by Gaja J. Kos
Yet the tugging continued. It made her power crawl under her skin, sending shivers down her spine. She remembered Veles's words and cursed him at the same time for not teaching her how she could trust her power. With the bond of The Dark Ones, it all came so natural, maybe because all the werewolves felt it. They were already close as a pack, and the power that flowed through that link only bound them closer together. But the strength that was alerting her to something now was her own. And even though she had experienced what it felt to be in unison with it before, she still didn't know how to reach that particular state voluntarily.
Rose growled again, but the weres understood it was her frustration talking, not the presence of danger. They kept their distance, allowing her to prowl the empty space ahead of them; as she walked, she tried to clear her mind of every other sensation and thought but for the persistent tugging. When the abundant noises inside her mind cleared, she slowly began to feel every current of her power, feel its depth, its liveliness. It filled her completely, penetrated her skin and began to flow outwards, creating a golden aura around her.
She felt the werewolves' surprise through the bond, and she knew she had called up more power than she had initially wanted to. But Veles's words echoed in her mind, and instead of bottling it up so it would bubble just under the surface, she allowed it to pulse and wave around her, allowed it to wrap her in that ethereal cocoon of the purest gold that ended in barely visible flames of green which flowed around her body in waves of spiking motion.
The power wasn't merely a part of her; it was her, and as such, she didn't need it to guide her to know where she was supposed to go. She walked to the farthest wall of the room, the weres falling into step behind her. The gold light shone brighter, and she could feel the energy pulsing inside her body when she came to stand in front of what appeared to be a bare, solid wall.
She remained perfectly still with her eyes closed, the sense of sight unnecessary. There was no need for her to move, no need to perform any motion in order to thrust her power into the space in front of her. She felt the energy rush out of her body like a narrow wave directed at that one specific point. The werewolves behind her stirred, their low growls vibrating through the air.
When she opened her eyes, the golden aura had already retreated inside her body where she could still feel it flowing, pulsing with that steady rhythm that let her know it was alive.
And she found herself staring at a man-sized hole in the wall, leading to nothing but darkness.
Chapter 37
The darkness poured over Rose's skin like cool liquid, washing away any lingering traces of the world she had left behind. She felt the other weres' confusion when they followed, stepping into the other land as if they had submerged themselves under water. Only they could breathe once the curtain had pulled itself away, and they found themselves standing on ground as solid as the one they had known on the other side.
They could breathe.
Black werewolves had impeccable night vision, but it wasn't their particular set of abilities that allowed the pack to see the space stretching out in front of them. There was darkness, but it was nothing like the one they were used to, the one that slipped over the horizon once the sun set. The otherworldliness of it tickled their senses until they opened them farther, seeing past the first impressions and managing to grasp that the somber hue now stretching across the land served as daylight in Mračaj. If it hadn't been for the stories, for Veles's testimony of the darkness in which the creatures of this land dwelled, the werewolves wouldn't have noticed the perpetual night. It was only that particular bit of knowledge that made them more aware of their surroundings, enabling them to notice, to perceive things differently. However, not wanting to waste too much energy in stretching their vision to see clearly through the natural somber light, they allowed the illusion to return. Mračaj was once again as bright as midday in their world.
The pack carefully threaded farther into the otherworldly land, with Rose taking position in the front, her claws outstretched, lethal, and prepared to rip into anything that would come at them. She carefully surveyed her surroundings for any potential threats, but at the same time took in the view Mračaj offered. It must have been massive. Once.
Her mind had fought hard to wrap itself around the reality of a ripped-up world, so she focused on the parts she understood. They stalked through the predominantly rocky terrain of the almost barren land; there were some remains of a forest sprouting between the jagged peaks, but even those consisted mostly of dried-up or broken trees.
Werewolves lived here, Rose thought, remembering how some of their kind used to belong to the darkness, used to be the ones who would cross into the realm of the living and retrieve those who had passed away for their master to consume, for Psoglav to bring eternal peace to their flesh. Mračaj wasn't a prison for them, it was home. With that though still vibrant in her mind, she finally allowed herself to take it all in.
The land began to come together like an incomplete puzzle, but one where there were just enough pieces for you to realize which image they would construct if you had the whole set at your disposal. Almost all that had once been considered alive, considered living by mortal terms, had perished without its master's energy to animate it; the dried trunks, the barely recognizable undergrowth, it all gave way to the coldness of the infertile gray land and stone. But what was hardest to perceive were the areas that hadn't survived Psoglav's death. Rose's first thought was of a cut-up canvas, but that comparison worked only if you wanted to oversimplify things. And if there had been any background on which the canvas lay.
She stared at those cuts drawn across reality itself; the missing areas weren't filled with bright light or complete darkness. They were merely empty, devoid of any substance, even color. She frowned as her mind tried to comprehend how it could see pure emptiness. A headache began to throb in her temples, forcing her to turn her gaze away and fight the compulsion to stare into the void. She pushed her thoughts to wrap around something else, anything else. Sanity slipped back into her mind as she began to go over the still-existing land, searching with more precision than was necessary for any sign of enemy life.
