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Chapter VII - Heir of the Winds

You have gathered enough attention, Edward. What is your plan, really?

- From Aurion's letter at the 5th of Wind

4th of Wind, 6th cycle - Midnight

Zavi'sh had his claws out and ready for any retaliation that could come from the inside of Fillar's grave. He took slow steps inside the dark chamber and, from the noise of rain outside and the sudden bursts coming from the near wall, menacing the collapse of the entire tomb, he knew that the time had come. It was a shame to waste the opportunity of seeing a Call happening, but the truth of what he'd read made whatever happened in this chamber much more important.

Another step into the darkness caused the two torches, affixed on opposite walls and over two large pools of dark water, to light up. Roots protruded from large holes and rounded the pools, continuously guiding more rainwater from above.

["Do you see it, rat? Black water, to show how much the Light can be deceived."]

"I can only see the efforts of a coward," Zavi'sh said, hitting the ground with his cane.

["Killing two guardians is not a coward's job."]

On the far side of the room, he saw the place where Fillar's body was kept. He knew that the body of a red wolf lay inside that mess of vines, spines and contorted wood. Untouched, unspoiled, still sacred and beautiful in the only way Fillar would approve, according to the legends.

"Wasn't expecting a rat," a voice, deep and unnatural as shadow beast, echoed from behind.

["The earth felt nothing."]

Zavi'sh turned and stared at the human standing next to the entrance. Despite the light blue cape around his back and ghostly white shades around his head, the entire figure blended with the shadows around the chamber. It had no visible eyes or facial features besides thin lips around gritting teeth.

"Dark waters in a place where light and earth should exist, yes? And you still have the courage to appear in this place, yes, no?" Zavi'sh said, leaning on his cane.

The man smiled away his frustration and his body moved slowly towards the rat.

"An illusion is only as scary as the conjurer, human," Zavi'sh said.

"It's not for fear that I do this, heir. What I want is to know," the sound came with no movement of his lips, and he extended a hand towards Zavi'sh as he got near. "Why did you come here, rat?"

["Humans..."]

"There's nothing the earth will tell you, yes?" Zavi'sh said, looking at the man's lips once again turning into the expression of frustration as the immaterial hand touched his own head. Nosound, no feel and no fear. "But the earth demands answers, mage. Why have you allowed this to happen?"

The man retreated to the shades, burying whatever visible details of his form in the darkness.

"And why have you, rat? He's right beside us, and you can easily kill him with no remorse. You will be congratulated, acclaimed as a hero and impede this curse from progressing."

"And have blood leaking from my claws, yes?"

["And the approval of both heirs and humans."]

"I am responsible for him. Could I end his life or allow such a thing to happen? He wasn't safe in the city that tracks every mage as an inevitable murderer. He needed a place where dangerous beasts go every cycle when the moon goes Dark," his tone took a slight shift towards a calmer and more focused state, "and I wouldn't allow my failure to be his death, even if I had to kill these guardians and taint this forest with the same darkness that brings the true beast from you."

He moved again, with soundless steps and precise turns, towards one of the pools.

"And he became impatient, didn't he?" the man said and laughed. "He acted like a beast, he tried to escape the ones who tried to escape him. And how can I blame him?" He turned towards Zavi'sh once again. "There is the human that acts like a beast, driven out and hunted, suffering from a curse that his talent brought forth. He is brilliant and we all pay the price for our brilliance.

Heir of the rat, become the beast inside you and do as you all always did, beings of fang and claw. Kill him, like your Temple so wants, and free this city from this evil. You know it's what they want, and what he would do in your place."

Zavi'sh sighed, enjoying the relaxing silence after these last words and the respite from the ending storm. He took a deep breath and extended his reach over the granite, the rocks and the plants around this sacred place, and they told him what they feared. From the calm concentration of the wind to the incredible determination of the humans; he couldn't help but smile. And that was only the start, because everything was right once again.

"Human," Zavi'sh began, "even with the power to do the impossible, it looks like the darkness blinded you in the same way that Light blinded my friend."

["Pathetic dark spirit."]

---

"He's... he's..." Cairo thought while his eyes insisted in blurring his vision, half inside his own realm of imagination, half in the reality he didn't want to accept. Max doubled over, fell on the ground in his front and his blood began to pool around his body as the beast stood by his side, fangs creeping out through a triumphant smile.

But there was also something else.

Inside the huge body, hidden by the large form, fur and fangs was the fearful face of a human,who stared, pained and defeated, towards Max's body. Cairo knew that the pressure around the man's eyes, the subtle downing of the eyelids and the strength with which he strained his eyes, followed by the slow opening and downwards gaze meant.

["Death?"]

