Between Wolf and Deep Water
The Fen Wolf let out another roar that shook the ground beneath their feet—and lunged.
Its skull-mawed jaws opened wide, teeth like black knives glistening with toxic slime, and it aimed straight for Caspian. The mist swirled thicker than ever around them, hiding more secrets and dangers in its depths—but none as terrifying as the legendary beast now bearing down on them.
Caspian could feel the dark energies pouring off the wolf in waves that made his skin crawl. He tried to cast a skill, but it was spent—pushed to the limit in the Fen Serpent and Shadow Bat fights. All he could manage was a faint flicker of purple glow from his fingertips, useless against a creature ten feet tall with fur like shadow.
Zephyr leaned heavily on a nearby rock, his arm now completely purple and swollen from the bat's bite. The veins beneath his skin stood out like black wires, and his lightning flickered weakly in his fingers—barely enough to light the space in front of them. "That's… that's the thing that scared the bats off," he grunted, his face pale with pain. "Figures it'd be worse. My arm feels like it's on fire."
Kai and Thane moved at the same time. Kai summoned a wall of water—thin but fast—to block the wolf's path, while Thane slammed his fist into the soft mud. A wave of High Ground magic rippled out, turning a small patch of ground solid beneath their feet just as the wolf's paws hit where they'd been standing.
⟢ SYSTEM LOG
STATUS UPDATE: Zephyr afflicted with Shadow Poison — Mana regeneration reduced by 90%. Effects will be fatal in 60 minutes.
UPDATED ADVICE FOR FEN WOLF: No known weakness. Beast acts on primal instinct to protect the bind—use the terrain to your advantage.
The wolf's red eyes fixed on Caspian again, and it let out a low growl that made the twisted branches above them creak and shed their dead leaves. It bared its teeth wider—its shadowy fur beginning to smoke with dark energy that curled around its legs like black smoke. It circled their small patch of solid ground, its paws sinking into the mud, looking for an opening.
Thane flexed his arms, and stone plates formed over his skin—cracking slightly from the strain of the earlier fight. "We're not giving anyone up. We face this together." He grabbed a massive rock from the edge of their solid ground and hurled it at the wolf's head. The beast dodged it easily, the rock shattering against a nearby tree with a deafening crash.
Just as the wolf tensed to lunge again—its muscles coiling like a spring, its skull-maw opening wider than ever—Thane, Kai, and Caspian moved as one, knowing this was their only chance to hold it back before it could tear them apart.
Thane was first to act. He slammed both fists into the solid ground at their feet, and from the mud around the wolf, jagged spikes of stone shot up—sharp as spears, aimed to pin the beast's legs. The wolf leaped into the air, its massive body twisting mid-jump to avoid the spikes, but not before one grazed its hind leg, leaving a deep gash that oozed black blood. It landed with a thud that sent mud flying in all directions, letting out a roar of pain and fury that echoed through the Fen like thunder.
Kai didn't waste a second. He raised both hands, and the murky water of the Fen began to swirl around the wolf's feet, forming thick, sticky tendrils that wrapped around its legs, trying to hold it in place. "Tidal Bind!" he shouted, his voice strained as he poured every last drop of his remaining mana into the spell. The tendrils tightened, and the wolf stumbled, its paws sinking deeper into the mud as it tried to pull free. But the beast was too strong—with a violent shake of its body, it snapped the water tendrils like twigs, sending drops of water that fizzed and smoked when they hit the ground.
Caspian knew his Expanded Copy was almost gone, but he refused to stand by and watch. He closed his eyes, focusing on the wolf's movements—its heavy gait, the way its muscles tensed before it attacked, the dark energy that flowed through its veins. The faint purple glow from his fingertips grew a little brighter, and he whispered, "Echo Weave."
Six illusions of himself burst into existence around the wolf—all moving in different directions, all raising their hands as if to cast a spell. The wolf's red eyes snapped back and forth, confused for a split second as it tried to figure out which was the real Caspian. It lunged at one of the illusions, its jaws closing around thin air just as the copy faded away. That was all Thane and Kai needed.
Thane charged forward, his stone-plated fists raised high. "Mountain Strike!" he roared, leaping into the air and bringing his fist down on the wolf's back. The blow landed with a sickening crack, and the wolf staggered forward, its shadowy fur smoking where the stone had hit. But Thane's armor couldn't take the impact—one of the stone plates on his forearm shattered, cutting deep into his skin. He grunted in pain but didn't back down, circling around to the wolf's side.
Kai summoned a massive wave of water from behind the beast, sending it crashing into the wolf's head with enough force to knock it off balance. "Tidal Crash!" he yelled, and as the wolf shook water from its eyes, Kai sent a second, thinner stream of water shooting straight at its open mouth. The water hissed and steamed as it hit the wolf's toxic slime, making the beast gag and snarl.
Caspian's illusions were fading fast, but he pushed his magic harder, creating two more copies that ran towards the wolf's front, waving their arms to draw its attention. The wolf turned, its jaws snapping at one of the illusions, and that's when Thane struck again—grabbing a jagged piece of the broken rock from earlier and driving it into the gash on the wolf's hind leg. The beast let out a roar that made Caspian's ears ring, spinning around and slamming its massive paw into Thane's chest.
Thane flew back, crashing into the mud a few feet away, his stone armor cracking all over. He pushed himself up, blood streaming from his mouth, and grinned grimly. "That's the best you got?" he growled.
Kai rushed to Thane's side, helping him stand, while Caspian tried to keep the wolf distracted with his last remaining illusion. The copy danced around the wolf's front, and the beast lunged at it—only to stumble as the mud beneath its feet gave way. Caspian had used the last of his Echo Weave to subtly shift the ground, making it soft and unstable right where the wolf was standing.
