ADARA

Gods. Gods. Gods!

Adara crashed into the foyer with Yuven as the humanoid creature shuffled along the floorboards, the warhammer bouncing along the ground when they tugged it behind them with a rattled moan. Floorboards groaned with the cry at the heavy movements. It shambled, swayed. One hand limp at their side, where bony fingers cracked and snapped into place to clench into a sharp, flaked fist. Her foot caught a piece of broken floor, and the motion made it quicken its steps with a fatalistic hiss when they kicked their warhammer back into both their strong, but dead hands. Mist swept around her feet, and when it swung downwards, a wall of ice burst from the mist in the air. On the other side, its empty jade eyes shone with rage as it snarled and brought their hand close to the head of the hammer.

"Thanks," she rasped as Yuven tugged her to her feet once more.

Teeth chewed on shed ice, where the wolven shaped-pommel twisted to create misty cracks when it dug deeper into its new prey. Yuven leaned forward with his own draconian hiss leaving his nose in a plume of white smoke. Air escaped her lungs and brought the chill of death when the thing pulled the warhammer out of the wall, before peering through the hole it left. Blank. Empty. Furious. It showed its teeth to them, then shoved its fist through the break.

"Of course," Yuven moaned.

Bony fingers dug into the ice, clutching it with trembling hate. In another snap, she scrambled when it burst through the ice wall as if it was nothing but a veil of mist. Its steps quicker, lighter as it tugged its warhammer closer, hiding in the shadows of the clouds covering their ability to see through the death.

Yuven ducked when they swung the warhammer, where it smashed into the wall and broke a post. Splinters cracked in her ears when it tugged it out of the bannister with a crack of their neck.

"Yuven," she rasped.

Yuven backed her for the door when the thing blocked the front. "This is not a good area to deal with this," he mumbled when it came closer.

"Yuven."

His back pressed against her, a different wall to the horror in front of her. The creature towered over them both, almost having to kneel down to avoid some of the smaller archways. Metal glinted when Yuven brought his seaxs closer to his body. Glyphs spun at his feet, and icy tendrils danced along the edges of the blades. As the thing stepped closer, the glyphs rolled across the foyer. It snapped around when icicles slammed out of the focal points to create a tougher barrier, catching pieces of its rippled clothes and bones. It never screamed like a Derelict, its jaw in a constant grind as they clenched their fist and glared at them through the trap.

"Get that door open, Adara," Yuven growled when he planted his feet in the largest glyph in front of him. "I can't hold it forever."

An icicle cracked when it took a larger step.

"Why not use your bloodline magick and get us out of here the same way you got in?" she hissed under her breath.

One more icicle cracked when it broke it off the wall, dropping it to the ground.

Yuven pressed his lips together, and she frowned at the blood spotting them. He licked his tongue over them, then said, "Now's not the time to be arguing with me, just get the door open." He sent a hand into her shoulder, and she turned her back on him to fumble with the handle gripped in the jaws of wispy, faint jade tendrils. The handle rattled with the noise leaving the beast's throat when it forced its way through the field of icicles.

"Yuven, it's not budging," she gasped in helplessness when her fingers jangled the handle, where it refused to bend, break, or open them to freedom. A shiver crawled through her skin when Yuven refused to talk to her, to explain to her how to use her magick and unleash the relentless inferno on the shades. Adara tugged it upwards instead of down, bouncing on her feet as Yuven stepped into her, raising the seax's when a warhammer crashed through the biggest icicles. "Yuven. I can't get it open."

Her fingers dug deep into the wood.

It burst into mist in her ears. People screamed as flames tore apart Prunal, born from the crimson shadows. A hungry grin of recognition. A pointed tendril as she stood at the threshold of Rosa's remains. Yuven eyed her, then scowled at the beast when it broke through the last bit of icicles Yuven created to stop its oppressive advance.

You.

No one stood in the way when the dusk of blood-red settled across the misty horizon.

Arrows of war.

Yuven tensed up when the beast fell into the same rush from before, its warhammer in its hands. "Kah'mai." He dropped the moisture in the air to gather it at his feet, throwing all the pressure upwards when it swung down. It cracked against the icy bubble. Energy squeezed in the air, and she frowned when Yuven's feathers thinned and the force pushed him into her.

Hells!

Adara used Yuven to brace herself, then sent her foot into the handle of the door. Her kick split the knob, and the tendrils fell apart with the whisper of silver flames biting at her heel to scorch the rusted hinges. Another pulse pushed her outside, and she scrambled to stay on her two feet as Yuven braced himself, his feet sliding against the planks when he resisted the creature who stood heads taller than him. Magick screamed, and Yuven threw the icy bubble to the side to redirect the warhammer. It cracked into the catwalk, revealing the underbelly of dirt. Adara jolted when Yuven held onto the railing with a wet cough, bringing his hand to his mouth.