The other werewolves growled at the nothingness, but none dared to stare at it. Rose's experience had flown through the bond, and it was enough for them to not risk even a glance. They kept their muzzles low as they growled in the general direction of the lost pieces of the world of darkness, and when she finally moved forward, so did they, falling back into that comforting silence of a pack.
They wove farther through the sharp rocks, using them for cover. There weren't any good higher vantage points for their enemy to spot them from, and it didn't take much effort to remain hidden from anyone who would scout the surroundings from the ground level. Even Rose didn't have to lower herself in a crouching position since most of the rocks were just above her height.
Evelin released a hushed growl when she picked up a trail coming from a cave a short distance ahead on their right; they didn't have any difficulty spotting the entrance since the position of the rocks that were scattered between them and the cave offered a fairly clean line of sight.
The werewolves spread out, not wanting to risk being huddled together and losing the different visual angles, but they made sure to nonetheless remain close enough to help each other in case of an attack. Rose stalked ahead while the rest followed, each carefully prowling down their respective paths.
None of them were particularly at ease when a boulder came between them, cutting off their line of vision from one another, an old habit. Yet they understood that the bond acted as their sight when their eyes couldn't, and the acceptance of these new dynamics made them push forward, regardless of the stone barriers and the turns that forced them to stalk towards the cave positioned farther apart than they would normally risk being.
As they reached the entrance, Zarja was the first one to drop her guard. The entrance was a fairly wide opening in the sharp stone surface of
something that might have been a hill when Psoglav had still been alive. Even without the bond, Rose understood Zarja’s motives to look in the opposite direction.
The tracks were fainter just inside the cave and would continue to diminish if they followed them farther inside.
“They came into Mračaj from this cave.” Rose voiced what they were all thinking. “But at least we have a second way out now.”
Judging by the smells, the cavern must have been another gate between the realms, not the vetalas' lair. If someone were to block the mountain exit, they could rush to the cave, and Rose would stretch her energy outwards to find that weak spot in the barrier between Mračaj and their world, catapulting them back into their realm.
Even standing by the entrance, she could feel the gate's presence tugging at her power. She flashed a canine, lethal smile to no one in particular. As long as they could leave Mračaj, Veles would be able to pick them up on the other side. She made a mental note to herself to keep her powers open, searching in the background for more possible gateways as they stalked farther into the land of darkness.
Zarja remained by Rose's side as they continued to walk at a careful pace, keeping close to the rocks, which effectively hid them from enemy eyes, but had become sparser and were now beginning to leave them with short distances to cross without cover. Evelin was taking point at those places, her somewhat keener sense of smell on alert for any whiff of enemy scent lurking nearby. But there were no fresh trails, only the one they had followed from the cave.
They came to a stop before a wide, circular clearing; it appeared to be more preserved than the parts of Mračaj they had seen so far, although the specks of undergrowth and the few isolated trees were nothing like the hunting grounds and natural habitats the werewolves were used to. Nonetheless, considering how barren the rest of the land was, the clearing struck them as nothing less than an oasis. And it smelled like someone's home.
There was no breeze, the air perfectly still, so when they stalked up to the edge of the rocks, the scents hit them like a wall. The werewolves crouched as low to the ground as they could, keeping their growling hushed. There were still no signs of the werewolf vetalas or the wolf-man in the vicinity, but the way the air carried their scent, almost thick enough for them to taste it, they knew the small piece of land in front of them was a well-used area of Mračaj.
It must have served as a meeting point; there were too many smells rooted deeply in the atoms of air for it to serve merely as some casual common ground. City parks or recreational areas simply didn't carry such density within their greenery, and the individual scents never became as entwined with the air, not if the being leaving it behind didn't linger in the area or visit it periodically. There must have been at least three dozen bodies present in the clearing at the same time and in close proximity for them to fill it so thoroughly with the presence of their scent.
The pack split into two groups; it would have been useless for them to walk into the clearing unless they wanted to call the enemy to them and draw them into an open fight. Being outnumbered, at least judging by the various lingering odors, wasn't an option. Rose and the twins turned right to circle around the clearing, searching for any trails leading away from the open field, while Mark, Evelin, Zarja, and Tim took the left side, weaving through the rocks to do the same.
The weres weren’t fond of separating while being so deep within enemy territory—especially if they took into consideration that the numbers weren't even remotely in their favor—but Rose knew she could take down enough corpse-riding demons even if her powers were limited to the werewolf set of skills. With the ethereal power surging through flesh, her percentage only rose. And with Jens and Jürgen at her back to clear away the strays, she was fairly certain her group was as safe as they could get.
