The moment Elion stepped into the clearing, thirteen pairs of glowing eyes locked onto him with predatory focus. The dire wolves shifted, muscles tensing beneath storm-gray fur, preparing to tear him apart.
But they didn't attack. Not yet.
The pack leader rose to his feet—and it was definitely a "he," something in the bearing and the scarred muzzle spoke of masculine authority—and padded forward. Up close, the dire wolf was even more massive than Elion had estimated. Its shoulder came up to his chest, and its teeth were the size of daggers.
When it spoke, the voice was like gravel grinding together, harsh and unnatural from a throat not designed for human speech.
"Foolish... man-cub. Walk into... death."
Elion kept his hand away from his sword, trying to project calm he didn't feel. "I'm not here to fight. Let the girl go, and we'll leave in peace."
The wolf's laugh was a terrible sound, something between a bark and a growl. "Peace? No... peace. Your kind... burn forest. Kill... packmates. Now... we kill back."
Behind the pack leader, the other wolves began to circle, cutting off any route of escape. Elion could see Sarah now—the girl was conscious but frozen with terror, her eyes wide and unseeing. At least she was alive.
"Humans wronged you," Elion acknowledged, buying time while Lyssa and the others got into position. "But this girl never burned your forest. She's innocent."
"No... innocents. You bring... fire and iron. You bring... death." The pack leader's lips curled back, revealing rows of teeth. "Now you... learn fear."
"I already know fear," Elion said quietly. "I'm looking at it right now. But I also know something else—I know that you're not mindless beasts. You're intelligent. We can make a deal."
This seemed to surprise the wolf. Its ears perked forward, head tilting in curiosity. "Deal?"
"A trade. One life for another." Elion's heart hammered against his ribs. "You want revenge against humans? I'll give you a target—there's a bandit camp in the northern woods, maybe twenty men. Murderers and thieves, the kind of humans you should be hunting. I'll tell you where they are. In exchange, you let the girl and the village go."
It was a desperate gambit, built on half-truths and hope. There were bandits in the northern woods—there were bandits everywhere these days—but Elion had no idea where their camp was or how many there were.
The pack leader considered, its glowing eyes boring into Elion's soul. For a long moment, the only sound was the rustle of leaves and Sarah's quiet whimpering.
"You... lie." The wolf's voice dropped to a threatening growl. "No camp. No bandits. You... buy time."
Elion's blood ran cold. The creature was right—and worse, it knew he was stalling.
"We... take girl. Take you. Take... all." The pack leader's haunches bunched, preparing to spring.
"Now!" Elion screamed.
Everything happened at once.
Lyssa's staff blazed with emerald light as thick roots erupted from the ground around Sarah, forming a protective cage that yanked the girl backward, away from the wolves. Kael and Garrick burst from the tree line, weapons drawn, moving to cover the druid's extraction.
And Elion reached through his mental link and gave the command he'd been holding ready: Arise! Kill them all!
The shadows exploded from the forest like a black tide.
Thirteen shadow soldiers materialized from the darkness—twelve scouts moving with liquid grace and the massive orc warrior at their head. They fell upon the dire wolves with silent, terrible efficiency.
The pack leader barely had time to register the threat before the shadow orc crashed into him like a battering ram. The two massive creatures went down in a tangle of shadow and fur, claws and fists trading blows that would have killed a normal human instantly.
Around them, the other wolves tried to respond, but they were facing an enemy they couldn't comprehend. Shadow scouts darted in and out, their black blades opening wounds that steamed in the cool air. When a wolf's jaws closed on a shadow's arm, the limb simply reformed from darkness moments later.
Elion drew his sword and moved toward Sarah. A wolf intercepted him, its jaws snapping inches from his throat. He rolled aside, coming up in a crouch, and thrust his blade into the creature's exposed belly. The wolf yelped and collapsed, blood pooling beneath it.
╔════════════════════════════════╗ ║ EXTRACTION AVAILABLE ║ ╚════════════════════════════════╝ Target: Dire Wolf (Deceased) Extraction Success Rate: 80%
Not now. He dismissed the notification and kept moving. Sarah was still trapped in Lyssa's root cage, the druid unable to free her while maintaining her concentration on protecting the girl from the chaos.
"Get her out of here!" Elion shouted.
Garrick reached Sarah first, his sword hacking through the protective roots while Kael covered his back. A wolf lunged at them, only to be intercepted by two shadow scouts that literally tore it apart between them.
The battle was brutal and swift. The dire wolves were powerful, intelligent hunters—but they'd never faced an enemy that couldn't die. Every time a shadow fell, it rose again moments later, reforming from the darkness that seemed to pool in the clearing. The wolves, meanwhile, bled and weakened with each wound.
