Vivienne’s panoramic view of the damp halls gave her a stant awareness of Rava’s frequent ghe lekiealing looks whenever she thought Vivienne wouldn’t notice. Despite the careful mask of calm Vivienne had worked to patch together, she couldn’t ighe fear and uainty radiating from her new panion. She wasn’t sure why it stung, that lingering mistrust—perhaps because Rava’s fear seemed aimed directly at her. Vivienne could taste it now, that faint pulse of wariness, and if she was being ho with herself, part of her hungered for it.

  The revenant, however, had been airely different matter. The moment she’d se, her hunger fred, dark and primal, an almost ecstatic craving that left her mouth pooling with shadows, her new body trembling with strange desire. The image of its twisted shape, the pure fury of its aether, teased at her mind even now. Maybe we’ll find another one, she thought, a shiver of excitement washing through her before she caught herself. She was here with Rava, a mortal whose exhausted, wary essence was not something she could afford to lose—not like the revenant, whose violeher had drawn her like a siren’s call.

  What did Akhenna do to me? she wondered. It was ohing to bee a tool of chaos, quite ao have this… hunger. She hadn’t asked for this monstrous appetite or the fusion it brought with it. Rava, powerful as she was, clearly feared the revenant, yet Vivienne had felt nothing but hunger aement at its presence. Why?

  She was still spiralling through her thoughts when Rava suddenly stopped, holding up a cwed fio her pale lips. The warrior’s eyes, though filled with suspi, were also ced with an unmistakable fear. Vivienne could practically feel it rippling off her, sparking a pang of guilt she hadn’t expected.

  “There are two Sunwake Lynxes ahead,” Rava whispered. “Not as dangerous as a revenant, but still a big threat.”

  Vivienne peered around the er to see two radiant felines sprawled across the floor, apparently asleep. As she took in the sight, a feeling surged through her with the force of a freight train. She wasn’t afraid of them exactly, but her instincts screamed dahe sickly, radiant glow radiating from their fur made her entire form ache, a searing disfort that rippled over her like poisoe the distaween them.

  “I don’t like them,” she rumbled quietly.

  Rava raised an eyebrow, caught off guard by Vivienne’s respohey’re blog the way we o go,” she said softly. “I’m no longer injured, but I’m dehydrated and malnourished, so if they sense me, there’s a good ce they’ll attack. But why don’t you like them?”

  Vivienated, her body tense as she tried to pinpoint the feeling ing within her. “Something about them… it feels wrong, like they’re not just dangerous to us, but to me. Their aether—it’s tht, overwhelming, like… something that would tear me apart from the inside if I got too close.”

  The wolf-woman’s gaze softened ever so slightly. “That’s probably wise.” She flexed her cws, looking from the lynxes back to Viviehey’re Sunwake Lynxes, blessed—or cursed, depending on who you ask—with an overabundance of dawher. They sense injuries or weakness, but their aether doesn’t just mend. It… overheals, causing growths to form iarget. Whatever it touches, it doesn’t stop rest until it bees a twisted mass of growth.”

  Vivienne’s eyes narrowed as she watched the Sunwake Lynxes shift in their sleep, feeling her new mouth’s jagged teeth gnash involuntarily. She’d never been “whole” before, and she didn’t want to risk finding out what it felt like to be devoured by dawher.

  “So, we ’t fight them without risking… that.”

  “Exactly,” Rava said. “Either we wahe halls trying to find some other route or we’ll o slip by, quietly. This time, really quietly.”

  Vivienne shrugged with her tendrils. Despite the growing mistrust she could feel ing from Rava, she was very clearly experienced, perhaps even a bit worldly. It was fortuhat she was so near when she woke in this form.

  Fortunate, hmm?

  “I don’t like the idea of beihem… so whatever you think, I will go with.”

  Rava gave a slow nod, her gaze drifting toward the lynxes as she calcuted their steps. "Alright," she whispered, gng back at Vivienne. “Stay close, but let me lead. If they wake up, run— in your case, slide. Dawher sehe flow movement as much as i—stay still, and they might lose i."

