Owain didn't remember hitting the ground.
He only remembered the scream.
Kanah's scream.
The scream he couldn't answer.
The scream he couldn't reach.
The scream that tore through every strand of his instinct and shredded what little sanity he had left.
When the shadows swallowed her, something inside him snapped.
Not metaphorically.
Not emotionally.
Physically.
His magic cracked.
His instincts detonated.
His vision bled yellow and white, blinding with feral fury.
He staggered to his feet with a roar that felt like it ripped a hole in the sky.
"KANAAAAAA—H—!!"
His body convulsed.
His claws lengthened.
Bones shifted.
Skin heated until it glowed.
Gerrin reacted first.
"OWAIN—!! NO—!! STOP—!!"
Owain didn't hear him.
The world went red.
Yllas dove down from above, wings slamming him from the side to keep him from tearing into the nearest soldier.
"OWAIN—STOP—DAMMIT—STOP—!!"
Owain hurled Yllas off with unimaginable force.
Gerrin slammed a containment sigil into the ground.
It exploded outward—
and Owain tore it apart like paper.
Helion cursed, leaping onto Owain's back, claws digging in.
"Owain—PULL IT BACK—!! SHE'S NOT HERE—YOU'LL KILL US IF YOU DON'T—!!"
Owain's voice cracked into a snarl that didn't sound human anymore.
"LET. ME. GO—!!
LET ME G O—!!
SHE'S M I N E—!!"
The forest trembled around him.
Roots cracked and curled upward like frightened serpents.
Leaves fell in spirals.
Birds bolted from the trees.
The earth shook with the pressure rising beneath Owain's skin.
Yllas shouted over the roar:
"HE'S GOING FULL INSTINCT—!! GET DOWN—!!"
Gerrin's staff glowed blinding white.
"OWAIN, LISTEN TO ME—!! IF YOU SHIFT IN THAT STATE, YOU WILL NEVER SHIFT BACK—!!"
Owain's head snapped toward Gerrin.
His eyes were pure light.
No pupil.
No amber.
No sanity.
"Let me go to her," he growled, voice splitting into two tones layered over each other.
"LET ME GO. LET ME GO. LET ME—"
Gerrin grimaced and slammed his staff down again.
A second containment field cracked into existence.
Tighter.
Denser.
Riskier.
Owain's instincts hit the barrier like a meteor.
The ground cratered under his feet.
He fought—
and the barrier shuddered, rippling with cracks.
Helion yelled, "IT'S NOT HOLDING—!!"
Owain roared.
"I WILL FIND HER—
I WILL RIP THROUGH THIS WORLD—
I WILL—"
The barrier shattered.
The shockwave flattened the clearing.
Helion was thrown twenty feet.
Yllas crashed through a tree.
Gerrin's staff flickered and died.
Owain stood in the center—
swaying—
glowing with unstable power—
breathing like a beast trapped in a cage too small.
For the first time in his life.
Owain was losing himself.
Helion staggered to his feet.
"Gerrin—if he finishes shifting—he'll tear the whole damn forest apart!"
Gerrin wiped blood from his jaw.
"I know!"
"But—how do we stop him?!"
Yllas shouted:
"WE DON'T."
Gerrin's eyes widened.
"WHAT—?!"
Yllas shook his head, voice grim.
"We let him break.
Only that will burn through the worst of the instinct before it consumes him."
Helion swore. "He'll kill himself!"
"Not if someone reaches him," Yllas barked.
Gerrin's chest tightened.
"But Kanah—she was the only one who—"
A boom rattled the trees as Owain struck the earth with both palms, cracking stone.
Gerrin looked at him—
and then did something he had never done before.
He dropped his staff.
He approached Owain.
Slowly.
Hands open.
Voice steady.
"Owain.
Listen to me.
Kanah needs you alive."
Owain's breathing hitched.
Gerrin stepped into range of claws that could rip him in half.
"She is not gone.
She is not dead.
She called for you.
She asked you to find her."
Owain's body shook harder.
"You can't find her if you lose yourself here."
Owain snarled, trembling.
Gerrin swallowed.
"And she wouldn't forgive you."
Those words tore through Owain like an arrow.
His knees buckled.
He fell forward.
Gerrin caught him with a grunt, teeth clenched.
Owain collapsed against him, shaking violently, breath coming in broken gasps.
He whispered—
not to the group—
not to Gerrin—
But to the ground.
To the sky.
To Kanah.
"I promised I'd protect you.
I failed you.
Kanah—
KANA—
I'm coming—
I swear—
I'm coming—"
Gerrin steadied him.
"We will help you.
But you must breathe.
You must find your mind again.
Your strength is needed—not your destruction."
Owain's head fell forward.
He panted like he was drowning.
"…K-Kana…"
Gerrin closed his eyes, whispering:
"She isn't gone.
