“Mistral, you must put ao this.” The wolf-faced hero, Garou, spoke without menace or pleading. His words were a simple decration of iability.

  Mistral sighed and shook her head. “I ’t. My creed doesn’t allow it—”

  “I know.” Garou interrupted, his tone a mix of exasperation and resolve. “That softness is why I wouldn’t join a cheesy group like the Society of Sentinels. But I swear, one day I’ll vince you to leave their ranks and walk the hunter’s path.”

  “You won’t,” Mistral replied firmly, her silver-white hair catg the faint light of the snowy ndscape. “Unlike you and the Great Manitou, I have qualms about taking the life of an enemy. The Sentinels share my belief.”

  Garou snorted, baring his sharp teeth in frustration. “Your foe doesn’t have such scruples. She’d slit your throat in your sleep—just as soon as she grew bored with her games. Why hold back? Every time you csh with her, the two of you draw closer. My instincts tell me you’re free falling in a tight spiral together. This only end one way.”

  “I respectfully disagree,” Mistral said with a shrug. “I think I’m wearing her down. There’s something deep inside her, a part of her spirit, that doesn’t agree with what she says and does.”

  Garou’s cws flexed as he ched one hand, his voice sharpening. “You’re the mystic betweewo of us, and maybe you think you save her from herself. But mark my words: predators don’t ge. She has the st of your blood, and she hungers.”

  Mistral crossed her arms, scoffing. “Everything’s so bd white to you. The Society of Sentinels believes no one is truly irredeemable. That includes her.”

  Garou stared at her for a long moment, then turned his back. “You’re oo tender and young.” He paused, gng over his shoulder with a softer expression. “But you’re also my ally. My friend. If things don’t go the way you hope, know I’ll be there for you.”

  Without another word, he dropped to all fours and bounded away through the snow, disappearing into the white drifts.

  Mistral stood motionless, her cloak and hood catg flecks of pure snow. Her silver-white hair, alive with the fai aura, seemed to hum with her vi. She gripped the football-sized medie satchel at her hip, a sacred symbol of healing and bance imbued with the wisdom of her people and the Great Manitou.

  “I’d y my life on the line,” she murmured to the empty ndscape, “to prove that even a soul as lost as Bgel’s be brought to serve a greater good.”

  “You have improved your art, my nemesis.” Bgel’s voice dripped with disdai her pierg gaze lingered on Mistral, as if appraising a particurly exquisite but foolish creation.

  Mistral hovered in the air, buoyed by her and of the spirits of the wind, her expression frozen in a mix of shod trolled determination. Bgel’s scrutiny was unnerving, her dark eyes uing as they roved over her enemy’s form.

  The viliness radiated a chilling fidence, her ebohered wings spreading wide, zily fpping as if to punctuate her superiority. She was a creature of grad menace, each powerful beat of her wings stirring the air with an uling quiet.

  “You’re bold to face me like this,” Bgel tinued, her arms crossih her chest, drawing attention to the deliberate design of her dress. The dark material g to her lithe form as if molded by the void itself, shimmering faintly with an unnatural, otherworldly sheen. It was a garment that transded mere fabric, alive with the echoes of her power. A slit revealed one long, toned leg sheathed i, sheer stogs that atuated her midnight skin, as though the universe itself bent to highlight her every perfe.

  Mistral didn’t respond, her lips tightening into a resolute line. She had faced Bgel before, but the viliness’s presence was no less overwhelming than the first time.

  Bgel’s fiapped idly against her upper arm, an infuriatingly casual gesture that only underscored her air of superiority. Her face, as striking as a sculptor’s masterpiece, was framed by the slightest hint of a smirk—an expression that seemed to mock the very idea of resista wasn’t just beauty that enraptured; it was her aura of power, of iability, that seemed to make the very air tremble.

  “You stand before me, sile and soft,” Bgel mused, her voice silke cutting. “A delicate creature pying with forces she barely uands. Tell me, Mistral, is it bravery or hat brings you here?” Her smirk deepened, a dark satisfa gleaming in her eyes. “No matter. Either way, you will break before me in the end.”

