KAEL'S POV
The chains screamed.
Not like metal scraping stone, but like living things being ripped apart. Every time I pulled, every time I forced another length of glowing silver around the abyss's writhing form, it thrashed harder, its voice splitting the air into shards.
My arms burned, muscles trembling. Sweat stung my eyes. Blood slicked my wrists where the links bit into me, the cost of binding something that didn't want to be bound.
And still—it wasn't enough.
The abyss's body convulsed, a storm of smoke and fire, claws slashing wild arcs through the cavern. The walls themselves shuddered as though the mountain wanted to collapse around us.
I bared my teeth, shifting into the in-between of man and wolf, claws anchoring into the stone, spine bent under the strain.
"Stay… down…" I snarled, wrenching another length of chain across its chest. The metal seared into the abyss, hissing against its dark flames, but it didn't scream in pain. It screamed in fury.