"Yuven!"

"Get to flat ground," he said with a wave of his hand as the beast tugged out the warhammer. "We can't fight it here."

"What is it?" she said in the rush.

"Something I can't readily take care of like this." Yuven raced to her with a wipe of his sleeve, leaving blood splatters on the leather. "Go!"

Both of them vaulted over the railing when the creature rushed for them. Plumes of mist left through some of its teeth when it stood at the small steps to the grounds. Yuven stumbled on the grass with another hard, wet cough. Adara put both hands on his free arm as he winced into his crimson fingers, lowering it to the rain-soaked grass with a scowl to the monster.

Gods!

Adara dragged Yuven to his feet as the thing took a step for them, leaving the cover of the outside roofing over the redwood catwalk. Another, and its shadow swallowed them.

Emeralds bounced around the outer forge off to the side, angled as they tore a buckler off one of the racks. Waves of the flow wound with vines when they punted the buckler straight at its head. A crack made it stumble backwards as the buckler slammed into the post. Roots came into being to keep it against the post, where it moaned and twisted to its entrapment. Adara twisted around to their savior. A laugh almost escaped her lips when Fenrer skidded across the grass, unfazed as he knelt to them.

"Are you okay?" Adara exclaimed.

"I'm okay."

"Good, we can take care of this." Yuven tugged out his crescent blade, but frowned when Fenrer put a hand on his wrist. "What?"

"I can talk to it."

"What?" Adara gasped with Yuven.

"Fenrer, that is a draugr. You can't talk down draugr! Are you mad?" Yuven snapped and tried to scramble out of her hands.

"No, it's not like that," Fenrer said with a wave of his hands and blocked them from the creature, which continued to tear itself from the buckler's magick trap. "It's not just a draugr, Yuven, it's a little different. It's a haugbui." He kept his hand outstretched. "They can't leave their grave-sites, which means we've trespassed on the territory." Fenrer twisted to it with a frown. "It came from the tomb in this hill... what the manor was built over, and that also means I might be able to make it return to its rest. I didn't know before, but I know now, so I can handle this." His shoulders slacked, and he took a step closer to the draugr but never in the warhammer's reach. It continued to struggle against the vines, but they tightened in response.

"Fenrer," Yuven hissed.

Fenrer raised his hands.

Waves of the ocean swept across her mind, a dull, calming pulse at his gentle Hanekan. The creature stilled at the gentle presence Fenrer extruded. He lowered one hand to his heart, a frown on his face as the words slipped off his tongue to match his approach, and the warhammer rested against the stairs as the creature stopped fighting its sudden restraints.

He's... actually doing it.

Adara let go of Yuven, who sat on the grass, but kept himself poised to leap.

"Fenrer Pyren," Yuven repeated. "Don't be stupid about this now."

Silver moonlight bloomed behind the clouds.

"It's okay," Fenrer echoed. "It's mad, but we're not trespassing to desecrate. This was my home," his voice came out a soft plea when he checked on them. "It was my home as much as it was theirs. If it's my ancestor, they have only risen from the grave to protect it. If I can make it understand that I am of their blood—"

"...leliie tullva..."

In a haunted moment, Fenrer's eyes widened.

"Did it just... say something?" she rasped.

Moonlit lances struck the grass and scattered the mist, casting a soft glow on their battlefield. Fenrer followed the light, and gazed at the creature when it rattled with a shudder. Light glinted off the bloody wolven pins in their stringy, dark brown hair. Bones cracked when it clenched its fist, tearing itself from the vines when they wasted away in Fenrer's silence.

"Fenrer?" Adara rasped. "Fenrer, what did it say?"

It dragged the warhammer behind it. Into the moonlight.

"Little Wolf," Yuven answered when Fenrer refused to.

Necrotic flesh wilted to expose bone as it lifted its warhammer into its hands. Fury returned to the jades, and Fenrer stood in its path at its slow, methodical, bloodthirsty approach. Its boots dug into the dirt. Her heart shuddered at the sway it made for Fenrer, a soft, too human, despairing moan leaving its mummified lips.

"Diiha?" Fenrer raised a hand to his mouth and took in a sharp gasp.

Yuven's eyes widened.

"What?" Adara whipped at their silence. "What's going on?"

Fenrer sank to his knees and buried his fingers into the grass.

"Fenrer, you have to move!" Yuven snapped, causing the haugbui to focus on him and lift its warhammer closer to its chest.

Fenrer lifted his head, and Adara winced at the broken hope in his eyes of old, historic pain. In her shadow, a little boy cried into a wolven headdress too big for him, curling into it for a last measure of safety, and she reached out to tug the weight too big for him. In another moment when their shadow engulfed Fenrer, he flinched, then stumbled to his feet to keep distance. "No," he whispered, sobbed. "I can still fix this." He lowered his hand from his mouth. Desperate waves full of foam left his lips when he tried to speak to it, no longer the calm sensation of before, but one of deep grief.

