ADARA

"What do you want to show me?"

Rain pattered against the scaled overhang shielding her and Fenrer from the elements, with Yuven nowhere in sight. Shivers crawled through her skin and skittered into her neck, and she wrapped the shawl tighter around her shoulders as Fenrer took a step from the shelter. Adara followed in his shadow as he rounded the longhouse and the drizzle caressed her cheeks with the hushing blanket of cloud cover. Behind the longhouse, a staircase led to the highest point of the plateau which the manor embraced, wider than it was long, with two stories and several shattered windows along the edge. "It's behind the manor's shrine."

One wing curved into a dome, whose windows fell apart to reveal the four statues inside. Her steps took her through a veil of memory, and she frowned at the empty eyesockets of a desecrated, hallowed place. A boy whimpered in her ear and hid in the shadows of a wyvern's wings, but she forced herself past it to follow Fenrer into the expansive backyard. Catwalks made of some sort of redwood lifted off the ground to allow space for a garden to bloom. Her heart fell at the wilted flowers, but among their fallen leaves, little sprouts curled underneath its dead brethren. In the center, a beautiful pond, sparkling in the rain with similar statues standing atop twirling runestones. The thin layer of mist casted from the rain danced along the grass and invited them closer.

"Here."

Adara turned to where Fenrer went. He stood beside a closed metal gate into a mound. Opal flames danced along the spirals when he gazed into the darkness between the metal bars. "Where does this go?" she asked, full of wonder and a sense of uncertainty of places unnamed.

"It will be easier to explain inside." Fenrer stood in front of her to raise both hands to the large sconces hanging off the sides. Green embers sputtered along the chains to rumble into flames. It crawled along the runes to pulse through the wet, black stone. He moved closer to the lock,brushing his finger against the handle.

With a click, it swung open with a rustic creak.

Runes lit on the walls, following the brazier's trail to lighyt up the smaller sconces dug into the stone. Embers bounced in inviting welcome, to cast light across the staircase leading deeper into the mound. Fenrer took the lead downwards, raising a magelight above his head for an immediate vicinity of light. Adara focused on the silver flow, and allowed it to coalesce above her head in a spinning well of flames. Fenrer hesitated on one step to examine her magelight, then nodded without words before descending into the dim lit area. Once they reached a level floor, she twisted around. Crevices dug into the stone. Wolven jaws kept stone coffins inside their sections. Broken pottery scattered across the floor.

"Fenrer, this is a tomb," she said as he stopped at a recently cut space, where a small divot kept dues to the dead at the feet of a statue, created into the likeness of a man who stood heads over her. Heavy leathers wounds round his shoulders to the bracers on his forearms, where the wolf-shaped head of a warhammer rested between his legs.

"Yes," Fenrer said as he tilted his head back to gaze at the man's stone eyes. "It's okay. It's... quiet here. It was a little louder outside." He twisted to a similar crevice, this one of a woman who cupped her hands close to her chest, a sword on her hip. Adara studied her features, a near reflection of who gazed straight at her. "These were recently formed... Reyn?" Fenrer pinched his cheek, then turned to her with a deep sigh. "I... I must be more forthright when I was not before. I came here to check something — King Reyn told me that raiders pilfered a special blade from this place. He said he was taking steps to find it, and from what Keeper Kalla said at the tavern makes me think they found it. However... I wish to check the state of this tomb before we move forward to Sivaport. It's bad luck to disturb the graves of one's ancestors."

"Bad luck?" Adara followed him down a spiral staircase, where a pillar of wolves on the eternal hunt glided downwards with them into a larger cistern.

"Yes." Fenrer sent a burst of flames into the chandeliers leading deeper into the caverns. "It's a bit of a superstition here — well, I say superstition. A lot of these things come from the truth. We bury our dead with the branches of the family in these mounds, together. This does not always mean blood relations, even close family friends would be buried here if they are not... welcome in their own. Mounds like these have powerful magick deep inside them, to protect the living stewards of the land and give a sense of peace to those who came before us," he explained and brushed broken pottery out of the way. He stood in the faint glow of the cancelier, where the largest archway led into a smaller dome. "When you steal from the dead... they might wake up."

