Chapter 35 The First Infection
The Great Hall transformed from a courtroom to a slaughterhouse in the space of a heartbeat. The screech of the Void-Wolf ripped through the air, a sound so unnatural it felt like cold iron scraping against my ribs.
"Elders, get behind the dais! Now!" Kael shouted, his voice cutting through the rising panic. He didn't have a sword, but his hands were already glowing with a sharp, tactical blue light, readying a kinetic shield.
"Guards! Form a perimeter!" Elder Vane shrieked, his earlier arrogance replaced by the high-pitched terror of a man about to be eaten.
The guards didn't move. They were too busy dying. The first Void-Wolf slammed into the frontline, its obsidian teeth shearing through silver-mesh armor as if it were parchment.
"Rune, the flank!" I yelled, reaching for my power. "Caspian is still—"
"I see him, Lyra!" Rune roared. He was a whirlwind of motion, his heavy ceremonial blade cleaving through the air. He intercepted a lunging monster mid-air, the impact sounding like a car crash. "Kael! Protect the girl!"
"I don't need protection, I need a key!" I spun around, my eyes searching the chaos.
Caspian was struggling against his restraints at the edge of the pit. The four guards who had been holding his chains were gone—torn apart or fled. He was a sitting duck, bound in heavy silver that dampened his shift. A Void-Wolf, its skin sloughing off in wet, necrotic clumps, was prowling toward him, its unhinged jaw dripping green ichor.
"Lyra! The Elders!" Vane screamed, grabbing at my gown. "Save us! Command the light!"
I looked at the Elders cowering behind the wood. Then I looked at Caspian.
"Let go of me, Vane!" I snarled, ripping my silk sleeve from his trembling grip.
"You are the Luna! Your duty is to the Council!" Vane’s voice cracked.
"My duty is to my soul!"
I ignored the Elders' frantic cries and sprinted toward the chains.
"Kael, cover the dais!" I barked over my shoulder.
"Lyra, wait! If you release him now without the dampeners, the feedback will kill us all!" Kael shouted, his hands shimmering as he held a barrier against two snapping monsters.
"Then we die standing!"
I slid across the marble floor, hitting the stones beside Caspian just as the Void-Wolf lunged.
"Get back, Lyra!" Caspian roared, his eyes glowing a violent, frustrated gold. He swung his bound arms, the heavy silver chain catching the monster in the throat, but it wasn't enough to stop it. "The locks! Use the Spark on the locks!"
"Hold still!" I grabbed the central shackle connecting his wrists.
The silver was cold, designed to nullify Alpha energy. The moment my fingers touched it, the metal hissed, reacting to my Luna frequency.
"You have to choose, Luna!" Elder Vane’s voice echoed from across the hall. "The Council or the Traitor! If you free him, you abandon the bloodline!"
"Watch me!" I hissed.
I didn't just use a spark; I poured the entire Borderland Fever into the silver. I felt the "faceslapping" surge of Caspian’s power meeting mine. It wasn't a clash; it was an explosion.
"Break it, Caspian!" I screamed.
Caspian let out a roar that shook the very foundation of the manor. Fueled by my silver light, his muscles surged and expanded. The silver shackles didn't just unlock—they shattered. Shrapnel flew in every direction, one shard whistling past my ear.
He was free.
The Void-Wolf lunged again, but Caspian was faster. He caught the beast by its upper and lower jaws with his bare hands. With a sickening crunch, he tore the creature's head in half, flinging the remains across the room.
"About damn time," he panted, pulling me up.
"Don't get cocky," I said, drawing Rune’s dagger. "There are more coming."
We stood back-to-back in the center of the hall. For the first time since the Neutral Zone, our resonance was fully unleashed. A blinding silver-gold light erupted from the point where our shoulders touched, a pillar of radiance that illuminated the dark corners of the hall. It was a visible claim, a "Soul Resonance" so powerful that even the Elders stopped screaming to stare.
Kael and Rune were visible on the periphery, their powers formidable but shadowed by the sheer brilliance of the link between Caspian and me.
"Look at that," I heard a guard whisper in awe. "That’s the True King."
"Eyes up!" Caspian barked.
Three more Void-Wolves circled us, their movements twitchy and unnatural.
"Kael, the doors!" I called out. "Can you seal the breach?"
"The mechanisms are jammed with necrotic tissue!" Kael shouted back, his face tight with the strain of holding the barrier for the Elders. "Rune! Clear the path to the side exit!"
"I'm on it!" Rune yelled. He was a wall of muscle and blood, his blade a silver blur as he carved a path through the monsters.
Caspian and I moved as one. When he swung his broadsword, I ducked, my dagger finding the soft tissue beneath a monster’s ribs. When I blasted a wave of silver fire to clear the front, he lunged through the flames to finish the kill. It was a dance of death and devotion.
"You're getting better at this," Caspian grunted, kicking a beast back.
"You're a good distraction," I retorted.
We were winning. The light was holding. But the Fae Witch Lord wasn't done.
A massive Void-Wolf, twice the size of the others, burst through the ceiling of the gallery. It didn't land on the floor; it landed on the dais, right behind the Elders.
"Help! Someone help!" Vane shrieked as the beast’s shadow fell over him.
Kael’s barrier was failing. He was too far away to reach them. Caspian was engaged with two more on the left.
"Rune!" I screamed, pointing toward the dais.
Rune didn't hesitate. He abandoned his position, sprinting across the hall with a speed that defied his massive frame. He tackled the giant beast just as its jaws were closing around Elder Vane’s neck.
They rolled across the high table, smashing the Elders' fine china and scrolls. Rune pinned the monster down, his fingers digging into its rotting throat.
"Die, you piece of filth!" Rune snarled.
But the Void-Wolf wasn't just a beast. It was a trap.
As Rune raised his blade to strike, the creature’s tail—a barbed, whip-like appendage dripping with green poison—snaked around and lashed out.
"Rune, watch out!" I lunged forward, my hand outstretched.
It was too late.
The beast’s teeth clamped down on Rune’s forearm, sinking deep into the muscle. At the same time, the barbed tail pierced his shoulder, injecting a concentrated dose of the Shadow Plague directly into his bloodstream.
Rune let out a guttural scream of agony, his spirit-form flickering violently. He managed to plunge his blade into the monster’s heart, killing it instantly, but the damage was done.
The giant Void-Wolf dissolved into a pool of black sludge, leaving Rune collapsed on the dais.
"Rune!" I reached him first, dropping to my knees.
His skin was already turning a terrifying shade of grey. The black veins of the infection were racing from the bite mark on his arm, moving toward his heart with a speed I had never seen.
"I... I got him, Lyra," Rune wheezed, his eyes losing their focus. "The Elders... are safe."
"To hell with the Elders!" I grabbed his arm, trying to force my silver light into the wound.
The light hit the infection and bounced back. My power hissed, recoiling from the concentrated rot.
"It’s not working," I whispered, my heart freezing. "Why isn't it working?"
Caspian and Kael reached us, their faces masks of horror.
"The Void-infection is different," Kael said, his voice trembling as he scanned the wound. "It’s not just the plague. It’s a direct link to the Witch Lord. He’s in him, Lyra. He’s using Rune as a host."
Rune’s body began to convulse. His eyes snapped open, but they weren't gold anymore. They were a hollow, glowing green.
"The Shield is broken," a voice whispered from Rune’s throat—not his voice, but the sibilant, terrifying tone of the Fae Witch Lord. "And the rot is inside the heart of your pack."