  Vivieendrils curled inward reflexively, tension coiling through her as she studied the two felines’ radiant forms. She hated the feeling of vulnerability—the sensation of those creatures being a threat to her, of all things, was fn, and it made her skin crawl. But she trusted Rava’s experience; after all, her paniohings about this world and its creatures that she didn’t, and the idea of wandering these halls alone… uled her.

  “Alright,” Vivienne murmured, watg as Rava took her first cautious step forward, every movement measured. The Sunwake Lynxes seemed almost carved from light, their faintly shimmering fur casting an eerie glow against the stone. Even as they y sleeping, the atmosphere around them was charged, like the weight of dawn itself pressed down on the hallway.

  Oep, then another, Rava moved carefully, silent ballet of muscle and trol. Vivienne followed as lightly as her tendrils allowed, each touch to the floor like a whisper. She tried to keep her new gnashih hidden, hoping the glint wouldn’t catch the creatures’ attention.

  Halfast them, a faint whisper drifted through her mind—Fortunate, ihe words were not her own, and the familiar feeling of Akhenna’s presence sent a chill down her spine, urgio look away from the lynxes and toward some unknowable dire, as though the goddess were near.

  “Keep moving,” Rava murmured, her voiapping Vivienne back to the moment. She almost stumbled, but caught herself, hating how easily she could be shaken, even by a whisper.

  As they crept forward, every muscle in Rava’s body was tense, her attention shiftiween each cautious step and the sleeping Sunwake Lyhe light they emitted seemed to pulse faintly, casting elongated, shifting shadows on the walls. Vivienne did her best to mirror Rava’s steps, her tendrils brushing the floor with barely a whisper, but the growing proximity to the creatures set her nerves alight. The dawher radiating from them was like a bzing sun against her skin—an ache, a searing presehat made her instincts scream to flee or strike.

  They drew within a few paces of the lyhe warm glow of their radiant fur casting flickers of pale e across Vivienne’s own dark, amorphous body. She forced herself to keep moving, but her thoughts spiralled with every inch that brought her closer to that burning aura. If Rava felt anything simir, she didn’t show it; the wolf-woman seemed a picture of quiet tration, ing forward in perfect silence.

  A faint rustle behind Vivienne nearly broke her posure, and she froze, her new mouth cmped shut to stifle a gasp. Rava shot her a warning gre, but her own attention wavered as the rger of the lynxes shifted, one glowing eyelid slowly crag open. Vivienne’s stomach twisted; that one, half-opened eye seemed to loto her, and a fresh wave of burniher rolled off the creature like sunlight pierg through fog. Her skin prickled painfully, her senses screaming as though she were in direct sunlight.

  The lynx’s lip curled in a low, rumbling growl, its pupils narrowing as its gaze sharpened. Rava’s eyes darted back to Vivienne, her cws flexing in anticipation of whatever might e .

  “Move!” Rava hissed, breaking her careful stao sidestep the creature’s line of sight, being Vivieo follow.

  Vivienne’s body moved without thinking, but the heat from the lynx's gaze was relentless, suffog. It rose from its resting position with a fluid, deadly grace, its eyes locked on Viviehe sed lynx stirred as well, lifting its head, its gaze trailing the first as it rose to its feet, their twin glows intensifying and merging into a bzing dawn aura that flooded the hall. The sheer force of it sent her reeling, her tendrils curling inwards defensively as she struggled to hold her form together.

  In a blur, the first lynx pounced.

  Instinctively, Vivienne shed out, sending a wave of tendrils spiralling toward it, but as they struck its radiant fur, they disied as if burned by the dawn. She staggered, her limbs bug as the aura carved through her essence like acid. The lynx was on her in an instant, its cws raking through her tendrils, every tou excruciating pain that left seared, smoking patches in its wake. Her form wavered, fragments breaking off as she fought to withdraw, but the creature was relentless.

  Rava leapt forward, smming her shoulder into the lynx’s side with a snarl, but even she flinched from the burning aura, her own body steaming where it made tact. The lynx barely staggered, its focus unbroken as it locked onto Vivienne again, its eyes narrowed with the io e, te her of every trace of darkness.

