The air around them shifted the moment they left the ruins. It was subtle at first, a hush that swallowed even the wind. Then came the chill, a creeping, oily sensation that crawled beneath the skin and made the trees seem to lean closer. Shin paused at the edge of a cracked ravine, his crimson eyes narrowing as the first ripple passed through the stillness.
"We're being watched," he said.
Zera's grip tightened on her sword. "I feel it too."
Laverna unsheathed her wind-forged jamadhars, her eyes scanning the shadows. "How many?"
Shin's fox ears twitched. "Too many."
He let out a tired sigh. The atmosphere was thick with malice, with a pressure that gnawed at the edges of his calm. For too long, he had hidden his true nature—his full Kitsune form held back, his aura subdued. But this place... this cursed realm seemed to be dragging it out of him, like the corruption in the air demanded it.
He exhaled again, a flicker of annoyance in his expression. "So be it," he muttered. It no longer mattered. What mattered now was survival.
Then they emerged—half a dozen figures stumbling from the blackened tree line, their bodies human in shape, but twisted and erratic. Crystalline void spikes jutted from their flesh, and their eyes glowed with the same empty light that pulsed from the corrupted altar in the temple.
"Scouts," Zera muttered. "Falzath-born."
The lead creature stepped forward with a jerky gait, its head cocking at a grotesque angle. "Kitsune..." it hissed in a voice that echoed like rusted metal. "You bleed sweetly."
The others cackled—a sound like shattering glass.
Shin's aura surged. The air rippled around him as his nine tails manifested, their edges smoldering with red foxfire. "You chose the wrong quarry."
The scouts lunged.
In a blur of movement, Shin vanished. He reappeared behind one of the corrupted, his katana, Yoshimatsu, drawn in mid-swing. The high-frequency blade sang with crimson lightning, cleaving through void-armor like silk. Foxfire followed his strikes, erupting in violent bursts that forced the scouts to scatter.
Laverna darted between two enemies, her wind jamadhars slicing the air. She spun mid-leap, releasing a gust that knocked one of the scouts off its feet. Her Kitsune powers, though not as refined as Shin's, manifested in bursts of graceful agility and sudden gales. She struck fast and hard, using momentum as her shield.
Zera moved like a ghost—elegant and precise. Her sword glowed with a cold blue light, each slash laced with anti-corruption energy. She slipped between enemy strikes, dismembering limbs and cracking crystalline armor.
But they were relentless.
A scout hurled a void-forged spear toward Laverna. She turned too late.
Zera dashed in front of her, taking the hit across her shoulder. The blade pierced deep, and void energy crackled through her armor.
"Zera!" Laverna cried.
Zera gritted her teeth, yanked the weapon free, and retaliated with a sweeping slash that vaporized her attacker. She stumbled back, panting, the wound already darkening.
"I'm fine. Stay focused."
Laverna's eyes blazed. She surged forward, cutting down another scout with a cry that echoed across the ravine.
Shin, now surrounded by three, dropped low. His tails spun behind him, foxfire gathering into a coalescent orb. With a growl, he slammed it into the earth. The explosion lit up the battlefield, sending shockwaves that scorched the nearby trees and hurled the scouts like ragdolls.
Only one remained.
Zera pinned it with her sword.
It laughed.
"You think you're winning? You're only delaying. Voryn waits."
Shin stepped forward, his aura pulsing like a storm barely restrained. "Where is he?"
The creature's mouth stretched wider than possible. "You'll see him... when your screams join the choir."
It began to dissolve into void ash.
Shin stabbed Yoshimatsu into the ground beside it, halting the spread.
"Talk."
The scout's form flickered. "North. The spire. The bleeding sky... Voryn watches."
And with that, it crumbled into dust, leaving only silence.
Zera collapsed to one knee, clutching her wound. Laverna rushed to her side, pressing her hands to the injury. Her wind aura flared, the currents steadying the corruption in the wound, slowing its spread.
"You idiot," she muttered. "Why'd you take the hit?"
Zera offered a pained smirk. "Because you're still useful."
Shin approached, his crimson eyes scanning both of them. He knelt beside Zera, gently placing a foxfire-coated hand over her wound. The healing was rough—Shin's ki wasn't meant for mending—but the fire cauterized the spreading corruption.
"Hold still."
Zera winced, but didn't pull away.
Laverna watched the exchange silently. Then, she met Zera's gaze.
"Thank you."
Zera's smirk faded into something softer. "Don't mention it."
They stood, bruised but alive.
Shin's tails flicked, his gaze returning to the northern horizon.
"Voryn. That name's not in any modern text. But I remember it... from stories my father told."
Laverna tilted her head. "Your father?"
Shin nodded. "Back when my clan still stood. He used to recite the lore of our Kitsune ancestors. We weren't just warriors. We were gatekeepers. Guardians of balance between realms. The Falzath... Voryn... they're not just invaders. They're echoes of the old wars."
At the very mention of Kitsune lore, Laverna turned toward him attentively. She was a Kitsune too, after all, and this was the first time she'd heard Shin speak so openly about it.
"Old wars?" Zera asked, her voice sharp.
He paused.
"The kind of war that erased entire bloodlines."
Shin narrowed his gaze at her. "If you know about them, then that means you're not as ordinary as you pretend. Maybe... you're from the past? A noble, perhaps? You never told us your last name."
Zera said nothing.
Zera's eyes didn't just sharpen—they darkened, a flicker of something ancient behind them. Something pained.
Shin took a step closer, his voice lower now. "Zera… your village. What really happened to it? You spoke of its destruction, but you never said who you were. No last name. No title."
She remained silent.
"You knew the names in the old murals. You wield a blade with the kind of precision only taught to royal knights. Were you... a princess? A knight? Both?"
Zera finally looked at him, the weight of centuries behind her gaze. Her lips parted slightly, then closed. Instead of confirming or denying, she simply said, "It doesn't matter who I was. Only what I fight for now."
Laverna watched her, something between suspicion and understanding in her expression.
"Then we finish what they started," Zera said, softer this time, as if echoing a vow from a different life.
The trio stood together amidst the ash and blood.
Battered. Scarred.
But united.
The wind shifted again. This time, it carried the scent of something old and angry on the northern breeze.
They turned toward it.
And moved.
Toward the spire.
Toward Voryn.