Kael's roar ripped through the forest, shaking leaves loose and sending crows screaming into the sky. His body stretched, bones cracking, fur bristling along his arms, back, and face.
His teeth? Long enough to bite through bone. His claws? Already dripping with something black and steaming.
This wasn't Kael anymore.
It was something older — something the Bvuri had been waiting for.
"Okay, okay!" Tafara shouted, flipping both daggers into his hands. "He's a lion demon now. No one panic!"
"Too late!" Ranga's flaming spears blazed to life, spinning so fast the air hummed. "I'm panicking and I'm attacking."
Dendera planted his massive shield in the ground with a thud. "We don't kill him!"
"Define 'kill,'" Tafara muttered.
Nyeredzi's eyes glowed pale silver, her spirit-threaded spear already in her hand. She wasn't speaking, but her fingers traced frantic symbols in the air — spirit language trying to hold back whatever was rising from the ground beneath Kael's feet.
Because it wasn't just Kael anymore.
The Bvuri were coming through.
The dirt around Kael's feet split, shadows spilling out like living oil, tendrils rising and twisting into faces — screaming, laughing, crying faces.
One tendril shot toward Tafara.
He flipped backwards, slicing through it mid-air, landing in a crouch. "Nope! Nope nope nope!"
Ranga's spears spun faster, sending arcs of fire across the clearing, burning the tendrils back — but they didn't scream. They laughed.
Dendera stepped forward, shield raised, his spirit-bone charms glowing faintly. A tendril slammed into his shield — and shattered like glass against stone.
"Hold the line!" Dendera barked.
The ground beneath them was no longer solid — it was shifting, pulsing, like a living thing. The Bvuri weren't just spirits. They were the land itself, awake and hungry.
Kael charged.
One step — the earth cracked.
Two steps — the air shivered.
Three steps — he was on them.
Ranga met him first, spears crossing in front of his chest. "Kael, buddy, remember we're friends!"
Kael's claws ripped through both spears, sending burning shards flying. Ranga flipped back — fast, but not fast enough. Kael's claws grazed his side, leaving deep, smoking cuts.
"Holy—!" Ranga hit the ground, rolling.
Dendera's shield smashed into Kael's side, knocking him off balance. "Hold him down!"
Nyeredzi whispered something — her voice both here and somewhere far away. Her spear vanished — reappeared inside Kael's shadow, stabbing up toward his chest.
Kael caught it with one clawed hand.
His eyes — bright gold and something older — locked onto Nyeredzi.
She froze.
For a heartbeat, her spirit and Kael's spirit touched, and she saw it — the Bvuri inside him, ancient and endless, laughing through his mouth.
She stumbled back.
Tafara's daggers sliced through the air, both aiming for Kael's neck. "We've survived worse!"
Kael caught both daggers between his fingers.
Tafara's eyes widened. "Oh."
Kael slammed Tafara into the ground, hard enough to leave a crater.
A single arrow flew past Kael's ear.
Not a warning shot.
A message.
The second arrow exploded, not in flame, but in pure silver light, blinding everyone — even the Bvuri shadows screamed.
Kael turned, growling low.
Liora stepped out of the trees, her moon-eyes glowing like twin lanterns, her spiritwood bow in her hands, the string humming like it was alive.
"You are not the key, Kael," she said softly. "You are the door."
Kael charged.
Liora vanished — or so it seemed.
She moved faster than the eye could follow, her arrows already flying, each one cutting through shadow tendrils like they were made of paper.
Kael swiped at her — she ducked under his arm, spinning into a low slide, her bow already drawn again. She fired point-blank into his chest — an arrow of moonlight.
Kael staggered.
The lion spirit roared — the Bvuri shrieked — but Liora stood still, calm, eyes like silver fire.
"You're mine now, Lion."
Tafara, groaning from the crater, flipped upright. "I like her."
Ranga, bleeding but grinning, spun his half-broken spears, reigniting them. "Think she's single?"
Dendera's shield slammed into the ground, sending a spiritual shockwave outward, pushing the shadows back. "Focus, idiots!"
Nyeredzi's hands split into multiple spirit projections, her spirit-threaded spear multiplying — each copy piercing a different tendril. Her voice whispered prayers in three languages, calling spirits of the air to hold Kael in place.
Kael roared — the earth roared back.
The Bloodbound Circle stood together, powers flaring.
Liora, calm in the center of the storm, raised her bow.
A final arrow, glowing brighter than the moon itself, aimed straight at Kael's heart.
"You will not open that door."
The arrow flew — not alone.
Tafara's daggers, Ranga's spears, Dendera's shield strike, Nyeredzi's spirit spears — all struck at once, hitting Kael from all sides.
Light. Flame. Earth. Spirit.
Kael's roar shook the sky — then cut off.
The shadows around him froze, shuddered, and vanished, like smoke pulled back into the ground.
Kael collapsed, breath ragged, golden fur fading back into skin.
The Bvuri's laughter echoed once — and was gone.
The forest went still.
Tafara limped over, nudging Kael with his boot. "If you're alive, grunt."
Kael groaned.
"Close enough."
Dendera knelt beside him, checking his pulse. "He's stable."
Ranga wiped blood off his face. "That's the last time we patrol anything."
Nyeredzi stood silent, her spirit fingers still flickering, tracing something unseen in the air.
Liora watched Kael, her silver eyes softening — just a little.
"You're not ready," she said. "But you will be."
Kael's eyes half-opened.
"Who… are you?"
Liora turned away. "Your only chance."
And just like that, she was gone, fading into the trees like mist at dawn.
End of Chapter Two