  Vivieaggered back, her vision blurring with fshes of light and darkness as the dawher cwed at her core. She tried to pull herself back, to retreat, but the aura had gripped her, digging in like a parasite, f her body to swell and shift untrolbly. She felt parts of herself splitting, tearing uhe scorg heat, as if her very essence were being pulled apart.

  The sed lynx advanced, steppiween her and Rava with a low growl. She was surrounded, her monstrous mouth gnashing in a mix of agony and desperation. She o fight back, to e, but these creatures—they weren’t like the revenant. They were noxious to her, a kind of poison that her body recoiled from instinctively.

  Rava’s voice cut through the haze, her tone frantic, almost pleading. “Vivienne! Get up—move!”

  Vivienne gritted her teeth, her mind struggling to override the pain as she forced herself to focus on Rava’s voice. She shed out, swingiendrils in wide arcs, hoping to force even a sliver of space between herself and the lynxes. A tendril scraped against one of the walls, shattering a crystal as the light splintered and refracted, briefly blinding the lynxes.

  The light fractured in sharp, blinding bursts as the crystal shattered, momentarily fusing the Sunwake Lynxes, who shrank back with a startled snarl. Vivieook the ce tain her footing, her tendrils curling around her, shielding her form from the radiant aura still searing her flesh. But the pain was relentless, and she could feel her body struggling to hold its shape, every brush of dawher eroding her like acid.

  Beside her, Rava bared her teeth, her eyes glinting with fierce determination. Without a moment’s hesitation, she flexed her hands, and tempest aether roared to life around her fists. Storm-lit energy crackled and coiled like a feral thing, wild and barely taihe air grew thick with statid Vivienne could feel the prig electricity, the tempest aether surging off Rava in waves. She’d summohis power once before, but this time it felt different—stronger, angrier, a storm barely kept at bay.

  “Stay back,” Rava growled, her voice carrying a guttural edge as she stepped between Vivienne and the advang lynxes. She locked eyes with them, daring them to make the first move.

  One of the lynxes responded with a furious yowl, and, uerred, it lu her, cws extended. Rava met it head-on, driviempest-charged fist forward, the strike colliding with the creature’s radiant fur in a crag burst of energy. The impact forced the lynx back a step, but even as it staggered, the dawn aura g to Rava’s hand, leaving faint scorch marks on her fur. She hissed in pain but didn’t falter, the tempest aether iher fist crag in anticipation.

  Vivieched, half in awe and half in desperation, as Rava battled the lyo-head. Every time Rava struck, the dawher retaliated, searing her in response, but she fought olessly. Vivienne could sense her resolve, fierd unyielding, a wall of strength that didn’t flin the face of dawn’s dev light.

  The sed lynx circled toward Vivies eyes narrowed with sharp, predatory focus. She braced herself, her monstrous mouth still gnashing in pain and frustratioendrils shing out in wild arcs. She couldn’t bite down, couldn’t e—not with the way that dawher twisted inside her like venom—but she could still fight. With a trembling snarl, she drew her form inward, densing her energy around her core, fog every ounce of strength she had left.

  The lynx crouched, preparing to strike, and Vivienne lunged first, her tendrils snapping forward like whips. The lynx dodged, but not before her tendrils caught its hind leg, yanking it back just enough to throw it off-ba twisted mid-air, g wildly as it fell, the dawher sizzling against her tendrils as they made tact.

  The lynx’s shriek echoed through the halls, sharp and grating. It twisted and she dawher around it fring brighter, as if the pain had triggered a primal fury deep within. Vivieendrils tightened, her grip like iron, but the radiance from the lynx’s fur burhrough her, sharp aless. Her tendrils recoiled, hissing with the iy of the aether’s searing touch, leaving small bursts of bed mist in their wake.

  The lynx righted itself, springing forward with terrifying speed. Vivienne’s monstrous mouth opened in a guttural roar as she shed her tendrils again, but this time, the lynx anticipated the move. It darted to the side, its cws sshing toward her, glowing with the same dawher that swelled around it.