  Mistral held her ground, her silver-white hair flowing in the wind as though the spirits themselves wove life into its strands. Her hands ched, her medie satchel at her hip swaying slightly with her movements. She refused to rise to the taunt, even as Bgel’s words seemed to press against her like a tangible force.

  Bgel’s wings shifted, her body nguage effortlessly anding. The world below seemed to pale in her presehe sky itself dimming in deference. Her power, her beauty, her boundless fidehey made her something other, something far beyond the mortal pne.

  It wasn’t beauty that she valued most, though she khe universe adored her for her visage. It was her strength—strength that made nations tremble and men cower, strength that gave her dominion over all she deemed worthy of her attention.

  To her, Mistral was an anomaly. A gnat with powers impressive enough to warrant curiosity but not fear. A mere dey in her path to supremacy. Still, there was something about this weather sorceress that held her attention, something that sparked her i even as she plotted her eventual victory.

  “Do you know what I see when I look at you, Mistral?” Bgel tilted her head, her tone dripping with mockery. “Potential wasted oimentality. A soul tethered by foolish ideals, incapable of embrag what you could bee.”

  Mistral’s jaw tightened, but she said nothing, her silence more defiant than words.

  Bgel’s wings flexed, and she let out a low, amused chuckle. “Very well. Py the part of the noble heroine. g to your quaint notions of redemption. It will make your fall all the more satisfying.”

  Her gaze lingered a moment longer, as if sav the frontation, before she tilted her head bad let out a deep, mog ugh. The sound echoed across the sky like a harbinger of doom, a promise of what was to e.

  Mistral let out a sharp sigh and rolled her eyes after a beat of silehank you, I suppose. But I don’t have any use for your patronizing ents.”

  Bgel’s lips curved into a faint smile, a glint of amusement in her gaze. “Don’t be so cold, Mistral. Your cautious nature bores me. Show me some fire for once.”

  “Are you serious about this offer?” Mistral’s eyes narrowed, her tone edged with skepticism.

  “Entirely.” Bgel tilted her head slightly, her tone almost teasing as she tinued, “Let this be our st battle. The victor takes the loser, to do with as they will. If you should win today, I’ll sider your words.” She tapped her thoughtfully, her expression calm, yet taunting.

  “And how exactly do I know you’ll keep your word?” Mistral asked, crossing her arms, her lips pressed in a firm line.

  “You don’t.” Bgel’s dark smile deepened as she met her rival’s pierg gaze. “Surely, you uand by now that nothing in life is certai of all the word of a so-called vilin.”

  Mistral’s jaw tightened. “Are y to vince me or dissuade me? Your offer loses all siy the moment you admit you’re untrustworthy.”

  “You wound me,” Bgel said smoothly, her voice heavy with mock reproach. “I mean every word I say.” Her eyes darkened as her expression shifted into something more dangerous, a smile that hi a predator’s hunger. “But we’ve had enough words. Test my siy by my as.”

  With that, she spread her arms wide, the ebohers of her wings catg the light like shards of night. Her fingers arched, and the faint ripple of power stirred the air around her. “But don’t misuand me,” she added, her voice low and full of menace. “I have no iion of losing to you today.”

  The air crackled as she surged forward, her wings beating once, a thunderous prelude to the battle to e.

  The two shot skyward together, Mistral propelled by a mighty gust of wind summohrough her powers, and Bgel by the rhythmic, powerful strokes of her obsidian wings. They asded quickly, being little more than dark and light streaks against the pale sky.

  When they reached an altitude that felt right—too high for interruptions, too far from the world below—they stopped, h like celestial warriors. Both knew what came .

  Mistral extended her hand, her fingers weaving through the air. Snowfkes began to swirl down from the clouds at her and, gaining speed and dire as they rushed toward Bgel. In response, her nemesis lifted both hands. A wave of dense, inky darkness surged outward, meeting the flurry of snow mid-air. The snowfkes darkened on impact, shimmering briefly as they grew unnaturally cold, their very esseered.

