Blaze in the Darkness | ✔

Chapter Twenty-six

I watched as the butterfly continued silently sitting there, as if it had no worry in the world. Behind it, the battle raged on, and the sea slowly thinned out as more of the beasts fell to the claws of their brethren. The ground only became more red and muddy as time wore on.

The soft movement of brilliant blue wings made me look at the mythical insect again. It looked back at me for a few moments. Then, its legs started sinking into the ground, soon followed by the rest of its body. My body seemed paralysed in shock as I watched it slowly disappear.

It took only seconds for the entire butterfly to completely vanish. Where it had stood moments before, a single, black gemstone appeared. I slowly moved over and cautiously nudged the stone with my paw. Energy coursed through me as the flat stone moved slightly, and I leapt back.

When it didn't move, I cautiously came closer to it again, staring at the golden engravings in its dark surface. I let out a soft bark to catch Raset's attention. The spirit released her arrow before looking down.

"What is that stone? How did you get it?" she asked, eyes widening in horror.

"The doom butterfly was here." As I replied, I nudged the gemstone. I shuddered as the weird magic flowed through my paw again. "It was really pretty, but then it suddenly started sinking into the ground. Then this thing appeared. What do the engravings say?"

Raset hesitated before answering, "I recognize the mark on it as Mafrel's. Roughly translated, it says, 'Over a thousand souls will return to the Underworld today'."

I stared at the stone, my own eyes widening too. A thousand?! That was a lot of people. And there didn't seem to be a thousand down there in the battlefield. Casting a glance at it, I tried to count, but there were too many. It seemed only half of what was fighting before was still standing, though.

"Just stay here with me. This is the safest place to be right now," Raset said, nocking another arrow and drawing the string back. I gave her an affirmative bark, not looking away from the battlefield. There was no way for me to see who was fighting for what side, not with how all those huge beasts looked the same.

All of them had roughly the same color pelt, the same size, the same pained howl and furious snarl. There weren't two neat lines of wolves clashing, either. It was chaos, wolves colliding with each other one on one or with several on a big pile. Blood and the smell of death clung to everything like an invisible, dark cloud.

I glanced back at the engraved stone. Over a thousand souls... At least a quarter of that already went to the Realm of Spirits already, and it couldn't have been more than half an hour. But Thoysal couldn't be among them. His soul had gone away long ago, the moment he was turned. So he had to be safe. Right?

As if sensing my thoughts, the vampire emerged from the battlefield, his silver weapons reflecting sunlight into my eyes. He looked in my direction, but I couldn't make out his expression from so far away. It was mere moments before his voice burst into my mind.

'Zanixa! What in the gods' name are you doing here?!' he demanded, leaping to the side to dodge a wolf's attack. I watched as he stabbed the beast's side before slashing its neck. The ground below them became that much redder.

'I-I lost one of the ambertails and couldn't find them, so I went after Raset,' I said, hanging my head. 'But I found the doom butterfly?'

Viciously attacking another wolf the size of a stallion, he continued mentally speaking to me. 'Doom butterfly? Show me the memory.'

After hesitating for a moment, I did as he asked, sending the mental image of the butterfly dancing above the battlefield before settling in front of me and sinking into the ground. His displeasure and unease were almost palpable, and I cowered closer to the tree. This couldn't be good.

'Just stay with Raset, and do not move. Got it?' Thoysal asked. Not daring to cross him, or risk my life in the battle, I sent a mental confirmation. I could sense his approval, before it quickly turned into hatred as he buried his blades deeply in another werewolf.

The sudden switch of emotions scared me, and I gave a soft whimper. Not that he could hear it. Quietly, I reached out again, trying to stop his anger from scaring me even more. 'Can you help me show who is who? All I see is wolves fighting each other. Who is good and who is bad?'

'I know a way to fix that,' the vampire said, shielding the majority of his emotions from me.

A moment later, my entire vision readjusted. All wolves now had a color around them, and so did Raset and Thoysal. The spirit, the vampire, and just over half of the wolves had a green halo, while the other half of the wolves were surrounded by a menacing purple.

'Stay away from the purple ones, but stick close to the green ones - especially Raset. Do not leave her side.' He paused for a moment as he was surrounded by four of the purple wolves, but he teleported out of the middle just as they leapt at them. 'I have to go. Stay safe.'

I stared worriedly as he fought his way out of the dangerous situation, quickly backed up by some green wolves. My eyes scanned the battlefield. There were more green wolves than purple ones, but the difference was minimal. Nonetheless, that small edge gave them hope and made them fight harder.

Triumphant howls suddenly emerged from the town, behind the fight. Within seconds, hundreds more wolves with a purple halo stormed into the battle. My eyes widened in horror as I realized where they came from. Had they overrun the safe house? Had I left the two ambertails behind and were they dead now?

There had only been a handful of warriors to defend all the ones who were too old or weak to fight. They wouldn't have withstood hundreds of huge wolves that were out for blood. I whimpered softly as I imagined a huge claw tearing through one of the ambertails' small body. Those tiny creatures had no way to defend themselves, and they had nowhere to run.

Above me, I heard Raset curse as the repeating sound of her nocking and releasing arrows sped up. Even she realised this was bad, and it terrified me. I grabbed the black, flat stone with my teeth and crawled further back against the tree, covering myself in leaves. It was almost as if I the stone vibrated every time another wolf fell, humming softly with ancient and powerful magic.

I closed my eyes and sent a prayer to whichever one of the twenty gods was willing to listen. Only divine help could save us now.