The hound didn't charge like a beast.It vanished.
One blink, and it was gone. The next, it was above me, claws outstretched, its body a blur of shadow and bone. The air split with the force of its descent. I rolled, claws digging into the living earth as its weight struck where I'd been, sending cracks racing across the ground.
Aria tried to strike it with a burst of light. The glow from her hands flared weakly, barely burning through the darkness before flickering out. The backlash sent her to her knees, clutching her chest.
The shard inside me reacted differently. It didn't flicker or falter. It thrummed, eager, each pulse pushing heat through my veins until my hands shook. My claws lengthened without me willing it. My breath came out in snarls I didn't recognize as my own.
The hound turned its empty eyes toward me. Not toward Lyra. Not Aria. Me.
Lyra didn't move to help. She stood back, arms folded, a smile curling across her face like this was a performance she'd been waiting for. "It wants the shard," she said softly. "And so does everything else in this place. Better decide fast, Kael—feed it… or let it feed on you."
The hound lunged again. I met it head-on this time.
Claws collided with claws, the impact throwing sparks of shadowed energy. Its strength was overwhelming, its movements fluid despite its size. It moved like smoke—every strike solid, every retreat a swirl of darkness. I lashed out, tearing into its arm, but instead of blood, black mist spilled out and rushed toward the gate's lingering energy behind us.
Each wound I dealt made the gate hum louder. Each kill would bring it closer to fully opening again.
Aria's voice cut through the chaos, rough but sharp. "Stop feeding it! Every strike, every kill, it's drawing power!"
But the shard wanted me to keep going. Every slash felt right, every pulse of energy begged me to finish it. My wolf wasn't fighting the shard anymore—it was siding with it.
The hound's tail whipped around, catching me in the ribs and throwing me across the clearing. I hit the ground hard, breath tearing from my lungs. The shard burned hotter, the whispers no longer distant.
Anchor… strike… break the chain… feed.
I slammed a claw into the dirt, dragging myself up. My vision swam, and for a moment, I saw not the hound, but the gate behind it, towering taller than before, its runes blazing. A shadowy hand pressed against its surface from the other side.
The Herald. Watching. Waiting.
The hound lunged again. I couldn't tell if it was attacking me… or testing me.
Aria staggered closer, gripping my arm, her touch faintly glowing. The light seared my skin where the shard's veins pulsed, but it cleared my head for a second.
"Kael," she said, voice low but urgent, "don't let that thing control you. If you give in here, there's no coming back. The Veil doesn't let go once it claims something."
The hound circled again, slower this time, its empty eyes locked on me. Lyra finally moved, but not to fight. She drew a thin, black blade, the edge humming faintly.
"Make a choice," she murmured, stepping behind me. "Either let the shard carry you… or die trying to fight without it. There's no middle ground here."
The hound crouched, muscles coiling for another strike.
The shard pulsed once more, harder than before, as if it could hear her words and agreed.
For the first time since stepping into the Veil, I felt something new. Not fear. Not rage.
Hunger.
And I didn't know if it was mine… or the shard's.