Hyran opened his mouth to argue—But every golden bracelet in the room vibrated at once.
A deep hum. A pulse like a heartbeat. Then each band grew warm, then blazing hot.
Silver light flared across all of them.
Fin jerked his wrist up. "What the—"
The bracelets pulsed again, fast, frantic— like an alarm. Like a warning. Like a tether being violently shaken from the other side of the world.
They all felt it. A spike of emotion so sharp it cut straight through their chests.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
And in that instant— across the wide stone chamber beneath the Redmoon Library— a portal tore open.
It ripped reality apart with a roar of water and pressure.
Nova came through it violently, rolling across the ground in a blur of limbs and blood and gravel. She hit the floor hard, skidding across the stone.
A gold coin clutched in a white-knuckled grip.
She was coughing so hard it ripped through her chest, gasping, choking on air she hadn't had for far too long. Her skin was blue-tinted, lips trembling from cold and lack of oxygen.
But she didn't stop sliding because a tentacle with spikes was still coiled around her ankle, dragging her back toward the open portal.
She grabbed at the stone. Her fingers scraped uselessly against gravel, trying desperately to anchor herself. Silver and red blood streaked behind her in two distinct lines.
"Nova!" Rex and Fin screamed at the same time.
Rex tried to sprint— his ribs screamed— Alejandro and Hyran grabbed him before he tore his wounds open again.
Fin launched himself, blade drawn, slamming it down on the tentacle with every ounce of strength he had. Alpha Redmoon was right behind him, tearing into the creature with his bare hands like a man possessed.
The tentacle shrieked. But another one shot out of the portal, thicker, faster, vicious.
It wrapped Nova's waist and yanked.
She was dragged so quickly her body blurred—her blood streaking across the floor—back into the portal.
Fin roared, the sound cracking the chamber, and dove straight in after her without a second thought.
"Stay here!" Alpha Redmoon barked to his son— but Rex was already fighting both healers holding him back.
Redmoon didn't wait for an answer.
He dove in after Fin, disappearing into the collapsing water portal just seconds before it snapped shut. Leaving Rex screaming, bleeding, and powerless on the stone floor.
To Redmoon and Fin's horror, the portal dropped them straight into sapphire blue water.
Freezing.
Crushing.
Silent.
A shock of cold punched through Fin's lungs—but Redmoon didn't flinch.
Gold magic rippled over Redmoon's entire body, lining him in a molten aura that kept the cold from touching him.
Fin instantly recognized it—Nova was channeling his magic to Redmoon.
Even now, half-drowned and fighting for her life, she'd protected them.
Golden swords materialized in both of their hands.
They spun in the water, searching for her—only murky darkness on all sides.
Then—Nova's Drakenice ring vibrated on her hand, as if sensing her slipping consciousness.
It slid free from her finger, drifting into the water like a falling star.
A deafening FLASH of sapphire and silver lit the entire lake.
A molten ice dragon—vast, ancient, serpentine—burst into being, its body glowing with blazing frost. It roared underwater, the sound vibrating through their bones. It shot a beam of solid ice toward the tentacle wrapped around Nova's waist.
The creature shrieked, freezing over instantly.
Fin and Redmoon didn't hesitate.
They streaked toward the explosion of light.
They saw her.
Nova—frozen half-conscious in the tentacle's grip, bleeding into the water, hair floating around her like pale smoke.
The molten dragon froze the remaining length of the tentacle solid.
Fin and Redmoon slashed in unison—clean, precise, warrior-fast.
The ice shattered—no gore, no mess—just crystal fragments drifting like snow.
Fin grabbed Nova instantly, pulling her into his arms, kicking hard toward the upward slope of the lake. Redmoon surged ahead of them, sword ready, scanning for anything closing in.
The molten dragon spiraled around them, shooting shards of ice at anything that moved in the dark water. Its attacks were devastating. But the monster-infested lake was vast.
A massive mutated shark with a double jaw shot toward Fin and Nova like a spear.
Redmoon intercepted.
His golden sword arced through the water in one powerful, practiced strike. The creature's head separated cleanly, dissolving into black silt as its body sank.
Redmoon grabbed Fin's arm, helping him keep Nova's limp form steady.
They ascended the lake at an angle, staying close to the cavern wall—keeping visuals sharp, guarding Nova from every angle.
The molten ice dragon cleared their path as they rose, blasting beams of ice at any creature that dared approach.
They broke the surface in an explosive gasp, Fin pulling Nova tight to him as he and Redmoon sucked in oxygen.
The dragon burst from the water behind them—wings unfurling, roaring toward the sky as the lake below churned with unseen horrors.
But they were alive.
They had her.
But the nightmare was far from over.
They reached the rocky shore in a frenzy of splashing and scraping, dragging Nova up onto the cold stone.
"It'll grab us if we go near," Fin said sharply, pulling her well beyond the shoreline.
Redmoon nodded once— grim, controlled, splattered with water.
Nova lay limp in Fin's arms. Too limp.
Her skin was pale, her lashes wet, her body unmoving.
"She's not breathing," Fin said, voice cracking.
He dropped to his knees and placed her flat on the stone, his hands trembling as he positioned them over her sternum. He interlocked his fingers, arms straight, shoulders stacked over his wrists.
He started compressions—sharp, powerful, rhythmic— his palms pressing down in steady drives meant to force her heart to move, meant to bring breath back into her body. Each push sent a shudder through him.
"Come on, Nova…"
Another push.
"Come on—breathe—"
Redmoon hovered above, ready to fight off anything that emerged, but unable to do anything more.
Fin lowered his ear to her lips— nothing.
Then he tilted her head back, sealed his mouth over hers, and gave two quick breaths, forcing air into her lungs.
He returned to compressions— harder, faster— desperation bleeding into every movement.
