The sun filtered weakly through the ash-hazed skies above Ashgrove. Morning brought no birdsong, only the crackling of low-burning embers from the pride's fire circle. Kael sat silently at the edge of the clearing, his obsidian-veined claws flexing into the dirt, mind lost in the haze of yesterday's battle and vision.
He hadn't yet told them about the choices—about the forms the Abyss whispered he could become. Not yet.
There were other concerns.
Two of the hunting parties hadn't returned by dawn.
And Valea had just brought troubling news.
The Ridge and the Vanishing
"The scouts I sent northeast," Valea said, her voice taut, "should've returned before first light. Lira was with them."
Kael turned to her, expression unreadable.
"They were investigating movement near the old granite ridge," she continued. "Tracks. Large. Patterned."
Rakkan, seated beside the fire sharpening his claws, grunted. "Humanoids?"
"Maybe. They didn't smell right. Not beast. Not natural."
Nyra emerged from the treeline then, her black fur slick from an early patrol. Her gaze shifted from Kael to Valea. "I picked up something too. Signs of digging. Trenches. Light footfalls—like disciplined movement."
Kael rose, massive and quiet. "A rival camp?"
"Possibly," Nyra said. "They're organized. Watching."
Valea nodded grimly. "Or hunting."
The Expedition Forms
Kael gathered a small party—himself, Nyra, Valea, and a quiet jackal-like beast named Korr, one of the newer members of the pride, an expert at moving unseen. They would travel light and fast, circle the ridge, and try to locate the missing scouts and determine the threat level.
Fen begged to come, but Kael denied him. The cub needed to grow in discipline and restraint.
Before they left, Kael stood before his pride and announced, "We don't move recklessly. Not anymore. This territory must be earned, not just claimed."
Nyra watched him with a flicker of pride behind her usual steel.
They moved by midday.
Trail of Claws and Dust
The path toward the ridge was eerily quiet. They passed broken trees and faint scorch marks—too focused to be natural. Kael's nose twitched.
"Controlled burns," he murmured. "Fire used to clear terrain. Tactical."
Valea stiffened. "That's not beast behavior."
"No," Nyra agreed. "That's warcraft."
They found the first sign of Lira's party a mile from the ridge—a shredded satchel caught in brambles, reeking of blood. No bodies. No drag marks. Just silence.
Kael crouched low, nose brushing dirt.
"Something carried them off. Carefully. No struggle. No wasted motion."
"A predator," Korr whispered, tail low. "But one that knows order."
The Enemy Revealed
They climbed the granite ridge by late afternoon. The air was thinner here, colder. Below, nestled in the basin of the mountain's curve, Kael spotted it.
A makeshift fortress of spiked wood and stone—primitive but strategic. Dozens of creatures moved within. Not animals. Not fully human.
They were Hybrids.
Beasts fused with humanoid traits. Upright, armored in bone, wielding crude weapons fashioned from tusks and metal scrap. Wolf-headed, boar-jawed, even insectoid. Their eyes glowed with Abyssal tint.
And branded onto a central pike—
—was the skull of one of Kael's scouts.
Valea growled low. "They're making a statement."
Kael's face was stone. "They're claiming dominance. And they're using Abyssal energy to fuel it."
He could feel it in his bones. The aura leaking from the camp. It was corrupted. Sharp. And familiar.
Like mine. But unrefined.
Nyra narrowed her eyes. "They've embraced the Abyss entirely. No restraint."
Korr muttered, "Or they were born in it."
Kael stepped back from the ledge. "We don't engage. Not now. We observe. We learn."
But inside, a storm had begun.
These were not beasts driven mad.
They were something worse.
They were organized.
Echoes in the Dark
That night, back in Ashgrove, Kael sat with Nyra and Valea in a low, torch-lit circle. The other subordinates gathered nearby, tension hanging thick in the air.
"There's another pride out there," he said, voice deep and level. "But they're not like us. They've abandoned who they were. Given themselves entirely to the Abyss."
"They had scouts watching our eastern routes," Valea added. "We'll need to assume they know where we are."
Kael's claws tapped against the ground. "They haven't attacked yet. That means one of two things: they're waiting for reinforcements…"
"…Or they're not ready," Nyra finished.
Rakkan's voice rumbled from the side. "Either way, they've challenged your right to rule."
Kael looked at the flickering flames, the shadows dancing behind his pride's eyes.
"I don't intend to match them in darkness," he said. "I'll forge something stronger. We'll be what they fear."
Valea tilted her head. "And how do you plan to do that?"
Kael looked up, eyes still glowing faintly from the power he refused to let consume him.
"We do what they won't. We build something worth protecting."