Chapter 130 CHAPTER 130
The Wolf Realm never felt quiet, but that day the silence was wrong.
It pressed down on the cave like a held breath, thick and waiting, broken only by the sound of Kael’s body slamming against stone as another seizure tore through him. His limbs jerked violently, claws scraping rock, breath coming out in broken, strangled sounds. The healer knelt beside him, hands glowing faintly with herbs and old magic, but every time he tried to touch Kael, the reaction worsened. Energy lashed out like a living thing, throwing the healer backward as if the cave itself rejected his help.
Liam and Kane appeared at the entrance of the cave just in time to hear him say,
“I can’t,” the healer gasped, scrambling to his feet again. “I can’t stabilize him. Every attempt makes it worse.”
“He’s dying.”
The sentence hit like a blade.
Kane didn’t think. He didn’t ask. He didn’t wait.
With a sharp cry, he bolted forward and slammed his paw against Kael’s chest.
The impact was instant and brutal.
A violent surge of energy exploded outward, invisible but devastating. Kane was ripped off his feet and hurled backward like a discarded weapon. His body smashed through the mouth of the cave and flew several meters before hitting the ground outside with a sickening thud.
“Kane!”
Liam was already running.
He barely remembered crossing the distance. One moment he was inside the cave, the next he was on his knees in the dirt, cradling his wolf’s head. Foam gathered at Kane’s mouth. His body convulsed once, then went terrifyingly still.
“Kane,” Liam whispered, then louder. “Kane - look at me.”
Nothing.
Panic clawed up his throat. Liam pressed his hands against Kane’s chest, searching for breath, for warmth, for anything that told him his wolf was still there.
“Do something!” Liam shouted at the healer. “Don’t just stand there!”
The healer rushed over, eyes wide with fear, but stopped short when Kane’s body jerked again, a faint whine slipping from his throat before he fell unconscious.
“I warned you,” the healer said, voice shaking. “I told him not to touch him until we understood what was happening.”
Liam barely heard him.
He knelt there, rocking slightly, forehead pressed against Kane’s fur. “We promised,” he whispered. “We promised we’d do everything together. Why would you do that without me?”
His voice broke. Tears spilled freely now, hot and useless, soaking into Kane’s coat.
Then they heard footsteps.
“Hey… what happened?”
The voice came from behind them.
Liam spun around, fury already rising, ready to tear into whoever dared interrupt this moment.
And froze.
Kael stood at the mouth of the cave.
Not seizing. Not shaking. Standing.
He took a few uncertain steps forward on all fours, then shifted upright, rubbing the side of his head with a paw like someone waking from a long, confusing dream.
“I don’t remember,” Kael said slowly. “I don’t remember what happened. Why are you both looking at me like that?”
Liam saw red.
He surged to his feet and crossed the distance in seconds, fist raised before he even realized what he was doing. At the last second, he stopped himself, hand shaking violently in the air between them.
“What do you mean, you don’t remember?” Liam snarled. “This is your fault. All of this is your fault.”
Kael blinked, genuinely startled. “My fault? Did I… did I hit him? Did we have a fight?”
“Stop,” Liam snapped. “Just stop.”
“Enough,” the healer barked sharply. “Now is not the time. He’s still alive. Barely. Help me carry him inside.”
Liam hesitated only a second before nodding. Together, they lifted Kane and brought him back into the cave. His body felt too light, too limp. The healer laid him down carefully and began working again, pressing herbs to his chest, murmuring old words meant to cool what burned too hot inside him.
Liam paced.
Back and forth. Back and forth.
Every breath felt wrong. Every second stretched too long.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” the healer said quietly after a moment. “I told you to find answers first before trying anything. This was foolish of….”
“I know,” Liam snapped. “I know. But I found answers. They just didn’t tell me this would be the cost.”
The healer paused and looked up sharply. “You did? What did you find out?”
Liam stopped pacing. His hands curled into fists at his sides. “Apparently,” he said flatly, “I’m supposed to be the balance keeper. Or the warden. Or whatever name they want to give it. This happened because I absorb bad energy and restore balance or something. I’m still new to everything and trying to wrap my head around it.”
The healer stared at him.
Then slowly, reverently, he dropped to one knee.
“The Warden of the Realms,” he whispered in awe.
Liam let out a harsh, bitter laugh. “How am I supposed to be worshipped when my wolf is dying in front of me?”
The healer rose again, expression shifting from reverence to concern. “You carry immense power. But power without understanding causes imbalance. Side effects. This…” he gestured to Kane “…is the consequence of untrained magic.”
“Celestine said something like that,” Liam muttered.
“She’s right,” the healer agreed. “If you had been trained, this wouldn’t have happened this way.”
Liam turned on him sharply. “That doesn’t help me now. Tell me how to fix it.”
The healer hesitated. “I don’t know much about wardens. Only old stories. But… we could try something.”
“I’ll try anything.”
“It could hurt you both.”
Liam didn’t hesitate. “If there’s even a chance of bringing him back, do it.”
The healer nodded slowly. “Your wolf likely collapsed because he carried too much of Kael’s imbalance. You may need to share it. Channel your energy back to him. Balance what he took.”
“And how do I do that?”
“Touch him,” the healer said. “But this time, don’t just touch. Focus. Use what you are.”
Liam knelt beside Kane again. He placed his hand over his wolf’s chest and closed his eyes.
He breathed.
He focused.
He reached inward, searching for something he had never named, never understood. The weight. The pressure. The sense that something vast had always lived beneath his skin.
Nothing happened.
Frustration surged. Fear followed close behind.
“Again,” the healer urged.
Liam tried again. Harder.
The air shifted.
The cave trembled.
Stone groaned overhead. Dust rained down from the ceiling as the walls began to shake violently, the ground rolling beneath them like a living thing awakening from sleep.
Liam gasped, power surging out of him uncontrolled, wild and desperate.
“Kane,” he whispered. “Please.”
The shaking intensified.
But Kane did not move.
“Stop!” the healer shouted, panic flooding his voice. “Stop now!”
Liam pulled his hands back just as the cave roared around them, the magic collapsing inward - unfinished, unanswered.
And Kane remained still.