The Wolf’s Tides

The wind wailing through the cracks of the mountains, the scent of pine fused with something far older, something far more evil. The air hung tight with tension, and the earth waited. Serena knew the Onyx wolf lay awake in her, her senses in hyperdrive as she stood at the cliff's edge and scanned the horizon. It was no longer just something in the fabric of her life — it was — it had become part and parcel of the very being, a power that she could neither deny nor completely master.

Lucian, at her side, was quiet, gazing straight ahead, his left hand resting on the hilt of his sword. They had come a long way together exploring the Ruins. It was that sort of thing that was never said, that gave them a source of strength neither had expected but both had grown to depend on.

“We can’t run anymore,” Serena said, in a voice barely above a whisper.

Lucian was staring back, his expression inscrutable. "We don't have a choice."

She shook her head. "No, Lucian. You know, I can’t keep hiding from what I am. From what I've become."

He drew close, an anchoring presence. "You're not alone in this."

“Yeah, I am,” she said, staring into his eyes. “I feel this power every time I go — this sort of power — and every time I think I’m losing myself. Losing control."

Lucian leaned over and touched her hand. “Then let me help you find it again.”

She had gotten the question out before she heard a loud yell and stomping footsteps coming closer. As the faint moans of the Ruins shared bowl between each mountain a soft quake swept through the earth.

“They’re coming,” Serena said, gasping for breath.

“We stand and we fight,” Lucian said, voice resolute.

We shall make a no-mans-land between the lines and the enemy lines shall be our no-mans-land instrumental and we will truth not have to kata kute “I'll show you mud when I go into my grave like I'll turn deep gold foot the other night like oldore mud from hebul ing war my name will be tarred like Seaside Joker, when I die, tarred like Seaside Joker ground like as you prepare for the fray; you prepare for fray. Up from the dark came figures — tall, shrouded in black, their eyes glowing with otherworldly fire. They marched with determination and shook the air.

Serena was metaphorically inhaling. "No. Not them."

The edges of Lucian’s blade at his hip hardened. "Stay close."

The figures neared, marching step for step, as though one creature. Inside Serena, the Onyx stirred and stretched out its mental fingers to draw its power into its surface, sensing the threat in the air. She drove her fists into each other in an effort to grasp control, but it was futile. The wolf was waking, and alongside it, adrenaline irresponsibly flooded her veins.

“Serena,” Lucian said, his voice pulled thin. "Don't let it take over."

But it was too late. The Onyx wolf reared, hovering above me. Everything before Serena had dissolved into a blur  smear, her senses hyperfocused as a base instinct took morning control. This time she struck hard and quick, dealing punches like an deadly hand of poker.

Lucian battled beside her, his sword flashing in the low light. They slashed through the Ruins, each limb an act of balletic violence. But amidst it all, she felt the Onyx wolf’s power reverberate through her, the hunger infinite.

And with one final, earth-shattering blow, the last of the Ruins fell. The quiet of the battlefield was broken only by the panting of the survivors. Lady Serena was present, trembling, her body fear-cool, divisibly fever-warm, a blister of bad thoughts cooking hot things behind her eyes.

Lucian crept closer. "Serena?"

Her eyes wild, her breath shallow, she turned to him. "I couldn't stop it."

"You didn’t need to,” he said faintly. “You wrestled it, not with it.”

“But how do I know I’m never going to not have control over it? she said, her voice tinged with fear.

Lucian moved over to her and offered her a hand on her shoulder. “Then we’ll face together.”

Serena looked into his eyes and saw he was telling the truth. For the first time in many months, she felt a flicker of hope.

The violence in Marib was brutal and bloody, the most brutal I’ve seen in Yemen. The others had cared for the injured, their faces grave, but determined.

Kaelen looked up as they neared. "You two okay?"

Serena nodded, but she got the sense that something was wrong. "We'll be fine."

Elias, nothing if not practical, added, “We need to move. “The Ruins do not stay down for long.”

“We are going to stay here tonight,” Lucian said. "But come dawn, we move out."

The group sat in silence for a few minutes, everyone lost in their own thoughts. Serena was on the other side, scrambling. She was no mere Onyx wolf victim now, she was a force, a force to nothing longer to be ignored. She had wielded it in war, but at what price?

Lucian sat beside her, sharing her silence. After a long while, he spoke. "You know, I used to sing."

“Not well,” he said sheepishly. "But my mother made me. My voice didn’t matter to anything larger.”

Serena chuckled softly. "I don't believe that."

"Don't. It’s terrible,” he replied, smiling even wider.

The smile grew larger, and the warmth of that was starting to melt the ice in her chest. “Maybe one day, I’ll hear it.”

“Only if we survive,” he said, his tone with a joking note but his eyes serious.

They were silent for a time, the crackling of the fire their only sound. Serena bent over, her head pressed against his shoulder, clinging to him like a lifesaurus.

“You frighten me,” she said after a long silence.

Worry creased Lucian’s features as he faced her. "Why?"

“Because you always make me feel safe,” she admitted. “And I don’t know what does that mean.”

He intertwined his fingers with hers, squeezing gently. "It means we're human. Still."

The words settled in the air, part promise, part prayer. Hours went by, the stars shone above and held limited song and limited stories, and for the first time in a good dozen moons Serena felt there was cause for hope in her chest, that Alleyscross in Maighread was the chance of redemption after all.

But that peace was shattered by a long mournful howl as the sun rose above the horizon.

“They’ve come back,” said Kaelen, in a serious tone.

The Onyx wolf stirred within her, and Serena stood. She knew its strength, its appetite, that the real contest had only just begun.

Except this time she would not be alone.

With Lucian at her side as her familiar, and the emotional bonds forged with her new family giving her strength, Serena marched onward to face the next thing that she was sure would come.

Because she was more than a survivor now.

She was a formidable force.