It was that line of reasoning that led her to pairing up Evelin and Zarja; she had chosen them to lead the head-on attack in the Alps with her, and as much as she respected Tim's and Mark's bare strength, the two female werewolves were without a doubt the next step in the evolution of their species. Faster reflexes, further augmentation of their senses... And an increase in ruthlessness. The pair might not exhibit the kind of power that seemed to be embedded in Rose's core, but they carried a strength of their own, even if they hadn't figured out the full extent of it yet. With that in mind, Rose knew the other group would do well, and the bond shared her reassurance with the rest of the pack.
The distance between them slowly grew as they kept to the rocks on the edge of the clearing, their senses opened as wide as possible for them to catch even the faintest traces of their enemies. Rose rolled out her power, keeping it barely under the surface; it wouldn't exactly put them in an advantageous spot if she began to glow with that vibrant gold hue while they were trying to creep across Mračaj undetected. So she held tightly to that switch which would allow her power to flow out of her, all the while pushing it to the limit of that energy’s possibilities, while still being contained within her body.
A wave pulsed through the bond, bringing that unmistakable reek of the toxin with it. Evelin had caught it first, but the three other werewolves weren't far behind. Once the blend of the toxin filled their senses, it rushed almost overwhelmingly through the bond. The twins fought the impulse to growl, stepping closer to Rose as if the triangle the three bodies formed could act as a shield from the intrusive stench. But it couldn't, not with the other group submerged so deeply within the scent of werewolf vetalas. The henchmen of darkness were near. They must have passed through the spot the weres had found such a short time ago that it was almost too close for comfort.
Rose, Jens, and Jürgen began to circle back around. If the WVs were as close as the toxin's reek led them to believe, the fight would undoubtedly begin on the other side where the four werewolves held their position with Evelin sniffing the ground and air for any further indication of the enemy's location. The twins backtracked with Rose on their heels. They had covered almost half the ground to the spot where the pack had separated when Rose came to an abrupt halt, causing the two werewolves in the front to stop in mid-motion, their feet digging into the ground.
They looked at her with wide eyes. And they understood. Something was tugging at her power. It came alive within her, more so than she had ever felt before. The wild blaze growing inside her body was a reaction to something, and that something wasn't as simple or as static as a mere gateway. It was the energy of another being.
Chapter 38
The bond whizzed as if Zarja growled “We've got it,” and the twins let go of any doubt, threading back to Rose, who had remained standing in the cover of two closely set boulders. She believed Zarja's conviction, but it didn't make the decision to turn back and follow the power trace they had found any easier; the pack mentality was rooted deeply inside them, and pack meant facing everything together. However, the determination in the twins' gaze brought out that cold and calculated killer that dwelled within all Black werewolves. It vibrated through the bond, reaching each member of the pack, and every weres' response echoed the lethalness.
The group of four would slaughter each and every one of the WVs that dared to stand in their way.
The calmness that came when the killing instinct flared inside Rose made it easier for her to read the silent language of her personal power. She already knew the general direction of the being, but in the background, her energy had begun to pinpoint the exact location. Jens and Jürgen silently followed her lead, flanking her on each side while their gazes swept across the surroundings, their senses open for any non-visual indications.
It gave Rose the room she needed to focus almost solely on her power without having to worry about possible threats lurking in the vicinity. She kept repeating Veles's advice in her head over and over, until it became something close to a mantra. As her mind finally stopped focusing on trusting the energy, but rather accepted it with the continuous repetition of the god's words that cleared her head of the impending danger of ove
rthinking, every inch of her body became alive with it. Still keeping the energy just under the surface of her skin, she prowled forward, her legs taking her in the direction the power dictated, the direction she dictated.
The three werewolves took a right turn, moving away from the clearing. They maneuvered between the boulders, coming almost to a running pace. Rose's directions never faltered, and they wove through the obstacles without any further thought.
Jens and Jürgen began growling under their breaths when a large cavern revealed itself in their direct line of sight, its entrance gaping with that thick darkness that didn't leave room for any doubt about the importance it held for the creatures of Mračaj. They had almost crossed the distance when Rose took a sharp turn, the power leading her back to the clearing.
“Shit,” she muttered, quickening her pace. The twins would have undoubtedly replicated her words if they weren't in wolf form.
The bond vibrated when the four other members of the pack began to slash at the demonically animated corpses on the other side of the clearing. The battle must have drawn the creature Rose was tracking directly to it. She could taste it in the way the being's presence rolled off her power that they hadn't missed him by much. And they would have caught up with him in the cavern if it weren't for the pulsing waves of the fight that had erupted between the WVs and the werewolves, calling the being toward it.
They broke into a full-blown sprint, knowing they had to reach the creature of power before it joined the battle. Evelin, Zarja, Mark, and Tim could handle the demonic werewolves. The bond was almost dripping with that particular blend of strength that spoke of nothing but the inevitability of success, but as lethal as they were, they couldn't fight off a creature whose energy spoke to Rose's on such a high level.