-Jasper-
The cold hit me first. Not just the freezing mountain air, but the sickening, soul-deep chill of Gideon's magic. We were crouched behind a jagged spire of rock, peering down at the fortress—a grim, black spike thrust into the mountainside. The air around it didn't feel like air; it felt like frozen glass, brittle and ready to cut.
"That's not just a dampening field," I whispered, my elven eyes scanning the faint, vibrating lines of power visible in the gloom. "It's a woven ward. Every dark magic variation is tied to the very stone. Breaking it will sound an alarm across the entire mountain."
Finn, breathing hard from the Shadow Glide, looked ready to incinerate the whole cliff face. His fists were clenched, small embers glowing beneath his skin. "We don't care about the alarm, elf. We care about getting inside."
"We care about stealth now," I countered, my voice low and firm. "Alexia just went from a cell to a main chamber. She's being shown off. If we charge in like a stampede, Gideon will execute her to make a point." I pressed my hand to my chest, feeling the agonizing thrum of her bond—distant, charged with forced calm, and surrounded by layers of enemy magic.
Soren, pale and drained from the Shadow Glide, stepped forward, his eyes narrowed on the fortress. "The outer layer is based on shadow geometry. Asher's wolf form gave us the initial location, but the warding will reject pure shadow travel. I can't port us directly in."
The massive black wolf that was Asher paced restlessly beside him, head low, scenting the deep darkness radiating from the castle. Even in his primal form, his focus was surgical. He was the key to tracking, but not the key to breaching.
I nodded, already analyzing the field. My magic wasn't flashy like Finn's fire or vast like Soren's shadow; it was finesse—the ability to manipulate structure, speed, and subtle connections. "The ward isn't uniform. See the junction point above the main portcullis? The geometry is stressed where the old architecture meets Gideon's new spells. It's the thinnest point."
I turned to Kaia and Zeus. Kaia, our other dragon shifter, looked terrified but steady, holding tight to the Familiar. Zeus, a vast, comforting presence, shifted his attention from the castle to me, waiting for my instruction.
"Zeus, you're too large and too bright to get close to the wall," I instructed the German Shepherd. "You stay here with Kaia. You're our emergency exit. If we don't return in one hour, you take Kaia and run."
Kaia started to object, but Zeus silenced her with a low, commanding rumble. She nodded, her face grim. "One hour, Jasper. Don't push it."
"Finn," I continued, "I need you to generate a sustained burst of heat—just enough to warp the tension in that specific junction point without causing an actual explosion."
Finn's expression was a promise of violence. "I break it, you get in."
"No," I corrected. "I don't break it. I thread it. Finn, you soften the shell with heat. Soren, you anchor a small, focused shadow-hole directly beneath that weakened section. And Asher, I need you to use your primal scent magic to mask the localized energy spike."
Asher's wolf muzzle nudged Soren, a silent confirmation of their cooperation. The sight of the vampire and the wolf working in tandem was still jarring, but effective.
We took a position. Finn climbed higher onto the ridge, a faint, metallic heat beginning to radiate from his form. Soren dropped into the densest shadows, his body almost disappearing as he gathered the void.
I was the point man. I sprang forward, my agility magic kicking in, turning my run into a near-silent glide across the rough stone. I was moving too fast for the external ward layers to react fully, riding the edge of their detection threshold.
I reached the cliff face fifty feet from the portcullis. Gideon's wards were a cold, humming, invisible web.
"Now, Finn!" I hissed.
Finn let the heat fly. It wasn't an eruption; it was a focused, relentless thermal spike. I heard the ping and faint crackle as the dark magic in the ward junction groaned under the stress.
Soren acted immediately, weaving a pocket of absolute null-space—a tiny, unstable shadow-hole—directly where Finn's heat had weakened the lattice.
My turn. I reached out, my fingers trembling with concentration. I wasn't attacking the shadow hole or the fire; I was exploiting the structural weakness between them. I fed my agility magic into the stress fracture, not to tear it open, but to stabilize the minor breach Soren had made. I used speed and grace, pushing the energetic threads of the warding aside just enough to create a window, rather than a catastrophic break.
The scent of burnt rock and ice-cold shadow filled my nose. The space was open—a large doorway leading into the castle's stone core.
"Go!" I yelled, pulling myself through first.
I landed silently on damp stone, hidden in a narrow passage. Finn squeezed through right behind me, his dragon heat quickly evaporating the wet air. Soren followed last, the breach sealing instantly behind him with a near-silent thud as the castle's dark magic rushed to repair the damage.
We were in. We were alive. But the silence inside was heavy, expectant. The castle knew we were here.
"We need a map," I whispered, pressing myself flat against the cold stone. "Finn, can you feel Alexia's presence more clearly now?"
Finn's eyes were blazing, his face etched with strain and renewed fury. "She's deep. Below us. She's not alone, Jasper. She's moving into a major concentration of power. We move fast. No finesse. Now it's about fire and shadow."
I swallowed, glancing at the shadows of the long, stone hall ahead. The castle was dark, vast, and waiting. Infiltration was over. The fight had begun.