  Bgel’s lips curled into a sly smile. “You shouldn’t face me head-on like this, painst power. It never ends well for you.” Her voice carried a calm, taunting fidence as the darkness pressed harder against the snowstorm, f it to falter.

  Mistral’s voice was steady, her gaze unwavering. “Don’t dismiss me so easily, Bgel.” Her arms moved in fluid, deliberate gestures, and the snowfkes began to coalesce. Their numbers increased rapidly, f solid blocks of ice mid-air. Below, an icy spire grew from the ground, supp her efforts as her creation expanded upwards.

  Bgel arched an eyebrow, watg as the ttice of ied around her. “Iing,” she mused, her tone light, almost amused. “You’ve been keeping this little ice-sculpting trick to yourself. Did you create it just to impress me?”

  A faint blush crept into Mistral’s cheeks, and her gre sharpened. “The hell I would!”

  Bgel ughed, a rich, mog sound. “Oh, my dear, you wound me.” She lifted a hand zily, and a singurity began to form beh her, tendrils of void energy spiraling outward. “Let’s see how your pretty little birdcage fares against the force of a bck hole, shall we?”

  The ttice groaned as it was drawn inward, ks of ice splintering as they were devoured by the singurity’s pull. But Mistral’s voice rose in a soft, anding whisper. The ice blocks began to multiply and shift, the ttice breaking apart by design.

  Bgel’s eyes narrowed, her ughter fading as she gnced around. It was almost too te when she realized the trap. Behind the shimmering ttice, Mistral had cealed enormous gciers, their bulky forms carefully arrao appear invisible through the gaps in the iow, released from their camoufge, they hurtled inward with crushing force.

  For a moment, Bgel marveled at the intricaistral’s deception, her lips curving into a grudging smirk. “Clever.”

  The air shook with the impact as massive ks of ice closed in. Bgel acted in a blink, snapping her fio dissipate the singurity, then unleashing waves of void energy in jagged, spiked formations to ter the ining attack. The first yers of ice shattered, glittering fragments scattering in all dires. But the remaining blocks were too numerous, too heavy.

  The final fragments formed a perfect sphere, trapping Bgel in its unyielding embrace. The crack of the ice solidifying rang through the air, reverberating like a victory bell.

  Thehi silent.

  The sphere of ice began to glow faintly, its surface shimmering with frost. But as quickly as Mistral could summoriumph, it was ed by the encroag bess. The void spread outward from within, dev light and sound alike until only an inky abyss remained.

  Mistral stood still in the suffog darkness, her serene smile unwavering. She felt the familiar, subtle prickle of void energy brushing against her skin, as though testing her resolve. It was a sensation she’d e to expect.

  Garou’s warnings echoed in her mind: This is far too good to be true. He wasn’t wrong. Bgel had an unnerving habit of stopping short when she had the victory, as if she enjoyed dragging these flicts out for some hidden reason. Mistral’s instincts told her that whatever pn her enemy was weaving, it wasn’t ready yet.

  Her gut also told her this wasn’t their st battle—not yet.

  Drawing a deep breath, Mistral whispered to herself, her words barely audible over the oppressive silence. She would let Bgel make her move first. Her fidence was not a bluff, though she couldn’t be certairategy would work as intended. She had prepared a backup, and a backup for that backup, but against Bgel, nothing was ever guaranteed.

  Wheack came, it was surprisingly direct. Bgel didn’t strike from the shadows or appear behind her as she often did. Instead, she materialized right in front of Mistral, their faces mere inches apart, her dark eyes gleaming with i.

  Mistral pleted her t, pressing her hands together as the energy she had meticulously stored erupted in a searing lightning bolt. The bolt shot forward with precision, smming through Bgel’s form. Yet, instead of a pained rea, the vilin simply smiled—and vanished. Mistral’s eyes widened in astonishment. How is she always this fast?

