Flashback – Minutes Before the Battle Reached Its Peak

  They had all felt it. That ripple.

  Not of magic… but of something older.

  As Raelux descended and clashed with Auren in a chaotic blaze of mirrored power, Lassie had disappeared into the wreckage of a shattered moon fragment. No one noticed. Not yet.

  She had been quiet—too quiet. The once playful wolf-child, barely taller than a blade of grass, stared into a crevice where the stone pulsed like a heartbeat. Whispers from beyond echoed in her ears like a lullaby from the Void.

  “I was supposed to be just a companion…” she muttered, tears mixing with stardust. “Just a guardian pet, right?”

  But the blood of the Old Beasts, the Titans of Wildspace, sang within her veins. She had always hidden it, masking it beneath joy, pretending she was nothing more than their cute scout.

  She wasn’t.

  As the others soared into the cosmos to stop Raelux and defend Auren, Lassie remained behind… unlocking the seal she had sworn never to break.

  A single howl—so ancient, so impossibly vast—escaped her throat.

  It did not echo.

  It tore.

  Across time. Across dimensions. Across destiny.

  Space cracked. The stars recoiled. Even the gods turned their gaze away.

  And in that single moment, Lassie vanished, leaving only paw prints burned into the ground and a scorched glyph—the symbol of the First Howl.

  Present — Raelux vs Auren, Mid-Battle

  Auren flew backward, blood trailing from his mouth like burning ribbons. Raelux was relentless. Every blow he landed sounded like a cathedral collapsing.

  "You fight like him," Raelux sneered, voice dark and mechanical. “But your rage is impure.”

  "You... you're not even real," Auren gasped, rising. “You’re just a broken imitation.”

  “And yet… I remember your tears,” Raelux whispered, voice shifting, becoming hollow, almost… sad. “The day they tore you from the stars. You begged the sky to bleed for you.”

  Auren froze. That phrase.

  "Bleed for me, brother."

  His voice had shouted it once—long ago—when they took everything from him. He had whispered it over the bodies of the fallen. How could this echo know it?

  “You’re not my brother,” Auren said, low, trembling.

  Raelux's energy wavered. “No… I’m not. I was created to be. I was made to replace the one thing you refused to become.”

  Auren’s grip tightened around his weapon. “Then you were made to be broken.”

  Their clash resumed—more vicious, more personal. With every strike, memories were torn free from Raelux’s defective mind. Memories not his, yet somehow lived. And with each piece that broke off… something human beneath him cried out.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Elsewhere — The Others Respond

  Vex and Halon were locked in a brutal dogfight against spectral drones that Raelux had unleashed. Their bodies burned with the strain, but they didn’t stop. They knew the fight in the skies was a diversion—the real war was happening between those two titans.

  But as Vex turned to assist Auren, a rupture in the stars split open.

  From it came Lassie.

  Not the wolf they knew.

  This Lassie was covered in ancient fur lined with glowing white inscriptions. Her eyes bled silver. She no longer walked—she floated.

  And behind her, something slithered into view. A presence. A forgotten godbeast. Awakened.

  "WHAT DID SHE UNLEASH?" Halon yelled, trying to shield his eyes.

  “I did what none of you dared,” Lassie growled, her voice now laced with multiple tones. “I called my ancestors.”

  Back to Auren and Raelux

  The shockwave from Lassie’s return ripped through the battlefield. Raelux turned for a moment, distracted—

  —and Auren struck. One perfect punch.

  Not with power.

  With memory.

  As he struck Raelux, he poured every memory of pain, of friendship, of choice into the blow.

  Raelux fell. Trembling. Shaking. Defective systems screaming.

  “I… wasn’t supposed… to feel this,” he whispered.

  Auren stepped closer.

  “You were never meant to be my brother… but maybe, Raelux,

  you were meant to become something more.”

  And Raelux did something no one expected.

  He wept.

  The clash had shaken the heavens.

  Auren stood battered, blood trickling down his temple. Raelux was on his knees, fists clenched, his breathing heavy and erratic. The air around him shimmered with residual energy, but his spirit had broken.

  His voice cracked as he looked up at Auren.

  > "I... I'm sorry. I never wanted to do this...”

  The wind stilled. Auren's muscles tensed.

  > "They’re the ones who forced me to act... I didn’t ask for this power... I didn’t ask to be born from a lie. I’m sorry... I’m sorry, Auren..."

  His words dripped with agony as tears fell from his darkened eyes.

  > "I was made to hate you. Built in a shadow and trained in silence. But deep down... I remember everything. I remember your laugh. I remember you pulling me out of the fire when we were boys. I remember her—"

  Raelux suddenly clenched his chest as if something inside him fought to silence the truth. But he pushed on, even as his body began to fracture under the weight of guilt and instability.

  > "They told me I was defective. That I couldn’t feel. But I do... I feel it now..."

  And then he screamed. A guttural, soul-cracking roar that echoed across the sky.

  Elsewhere… Lassie Stood Alone

  She watched the battle from a high cliff, motionless. But within her... something stirred.

  A faint glow pulsed from her chest. A strange warmth coursed through her fingertips. Then came the voice—clear, but only in her mind.

  > "It has begun."

  Lassie stiffened.

  > "Who's there?"

  A soft chuckle answered.

  > "You opened the seal, little one. Now we are linked. You hear me... because you are ready."

  > "Ready for what?"

  The world seemed to shift. Time slowed. Wind halted.

  A glowing sphere of runes formed in front of her—twisting and ancient.

  > "To awaken what slumbers beneath your skin."

  > "What are you?"

  > "I am not a what, I am the echo of a broken god. And you... you are my vessel."

  The runes began to float, circling Lassie. Her eyes lit with ancient memory. She suddenly spoke in a tongue unknown to all but the void.

  (Note: Here's a representation of the runic script. Afterward, the English translation follows.)

  LASSIE:

  ??? ??? ??????? ?? ???? ??? ??? ?????

  ??? ??? ? ?????? ????

  BEING:

  ?? ???? ??? ??? ?????? ?????? ?? ??????.

  ??? ???? ?????? ???? ????? ??.

  LASSIE:

  ???? ?? ?????????, ???? ?? ??? ????? ? ??????

  BEING:

  ?? ?? ??? ? ?????. ?? ?? ? ???????.

  ? ?????? ?? ???????????.

  LASSIE:

  ?? ? ???? ? ???????

  BEING:

  ??????. ??? ???????? ? ?? ?????.

  LASSIE:

  ? ???? ??? ????.

  BEING:

  ??????? ?? ??? ????? ???? ?? ???.

  Translation

  LASSIE:

  "Is the journey mine from the war gods? How did I become you?"

  BEING:

  "The mind was not strong enough to resist. But your nature will guide it."

  LASSIE:

  "Fate is dangerous. What is the skill I carry?"

  BEING:

  "It is not a skill. It is a remnant. A memory of inheritance."

  LASSIE:

  "Do I have a choice?"

  BEING:

  "Always. But choosing is destiny."

  LASSIE:

  "I will not fall."

  BEING:

  "Falling is the first step to war."

  Back in the Real World...

  Lassie opened her eyes. They were no longer human—they shimmered with the color of collapsing stars. The runes etched into her skin like glowing tattoos. When she moved, reality shivered.

  The others hadn’t noticed yet.

  But the gods would.

  And so would Eternal.

  ---