A voice came from beyond anywhere in sight. Cairo's vision went completely dark as he felt thrown into a place of silence, warmth and anger. The smell of human blood still danced around him, mocking his powerless state and teasing a response from his claws. He felt that before, the rage, hunger, and desire to kill.

["Your prey is ahead. Vulnerable, guilty, living. Will you take this chance, wolf?"]

"I..." Cairo tried to talk, receiving once again the strong smell of human blood as he took a breath, and felt the rise in his hunger. His vision came back, blurry and shaded.

He managed to lift up his head and see Sarah, running near to kneel down at Max's body; that fox Officer from the last Dark day, and Alexander, wounded on a corner and staring back at him muttering something he couldn't hear.

All that preparation, the training with his resistance to the Dark beast inside his mind and the assurance of his friend that he'd able to control came back at this moment.

"No! I can't!" he snarled, and the smell made him drool of the hunger he couldn't control, "The man inside the beast, I can't kill him!"

["Will you kill the beast, wolf?"]

The same voice in his head - now heavy with a feral desire - he could feel overpowering his thoughts, giving him strength and expanding his senses to allow a much clearer vision. Around the chamber, the air stood still, the shackles felt cold and painful, and his body jerked inside the chains as the pain rose through his back.

"The beast... that spirit inside him. Can you take it out?"

["Your prey, wolf, not mine."]

* * *

Winds gathered around the cage, rattling the metal bars and threatening to whiff out the candles around the magic circle which, with the presence of the spirit finally transitioning into this world, activated. It now stood glowing with the Wind moon's light reflection. Cairo groaned as both the pain of the transformation and the forceful extraction got to him.

"I need you to assume control, Hazel," Telsin tought.

["I'll do my best."]

"Alexander!" Telsin screamed, getting the silver wolf's attention as he jumped in his direction, placing a paw on his injured shoulder and invoking Hazel's light.

"Telsin, I need to-" Alexander started with a gasp, but got interrupted. The werewolf jumped and landed by their side, yanking the sword of from his belly and throwing it onto the ground.Sarah began to drag Max's bleeding body out of the circle.

"This is an illusion, I can't heal you right now," Telsin said, turning to look at the werewolf who crouched and coughed, holding the bleeding hole in his abdomen, "Can you stop that circle?"

Alexander blinked twice: one of pain and surprise, the other of understanding. He was able to lift both arms and prepare the slow and methodical drawing of an abjuration circle. A sudden noise by his side made Telsin instinctively turn around and see the beast already getting ready to strike at the wolf.

"Now, Hazel," Telsin said an instant before he saw its jump.

Light erupted from his body, engulfing his arms and legs first. He jumped in the direction of the beast, slashing through fur and flesh, bringing both bodies down to the granite floor. Telsin's face changed to a much more ferocious one, with opaque white eyes, and longer and larger canines. His claws dug deep into the beasts thick skin and his new coat of pure white fur now displayed numerous splotches of red. Radiant light expanded with each breath he took, bringing waves of warmth, concealing life giving energy towards the wounded mages.

As quickly as he jumped before, the werewolf mustered enough strength to bite Telsin on the arm and, using the brief moment of weakness, throw him around to the other side of the room. One more painful jump brought him near to Alexander, who gasped as he pressed a paw through the circle.

"Break!" Alexander yelled.

The circle shimmered for a last moment, shattering the ground under it and whiffing out the candles. From the center of the circle, coming from inside the cage, the white and glowing mist of the spirit transformation still lingered, blocking the view of the heir inside.

Alexander prepared a quick shield to block whatever strike the beast was preparing, but it just stood there with a curved back, staring at the white mist with wide feral eyes and a snarl of fury and fear. Telsin seized the moment to jump towards Max's shivering and bleeding body.

"Hold him," he told Sarah, who hesitated briefly upon seeing Telsin's spirit form landing near the wounded human. "Don't worry," he said, smiling with rows of sharp teeth and the soothing voice from Hazel, "he's gonna be fine."

Light erupted from his paws, engulfing the human's body and bringing his breath to a steady pace, stopping the bleeding and allowing him to open his eyes.

Suddenly, a cracking metallic sound came from the mist, followed by a plaque of metal, connected by distorted and crooked bars hitting the wall with enough strength to dig into the granite bricks.

"All of you, get down!" Alexander screamed, drawing another abjuration circle in the air.

Piece by piece, the iron cage that laid on the center got thrown into all directions, crashing through the walls with loud and reverberating noises. The werewolf prepared a large jump through the chamber, aiming to the corridor from where it appeared before, but was caught in midair by a huge, white-furred feral wolf's maw, bringing him down with a tremor.

