Night fell like a blade dropping.
The alien sun slipped behind Blackwind's jagged spine, and the plateau was swallowed by darkness that felt *thick*—not the absence of light, but a presence. Hungry. Watchful.
The wind rose immediately.
**[SFX: *WHOOOO—WHRRAAA—*]**
It screamed through the broken arches of the ruined outpost, flinging needles of ice that bit exposed skin. The survivors—maybe twenty now—huddled between collapsed pillars and fractured walls, clinging to what little shelter the ruins offered.
No fires.
No comfort.
The guards were gone.
Their silhouettes appeared only occasionally on higher ridges, motionless shapes against a sky filling with unfamiliar stars.
Levi sat with his back to cold stone, knees drawn up. Mira hugged herself beside him, teeth chattering. Torin crouched nearby, eyes never still.
The word *rest* rang hollow.
Levi's gaze traced the black stone walls again.
Claw marks.
Not weathering.
Not erosion.
Deep. Parallel. Deliberate.
Fresh.
"Cozy," Levi murmured under his breath. "Really nails the 'impending doom' aesthetic."
Mira swallowed. "Why would they leave us alone?"
She glanced upward. "The guards, I mean."
Torin snorted quietly. "Because this isn't rest."
A beat.
"It's bait."
Levi nodded without looking at him.
The Spell didn't give mercy.
It engineered attrition.
The scream came without warning.
Sharp. Wet. Cut off mid-note.
**[SFX: *SKRRRREE—!*]**
Chaos detonated across the plateau.
Something burst from behind a collapsed arch—a cave mouth Levi hadn't seen before.
The ghoul emerged.
It was enormous.
Twice a man's height, built of obsidian-black muscle beneath a shaggy mantle of fur that blended into the stone. Six eyes burned white in its face, clustered like a spider's, unblinking, reflecting starlight with pure appetite.
Its maw split open—
Rows of jagged teeth.
Thick red saliva steaming as it hit snow.
Then the tongue unfurled.
Long. Crimson. Barbed.
A living harpoon.
Levi's stomach lurched.
Disgust hit first—visceral, bone-deep revulsion at something fundamentally *wrong*. Fear followed a heartbeat later, icy fingers closing around his spine.
That wasn't an animal.
That was hunger wearing flesh.
Servants scattered, screaming.
The ghoul charged.
**[SFX: *THOOM—THOOM—CRAAASH!*]**
Its tongue lashed out, snagging a fleeing man mid-stride and yanking him back like a hooked fish. Jaws closed.
**[SFX: *CRUNCH—*]**
Red sprayed the snow.
Another servant ran the wrong way. A single sweep of the ghoul's arm sent him crashing into a pillar.
Bones snapped.
Guards watched from afar.
Cassian's laughter drifted faintly down the wind.
Levi didn't freeze.
He moved.
Low. Fast.
He dove into a narrow crevice between leaning boulders he'd noticed earlier—tight enough for his slight frame, too small for anything that big. He pressed deep inside, heart hammering, peering out through a crack.
The slaughter continued.
Bodies flew. Blood darkened the snow under starlight.
Then—
Mira.
She stood frozen in the open, eyes wide, breath locked in her chest.
"Move," Levi hissed.
She didn't hear him.
Torin roared and surged forward, ripping a fallen spear from a corpse. Soldier instincts took over. He drove the point into the ghoul's hide.
It barely scraped.
The tongue whipped around his leg.
Torin went down hard.
"Mira!" Levi barked.
She snapped out of it and ran—straight for the crevice—slamming in beside him, shaking violently.
"It's killing everyone," she sobbed. "We have to—"
Torin was being dragged, boots carving furrows in the snow.
Levi clenched his jaw.
"Do *what*?" he hissed. "I don't have a sword. Or muscles. Or a death wish."
Mira grabbed his robe, desperation raw in her eyes. "He's fighting for us. Please. You *see* things. You think."
Levi hesitated.
Risk screamed *no*.
But Torin was useful.
And Mira—
Damn it.
"Fine," Levi muttered. "But if I die, I'm haunting you."
He scanned the terrain again.
The caves.
Narrow tunnels branching beneath the ruins—too tight for the ghoul's bulk.
And—
There.
A glint half-buried in rubble.
Obsidian shard. Long. Jagged.
Levi slipped deeper into the tunnels, Mira clinging close. He grabbed the shard.
Heavy. Sharp.
Good enough.
Outside, Torin roared again—pain now. The tongue had him pinned.
Levi stepped out just enough.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Overgrown nightmare fuel!"
The ghoul's eyes snapped toward him.
All six.
Levi ran.
He bolted into the choke point, funneling it between boulders and stone. The ghoul followed, squeezing, roaring, claws screeching against rock.
**[SFX: *SKRRRR—RAAAARGH!*]**
The tongue lashed.
Once—tearing cloth.
Twice—barbs raking skin.
Pain flared white-hot, but Levi didn't stop.
Above them—
Loose rock.
Icicles.
A precarious ledge Levi had tested earlier.
He ducked left.
The ghoul lunged.
Levi kicked the support boulder.
Hard.
**[SFX: *KRACK—RUMBLE—THOOOOM!*]**
The ledge collapsed.
Ice and stone thundered down, crushing the ghoul's lower body. Legs snapped with wet, meaty cracks. It thrashed, roaring, eyes blazing.
Levi didn't hesitate.
He leapt.
Shard raised.
The tongue snapped up—he barely twisted aside.
A claw raked his arm, fire exploding across his nerves.
He drove the shard into the cluster of eyes.
**[SFX: *SPLRRSH—!*]**
Hot, acrid fluid sprayed.
Again—into the tongue's base.
The ghoul convulsed.
Maw snapping inches from Levi's face.
One last strike—deep into the throat.
Silence followed.
The body sagged.
Levi rolled off, collapsing into the snow, chest heaving.
Blood soaked his sleeve. Ribs screamed.
But—
Alive.
The air vibrated.
The voice returned.
Cold. Vast.
**[CONGRATULATIONS, SPELLBOUND.]**
**[YOU HAVE SLAIN THE BLACKWIND MOUNTAIN GHOUL.]**
Warmth surged through Levi—faint but unmistakable. Symbols flared briefly across his robes, then faded.
Power.
Real power.
Mira ran to him, helping Torin limp closer. The survivors—fewer than ten now—stared in stunned silence.
Footsteps crunched.
Cassian emerged from the shadows, amber eyes gleaming, smile sharp.
"Not so much of a runt," he said softly.
Levi pushed himself upright, shard still dripping.
Breathing hard, he smirked.
"Yeah," he rasped. "Turns out even runts bite."
On the horizon, dawn bled pale and cold into the sky.
The march would resume.
But something had changed.
For the first time, Levi felt the bargain tilt.
He wasn't just surviving anymore.
He was winning.