The wind howled through the ruins on the eastern ridge of Beacon Hills, carrying with it the scent of burning magic and blood.
Alex crouched beside a cracked stone altar, his fingers tracing the edges of a symbol that had been violently defaced. The sigil had once glowed with protective runes—like the one etched into his blade. Now it was scorched, broken. A jagged line ran straight through the center, disrupting the flow of energy that once pulsed from it.
"It's a ley seal," Eira said, kneeling beside him. Her eyes shimmered with arcane sight. "Someone severed it from the inside. That shouldn't be possible."
"It is," Alex muttered, "if they used something like this."
He held up a piece of obsidian-black metal—still warm, pulsing with shadow. It hummed with corruption.
Eira recoiled. "That's not natural. That's Argentum-forged."
Before either of them could react, a low growl rippled through the trees behind them.
Then came the first strike.
A blur of motion—fangs, claws, and glowing eyes—burst from the treeline. Alex barely managed to intercept the creature with his blade, the clash of metal and bone sending sparks flying.
Three more emerged, all of them corrupted, sigils branded across their chests.
"Wraithbound again!" Alex shouted.
Eira raised her hands, runes swirling into the air around her as she muttered an incantation. A barrier of blue light shimmered between them and the creatures, buying them a heartbeat of space.
But this time… the wraithbound spoke.
"You severed the pact," the lead one hissed. "Now the seal is undone."
Alex launched into the fray, blade glowing as it sliced through the corrupted hide of one attacker. Another pounced at Eira, but her barrier shattered into arcane shards that speared upward, impaling it mid-leap.
The fight was chaos—claws flashing, energy roaring, magic burning through the night air. Alex moved with uncanny precision, memory and instinct blending as he protected Eira without hesitation.
But the creatures weren't just attacking.
They were drawing power from the broken sigil. Feeding off the ley lines.
"We have to restore the seal!" Eira yelled, breathless as she dodged a claw swipe. "Before they rip the ley line open!"
Alex threw his blade like a spear. It struck the last creature square in the chest—pinning it to the altar as it let out a final, monstrous wail.
Silence fell.
The ground trembled beneath them, energy cracking like a fault line through the earth.
Eira pressed her palm to the damaged sigil. "I can stabilize it, but not alone."
Alex stepped forward. "Then we do it together."
As their hands met above the stone, their powers surged and intertwined—his shifter fire and her ley-witch essence blending into a single, blinding pulse.
The sigil reignited.
But just as the light flared, Alex's vision flashed white—and a memory returned.
He saw Talia standing before a portal of fire… holding a child.
Not him.
Someone else.
A secret even deeper than the bond he shared with Eira.