Telsin felt his fur standing up as the large feral wolf turned his glowing, sky-blue eyes towards him, and the winds began to build in the chamber. From a mild breeze to a strong gale in the time of a breath; it spread dust, then small rocks, then the metal pieces lying around the chamber. Telsin grabbed both humans and, through Hazel's strength, dragged then to a corner, summoning another light barrier just in time to block a displaced rock from beating them.

The werewolf thrashed and clawed at the spirit, without being able to create a single wound, only make the creature growl louder and strengthen the current of air. Large rocks fell from the ceiling and cracked from the walls, opening the small hole from which the moonlight came into a large passage towards the surface. The spirit jumped up, disappearing into the moonlight.

And then came the howl.

---

Broken, torn apart, displaced, thrown away by the caged and enraged spirit of the winds, previously locked inside the innocent body of an heir of the wolf.

Zavi'sh took his paw off the wall and snarled, turning back at the shaded human figure on the far corner of the room that gritted his teeth. Shaking walls, sounds of howling and the occasional tremor of the earth felt...

["Delightful."]

"The mistake of a human..."

["Of all humans."]

"What do you think of this, Edward?" Zavi'sh said through the sounds of the shaking ground, "Still the fault of beasts, yes?"

Edward's illusion turned his face into the previous serious expression. No smile, no teeth, nothing he would let out.

"He went too far..." Edward said.

["Please..."]

Zavi'sh began a slow walk, supported by his cane, towards the natural-formed coffin of trunks and branches.

"'He went too far', the human, says, yes?"

["From someone who can't abandon his past mistake."]

Zavi'sh snarled, turning his face towards Edward's illusion once again.

"You bring the beast out of a man. You tease him, you prod him, you stare into his fearful eyes and watch as the beast snarls and growls at you.

"Keep it sealed, hidden, alone, and locked. It hungers, it becomes furious, it is easily controlled, yes?"

Another decisive step, its sound echoing around the chamber.

"And you bring that beast out, protect it, use it, change to your own desire, yes? Does it likeit, human? Does the human like it, human?"

With furious steps, Zavi'sh finally reached the wooden coffin, reached it with his right hand and felt what lied within, expanding his perception through the branches, roots, leaves, vines, walls and earth. He felt the body inside, protected, preserved, and dead. With a sigh and an anxious swallow, he commanded the branches to produce an opening.

"What's your plan, rat?" Edward's shadow whispered behind him.

Branches of ancient and immortal trees; loyal, stable, hard and almost petrified by the ages. The opening was small and too narrow to allow enough revealing light into the preserved body. He had no time to waste.

Zavi'sh plunged his hand through the opening, scraping the fur and skin through the spines, letting them dig through his flesh and leak his blood over the body inside. Cringing through the pain, he turned back towards the shadow and smiled.

"My plan is to watch, yes? Just watch, human."

And with that, his armor fell to the ground along with his cane as his spirit took control, materializing himself inside the thorny and cramped spaces around Fillar's body, able to barely touch the soft fur of the dead wolf.

His body shook with the pain of every movement bringing more spines through his flesh.

"Can you wake from this nightmare?"

["Great spirit of the woodlands"]

"And stop the wild air,"

["Pure of force, as its voice commands"]

"And through the darkness bring back the light"

["For my friend now deserves this might!"]

---

Telsin stared at the destroyed cage and upwards, through the last drops of rain being scattered everywhere by the strong gale that only got stronger with each passing moment.

"What... happened?" Max asked, trying to stand up with Sarah's help.

"Telsin!" Alexander yelled through the chamber with the eyes glowing of fear and a snarl of an incapacitated wolf, still trying his best to protect those he's loyal to.

Everything went wrong.

"You three," he turned around, making sure to glare at the defiant eyes of those young creatures, "do not follow me. Wait until I return."

Mustering the surrounding light, Telsin brought all its energy into his body, allowing his strength to grow so that his jump through the opened hole in the ceiling was effortless.

On the surface, the night that had been made darker by the heavy clouds blocking the wind moon now radiated with its light and only the last, thin drops of rain still permeated the air, thrown away by the violent strength of the gusts of wind around the huge beast standing on thesteps of Fillar's burial grounds.

"Cairo!" Telsin yelled through the winds, making sure the huge wolf heard him. It turned its head back - the werewolf was still thrashing around under his teeth, but still alive, as the creature seemed to want him.

"Heir of the fox," its voice echoed unaffected by the winds, strong and decisive like the strikes of a hunting wolf. "Do not interrupt this test. However," it jumped and turned, fast like the wind, which provoked a stronger gust to brush past Telsin's fur and force him to block the displaced water and dust with his arms and open paws.