  The thought had barely formed when Mistral sensed another flicker of movement closing in from an ued angle. With practiced reflexes, she turned slightly and unleashed another burst of energy. Again, her lightning struck true—or so it seemed. Bgel’s face appeared briefly, her expression now openly mog, before vanishing once more.

  Mistral’s brow furrowed. What at first appeared to be a direct assault was quickly revealed as yet another ploy. Bgel’s movements became erratic, her form darting in and out of the periphery like a ghost. For every shadowy mirage destroyed, aeared, surrounding Mistral in an endless, taunting dance.

  “e now, is that all?” Bgel’s voice echoed from every dire, each sylble ced with musical derision. “Surely you’ve faced me enough times to know better than this.”

  Grittieeth, Mistral hurled bolt after bolt, her mystical reserves depleting with every strike. With each futile attack, Bgel’s ughter rose in pitch, a cacophony of mockery that filled the inky void. The sound grated against Mistral’s focus, chipping away at her posure.

  “Ahhhhhhhh!” Mistral’s frustratioed into a primal scream. She thrust her hands skyward, calling upoorm clouds above. They roared in respoheir energies twisting under her and. Lightning crackled and danced, not as a singur bolt but as a web of energy cast across the battlefield—a shotgun bst of elemental fury.

  The lightning streaked through the darkness, carving jagged paths of light. For a moment, it seemed the entire sky had bee her on. But the nemesis’ voice remained unshaken.

  “So charming… and so utterly blind,” Bgel cooed from directly above. Her wings spread wide, silhouetted against the storm’s chaotic light. “Drain yourself dry for me, little sorceress. You’re doing wonderfully.”

  Mistral snarled, pulling energy inward once more. This time, she focused her attato a trated stream of psma, firing it directly toward the source of the voice. The bolt screamed upward in a ical spray, leaving no room for escape.

  But the vilin’s mog ughter tinued unabated, now eg from far above. “Ahahahahaha! My dear, you’ll have to do better than that.”

  Mistral’s frustration burned within her, but she kept her expression calm. Her sted arouhe winds howling in protest as Bgel desded with terrifying speed, her void energy ing her like a sed skin.

  Before Mistral could react, Bgel closed the gap, her void energy surging forward like an oppressive tidal wave. It smmed into Mistral, seeping into her body, drainirength. The sorceress gasped, her vision blurring as the darkness overwhelmed her senses.

  “You’ve eained me well,” Bgel purred, her voice low and triumphant. She reached out, ing an arm around Mistral’s o hold her aloft. Their gazes met, and Mistral felt a flicker of anger fre within her hazy mind.

  Bgel leaned in close, her lips brushing against Mistral’s ear. “You’ve grown sloppy, my nemesis. Stronger, yes—but your finesse, your strategy? Utterly atrophied.” Her voice softeaking on an almost intimate tone. “Still, you’re… enting, in your own way.”

  With a predatrin, Bgel closed the distance, her lips meeting Mistral’s in a firm, possessive kiss. The gesture was both a mockery and a cim, punctuated by the vilin’s nguid tongue grazing Mistral’s lower lip before she pulled back, lig her own lips with satisfa.

  But the moment of triumph was shattered by a low, distant rumble. Mistral’s eyes fluttered open, a flicker of sciousness returning as the sound grew louder. Her lips curved into a weak but defiant smile, a spark of fidence igniting in her expression.

  Bgel froze, her gaze narrowing. “What’s this?” she hissed, gripping Mistral’s fad f her to meet her eyes. “You’ve broken my spell already? Impressive. But your attention…” She waggled a fioug Mistral’s nose. “...is wandering. How clumsy of you. ake your eyes off an enemy.”

  Mistral said nothing, f her trembling body into motion. Her silence, paired with her uling smile, sent a flicker of uhrough Bgel. The vilin frowned, her focus briefly shifting inward as if sidering the situation more deeply.

  “That look in your eyes…” Bgel murmured, her voice darker now. “It’s suspicious. I don’t like this at all.”

  Mistral’s voice finally returned, low but steady. “The feeling is mutual.” She spped Bgel’s hand away, her movements jerky but deliberate. “And while we’re on the subject… I really don’t like the way you look at me.”