"Lovely." Adara eyed the nearest coffin locked in wolven jaws.

Fenrer laughed. "You don't need to worry. I don't sense anything out of the ordinary." He moved for the archway, and her heart pounded at the carved dawn rising at the peak. It glowed when Fenrer stepped underneath it, but she pushed down the small stairway and into the dome.

On the floor, a beautiful, swirling glyph shaped with sunlight curved through the entire room. Flames lifted up the pillars and walls and little garnets followed the edges. A gasp escaped her at the larger statue in its own divot, where a wolf laid beside their legs. Their hands cupped the hilt of a blade. From blade to pommel, it stood taller than her. On the guard, the sun gleamed with a single fiery opal. Adara craned her neck back to bask in the awe-inspiring sight. Another man, whose wolven headdress dangled at his shoulders and hid the eye sockets. Little lamps hung over his head to cast a different, warmer glow through the room.

"Little Wolf."

Adara jumped at the voice, then twisted around with Fenrer.

"Kon?" Fenrer tipped his head. "I didn't summon you."

A misty wolf loomed at the entrance, the same one who came to her defense when she fled through Rosa's orchard; the same one she tried to save by swinging her useless boot into the maws of the shadows. Kon bowed his head and crept closer. "Yes, but I... am drawn to his place like a moth to a flame," he admitted, then sat down in the center of the sun glyph. "Mind me not, little ones." Kon raised his muzzle to the statue whose shadow engulfed Fenrer.

Fenrer nodded and approached the statue, where a huge coffin rested beneath it. He knelt into a prayer. "Forgive me for my intrusion, Pyren," he whispered. "Forgive me for being unable to protect this hallowed place of our family — our bloodsoaked history." He drew his finger down his nose and his eyes closed to follow it. He sat in silence, and her heart dropped at his words. "I must disturb your rest for a moment, to confirm the desecration of your tomb."

"Little Wolf," Kon repeated and stepped to her before Fenrer reached out to the coffin. "You need not ask forgiveness from a statue. What you need is honesty. I do not think Pyren would mind, for he is nothing but bones. You know why you're here."

"Where are we?" Adara whispered, though she knew the answer long before it left his lips.

Fenrer breathed deep. "We're in Sungrove." His shoulders slumped. "This... this is where you came in my memories, where you stumbled because I could not... keep myself straight in yours." He twisted to her with a weary crease to his brow. "I'm sorry for not telling you or Yuven earlier. I know this might seem frivolous... but it's important to me. I only wanted to come here for a little bit to wait out the storm and check on my ancestors." He pushed both hands into the coffin, and heaved it open. Dusty clouds escaped the movement, and Adara bounced closer in morbid fascination. Huge bones rested inside, wrapped in old furs and leathers to match the ones on the statue.

"He was huge," Adara said and leaned closer to investigate the skeletal remains.

"He stood well over us, but he wasn't quite a giant," Fenrer explained with a soft sigh. "I'm sorry, Pyren."

Kon's silence made her turn.

He kept his head to the entrance, his ears perked forward.

Fenrer folded his arms as he studied his ancestor's bones. "Well?" she asked.

"It's gone," he said and his arms fell loose at his sides, and he closed the coffin before sending a glyph across the surface. "I hope King Reyn succeeded in finding it. It cannot fall into the wrong hands." He went to turn, but Adara found her hand around his forearm before she stopped her bleeding heart. He turned to her with a curious twist to his lips.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Adara asked as Kon crept for the entrance, low to the ground with his bushy tail held stiff.

