The air outside the mausoleum was not fresh. It was heavy, smelling of copper and wet soil, but at least it wasn't stale grave dust.
We emerged onto a ridge overlooking a sprawling nightmare. Below us lay the Red Forest. The trees here were colossal, their bark black as coal, their leaves a vibrant, bleeding crimson. Above, the sky was a bruised purple, illuminated by a moon that looked too large and too pale to be real.
"We need to stop," I wheezed, stumbling against a moss-covered rock.
The adrenaline from the Resonance had evaporated, leaving behind a bone-deep exhaustion. My Mana reserves weren't just empty; they were in debt.
Valeria scanned the perimeter instantly. "This ridge is exposed, but the tree line offers cover. We can rest there for a few hours."
She helped me down the slope, her grip firm but surprisingly gentle. Seraphina floated ahead, her violet light dimmed to a faint glimmer to avoid attracting attention.
We found a hollow beneath the roots of a massive tree. It was dry and hidden from view. I collapsed onto the dirt, my back against the wood.
Valeria took up a sentry position at the entrance of the hollow, facing the forest. Seraphina drifted over to me, sitting cross-legged in the air.
"You're staring at it again," Seraphina whispered, nodding toward my hand.
I was clutching the Memory Shard. The blue crystal pulsed with a rhythmic light, warm against my palm.
"I need to know," I said, my voice raspy. "That Golem... it had his face. It knew my name. If I don't look, I'll never trust my own mind."
Valeria turned her head slightly. "The past is a ghost, Master. It cannot hurt you unless you let it."
"It's already hurting me," I muttered.
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and squeezed the crystal.
The sensation was like falling backward into ice water.
When I opened my eyes, the Red Forest was gone. The smell of copper and rot was replaced by the sterile, antiseptic scent of ozone and recycled air.
I was standing in a corridor. But not of stone. It was white metal and glass. Hexagonal LED lights lined the ceiling. A digital alarm was blaring—a rhythmic, synthesized siren
.
[WARNING. CONTAINMENT BREACH IN SECTOR 4. LOCKDOWN IMMINENT.]
I looked down at my hands. I wasn't wearing the ragged linen shirt of the Grave Valley. I was wearing a white lab coat over a dark tactical uniform. An ID badge clipped to my chest read: Cmdr. Kaelen Vance – Xeno-Biology Division.
I was running. My breath fogged the air. I reached a heavy blast door and slammed my hand onto the biometric scanner.
The door hissed open, revealing a control room. Banks of monitors lined the walls, flashing red.
And there he was.
Marcus. The man from the Golem. But here, he wasn't a monster. He was older, wearing a similar lab coat, his face smeared with grease and blood. He was standing on the other side of a thick reinforced glass wall—inside the containment chamber.
Behind him, something dark was writhing in the shadows. Something that defied physics
.
"Kael!" Marcus screamed, slamming his fists against the glass. "The seals failed! It's awake! It's adapting!"
I rushed to the console on my side of the glass. My fingers flew across the holographic keyboard. "I can override the venting system, Marcus. Just hold on! I can get you out!"
I saw my own reflection in the glass. I looked colder, sharper. My eyes were focused, calculating variables at a speed that frightened me.
"Negative," Marcus shouted. "If you open the vents, the spores will get into the ventilation. The whole station will be infected. You know the protocol!"
I froze. My hands hovered over the console.
Protocol Omega. Total sector purge.
"Kaelen!" Marcus's voice cracked. He looked behind him. The shadows were growing, forming tendrils that lashed out at the glass. "You have to initiate the thermal cleanse. Now!"
"I can't," I heard my past self say. But my voice wasn't emotional. It was frustrated. Frustrated that the math didn't work out in Marcus's favor.
"Do it!" Marcus yelled. Tears were streaming down his face, but his eyes were resolute. "Don't let my death be for nothing. Be the Commander we need! SAVE THE OTHERS!"
The shadow grabbed Marcus's leg. He screamed.
On the console, a single button pulsed under a plastic guard. INITIATE PURGE.
I looked at Marcus. I looked at the station schematics showing three thousand people living in the upper sectors.
1 life vs 3,000 lives.
It wasn't even a choice. It was just an equation.
My face hardened. The hesitation vanished.
"I'm sorry, Marcus," I said. My voice was steady. Terrifyingly steady.
I flipped the plastic guard. I pressed the button.
Inside the chamber, nozzles opened. White-hot plasma flooded the room. Marcus's scream was cut short as the fire consumed everything—the shadows, the lab, and my mentor.
I stood there, watching the fire burn, my finger still on the button. I didn't cry. I simply turned to the logbook and typed:
[Sector 4 Neutralized. Casualties: 1. Threat: Contained.]
"GAAAAH!"
I woke up gasping, my body convulsing as if I were the one burning. I scrambled backward, digging my heels into the dirt, until my back hit the rough bark of the tree.
"Master!"
Valeria was there instantly, dropping to her knees. She grabbed my shoulders, shaking me gently. "Breathe. You are here. You are safe."
I stared at her, my pupils dilated. I didn't see the beautiful Death Knight. I saw the fire. I saw the cold calculation in my own eyes.
The Golem had lied. Marcus hadn't begged for his life. He had begged me to kill him.
But the Golem was right about one thing: I was a killer. I hadn't hesitated because I loved him; I hesitated because I was looking for a better variable. When I couldn't find one, I incinerated him.
"I killed him," I whispered, my voice trembling. "I burned him alive to save the station."
Seraphina floated down, her expression unusually soft. She didn't make a joke. She didn't tease. She reached out and placed a cool hand on my forehead.
"You made a choice," Seraphina said quietly. "A choice of weight."
"I felt nothing," I confessed, looking at my hands—the hands that had pressed the button. "In the memory... I didn't feel sad. I just felt... efficient."
Valeria released my shoulders but stayed close. She looked deep into my eyes, her face stern.
"Efficiency is not a sin, Master," she said firmly. "Kings and Generals do not have the luxury of tears. You saved the many by spending the one. That is the burden of command."
She took my.and and placed it on her armored chest, right over her silent heart.
"You feared you were a monster," Valeria continued. "But monsters kill for pleasure. You killed for duty. That is why the Seal chose you. That is why we follow you."
"A heavy soul anchors the world," Seraphina added, a sad smile playing on her lips. "If you were soft, Kael, you would have died in that glass room. And you would have died in this valley ten times over."
I looked at them. The Knight who served Death, and the Wraith who wove Nightmares. They didn't judge me. They understood. In their twisted, violent existence, my ruthlessness wasn't a flaw; it was a qualification.
I squeezed the Memory Shard one last time. It turned to dust in my hand, the blue light fading away.
"I am not that Commander anymore," I said, my voice steadying. "But I won't forget the equation."
I looked out into the Red Forest. The guilt was still there, a cold stone in my gut, but the panic was gone.
"Get some rest," I told them, closing my eyes properly this time. "Tomorrow, we hunt."
The forest was silent for a moment. Then, from the deep north, a sound tore through the night.
Awooooooo!
It was a wolf howl. But it wasn't a normal wolf. It sounded like a scream of pure, unadulterated rage mixed with loneliness.
Valeria's head snapped up.
"A Beastkin," she noted. "And it sounds... feral."
Seraphina smirked, fading back into the shadows. "Or perhaps just in need of a good leash."
[System Alert: New Arc Initiated - "The Red Forest"] [Target Detected: Lyra (The Cursed Wolf).]