The hall smelled faintly of burning incense and iron polish.
Morvus stood beneath the sigil-banners, tall and broad, beast eyes set in a face carved by command. His cloak fell behind him like a blood-red storm. That cold, metallic certainty radiated outward, the kind that made even seasoned elders forget how loudly they were breathing.
"You will kill him quickly," Morvus said. "No witnesses. No mistakes. Irondusk cannot afford another prodigy rising outside our reach."
Before him stood the assassin.
Shorter by comparison, though not small. Lean frame, wide shoulders drawn tight beneath dark robes. Muscle carried without excess. His most visible feature was his eyes, pale green and steady, reflecting sigil-light like shallow jade.
He bowed low. The pulse in his temples beat sharp as a drum.
"Clan Leader… Kaelric's Relics are…"
"Relics are toys," Morvus cut in. "I forged Irondusk from nothing while men like him begged for stone fragments. Do you think a fledgling can resist a design crafted by our own forges?"
His gaze hardened.
"You won't overwhelm him. You will wear him down. Leave him hollow before you finish."
The assassin hesitated.
Not outwardly. Only in the subtle delay before his breath settled. There was something thin in the Relic's hold, a faint imbalance where certainty should have been. But the weight of a rank four clan leader's attention pressed down like an executioner's blade.
"Yes, Clan Leader," he said, bowing again.
The assassin straightened and withdrew in silence, pale eyes briefly catching the red light before disappearing beyond the hall.
Morvus waved him off, already turning toward the far table where new sigils burned into parchment. Impatient, certain, in his own plan.
...
A week later.
Kaelric's fingers dug into the bark. The Dark Claw relic extended from his nails in long, matte-black talons that glimmered faintly under the dying light. The forest air burned faintly of resin and ash; each breath stung his lungs.
The Fire Fang lands were a scorched frontier of ochre stone and brittle grass, where the wind carried a dry hiss like breath drawn through fangs.
Charred ridges clawed at the horizon, their shadows veiling narrow canyons streaked with veins of molten amber. The air shimmered with heat even at dusk, and from the cracks beneath the earth came faint embers that refused to die.
Remnants of ancient beast battles that had once set the land aflame. Every sound there felt sharper, as if the territory itself listened for intruders, its silence broken only by a cougar's low growl echoing across the slopes.
Although there were many fire type plants and animals living there, the fire fang cougars beast tide had dominated this region.
He climbed higher, careful not to rustle the leaves. Below, the forest shimmered, scattered orange glows moving through the underbrush. Fire Fang Cougars.
Their fangs dripped molten fire, venomous as a serpent's poison, melting flesh like acid devours cloth. He had seen what they could do, a single wound enough to obliterate a limb. He wasn't here to fight, not yet.
He moved quietly across the canopy, latching with the Dark Claw from trunk to trunk, avoiding the forest floor where ash pooled and shadows shifted.
Every few steps, his eyes caught the glint of steel, hunters' traps. Some were simple: barbed steel mouths hidden under leaves. Others hummed faintly with spiritual energy, the kind laid by cultivators. With the beast tide drawing near, this region had become a hunting ground.
Fire Fang Cougars were valuable: hides for armor refinement, flame fangs melted to strengthen offensive relics.
Kaelric's gaze lingered on a few broken snares, even cultivators had failed here.
A low growl snapped him back.
He froze.
A cougar stepped into view below, larger than the rest. Bronze fur glowed with heat, steam rising from its paws where they touched the damp earth. Thin amber whiskers bristled along its muzzle.
The two front fangs flared, molten orange bursting downward the moment it saw him, scorching the forest floor in a line of searing light. A faint red gem throbbed in its chest, a Flame Shield Relic, rank two.
"So that's why it was still alive."
Kaelric stayed still.
Molten-gold eyes locked onto his. His pulse climbed into his throat. Calves tightened, threatening to cramp. He drew slow breaths, forcing oxygen past the burn in his lungs.
Thought narrowed.
"A cougar like that can't come climb trees
... I know that."
Scars streaked its muzzle and torn fur along its flanks hinted at a fight not long past.
It was large, battle-torn, hungry, but not unwieldy.
Then it moved.