He faced the tomb again. "I... don't know," he whispered, head lowered to his feet. He brought his hands close to his chest, to tangle his fingers into the clasp of his shield expanders. "It's difficult, I suppose." It glowed into the spirals as he breathed deep, then looked at her straight in the eye. "I was... seven when Sungrove came under attack — that vision you saw may not have been a perfect recollection, as memories are wont to shift, especially in the fog of hurt." Fenrer brushed the back of his head with a wince. "In reality, parts of it are too muddled for me. I just remember hiding down here when they raided the grove," he said, his voice coming out faster. "Apart from that, it's a blur. So, I didn't tell either of you because I didn't want to add to the burden you both are already feeling." He bowed to her. "I wanted to show you this place so you can see that I live... but my family does not walk this world anymore, but that doesn't mean they're gone. That the ones we love are gone from us." He smiled at her. "I can only hope they've found the peace they deserved across the bridge, and our memories carry them through life." He tucked his hands against his chest and the smile touched his eyes. "Thank you for listening. I hope it helps."

Her heart pounded at the stretching warmth. "I'm sorry if that was hard to talk about."

Fenrer's laugh came out softer. "It feels so long ago now. Thirteen turns since the Desecration." He shook his head and his laughter died into a tired frown. "It is hard to talk about."

Reach out.

Adara went to hold his forearm.

Don't get too close.

The thorn dug deeper and sent a shockwave through her fingers.

"Little Wolf," Kon said, sharper at the archway to break apart the flaming moment.

"Kon, is something wrong?" Fenrer said.

Kon turned with narrowed eyes and his lips tugged back into a nervous snarl. "There is an emptiness in the tomb," he growled. "A lock broken with fury. We must leave."

"What do you mean?"

"I cannot say for certain," Kon said and bounded to him. "You must head for the surface." He scattered into mist spread by the dawn to whisk into Fenrer. Flames sputtered in the sconces when he jolted, then rushed out of Pyren's tomb. Adara broke to keep up with him as they scrambled up the spiral staircases with the wolves in reverse, the hunter's becoming the hunted.

"Is it Yuven?" she asked as they reached the top and out into the silence.

Fenrer stopped at the thickened mist, his eyes trailing over it with a frown before he drew to the manor. His pupils turned into pinpricks of disbelief. "It has to be," he whispered and rushed to the catwalks. It creaked underneath their steps as they rushed for the backdoor, where glass scattered at their feet. "Yuven?" Fenrer called inside, then kicked open the door with ease. Back inside the shelter, a horrific chill descended down her spine, and she held her breath when the last came out a thick mist. Her fingers tangled with the disappearing moisture.

"Fenrer?" she asked, her words coming out ice.

Opal flames danced along his pupils, but he twisted around every corner in the throes of confusion. "What in the Infernal Hells?" he whispered with another peek at a staircase, and she kept close to him. Her heart stopped when the backdoors cracked back into place, and she tugged on the hem of his sleeve to point at it when jade tendrils closed it with a gentle whisper.

"What is it?" she whispered. "Is it a wraith?"

"It can't be," Fenrer mumbled and peeked down a shadowy corridor.

A ripple of air expanded from the other side of the huge front door.

Yuven slid out of his spatial distortion, violet eyes nothing more than thin beads as he rushed to them. "We must leave!" he snapped.

"Yuven, are you okay?" Fenrer asked, relaxing.

"No, I am not okay!" Yuven shook him in violent motions. "This is Sungrove, Fenrer!"

"I know, I should've told you—" Fenrer raised his hands in placation.

Metal dragged along the back of her head.

"Something is here. I can feel its hate," Yuven hissed through his nose. "Fenrer, you must've sensed it when you arrived."

"I... no?" Fenrer frowned at him, then held him at arm's length. "I'm not sensing anything, Yuven — well, I wasn't until just a few minutes ago... But now..." Fenrer rubbed the top of his head. "I... I don't know, it's hard to see, but I can feel it rippling."