On the seventh compression—Nova jolted.
She coughed violently, water spilling from her mouth, mixed with a trace of red from her throat. She turned her head, gagging as more came up, her entire body shaking.
Fin's hands shot to her back, steadying her.
Her next cough broke.
Her chest hitched.
She inhaled—wet, rough, but alive.
Fin's magic surged without him even thinking.
His eyes flared gold—bright, fierce, ancient—and something inside him took over with ruthless precision. Warm gold light raced down his arms and washed over Nova.
Her shivering stopped instantly.
Her soaked clothing dried in a heartbeat.
Her skin warmed beneath his hands.
The raw inside of her throat knit back together.
Her breathing evened.
Redmoon blinked in shock as Fin turned to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Gold light snapped across Redmoon's entire frame, evaporating water, warming him, restoring body heat.
Fin wasn't fully in control, it was instinct, but he was aware.
His eyes locked entirely on Nova, jaw clenched.
The molten dragon spiraled upward once, shedding shards of sapphire-ice light—then folded in on itself, collapsing into a single gleam of metal. Ringing softly, it shot through the air and landed on the ground beside Nova's hand, reforming into her Drakenice ring.
Nova's eyes fluttered open, still dazed and weak. She reached toward it with trembling fingers.
Fin saw. He snatched it first before it could roll away.
She closed her hand around it, breath ragged.
"More… more are coming," she whispered, voice hoarse. "A lot."
That was when they heard it— a sound that didn't belong to any world shaped by gods or nature.
A rumble. A shriek. A chorus of wails that scraped the mind like claws on bone. Redmoon's grip tightened on his sword. Fin's heartbeat lurched.
Pouring from the enormous cavern mouth that fed into the lake were vampires—dozens at first, then hundreds—jerking and sprinting at Alpha speed, their movements feral and twitching like they'd been stitched out of nightmares.
Fin didn't wait.
He scooped her up, one arm under her legs, the other bracing her shoulders as though she weighed nothing.
Nova lifted a shaking hand, palm outward and channeled directly from Fin. A gold, transparent boat erupted in the lake. Its sides were smooth, its shape aerodynamic, and as Nova pushed more magic into it, a dome-like bubble shimmered over the top, sealing tight.
No tentacle could pierce it.
Fin stepped inside with her, pulling her tight to keep her steady. Redmoon vaulted in behind them.
"I need to stand for a moment," Nova whispered.
Fin steadied her until she found her balance. She drew an arrow, hands shaking, vision still slightly blurred. But her aim was sharp as ever.
She released.
The arrow passed through Fin's magic bubble like it didn't exist, phasing straight through the shimmering dome. No resistance. No ripple. It arced brilliantly, then slammed into the crater wall at the far end of the lake.
A rope of molten gold burst out of the arrow, streaking toward them—and instead of waiting to be grabbed, it latched itself onto the bubble, fusing with Fin's magic in a web of light.
The boat jolted forward so violently they all braced, skimming across the lake like a golden bullet.
But the vampires were faster.
They plunged into the water—hundreds of them—moving with jerking, unnatural precision. Their eyes burned red beneath the surface, jaws unhinged far too wide, bodies slicing through the lake like spears shot from a bowstring.
They were closing in.
Nova raised another arrow, vision already swimming, but her aim didn't waver.
She fired.
The arrow struck the lead vampire. The one whose movements directed the swarm.
He exploded.
A brilliant gold detonation rippled outward like a shockwave.
A third of the vampires around him erupted with him—bodies liquifying, dissolving, blasting apart in a violent chain reaction. The lake surface foamed red and black.
They kept coming.
Nova fired again.
Another vampire detonated— and another— and several more beneath the water, guts and bone shards launching above the surface as the chain reaction took hold.
Redmoon stared at the carnage.
"Those are some arrows."
Before Nova could breathe, massive spiked tentacles burst out of the depths, slamming against the golden bubble. They couldn't grip the magic enough to break it—but they wrapped around the boat itself, dragging it downward, pulling them toward the black maw of the lake.
Nova aimed again, this time below them.
BOOM.
The beast beneath them exploded violently, sending waves of black blood and corrupted magic boiling to the surface.
But Nova was seeing spots now.
Her breath hitched, her vision greyed, and she swayed—knees buckling.
Redmoon reacted instantly, grabbing the bow and another arrow, already raising it to fire again.
Fin caught Nova before she collapsed, pulling her against his chest, gripping her firmly as she struggled to stay conscious.
"Got you, baby," he whispered fiercely—but didn't even dare look away from the battle.
Redmoon fired again.
A tentacle surged toward the bubble—he shot it mid-lunge. It exploded, chunks of blackened flesh raining back into the water.
He grabbed another arrow from Nova's quiver without hesitation and fired again— a cluster of vampires behind them detonated in a spray of red and shadow, lighting the lake beneath them in violent bursts.
More vampires surfaced— Redmoon shot— and they erupted, their screams cut off as their bodies pulverized into ash and viscera.
The golden boat lurched upward, yanked along the rope fused to Fin's magic bubble—pulled straight toward the crater wall where Nova's first arrow had landed.
The rope carried them higher and higher, until the boat reached a cave mouth carved into the rock at least two hundred feet above the lake.
Fin stepped out first, Nova in his arms. Redmoon followed, bow still raised, scanning the lake below.
For a heartbeat, he allowed himself a grin.
"Clever girl," he muttered.
But the moment passed; his bow snapped back into firing position.
A vampire broke the surface, snarling, clawing its way toward the crater wall to climb up. Black water streamed off its corpse-pale skin.
Redmoon fired.
The vampire exploded, taking the cluster behind it with him.
More beneath the water burst as the shockwave hit, their guts bubbling to the lake's surface, sizzling like something foul being cooked alive.