The Wolf Series #3: Between Two Worlds

Chapter 17

A/N: To continue a little on the celebration of hitting 10k on Book 1, I've made my writing playlist for this series public on my Spotify. Copy the link below or find it on my Instagram (@ m.c.art.wright ) if you ever need some music to listen to while reading!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3VapByibhqd1YsIh8IaOkz?si=jMQaX7v7Tmmf_ewNtPPhzA

Chapter 17

Orion pauses and sets down the sword he used to stoke his fire. He doesn't so much as flinch as Kaltain emerges from the shadows.

"So," His yellow gaze is highlighted by the fire's glare, "You've finally come to kill me."

The Darkness leaves her hand before she even aims it at him. Orion's own comes to life and deflects it. His crackles with black lightning, while hers swarms like a festering cloud of bugs. The fire extinguishes immediately, and Nature goes all but silent around them.

Orion laughs as he blocks another one of her attacks. He grows manic as she lunges at him with a glowing dagger. A Helios.

She misses first, but he isn't expecting her fast return. She flips the blade, adjusts her grip, and slashes his arm. The Darkness instantly ceases from that hand and he scowls.

"You've obtained a handy tool there, Kaltain," He doesn't retreat, though. He punches her hard, and she goes tumbling back. "Is the same one that killed your sister?"

"The Helios didn't kill Rieka," She growls like a rabid beast. When she stands up, the forest around them is flattened by the force of her presence. She screams and sprints towards her, "You did!"

She doesn't get far. He stops her a few feet short of her advance. Shadows grip her from the forest floor, but she quickly destroys them. Another wave of her swarm goes after him.

"You can't fight me, little girl," He brushes them away with a flick of his hand, "Your Darkness is strong like no one has seen since my own took root, but it—"

A black, garbling mass slams into him. Before he can blink, another barrels into him. And then another. More and more of the garbling beasts tackle and maul him. Kaltain's Collected.

"My Darkness is still in its infancy, but I'm somewhat of a prodigy," She towers over his bleeding mass. With The Helios in her grip, she swings it down and plunges it deep into his chest, "You said so yourself, father."

Orion's eyelids flutter, shock written across his face. Her monsters tear him limb from limb, and The Helios burns evermore brightly in his chest. Blood seeps from his mouth, until his eyes glaze over.

Tears begin to seep from her eyes as she stands over the only other person who ever looked her way. He had been just as much her tormentor as he had been her mentor. But above else, he was the reason she had lost her most precious loved one.

"Rest in peace, sister," She whispers to Rieka. The Collected munch at his flesh while she turns away and makes her way back into the shadows.

Shng.

Her hands slowly crawl up to her throat, where The Helios that had been embedded in Orion's heart now hollows out her windpipe.

"Well done, daughter," His voice is the last thing she will ever hear. Her life quickly fades—The Helios making it near impossible to heal from an already mortal wound. "I had high hopes for you. Out of them all, you were the one most like me."

Unlike her, Orion doesn't leave anything to chance. He yanks the blade to the side and takes her head. Her body slumps to the ground. Her heads rolls, and The Collected are quick to snatch it up.