Slam!
The cougar lowered its head, muscles coiling, and slammed full-force into a trunk.
The sound cracked the air like thunder.
The tree shuddered, bark splitting under the pressure. Kaelric's claws dug deep.
Slam!
The second impact tore through his grip, the trunk split and fell in a violent crash.
He hit the ground hard, rolled, and forced his hand up. A branch had scraped his palm open, blood running down his wrist. Yet the pain felt like nothing.
He summoned the Stone Rock Relic, jagged stones bursting forward like spears. They slammed into the cougar's chest.
The shards shattered. The beast barely slowed.
Kaelric's jaw clenched. He raised his hand again; Dark Claw erupted in shadow, talons whipping for the eyes.
Each blow glanced off the flame shield that was hovering infront of the cougar, protecting it.
It was flickering before the cougar.
The creature stepped closer, growling low, firelight reflecting off its fangs. Hunger shimmered in its twitching eye, saliva hissing onto dirt.
Kaelric staggered back, scanning the terrain.
Before he ran, the cougars speed was slightly slower than other cougars.
But it was still catching up to him, even whilst trying to zig zag through trees, it was far too agile.
"Traps… hunters' remnants…"
"There," a glint. A half-buried structure resembling a flowering bud, translucent stone faintly humming with runes.
He dashed for it, running on top of the trees. Branches snapped and leaves swirled under his weight.
The second sphere's essence guided him, stabilizing his movements like an amplifier. The cougar had a head start, but he moved unpredictably.
The cougar followed, flames licking its sides, searing some leaves to cinders as it bounded forward.
Kaelric vaulted the sealed flower and struck the earth beyond it, shoulder rolling as claws carved through empty air.
The cougar lunged through the space he had abandoned.
Its forepaws slammed onto the flower's surface.
The petals snapped inward.
Barbed inner ribs drove through fur and muscle. The beast's torso vanished between closing plates while its hindquarters remained outside, spine locked upright, roar shearing into static.
Light ignited inside the sealed chamber. It did not burst outward. It leaked through the seams in thin, pale veins.
The cougar convulsed once.
Then it stilled.
Half its body stood impaled within the bloom. The exposed flesh dulled, fur losing its sheen as faint vapor threaded into the petals.
The stem pulsed. Slow. Rhythmic.
It wasn't devouring. Stealing.
Then movement.
The Flame Shield Relic, now free, darted like a burning ash-colored squirrel. Relics did not need sustenance; their wills persisted even after leaving their previous owners. Seeing Kaelric as a threat, it fled.
Kaelric leapt after it, diving into a puddle. Water sprayed, mud plastered to robes and legs, blood from his hand mingling with dirt. The Flame Shield throbbed faintly in his aperture, its essence ragged from the cougar. Not broken, but stretched almost to its limit.
He snagged the Relic mid-leap. His chest heaved; his limbs ached, yet he moved almost as if uninjured. Kaelric staggered two steps before catching himself against a blackened trunk. His lungs burned. Each breath dragged smoke and resin into his chest, sharp enough to sting behind his eyes.
Mud clung to his robes, and water from the puddle ran in thin lines down his calves. His injured hand throbbed in time with his heartbeat, blood slick between his fingers. He flexed them once, then again, forcing sensation back into stiff joints.
Ash drifted slowly through the air. Somewhere nearby, a firebud split with a soft pop. Heat bled from scorched roots into the ground, leaving the earth warm beneath his boots.
Flame Shield glimmered in his hands, pressing outward like a restrained breath, obedient only because his will was stronger, just enough to force it in his aperture.
The aperture had room to contain it because the Relic's resistance had already frayed. A stronger Relic, or one fully rested, might have shredded him trying the same. Kaelric felt it faintly, a temporary truce between himself and the worn essence, compliant enough to survive, but eager to snap if pushed further.
Ahead, the ground told a story.
Snapped wires. Half-buried snares. A bear trap bent out of shape, its teeth scorched and warped, and many Relics traps hidden, their aura concealed. The forest remembered greed long after men moved on.
Kaelric did not approach the cougar carcass caught in a cultivator's snare. He knew better. Some lines, once crossed, did not belong to strength, only to consequence.