The pack leader fought with desperate fury, his massive jaws closing on the shadow orc's throat. But the orc simply grabbed the wolf's head and squeezed, his shadow-enhanced strength crushing bone. The pack leader's yelp of pain turned into a gurgle as the orc's fist punched through his skull.
The remaining wolves broke then, their pack leader dead, their numbers decimated. They fled into the forest with high-pitched whines of terror, abandoning their fallen.
Silence fell over the clearing, broken only by Sarah's sobbing and the heavy breathing of the human fighters.
Elion looked around at the carnage. Eight dead wolves lay scattered across the clearing, their blood staining the earth. His shadow soldiers stood motionless, waiting for orders, their forms already beginning to knit back together where they'd taken damage.
"Is everyone alright?" Elion called out.
"The girl's fine," Garrick reported. He'd wrapped Sarah in his cloak and was holding her like she was made of glass. "Scared out of her wits, but no serious injuries."
"I'm out of mana," Lyssa said, leaning heavily on her staff. "That root cage took everything I had."
Kael was wiping wolf blood from his sword, his expression thoughtful. "Well, that was educational. Your shadows are even more terrifying in action than I thought."
Elion nodded, already focusing on the system notifications flooding his vision:
╔════════════════════════════════╗ ║ MULTIPLE EXTRACTIONS ║ ║ AVAILABLE ║ ╚════════════════════════════════╝ Targets: 8 Dire Wolf corpses Recommended: Extract pack leader first (highest quality shadow) Warning: Current Mana 25/120. Each extraction costs 50 mana. Insufficient mana for all targets. Estimated recovery time: 6 hours for full capacity.
Elion looked at the massive corpse of the pack leader. A dire wolf of that size and intelligence would make an incredible shadow soldier—fast, strong, intelligent enough to command other shadows. But he only had enough mana for one more extraction, maybe two if he pushed himself to dangerous levels again.
The pack leader it was, then.
"Everyone stand back," he ordered.
His companions moved away without argument—they'd seen this before now, and none of them wanted to be close when the darkness came.
Elion approached the fallen pack leader and placed his hand on the creature's cooling fur. "Arise," he whispered. "Serve me in death as you ruled in life."
The extraction hit him like a wave of ice water. Memories flooded his mind—running through moonlit forests, the joy of the hunt, the bonds of pack and family. Pain, too—watching humans burn the deep woods, seeing packmates fall to arrows and fire. Rage and grief and desperate hunger for revenge.
Then the memories fragmented and reformed as shadow, and the great wolf rose again.
It was magnificent. Where the orc warrior was brutal power, the shadow wolf was lethal grace. Its form was larger than it had been in life, easily the size of a draft horse, crafted from living darkness that moved like silk. Eyes of crimson fire burned in its skull, and when it opened its jaws, shadows leaked out like smoke.
"Master," the wolf spoke, its voice clearer and more articulate than it had been in life. "I am yours."
╔════════════════════════════════╗ ║ EXTRACTION SUCCESSFUL ║ ╚════════════════════════════════╝ Shadow Soldier Gained: Shadow Dire Wolf Rank: Knight (Elite) Special Abilities: Pack Tactics, Enhanced Speed, Fear Aura Current Mana Cost: 30/120 Shadow Army Count: 14/50 Remaining Mana: -5/120 WARNING: Mana Overdraft Detected Status: Critical Depletion Forced Rest Period: 8 hours
Elion's vision swam as exhaustion crashed over him like a physical blow. His legs gave out, and he would have collapsed if Kael hadn't caught him.
"Idiot," the mercenary muttered, but there was concern in his voice. "You pushed too hard again."
"Had to," Elion managed. "The wolf... too valuable..."
"The wolf can wait for an explanation after you've rested," Mira's voice cut through the haze. When had she arrived? Elion couldn't remember. "Kael, help me get him back to the village. Lyssa, can you walk?"
"Barely," the druid admitted.
The journey back to Millford was a blur. Elion was vaguely aware of being carried, of Sarah's mother's grateful sobbing, of Elder Marcus thanking them over and over. The shadow soldiers followed at a distance, now including the massive dire wolf that prowled through the darkening forest like a nightmare given form.
They reached the village as the last light faded from the sky. Someone had prepared the temple for them—simple cots and blankets, water and food. Elion barely registered any of it before sleep claimed him.
His last conscious thought was of his shadow army, standing guard around the village, thirteen soldiers and one massive wolf, protecting his people while he slept.
It should have been comforting. Instead, it felt like a weight settling onto his chest, pressing down until he couldn't breathe.