The shadows hissed across the floor like living smoke, racing to cut them off.
"Faye, stay right behind me!" Darian shouted.
The warriors sprinted at her sides, forming a protective barrier as they charged toward the safe chamber door.
But the shadows were faster.
A wave of darkness swept across the floor ahead of them, spreading like a black tide.
"It's trying to block the door!" one warrior yelled.
Darian didn't hesitate.
He shoved forward, wolf energy crackling around him, and slammed his shoulder into the steel door.
It didn't budge.
Something was pulling it shut from the other side.
Faye's wolf snarled:
"NOT A CREATURE.
NOT A PERSON.
THE DARK ITSELF."
The shadows thickened around Darian's feet, clawing upward like hands made of fog.
Faye didn't think.
She reacted.
Her hand sparked again—silver-black light bursting outward.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
The light shot forward in a brief, sharp flash.
The shadows recoiled violently, tearing away from Darian's legs long enough for him to wrench the door open a few inches.
"Inside!" he commanded.
The warriors rushed Faye closer—
but the darkness surged, faster than before, slamming into the walls and spilling like a wave across the ceiling.
The floor beneath them cracked.
A deep, low rumble vibrated through the stones.
Whatever the Voidborn was—
it was angry.
Very angry.
The shadows wrapped around the hallway walls like a tightening cage.
Faye's wolf warned sharply:
"IT TRIES TO ISOLATE US.
WE HAVE SECONDS."
Faye felt heat rising in her palms again. "I think I can keep it back—"
Darian cut her off. "No. You keep yourself safe. I'll deal with the rest."
That wasn't fair.
She wasn't helpless anymore.
She refused to be.
Her wolf growled:
"WE ARE NOT A BURDEN."
Faye stepped forward. "I can help. I—"
A tendril shot toward her from the ceiling.
Faye gasped—
The warrior beside her dove in front of the strike.
The shadow slammed into his arm, knocking him into the wall with a heavy thud. He slid to the floor, breathless but conscious.
Darian's expression snapped with protective fury.
"That's it," he growled. "No more running."
Pressure exploded through Faye's body—
not pain,
not fear,
but power demanding to be freed.
Her wolf roared inside her mind:
"ENOUGH.
LET ME RISE."
Faye dropped to one knee, clutching her chest.
Darian spun toward her. "Faye—!"
"I—I think it's happening," she gasped.
Her wolf was pushing forward—
not forcing the full shift—
but trying to align with her.
To merge.
To stand with her.
The shadows sensed it immediately.
They lunged.
Three tendrils surged toward her from three angles—floor, ceiling, wall—
Darian leapt to grab her—
The warriors raised their arms—
But Faye moved first.
A burst of silver-black light erupted around her in a sudden, widening pulse.
A protective circle of shimmering shadow-light blasted outward from her body with a deep, vibrating hum.
The tendrils hit the barrier and shrieked back—crumpling like burned paper.
The entire hallway shook.
Darian froze.
The warriors stared at her in shock.
Faye inhaled sharply. Her voice trembled as she spoke:
"I—I didn't mean to do that."
The shadows on the walls curled inward, shrinking as if in pain.
The cracks in the floor sealed themselves.
The tendrils dissolved into thin wisps.
The Voidborn wasn't gone.
"You did that," he said softly. "You protected all of us."
Faye's breath shook. "I don't even know how."
"You didn't need to. Your wolf did."
The remaining warrior quickly helped his injured partner up. "We need to get inside before it regroups."
Darian nodded. "Agreed."
He guided Faye toward the steel door.
The shadows didn't attack again—
but they pulsed softly along the edges of the hallway, like the creature was waiting.
Inside the Safe Chamber
The chamber was cold and dim, lit by battery lanterns along the wall.
Thick steel walls encased the room.
Reinforced runes glowed faintly on the ceiling.
Faye stepped inside, hugging her arms around herself.
As soon as the last warrior entered, Darian slammed the heavy door shut.
Locks slid into place with a loud, metallic echo.
The silence afterward felt heavier than the attack.
