The descent into the Senate Building's sub-basement was disorienting. The temperature dropped, and the air grew heavy, thick with the scent of ancient dust and compressed magical energy from the distant Foundation Stone.
They reached the floor of the sub-basement a vast, echoing chamber, supported by massive stone pillars that were rough-hewn, mimicking the trunk of an Iroko tree.
In the center of the chamber, Onyeka stood before a small, ornate iron chest the Seed Cache. He was effortlessly picking the chest's intricate locks with his silvery device.
"Predictable, Alpha," Onyeka called out, without looking away from his task. "I knew you wouldn't leave the Keeper behind. You choose love, every time. A beautiful weakness."
Samuel roared and launched himself across the chamber. But before he could reach Onyeka, the Chronos Shaper activated the temporal crack they created during their fight with Fortune.
"I told you the timeline was cracked!" Onyeka shouted, raising his hands.
The air in the chamber shivered and began to distort, pulsating with waves of silver light. The floor of the sub-basement warped, and two figures materialized instantly, crashing onto the stone floor.
They were a man and a woman, dressed in rough, archaic clothing the clothing of the ancient Ondo Kingdom.
The man was bulky, fierce, and fully shifted into a massive, snarling wolf. The woman, pale and terrified, held a fragile wooden carving the very carving Esther saw in her vision of the ancient Alpha.
"A Temporal Echo," Esther gasped, recognizing the uncontrolled leak from the past. "Our fight with Fortune destabilized the connection to the past Pack!"
The ancient wolf, disoriented and driven mad by the uncontrolled time jump, immediately saw the nearest threat: Samuel. It let out a deafening, savage howl and lunged.
Samuel had to choose: fight the raging Temporal Echo a beast of pure chaos or stop Onyeka from claiming the seeds.
"Esther, the Iroko carving!" Samuel yelled, throwing himself into a defensive clash with the maddened Echo. "It's the ancient Alpha's anchor! It might stabilize the Echo!"
Esther scrambled toward the ancient woman, who was huddled on the floor, weeping in fear, while the two massive wolves one ancient, one future tore into the stone chamber, their battle shaking the entire structure of the Senate Building.
Onyeka, completely unconcerned, finally clicked the final lock on the Seed Cache and smiled triumphantly.
"While you deal with the chaos of your past, Alpha," Onyeka drawled, reaching into the chest, "I secure the Shadow's future."