  The vilin’s hand twitched, her fury evident. With a growl, she seized Mistral again, this time ing her fiightly arouhroat. “You wou again, pretty one,” she said with a venomous smile. “But I don’t believe you mean those words.” Her tongue darted out, lig her lips with unnerving hunger.

  Before she could say more, a feral snarl ripped through the air. Bgel barely had time to react befarou, impossibly airborne, smmed into her with the force of a et. His jaws found her shoulder, sinking in deep, and blood poured in bright rivulets down her elegant dress.

  “How?!” Bgel shrieked, thrashing as Garou g to her like a vise. Her wings beat furiously, struggling to keep them aloft uhe added weight.

  As her strength wahe darkness surrounding the battlefield began to recede, revealing the icy spire Mistral had structed earlier. Fotten in the chaos, it now loomed as a reminder of the sorceress’ careful pnning.

  Clutg her chest, Mistral floated back, regaining her posure as Bgel’s wings faltered. Below, Garou growled, his teeth still locked in pce, while Bgel’s blood staihe cold, unfiving air.

  Mistral let out a dry chuckle, though it was followed by a pained cough. She clutched her chest but kept her defiant gaze fixed on Bgel. "A ploy, as you’d say," she rasped, her voice tinged with triumph. She gestured weakly toward the t spire of ice behind her. "A shining road spearing into the skies… with only orue purpose the whole time. Giving Garou a way to reach you."

  Bgel’s wild eyes darted toward the spire, realization dawning too te. Her incredulous expression twisted into fury. "D-Damn it!" she roared, her voice crag with a mix of anger and disbelief.

  Garou’s fangs sank deeper into Bgel’s shoulder, drawing a fresh stream of crimson that stained her immacute dress. His cws raked against her as he held on with uing ferocity. Bgel thrashed violently, her wings a blur of motion as she tried to shake him off, but the werebeast’s vice-like grip refused to yield.

  "You uimated us again," Mistral said, her voice growing steadier as she drew upon her remaining strength. Her fingers glowed faintly, the remnants of her mystical energy swirling around her hands. "You always think you’re untouchable… but even you bleed."

  Mistral crouched by a fire pit, her expression calm yet unreadable. Glowing coals cast flickering light across her face as she bahem with measured movements. With a soft sigh, she tossed another k of wood onto the fmes, the crackle of burning kindling briefly filling the air.

  Behind her, a groan broke the silence. Bgel stirred, her eyes fluttering open. As her vision cleared, she found herself bound tightly, her wings pinned, her movements restricted. Her gaze met Mistral’s, and an ironic smile curved her lips.

  "Hahahahahaha—!" Bgel’s ugh cut through the stillness, sharp and mog. "Off to prison again, I suppose. Time to reset the cycle, isn’t it?" She leaned her head back against the wall behind her, her eyes narrowing as she tested her bonds with a deliberate thrash. "That ice tower... an ued strategy. I admit, you caught me off guard. That furball showing up a thousa in the air? Inspired. Where’s he hiding now?"

  Mistral straightened, brushing her hands of soot. She walked slowly toward her captive, her boots g against the cold ground. "To answer your first question," she said evenly, "I suppose it may e to that again. I’ve no illusions about you keeping your word. And as farou—" She tilted her head, her voice softening with a hint of finality. "He won’t be around to interrupt us again today."

  Bgel’s smirk faltered for a split sed before returning, but her eyes betrayed a flicker of unease. "You think you’ve won something meaningful here, don’t you? My dear, this is just a moment. A fleeting pause in ame."

  Mistral stopped a few feet away, crossing her arms as she regarded the viliness. Her face remained impassive, though her tone held an edge. "You keep calling this a ‘game,’ as if the lives you destroy are just pawns on a board. Maybe you’re right about the cycle. Maybe it’s always been this way. But not this time." She goward the fire, its light casting ominous shadows against the cavern walls. "Something will ge. I’ll make sure of it."

