You flew in place, the sun casting your shadow down over a section of forest enclosed by a fence. This was it; you were sure of it. The enclosure seemed like some sort of nature preserve, the fence made of erected steel beams, rows of thick cable stretching to span the spaces between. There was also an electrical current traversing the cables. What was this place being protected from exactly? All forms of civilization were separated by over thirty miles of mountainous terrain and woodlands.
On closer inspection, you realized that the interior side had a cable that was set further in, creating a hooking top that curled inward. Whatever this place was, it wasn’t about keeping people out; it was about keeping something in.
Near the center was a small group of buildings. The possibilities tumbled through your thoughts. You wondered how the workers would even access this location, then you saw a helipad tucked in alongside the buildings. While you couldn’t absorb any information from the location, the same wasn’t true about helicopters. Your mind was suddenly inundated by maintenance programs, flight data, size comparisons, fuel consumptions, and helicopter applications.
Fifty gallons of jet fuel. Without even seeing what helicopter they were flying in and out of here, fifty gallons of gas was a best case scenario. Given the size of their helipad and the clearance available for a helicopter to land, and considering all models, configurations, and loads, fifty gallons of gas was the minimum it would take to make a round trip from the nearest city and back again. That sort of expense alone was condemning.
You snapped at the air. The round about way you were forced to evaluate things happening here— it was infuriating. Light grew inside your throat, a heat radiating off your anger before you had even passed judgment. The verdict—annihilation.
You burst skyward, choking back the attack that seemed intent on releasing itself. You snaked your body over an apex, transitioning back into a fall, your shadow cast on the preserve laser designator. Your snarl allowed in wind, the rush stoking the attack as if billowing into a furnace. Your shadow met a central building and when it grew to cover half of the roof, your rage crescendoed, you flapped downward once—violently—and you released your attack.
A pillar of light jettisoned, your sudden stop seeming to send it onward with the momentum of your fall. The pillar collapsed, punching into a roof as the building to flattened, the ground below it concaving. A wave passed outward like a stone had been dropped into water. The trees churned into a crashing wave that moved to span the far reaches of the enclosure.
You dropped into the bowl shape that remained, a space that looked as if a celestial body had crash landed. And it had. You roared over the destruction, the final say in whatever foolish endeavor the humans had attempted to carry out here. At whatever foolishness that had tried to hide. Tried to hide…from you.
Your past life as a wolf returned—old habits and what not. After a moment, you realized you were trying to growl as you surveyed the area. Instead, another attack was mounding up inside you. Be easy, you told yourself, shaking your head. You killed it.
If that were true, why did you feel this growing sense of unease? You had peeled back whatever veil had been concealing this place and you could see the presence of another accessed ley line. It was an aether different from that of Greenbrier, but the access point was no less damaged. You’d have to fix that.
Crack! Snapping wood drew your attention. You oriented to find only mounds of splintered wood and churned earth.
A deliberate movement of broken timber rang out from a different direction, then twisting and creaking wood sounded from multiple locations around the bowl. Finally, you saw movement—a mound of dirt rolling, a figure standing and shedding debris as sand poured off its various features. It was black. A giant cat of sorts—if a cat was the size of a small car and made out of thick cords like muscle fibers.
It shook the rest of the sand from its head, then looked at you. Other cats bound atop downed tree trunks to peer at you. There were four of them. At least, that you could see. They crouched as if prowling through a tall grass that wasn’t present. You could see them and they knew you could. But that didn’t slow their creep towards you.
The nearest leaped for you.
You lunged backwards, your maw releasing a blast in an instant. The attack swallowed the beast, though your triumph evaporated as its claws emerged from the backside of the light orb. You dipped to the side as the creature passed over your shoulder, swiping and tearing at you with exposed claws.
It rolled to land on its feet, you springing away as you oriented on the attacker, while continuing to move your backside away from the others. You couldn’t let them behind you. While you could fly away, these things couldn’t be allowed to leave.
Another pounced from the side, you raised a forepaw, swatting and pinning its back to the ground, where it continued to mar and rend your grasp. Then, you bit its head off and it went still.
A black ooze gushed out in blood’s place, the other three cats issuing a hiss as they continued their approach.
“I overheard Doc say something about her blood,” said a man, his voice bleeding into your thoughts.
You shook your head and scratched at your ear. Was that from Star’s feed?
“It must be something special,” said another, “if they’re willing to go through all this.”
An attacker suddenly landed on your back—a fifth that had flanked you.
You reached for it as the other three rushed your exposed belly. You turned, deliberately giving them your back. More specifically, your tail. The swipe caught one of the creatures in the shoulder, knocking it into another, sending them both tumbling into a heap.
The third you caught in the air, falling back to pancake the one still on your back. Your claws curled into the held cat, which gnashed and bit at your grip. Then, you educated it on where the two of you landed on the food chain as you pulled the two ends away from one another, black gore spraying across your underbelly.
When you rolled to your feet, some of the rider’s insides had moved to join its outsides—at least, as far as you could tell. The main difference was that its interior components seemed wetter than those on the outside, a black fluid pooling and moving out to create puddles in adjacent hollows.
You immediately turned, your gaze peering back towards Iskiros. If you couldn’t keep Star from occupying your senses, that was an altogether different sort of problem. She couldn’t interfere that way; you couldn’t manage that sort of distraction. And if you couldn’t turn that part of her off, you’d have to turn her off—for good.
What was it they had said? Something about her blood. Is she part of some kind of experiment? You didn’t know what it was they were trying to study, but it was obvious that they had already been meddling. That settled it. Divine Twin or not—she would have to die.
You looked over your hands, both of which were savaged. Your outstretched wings were in far worse shape, a background landscape being visible through gaps where there should be none. This was going to take time to heal, some of the fluid coating you having a red coloring rather than a black.
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