KAEL'S POV
The taste of iron filled my mouth, thick and bitter, every breath a ragged pull that scraped against my ribs. My sword—my last shield against the abyss—was nothing more than a jagged shard buried in the ash beside me. The shadows circled like wolves, their eyes glowing pale in the storm-dark sky.
I swung my fist at the closest one. Bone cracked beneath my knuckles, black ichor spraying across my arm. It reeled back, shrieking, but another lunged immediately, claws raking across my side.
I staggered, blood soaking through my shirt, heat draining from my limbs. My knees hit the ground, the earth slick beneath me.
Not like this.
Not without her.
"Ayla!" The word tore from me, hoarse, shredded. I shouted again, throat raw, the name breaking on my tongue. "AYLA!"
The shadows laughed. Not with voices, but with the scrape of claws against stone, the hiss of their numbers multiplying. They wanted me broken, begging, watching the last thread of hope snap.