It swung through the mist, and Fenrer dodged, but the moment he stepped out of the way, Adara readied herself to flee when the haugbui bolted for them. Yuven tugged out his crescent blade with a growl.

It's... just ignoring Fenrer now.

Vines forced Yuven back when he lunged for the enraged creature, and its warhammer slammed into the spot he sat in moments before. Its death rattle twisted into a horrific growl. Fury. Hate. A thirst for blood. Fenrer raced around them. "Yuven, don't!" he begged.

"You are foolish, Fenrer Pyren!" Yuven screeched, and tipped backwards when the haugbui brought its warhammer into an upward swing in an attempt to take out his jaw. "You walked us into this mess! I'm going to finish it."

"Let me talk to him!" Fenrer gasped with equal ferocity.

"No! I've had enough!" Yuven swung his hand out, and bounced back from another strong swing. Adara stumbled when he tripped into her, and the shadow of death chewed at their heels.

"Now is not the time for arguing!" she said, shrill.

"You don't understand, Sazaka!" Yuven seethed. "This thing—"

Fenrer tugged the haugbui's attention from them when he tossed the same buckler at the side of its head. "I can still do this," he whispered when it focused on him. In the moonlight, Fenrer froze again as it twisted on its heel, to give him its undivided attention. Silence pressurised the magick flow, and Fenrer shrank into his shoulders when it took a step for him. Adara left Yuven's side when Fenrer sank to his knees once more.

He can't.

"Fenrer Pyren, someday you have to wake up and face reality!" Yuven snapped as she crept past the draugr, to reach Fenrer when he lowered into the shoulders. "That isn't your father anymore! It will never be your father again! So snap out of it and let me kill the accursed thing!"

Wait, it's Fenrer's—?

Adara froze at the hush of wind and the memory of a name.

Soren Pyren.

Fenrer lifted his head to her, and tears glimmered along the spiralling green galaxy.

Its massive shadow moved with eerie quickness in a slow world, planting its feet as it went for an enraged swing when she got too close to Fenrer— straight for her head. It rippled with energy across her cheeks long before it touched her. A glint of steel from the headsman's axe. The purge of magickae when all they wanted was to live their lives in peace. Her heart stopped, and she found herself trapped in death. Fenrer lunged forward to grab the warhammer, causing the draugr to twist to him.

"Don't!" he begged, pushing her out of range as he struggled to keep the warhammer in his hands. "Diiha, it's me!" He cried. "We're not here to hurt you! These are my friends." He wrapped his arms around the warhammer, almost hugging it while he tugged the draugr from them. "You have to leave that moment behind. You have to pass the bridge. Miiha is still there, waiting for you." He drove his teeth into his lower lips as the draugr fought against his equalised strength. "Just listen."

Fenrer...

"Molvisaliz, don't!" Yuven jumped to his feet.

Adara reached out.

Bells rang in her ears as it deafened all their voices, all the sounds, all her hope.

The draugr bumped the shaft of the warhammer into Fenrer's stomach at his momentary distraction of Yuven's scream across the mist. It sang with a forlorn note of loss when Fenrer flinched from the hit, reaching out to his father when he swung not the instrument of death, but his fist for his son's head. It rattled her own eardrums when it connected with the side of Fenrer's skull. He collapsed to the grass, unmoving as Soren lifted the warhammer back into its hands.

You.

Useless with her powerful magick.

"No, that's your son..." she rasped to the rippling twilight ocean, the future untold, but the past too close.

Fenrer hadn't moved.

A mop of snow-white hair came into view when the draugr ran for her. Yuven's hands twisted around her forearm, snapping something noiseless. Adara held out her arms when he choked without sound, a splatter of blood staining the ground in front of him.

We're going to die.

Twilight fire danced along her fingertips, where the air whisked around the spark.

Adara followed the guidance of the bird in flight.

Silver sparks twisted into wispy smoke when Soren lunged.

Force ripped through the muscles in her arms and a soft scream left her throat at the pressure against her bones. Flames died into the air, and it cracked the warhammer out of his hands with the smallest puff of a glyph to howl with the wind crawling through her mind.

Her flames, nothing more than the softest breeze, but the strongest cyclone.

Grass whisked from the point of impact in the flow.

Adara tugged Yuven back at Soren's stumble.

But why can't I be enough?

'You have to fly, Little Bird.'

You promised me you'd come back!

Adara looked into his eyes as she kept Yuven upright. Jade, the same shade as Fenrer's. Empty. Dead.

'The dawn must always return.'