyes flicked occasionally toward Axel.
A few feet away, Brakka stood alone, swinging her greatsword in sharp, practiced arcs. Each movement carved clean lines through the air, her muscles glistening with sweat, her jaw clenched in focus. Shadow-fighting demons. Memories. Guilt.
And by the fire sat Axel.
Helmet on. Shoulders still.
A stick in his hand stirred the embers lazily, tracing glowing trails through the ash like slow-burning runes.
He wasn't talking to anyone out loud.
But inside the helmet, his voice was low.
"Black Wolf… are you a demon?"
There was silence for a long moment.
Then...
"No."
Axel didn't flinch. "I think you're lying."
The fire cracked softly.
"I felt you," Axel continued. "When I blacked out… when the witch died. I felt your presence inside me. It wasn't calm. It wasn't calculated. It was rage. Hatred. Something… dark. Evil."
Black Wolf said nothing.
Just listened.
"I never told the others," Axel murmured. "Because I still need something from you."
"What do you want, Axel?"
Axel didn't answer right away. He looked across the clearing, at Kyra laughing, her mana flickering like fairy dust around her fingers.
"I want to ask you something else first."
He stared into the flames.
"What do you think of Kyra?"
For once, the Black Wolf answered without delay.
"She is pure. Honest. Alive in a way that I… can't comprehend. I like her."
There was something strange in the tone. Something softer. Almost reverent.
"Even with the darkness inside me… she makes me want to be something better."
Axel closed his eyes for a second.
Then said, "Will you protect her? With everything you have? Because I don't know if I can. Not alone. Not with the strength I have. Not with what's coming."
Another pause.
Then...
"You have my word, Axel. I will protect our light. Even if it costs me everything."
A soft voice interrupted.
"Axel!"
Kyra came running over, nearly tripping in the grass.
"Look what I can do now!"
She threw up her hands, and tiny orbs of water, fire, wind, and sparks hovered around her like dancing lights.
Axel helmet collapsed into his suit, he was smiling. "That's really cool."
Then she turned to the gauntlet.
"What do you think, Black Wolf?"
A beat.
Then the suit's voice, quieter this time.
"I've never seen anything so amazing."
Kyra beamed.
Then her knees buckled.
"Uh oh."
She collapsed forward but Axel caught her before she hit the ground.
"Too much mana," Sylthea called from the side. "She'll be fine. Just needs rest."
"I told her to pace herself," Korrak added, shaking his head.
Axel smiled faintly as he carried Kyra to her bed of gathered leaves and moss. She curled into his side instinctively, already asleep, her fingers gripping the edge of his suit like a child clinging to a stuffed toy.
One by one, the others lay down in their own makeshift beds.
Korrak snored first.
Brakka cleaned her blade, then finally closed her eyes.
Sylthea stayed up a little longer, watching the fire. Watching Axel.
But eventually, even she gave in to sleep.
Axel sat awake a little longer, holding Kyra gently as her breath slowed.
Above them, the stars blinked through the canopy.
And the Black Wolf… simply watched.
Quiet.
Alert.
Waiting.