As the wolf struggled to regain its balance, a faint green glow appeared in the mist behind it—faint at first, then growing brighter. From the fog, a figure emerged—tall, slender, wrapped in tattered gray robes that were stained with mud and age. The same hooded figure they'd glimpsed briefly in the early moments of the Fen, with two points of glowing green light beneath its hood that matched the glow now growing stronger in the air.
"Guardian," the figure's whispery voice echoed, cutting through the sound of the wolf's snarls and their heavy breathing. "You forget the bind's first rule: no innocent blood shall be spilled to feed it."
The wolf snarled, turning its attention to the hooded figure—but it was still stuck in the soft mud, its movements slowed by Thane's gash and Kai's earlier attacks. It lashed out with one massive paw that would have crushed the figure in a single blow, but the hooded one stepped back into the mist, moving like smoke, and the paw only struck empty air.
"The serpent was corrupted," the figure said, raising a pale hand. A wave of green energy washed over the wolf, making it flinch and snarl again, its black blood beginning to glow with a faint green light. "They cleansed it. Just as the Mimic may cleanse the bind itself—if you let him try."
⟢ SYSTEM LOG
NEW QUEST ASSIGNED: [LEGENDARY] Reforge the Forgotten Bind
Assigned by: Unknown Hooded Entity
Objective: Cleanse the corrupted core of the First Guardian to stabilize the Shadowfen.
Success Rewards:
- +750,000 EXP each
- "Bindkeeper" Title (Unique)
- Cleansing of Shadow Poison from all party members
- Unlock Expanded Copy: Purification Weave
Failure Penalties:
- Fen shatters, releasing all corrupted creatures into the world
- Zephyr's Shadow Poison becomes fatal immediately
- Caspian's soul becomes the new corrupted core
Caspian's eyes widened. Cleanse the bind? He'd only ever used his element to replicate and refine attacks—not to fix anything. But as he looked at the wolf's massive form, then at Zephyr's purple, swollen arm, then at Thane's bloodied chest and Kai's exhausted face, he knew he had no choice.
"Show me," he said, stepping forward despite Kai's hand reaching out to stop him. The mud pulled at his boots, but he pushed through it, his legs shaking from the strain of using so much magic. "Show me the bind. I'll try to fix it."
The hooded figure turned its green-lit gaze to him, and for a moment, Caspian thought he could see something familiar in those glowing points—sadness, maybe, or hope. "Be warned—reforging the bind will either cure it… or shatter it completely. And if it shatters…"
The wolf finished the thought with a guttural roar that shook the ground beneath their feet, finally pulling itself free from the mud. "The Fen will wake. And we will all burn."
As the hooded figure gestured, a red rune began to glow in the mud at their feet—exactly like the one on Caspian's old cuffs, but ten times bigger. The same forgotten bind. It pulsed with dark energy, sending waves of cold that made Caspian's skin prickle, and he could feel his element stirring stronger now, desperate to unspool its patterns, to understand its shape.
Zephyr stumbled, his face now as white as a sheet. The poison was spreading up his arm to his shoulder, and his breathing was shallow, coming in ragged gasps. "Caspian… hurry. I don't think I can hold on much longer."
Caspian knelt beside the glowing rune, his fingers trembling as he reached out to touch it. And as his hand made contact, the mist exploded into a wall of black and green light—and he saw it.
The bind wasn't just a rune. It was a web of magic that stretched through the entire Fen—tied to every gnarled tree, every drop of murky water, every creature that lived there. Threads of dark energy spun out from the rune, wrapping around the Shadow Bats that still circled in the distance, the Fen Wolf that stood before them, even the hooded figure. And at its center… was something that made his blood run cold.
A human skeleton, wrapped in thick, shadowy tendrils that pulsed with the same red light as the wolf's eyes. The bones were ancient, but they still held their shape—and in the skeleton's hand was a small, silver amulet that glowed with the same runes as Caspian's old cuffs.
⟢ SYSTEM LOG
FORGOTTEN BIND REVEALED
Core: Skeleton of the First Guardian
Status: Corrupted by Dark Magic
Warning: Touching the core will link your soul to the bind. Success = Bind cleansed. Failure = Your soul becomes the new core.
Caspian looked up at his friends—Kai pressing a hand to his side where a bat had scratched him earlier, Thane's stone armor now in tatters as he leaned on a rock to stay upright, Zephyr barely able to stay on his feet as the poison spread further. The mist still swirled thick around them, the stench of decay heavy in the air, the twisted skeletal branches above reminding him they were nowhere near the edge of the Shadowfen. The wolf was still there, too—its red eyes fixed on the core, its body tensed to attack if Caspian made a wrong move.
"Who are you?" he asked the hooded figure, his voice tight with urgency and fear.
The figure's green lights flickered once, like a heartbeat. No answer. Instead, it faded back into the mist, leaving only one sentence hanging in the air—soft, but clear enough to cut through the chaos:
"Just finish what you started."
And then it was gone—vanished into the fog as if it had never been there at all.
Caspian took a deep breath, feeling the dark energy from the bind pulling at his hand, trying to drag him down into the mud. The purple glow from his element flared bright now, brighter than it had ever been, pushing back against the darkness with a warmth that spread through his body.
He pressed his hand firmly to the skeleton's skull, feeling the cold bone beneath his fingers, and closed his eyes.
"Expanded Copy," he whispered, his voice clear despite the chaos around him, despite the fear that clawed at his chest. "Refine… and cleanse."
And in that moment, the red light from the core exploded outward, painting the entire Fen in a wave of crimson and green, and the ground beneath their feet began to shake—violently, as if the earth itself was waking up.