Yuven let go of him, his lips parting in disbelief.

Another, heavier creak. Another, long drag against floorboards in the distance. "Is it a Derelict?" she whispered when the lights outside dimmed into ash. "I hear something."

"No," Yuven growled.

"You say that like that's not a good thing." Adara jumped closer to Fenrer at a closer tug of metal against wood. "You hear that?"

Yuven glared at Fenrer. "We need to leave. Now." Fenrer headed towards the sounds, and Yuven threw his arms up in the air with a quick stomp to the floorboards. "Molvisaliz'mai, fuxtu roxho." Yuven followed him with his seaxs at the ready.

I don't like this place. I can hear it. Every footstep added a dissonant note along the wood, and she grabbed the back of Fenrer's shirt to stop him from going into the darkness.

"How are you not sensing anything?" Yuven demanded when Fenrer stopped at her touch.

"Not on the surface," Fenrer explained and turned his back on the corridor where the shadows loomed. "Many emotions run through this place, and there is something interrupting the flow... that I'm struggling to get a read on this place. Yuven, I'm sorry for not telling you, okay?" He raised his hand to Yuven, who scowled. "I'm sorry, but I had to come here."

"You should've told me." Yuven's feathers thinned against his head, and Adara drew her attention to behind Fenrer, where the archway cast his shadow.

Fenrer frowned and winced at Yuven's tone.

It went quiet.

"I'm sorry," Fenrer whispered.

Moonlight seeped through the clouds outside, and Adara breathed out her tension when Yuven sighed out his, then shook his head and his feathers drooped against his pointed ears. "You can explain yourself once we're out of the area and on the road," he mumbled. "We can't stay here. I'd rather contend with the weather and rain soaked Derelicts." A puff of mist escaped his nose, and Yuven turned his back on Fenrer, who sank into his shoulders with a soft groan.

His wolven pin glinted in the natural light outside.

Shadows stirred and shuffled.

He took a slow step.

A heavier, louder one followed from his shadow and a mangled boot pressed against the floorboards, where a bony leg with meat hanging off the joints glowed in the moon. Mist came out through the bared teeth and shrunken lips as the wolven warhammer flowed through the world in slow motion.

It settled itself as she reached out to Fenrer, who blinked and started to turn and face his death.

Always too slow.

It swung outwards.

Adara screeched at the monster Fenrer's shadow birthed, aiming to take his head clean off.

"FEN—" Yuven whipped around.

In a clash of magick, the warhammer smashed into a misty shield. It cracked in the same cold instant it manifested, and Fenrer grunted when the force sent him through the rotting wall. Nothing more than a ragdoll tossed by a tormented child. Her hand fell to her side as another plume of mist escaped the constant teeth, bared in rage. Wolven pins danced on stringy hair, caked in old crimson.

Again.

Ice froze her to her bones when the thing raised the warhammer to her face.

Yuven ran in front of her to push an icy glyph through the corridor. The wolven teeth dug into the focal point, cracking it to pieces. Yuven's snarl turned into a horrified sense of alarm as the monster dug deeper into the floorboards, bracing itself against the shaft of the hammer.

"Yuven!"

Air rippled at the base of his heel, and Adara gasped when Yuven ran to leave his copy behind, grabbing her around the shoulders to tug her through dizzying space. Vomit rose to her nose, and they both stumbled at the other end of the corridor as the beast broke Yuven's copy into ice crystals.

"What is that? A wraith?" she gasped when it shambled, weighed down by its size and its weapon. "Wait, Fenrer!"

A horrible death rattle filled the air when its jaws opened to release another fatal plume and it dragged its warhammer behind it. It pulled boards loose, ignoring the hurdles to head for them.

Fenrer never returned from the wall.

Yuven grabbed the back of her collar and tugged her to her feet to push her for the back door. "Worse, this wants to and can kill us!" He shoved his hand into her back. "Run, Adara!"

Run! a different voice screamed.