Faye exhaled shakily. "Is it… safe?"
"For now," Darian said. "The Voidborn can't break these walls."
"Physically," the injured warrior added uneasily.
Darian shot him a cold look that meant not now.
Faye's wolf whispered:
"WE HAVE WON THIS ROUND.
BUT NOT THE WAR."
Faye nodded slowly.
She knew the creature wasn't giving up.
And something told her—
The next time it came for her,
it wouldn't be through the shadows.
It would come in its true form.
The safe chamber's heavy silence pressed around them like a second set of walls.
The injured warrior sat against the far side of the room, clutching his arm. The other stood by the door, listening for anything on the other side.
Darian stayed close to Faye.
Faye wrapped her arms around herself.
She hated that she could feel it.
Like a pressure in the back of her mind—
a cold, distant hunger.
Darian turned to her, lowering his voice.
"How's your breathing? Any dizziness? Pain?"
"A little… everything," she admitted. "But mostly I'm scared."
His expression softened in a way she didn't expect.
"You handled yourself better than half the trained warriors out there."
Faye shook her head. "I didn't know what I was doing."
After a moment, the uninjured warrior spoke, his voice tinged with the same confusion everyone seemed to share.
"Why is the Voidborn attacking the pack at all? And why specifically her?"
His eyes shifted to Faye—but there was no malice.
Faye swallowed hard.
"I don't know," she whispered.
Her wolf answered inside her mind:
"WE DO.
WE REMEMBER."
Faye's breath hitched.
Remember what?
How could they remember something she didn't?
Darian crouched next to her, noticing the shift in her expression.
"What is it?" he asked quietly.
Faye hesitated.
She wasn't sure if she was ready to say this out loud.
Not when she barely understood it herself.
"It's my wolf," she finally said. "She… knows something."
Her wolf spoke, and Faye repeated the words aloud:
"It's not just attacking because of my magic.
It's attacking because of what I am."
Silence filled the room.
"What you… are?" one warrior echoed.
Darian's voice deepened a notch. "Faye, what does that mean?"
Her wolf growled:
"TELL THEM.
THEY MUST HEAR."
Faye swallowed.
When she spoke again, her voice shook.
"She says I'm not just a late bloomer. I'm not just Shadowborn."
The wolf's presence flooded her mind, strong and ancient.
"SAY IT."
Faye forced the words out.
"I'm something that shouldn't exist."
The room went still.
Darian's brow furrowed. "Faye… what are you talking about?"
"My wolf isn't… new," she whispered. "She's old. Older than this pack. Older than our bloodline. She remembers things I've never seen—like a place with no sun, only twilight."
Both warriors stiffened.
Her voice trembled.
"And she remembers the Voidborn."
The injured warrior's eyes widened. "That thing… she's encountered it before?"
"Not her," Faye said quietly.
She placed a hand over her heart.
"Us."
Her wolf murmured:
"THE CREATURE HAS TASTED OUR POWER BEFORE.
IN ANOTHER LIFE.
ANOTHER AGE."
Darian gently took hold of Faye's wrist—not pulling, not restraining, just grounding her.
"Faye," he murmured, "are you saying your wolf has… past memories?"
"Yes."
"And that the Voidborn knows her?"
Faye nodded.
The air felt colder suddenly.
The uninjured warrior muttered, "Goddess help us."
Darian's voice sharpened. "No. This changes things, but it doesn't decide them."
He turned to Faye.
"What else does your wolf remember?"
Faye shook her head. "She won't show me everything yet. Just pieces. Feelings. Warnings."
"About what?"
Faye's wolf answered before she could.
"ABOUT WHY WE WERE BORN LATE.
AND WHY WE WERE HIDING."
She repeated the words softly, fear clinging to every syllable.
Darian leaned closer.
"Hiding… from what?"
Her wolf's voice returned, colder this time:
"FROM THE VOIDBORN.
BECAUSE WE ARE THE ONLY ONE IT CANNOT CONSUME."
The lantern light flickered.
Faye's voice broke as she whispered:
"It's hunting me… because I'm the only thing that can destroy it."