  Bgel ughed again, softer this time, almost indulgent. "Ah, such vi. It’s adorable, really. But you should know by now, Mistral—there’s no breaking this loop. You’ll try, and you’ll fail. Just like always." She leaned forward as far as her restraints allowed, her dark eyes gleaming with unshaken fidence. "Go ahead. Make your move. Let’s see if you prove me wrong."

  The fire crackled louder, casting an eerie glow between them as Mistral’s eyes hardened, her silence speaking volumes.

  Garou’s growl rumbled low in his throat, his golden eyes narrowing as he goward Bgel’s unscious form, bound securely he edge of their camp. The firelight painted his scarred, lupine face with flickering shadows, making him appear as fierd impcable as the predator he was.

  “She’d have had your head by now if it wasn’t for our partnership,” he muttered, not without a hint of reproach.

  Mistral sipped her herbal tincture, wing slightly at its bitter taste. She lowered the cup, her gaze calm yet thoughtful. “I know,” she admitted quietly. “I still have some growing to do. It’s fortuhen, that I have you to watch my back, my friend.”

  Garou harrumphed, nodding grudgingly. “What are you going to do ?”

  Mistral stared into the fire, watg the fmes dance above the wood as embers glowed faintly in its bed cracks. She took her time before responding, her voice measured. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “Once again, she held back. She taunted me until I felt I couldn’t bear it anymore. I was off-bance, yes—but not so much that I didn’t prepare a backup pn. She could have created her singurity directly on top of me, but she didn’t. I’ve seen her use that teique to crush others without hesitatio, she never unleashes its full power on me.”

  “Hmph,” Garou sneered, baring his teeth. “This supposed mote of goodness inside her again?”

  Mistral’s hand ched into a fist as she turned her face toward him. “Yes. I believe in it. She’s steeped in darkness—ahere’s something deep down. Something real. If only I could get my fingers on it…”

  Garou snorted, shaking his head. “So, yoing to sweet-talk her again before shipping her off to face man’s w?”

  Mistral nodded. “Yes. But for the st time.” She stood, brushing her hands against her cloak, and walked over to Garou’s side. Pg her hands on his muscur, furred arms, she looked up at him early.

  “Please believe in me. After this attempt, assuming I fail, I’ll accept it’s impossible. I’ll st to save her. But I arou. O time. Dragoaught me a spell to probe another’s mind. If it works, perhaps I’ll uand what I’ve sensed inside her.”

  Garou’s tongue flicked over his lips, and he goward Bgel again, his distrust evident. “I don’t think it’s wise, sinking yourself into her rotten mind. I’ll hunker down nearby, just in case.”

  “No.” Mistral’s tone was firm, her resolve unwavering. “I forbid it. She’ll sense your presence.”

  Garou rolled his eyes. “Like she sensed me climbing your spire of ice?”

  “She had her eyes on her goal,” Mistral tered. “Her ego distracted her. But she’ll be cautious now. Please, Garou, do as I’ve asked. Trust me on this.”

  The tensioween them alpable, but Garou finally gave a relut grunt of assent, stepping bad folding his powerful arms. “Fine. But you’d better know what you’re doing, Mistral.”

  “I hope I do,” she murmured, her eyes drifting back to the unscious figure by the fire. “For both our sakes.”

  Mistral id her hands over each of Bgel’s ears, tightly g both sides. The vilin hissed the moment she felt Mistral’s mind encroa hers.

  "Don’t you dare!" Bgel snapped, her voice ced with venom. "What you find inside won’t let things go the way you want."

  Mistral’s eyes narrowed iermination as she murmured a t under her breath, her voice low and steady. Bgel thrashed in her bonds, the effort causing her restraints to creak, but they held fast.

  “Stop!” Bgel’s tone shifted, rising into something more frantic. Her pupils tracted as she felt the fn presenistral’s mind pushing deeper into her own. "I said don’t!"

  Mistral’s breathing slowed, her expression serene even as a fine sheen of sweat formed on her brow. Her magic burrowed further, the surface of Bgel’s sciousness giving way like a stormy sea parting before a calm, unyielding force.

