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Zone Twelve was not sky, it was stone.
Liam stood at the edge of a shattered plateau, wind pulling at his coat as he stared up at the Sky Fortress drifting above. Massive, ancient, the citadel floated on stormclouds, chained to the heavens by links as thick as trees. Lightning crawled across a crackling skybridge, gold and silver light flashing over the ruins below.
Beautiful… and deadly.
Like the women behind him.
Eight wives moved through the mist with him, each dangerous, each impossible to ignore. Kaelithra crouched near the lip of the cliff, crimson braid swaying as she tracked movement overhead. Kaelyn stood beside her, silent, twin daggers dancing across slender fingers, calm on the surface, fire underneath. Rena stepped to Liam's side, armor fitted like a second skin, eyes locked on the fortress. Vexa loomed at the rear, taller, carved in muscle, ready to break whatever waited. Sarya leaned on a crumbling pillar, crossbow lazy at her hip, mouth tilted in that half smile that always meant trouble. Elyra glided closer, silver eyes faintly luminous. The twins, Kaelith and Kaelithra, traded a look only sisters understood. Ice Queen stood apart, frost coiling under bare feet, regal and cold.
Liam turned from them all and looked up.
The system pulsed.
> [System Alert]
Zone Twelve: Sky Fortress
Status: Contested Territory
Bond Target Detected: Beastkin Class
Name: Sylvara, Huntress of Storms
Type: Lightning fur, storm weave
Style: Mobility, claw, storm craft
Objective: Claim the Huntress before rival arrival
Warning: Bond requirement, submission by hunt
"Beastkin," Liam said quietly. "Sylvara."
"Finally," Vexa rumbled. "A real hunt."
"You have not faced one like her," Elyra murmured. "They do not kneel easily."
Movement, fast, above.
A figure slid down a storm chain and landed light as a spark.
Sylvara.
Lightning made flesh. Golden fur shimmered along her arms and thighs, skin lit by stormlight. Light armor, a leather halter and storm wrapped boots, toned waist bare, every line built to run, to pounce. Her face was wild perfection, sharp cheekbones, full mouth, eyes like bottled lightning. Ears flicked. A long tail curled lazily behind her.
She did not smile. She dared.
"I sensed the Overlord," she said, voice a low growl that stroked the air. "I came to hunt him."
"You found me," Liam answered.
She stepped closer, hips rolling with inhuman grace, claws flexing. "I do not follow weak men. If you want me, take me. Outrun me. Overpower me."
Kaelithra laughed under her breath. "I like her."
"Liam," Rena warned.
He nodded once.
"Catch me, Overlord," Sylvara purred… and vanished into the storm bridge.
The hunt began.
Lightning tore open the skybridge.
Liam ran. Sylvara flickered through the storm ahead, never prey, never fleeing, running like she wanted to be caught… but only by someone worthy. The fortress loomed above, chains groaning, clouds boiling. Behind him the wives followed, each at her pace. Kaelithra and Kaelith skimmed the stones like thrown knives. Vexa hammered forward, laughing into the wind. Rena moved with quiet fury, never losing the trail.
Sylvara glanced back mid leap, mouth curving. "Too slow, Overlord."
Liam pushed harder.
A bolt shattered the bridge in front of her. She ran through the sparks, fur crackling, a living conduit. Sarya's bolt whispered past Liam and thunked into stone near Sylvara's feet.
The huntress flipped, landed, tail flicking. "I said you, not them."
Liam took the last gap in one hard jump and came down on the upper tier of the fortress.
Sylvara waited on the parapet, wind tearing at her stormweave, breath rising and falling, sweat shining on skin and fur. Savage beauty. Untamed. Perfect.
"You caught me," she breathed. "Now take me."
Liam surged forward.
They collided.
Sylvara fought like weather, claws flashing, feet and tail in constant motion. Liam caught a wrist, twisted, forced a step back.
"Not bad," she whispered, rolling free, tail hooking his ankle. He dropped, rolled with it, grabbed her waist, dragged her down with him. They wrestled on ancient stone, bodies locked, breath hot, eyes brighter every heartbeat.
"You are strong," she said, voice roughening. "But not enough."
He pinned her wrists above her head. "I lead," he said. "You follow."
Her legs locked around his hips, not surrender, challenge. "Then prove it."
> [System Alert]
Bond Trial: Beastkin submission
Status: In progress
Requirement: Physical dominance, non lethal
Reward: Stormstride, speed and reflex
Time limit: 2 minutes
Liam did not break.
He held. Muscles burned, stone scraped skin, stormlight flared, and with one last surge he pressed her flat to the parapet and kept her there.
Sylvara's eyes widened… then softened. "I submit," she whispered. "Overlord."
Power slid into place.
> [System Update]
Bond secured: Sylvara, Huntress of Storms
Buff gained: Stormstride, speed and reflex
Territory: Sky Fortress, partial control
Bond count: 9 of 99
Loyalty sync: 82 percent, stable
Another weight touched stone beside them. Not lightning, shadow.
She rose from a crouch in one smooth line, silver eyes on Liam, a predator measuring another. Midnight fur along arms and thighs, sleek and dark, traced with thin silver markings like ritual paint. Armor black as rain at night, stormweave clinging to every controlled movement. Hair to the waist, braided with metal rings that caught the flash of the sky. Ears tilted forward. Tail swayed, slow, precise.
She did not smile.
"I watched you take her," she said, voice low and smoky. "I do not run. I hunt."
"Name," Liam said.
"Nysera." A small tilt of her chin. "I do not kneel."
From the stone, Sylvara smirked. "You will."
Nysera did not look at her. She did not look away from Liam. "Prove you are worth it, Overlord. Break me."
The system pulsed again.
> [System Alert]
New bond target detected: Nysera, Huntress of Shadows
Type: Beastkin, shadow fur
Style: Stealth, ambush, claw
Temperament: Dominant
Trial: Supremacy in combat, non lethal
Bonus reward: Shadowstep, short range blink with evasion
Zone bonus: Ambush defense, fortress loyalty
Window: Target will choose the time of trial, do not lose her
Nysera lingered a heartbeat longer, silver gaze unreadable, then faded back into the storming halls of the fortress, shadow into shadow.
"I will return," her voice curled from the dark. "When I do, you will not just claim me, you will conquer my clan."
Liam watched the gloom settle. Not now… soon.
He rose and offered Sylvara his hand. She took it, golden eyes fierce.
"I run with you now," she said. "I do not kneel."
"We will see," he answered, smiling.
The others reached the tier in a rush of wet boots and wind.
"Fast bond," Kaelithra said, half impressed.
"Strong," Vexa added, studying Sylvara like a new weight to test.
Rena did not speak, but her gaze settled on Liam's hands, then on Sylvara's wrists. Elyra stepped close, silver eyes cool. "She obeyed."
Sylvara bared a hint of fang. "I follow him. Not you."
"Learn your place," Ice Queen said, frost whispering underfoot.
"Make me," Sylvara purred.
"Enough," Liam said, stepping between them. "We move together."
The sky rumbled. The system answered.
> [System Notice]
Next zone detected: Crimson Sands
New bond target: Unknown
Class: Healer, feral type
Status: Hostile, watching
Sylvara's tail curled, pleased. "Another hunt," she said.
"They will not stop," Liam replied.
Rena slid to his side, sword settling against her shoulder. "Then neither do we."
They turned into the storm, ten strong… and the war went on.