Not while you still stand."
Owain shuddered—
and slowly, painfully—
returned.
His light-drenched eyes dimmed to amber again.
Claws receded.
The air finally steadied.
Owain collapsed to his knees, fingers digging into the dirt.
Yllas stumbled back over, wings dragging.
"Is he—?"
Gerrin nodded.
"He's holding. Barely."
Helion exhaled shakily.
"We need to move. They're regrouping. Kana's father isn't alone."
Owain lifted his head.
His voice was ruined from screaming.
"…I'm going after her."
Gerrin placed a hand on his shoulder.
"And so are we."
Meanwhile — Kanah in Veylor Custody
She woke to cold stone.
Her wrists were bound loosely by glowing gold chains—not painful, but suppressing her power like a heavy blanket.
Kanah couldn't feel the room.
Couldn't feel the forest.
Couldn't feel the world outside.
She could only feel one thing—
Owain.
A faint pulse.
Faint.
Wounded.
But burning.
Kanah choked on a sob.
"Owain… you're… still there…"
She tried to move—
But the chains responded, tightening slightly.
A deep voice echoed.
"You should not struggle, Kanara."
Kanah flinched violently.
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Measured.
Cold.
Her father stepped into the dim light, golden eyes glowing.
Kanah jerked away.
"DON'T COME NEAR ME."
He didn't stop.
"You are my daughter."
"I'm NOT."
"You carry my blood."
"I DON'T WANT IT."
He knelt in front of her, unbothered by her fury.
"You were born of royalty.
Born for a throne.
Born to rule nations."
Kanah glared through tears.
"I want Owain. I want my life. I don't want ANY of this—!!"
Her father tilted his head slightly.
"You speak of that wolf as though he is your equal."
"He is."
"He is not."
Kanah's voice cracked:
"He's more family to me than you ever will be."
Her father's expression finally twitched.
Softly.
Dangerously.
"Then it appears," he murmured, "that the wolf has corrupted your heart."
Kanah's blood iced.
"Corrupted—?"
"Yes."
His voice lowered.
"He does not deserve your bond."
"He didn't take my bond," Kanah spat. "I GAVE it."
Her father's aura surged.
The room trembled.
Kanah flinched as the chains pulsed.
"When you are mine again," he growled, "you will forget him."
Kanah's voice broke.
"Never."
He straightened, turning toward the heavy door.
"We shall see."
Back in the forest
Owain stood.
Barely.
Gerrin tightened his grip on his staff.
"We'll track her father. His aura is impossible to mask."
Helion grinned humorlessly.
"Good. I'd like to stab him in the face."
Yllas stepped closer to Owain.
"Can you walk?"
Owain's jaw clenched.
"I don't need to walk."
He shifted—
But Gerrin grabbed his arm.
"No shifting. You're not stable yet."
Owain snarled but obeyed.
"Then RUN," he growled.
They prepared to move—
But the air went cold.
Still.
Frozen.
Yllas whispered:
"…no."
Owain turned.
And saw him.
Standing on a fallen tree.
Hands folded.
Expression serene.
The Architect.
Owain roared—
"YOU—!! YOU WATCHED THEM TAKE HER—!!"
The Architect blinked slowly.
"I did."
Owain nearly charged—
Gerrin grabbed him.
"OWAIN—!! WE NEED HIM—!!"
Owain trembled with pure fury.
"Give her back."
The Architect tilted his head.
"I do not have her."
"THEN TELL ME WHERE—!!"
The Architect stepped down gracefully.
"I will help you."
Owain snarled.
"Why would you help me?!"
The Architect's eyes darkened.
"Because your Queen's story is not finished."
Gerrin's breath caught.
Owain froze.
The Architect continued softly:
"And because…
Kanah's father is far worse than you realize."
Owain's heartbeat thundered.
"…What is he?"
The Architect met his eyes.
And for the first time—
He looked afraid.
"He is not beast.
Not man.
Not throne-born.
He is something older."
Owain's blood ran cold.
"What is he?"
The Architect whispered:
"He is the first Devourer."
The forest fell silent.
Yllas paled.
Helion's jaw dropped.
Gerrin's staff flickered.
Owain whispered:
"…Devourer…?"
The Architect nodded.
"He consumes power.
Consumes magic.
Consumes life.
And he intends to consume her."
Owain's heart stopped.
The Architect stepped closer.
"You cannot save her alone."
Owain grabbed his collar, snarling:
"THEN SHOW ME HOW."
The Architect whispered:
"I will."
Owain's eyes burned.
"Because if she dies—"
"I know," the Architect said gently.
Owain's voice cracked.
"I die too."
The Architect looked at him with a strange sorrow.
"No, Wolf King," he corrected softly.
"If she dies…
the world dies with her."
Owain's eyes widened.