  "You’re making a mistake," Bgel growled, her voice trembling now with something akin to desperation. "You think you handle what’s in here? You ’t. Turn baow!"

  Still, Mistral did not respond, her focus unbroken. She took a deep breath and leaned closer, her hands glowing faintly as her spell reached its cresdo. Bgel’s body jerked violently against the magiding her, her wings flutteriically.

  “No… NOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Bgel’s scream tore through the air, reverberating across the camp and into the still night beyond.

  When Mistral finally got her bearings, what y before her was a rge shard of void energy, as expected, erected on a sort of ptform and exuding a pure sense of evil.

  "This is what’s inside her? P her? NOOOO!!!"

  Suddenly, the shard exploded in a burst of pure light. The fsh, intense and blinding, sted only a fleeting moment before vanishing into the deep darkness once more.

  Mistral staggered, her senses reeling. It took her a sed to realize the true effect of the explosion: the shard had been vaporized in an instant, leaving no visible remnants behind.

  “Isn’t this the core of light I theorized exists inside her? Or is this just a vision? A memory?”

  Her thoughts raced as she sed the space around her. All that remained of the supposed core of darkness was an ominous sensation that seemed to hover and writhe in the ‘air’ around her.

  "It didn’t vanish—the darkness is everywhere inside her!"

  The void energy, once a trated mass, now filled the space around her, growing stronger with every passing moment. The oppressive weight of it pressed down on her, suffog her mind and spirit. Mistral staggered back, folding in on herself as she raised a desperate defense.

  The crushing darkness enveloped her, threatening to overwhelm her pletely. Yet, amid the suffog energy, she sensed a faint trace of something different. A signature, subtle and elusive, floated in the void, just out of reach. It wasn’t the same as the oppressive energy crushing her, but it felt undeniably ected to Bgel.

  "Is there truly no light within her?"

  Mistral gritted her teeth, holding her mental defenses as the oppressive energy battered her milessly. Suddenly, the shard reappeared, ref before her eyes. Its malevolent aura surged, stronger and more terrifying than before.

  Even after the shard re-coalesced, the pressure on her mind didn’t ease. Instead, the darkness hammered at her sciousness in waves, breaking through her barriers and tearing at her psyche.

  “Where are you in all this?!” Mistral screamed into the void, her voice crag with desperation. “WHERE?!”

  When Mistral woke, her head was throbbing, and her body felt unnaturally heavy. Her eyes were bleary as she tried to make sense of her surroundings.

  She was no loanding. Instead, her arms and legs were bound tightly. She tugged against the restraints, but they were secure. Her mind raced, trying to piece together what had happened.

  Taking a halting, panting breath, she looked around. The floor beh her was made of hand-id stone, and the walls matched in their cold, unfiving design. A small mp sat nearby, casting a dim glow—just enough for her to fully prehend her helplessness in that moment.

  Mistral swallowed, her throat dry and scratchy as she tried to wet her parched mouth. Her enemy, Bgel, must have somehow freed herself and whisked her away while she was unscious. But how? What had happened?

  Her mind struggled to clear the fog of fusion as she tried to make sense of her current situation. As she trated, fragments of memories began to resurface, slow and fractured.

  Her eyes widehe horrors she'd witnessed inside Bgel’s mind began to fall into pce, each se more nightmarish tha. A suffog void, a shard of pure darkness—was that truly the core of the vilin's power? What was it? The chilliion of evil, the crushing pressure, the glimpses of something deeply wrong… What was that brief burst of light?

  Her breath hitched as she slowly recalled the raw emotion, the desperation, and the overwhelming sense of hopelesshat had threateo e her.

  No... Mistral's thoughts flitted back to those fshes—the horrors, the whispers of a darkness so deep it seemed to have no end. The realization made her stomach turn.

  Bgel hadn’t just been powerful. There was something far more dangerous buried deep inside her. Something beyond prehension. Mistral’s eyes darted around, panic rising as the memories hit harder.

  Had she truly been so close to losing herself?