BONDS IN FLAMES
The forest had become a battlefield of perception and reality. Shadows danced and twisted like living smoke, coiling around trees, rocks, and wolves alike. The rift at the southern ridge pulsed faintly, a wound in the world, and from it, Varun’s presence radiated like poison in the air. Wolves scattered, some attacking phantoms, others frozen in paralyzing fear, but Lykos and Aria anchored the center.
Lykos’s silver eyes blazed, aura flaring, claws digging into the earth. “Wolves! Anchor every thread of your essence! The bond protects… the fragment stabilizes… and we endure! Together!”
Aria stepped forward, silver fire coiling through her aura, weaving protective threads around every wolf. “Fear is the weapon… courage is the shield. Anchor yourselves… stabilize… endure…