  Vivienne barely mao block with a wave of her tendrils, but the force of the strike sent her reeling, her legs bug beh her. The world blurred as the dawn’s light surged through her, burning her from the i, her body spasming with every pulse of radia. She could feel the cracks f, her essence ing and stretg uhe pressure of the sunlit poison.

  Rava’s battle with the first lynx had grown more brutal. Each swing of her tempest-wreathed fists collided with the creature’s body, sending shockwaves of energy that threateo shatter the air around them. But the lynx, though staggered, was relentless, its fur bzing as it retaliated with jagged cws, each strike met with a searing fsh of dawher.

  Vivienne’s vision flickered, dark edges bleeding into the radiant glow of the lynx’s aura. She could feel the beast’s gaze fixated on her, its predatory instincts honed by the pulse of the dawher. Her head throbbed with the rising iy, and she could sehe lynx preparing to pounce again. She o move, to get away—but her limbs felt like lead, weighed down by the overwhelming, burning light.

  She could hear Rava’s grunting battle cry as she fought back, her lightning-wreathed fists striking the lynx in powerful successio was clear the tempest aether wasn’t enough to stop the creature’s ongoing assault. With every hit, the dawn aura forced its way into Rava’s skin, leaving behind seared marks that hissed and burned.

  Vivieeeth ground together, her monstrous mouth snapping shut in frustration. I ’t… she thought, the weight of her body heavy, her form struggling to stay together. Her mind screamed to retreat, to run, but her new instincts rebelled. She wasn’t desigo flee. She was desigo devour. To e.

  With a guttural roar, Vivieended her tendrils one more time, swinging them forward in a st-ditch effort to trol the lynx. But this time, the lynx was ready. It leapt high, avoidirike with a savage grace, its cws outstretched, aimed directly for her exposed side.

  The impact was blinding, a rush of heat and light that surged through Vivienne’s body, f her to the ground. The cws dug deep into her skin, searing her from the i. Her visio white with agony as the dawher burs way deeper into her being, poisoning her in ways she couldn’t fight against. The taste of it, the sting, spread through her like wildfire, turning her io ash.

  Rava’s voice sounded so distant, as though it were being carried across an endless void, her words muffled and distorted, like she was shouting from the other side of a vast chasm that separated them. Each sylble seemed to stretd echo, slipping away from Vivienne as if the very air between them was too thick to carry sound, leaviruggling to grasp the urgen her words.

  Vivienne’s eyes, wide and unseeing, stared at the flickering shadow of Rava’s form through a haze of light. Her body jerked, her breath shallow and ragged, and for a moment, it seemed like the world would tear itself apart. But deep in her chest, in the abyss of her corrupted heart, a spark of crity ignited.

  She couldn’t lose. Not here. Not now.

  With a force that shook her very being, Vivienne pulled herself back to her feet, tendrils snapping out in a flurry of wild motion. Her vision blurred between the blinding dawn light and the suffog darkness within, but she fought through it. Her body trembled, but she ched her jaw and focused. She could still fight. She had to fight.

  One lynx still stood, its fur fring with a burning iy. Vivienne didn’t give it a ce to act. With a feral scream, she lunged, her tendrils stretg wide as she collided with the creature. She wasn’t sure if it was her desperation or the storm-surge of energy within her, but for the first time, her tendrils were like ons, cutting through the lynx’s glowing aura. She ed them around its neck, pulling it toward her in a crushing grip.

  The lynx writhed and howled, but Vivienne squeezed harder, her body radiating a fierce, chaotic power as she fought the overwhelming dawher c through her veins. She felt the lynx’s struggles slow, its frowing heavier in her grasp, as if the light around it was burning out.

  Not yet, Viviehought, her vision fog just long enough to see the creature’s struggle. Not yet.

  And then, with a siing twist, she ss neck, the lynx’s body going limp in her grasp. But even as it fell, the dawher around it crackled, the light inside her fring in respohe aether was not doh her, not yet. Vivieaggered back, her body trembling with the aftershocks of the battle and the heavy weight of the poison inside her.

  She could hear Rava’s voice, distant and shaky, but it wasn’t enough to break through the haze of her pain.

  SupernovaSymphony