~Kaida Orion POV~
The growl was low at first, a vibration in the frozen ground under my boots. Biat stepped in front of me, his sword raised, blood ran from a cut above his brow, dripping onto the snow. "Stay behind me," he said, his voice like steel.
I exhale hard, my eyes locked on the shifting darkness ahead, the thing moved like smoke, but it was solid enough to crush the branches beneath it and in the center of its heaving, shapeless mass…
"Lupus," I whispered.
His voice was faint, muffled, like someone calling from underwater. "Kaida…!"
I took a step forward, but Biat's arm shot out, stopping me. "You can't just rush in, look at it... it's feeding on him."
My chest tightened and Lupus's face appeared briefly in the writhing blackness, his eyes glassy, lips pale. Then the shadows swallowed him again.
"Biat, if we wait..."
"We're not waiting," he cut me off. "We're going to take it apart, but you have to keep your head clear."