Once he was able to look again, the large wolf's eyes glared at his own.

"Shine your light, fox. What do you see?"

* * *

["I'll bring the beast to you, wolf, but for what purpose?"]

"I want to help him overcome this!" Cairo said.

Glimpses of the last dark night flew back to his mind, reminding him of the fear laid out in the following days. A dark shadow enclosing his comforting thoughts, a snarl and growl running through his visions.

"In the same way you helped me..." Cairo's words still echoed through his mind as he tried to think. Stuck in the world created by his mind in an attempt to concentrate and keep his spirit from attacking his friends, he now couldn't escape this same prison and see what was actually happening. He could still feel the strong winds swinging the trees in the distance, swaying the grass and lifting up dust around him.

He found himself in the middle of the fields, surrounded by grass and dirt. Mind ready, he instinctively reached for his waist and there it was, his steel sword that gave him confidence in what he was about to do.

["Lose,"] The voice echoed again. Serious, grave, and powerful. ["and your mind will be lost."]

"No," Cairo said, holding the blade with both paws. As light as he remembered. "No, I won't lose!"

It appeared on the far side of the fields, lumbering on all fours with the remaining strength and willpower of a beaten up dire wolf. Not anymore the disguise under the Wind Moon would conceal this spirit: Its fur glimmered black like oil, eyes glowing red and vicious fangs dripping with ferocity. Inviting the beast into his mind would solve everything; for him and anyone unlucky enough to be cursed.

"Remember me? I said I didn't want to hurt you!" Cairo snarled, gripping firmly the handle, prepared for whatever lunge the creature would do.

The Dark Spirit swung his head and body around, taking in whatever scents Cairo's mind conjured and shook his entire body at the intermittent gusts of wind that threw branches and small stones towards it.

"Nowhere to run now! It's just me and you!"

It growled, dashed at him before leaping with bared claws and scraping the fur on Cairo's neck. Cairo's dodge maneuver allowed him to slash at the beasts arm, in the same way he did five days in the past.

"You can't escape to the shadows anymore!"

He stared again at the eyes of the beast. Its rage swelling up as his breath came in puffs of vapor. It roared, loud enough to echo around the entire field. Cairo felt the same pressure from before, making his body heavier and stuck in his defensive pose, fur bristling in apprehension.

It jumped towards him, clawing at Cairo's arm and making him drop the sword on the grass. One try at reaching it proved too much for his wounded arm, and the beast seized the moment to sink its jaws on it and hear the wolf scream until his arm stopped moving.

Now towering over him, its maw opened to reveal the imminent final bite.

A brief glance at a flaming burst, erupting in the distance along the field, burning the remnants of dry branches and the smoke swirling in the air with the winds, reminded Cairo of the last fear he overcame.

No, he couldn't give in to this again. He was still on his own mind and no one would win against him in this place.

A strong gust of wind pushed the beasts body away from him, slicing his other leg and making it fall on its back, struggling to regain its balance. Cairo slowly stood up, grasping another sword in his right paw, conjured from the same winds that still brushed, clashed and grew in strength around him. Its bronze handle glowed with a mystical aura as every light and easy movement brought a powerful air mass that sliced through fur, rock, and ground. Cairo lifted it up and felt the power of the winds constantly surging through the metal.

["I give you my winds, wolf. The mark of our bond. A promise of protection."]

The werewolf stood back up, shaking from the pain of the wounds in both legs but still keeping the feral gaze upon the heir.

"I'm sorry, beast," Cairo assumed an offensive posture, holding the sword with both paws once again. "This is where it ends."

It snarled and growled before summoning enough strength for the final leap that would be stopped in midair by the wild slash from Cairo's sword, going through its chest and breaking the beast's form into a dark mist cloud to be dispersed around the fields. Cairo's vision darkened once again as the winds became warmer and brushed against his fur, giving a comfortable feeling of warmth and a pleasant energy that strengthened his body.

"What's happening?" His voice faltered at the sheer energy it took to produce the words and he kneeled on the ground, taken by the drowsiness that followed each movement.

["I've consumed the beast, wolf. You will rest and awake to find a stronger spirit."]

* * *

Telsin's vision through the conjured light blurred after the beast's defeat through Cairo's air slash. He found himself back in Fillar's Burial grounds, but the winds had now grown stronger than he'd ever seen, swirling large boulders with the same ease as it uprooted the smaller trees, broke twigs and disassembled the sacred grounds to its original, barren and muddy foundations.

"Stop this!" Telsin shouted.

"This forest is dead, fox," the large wolf's voice echoed through the winds and landed, exceptionally louder, at Telsin's ears, "I'll find the one responsible, the spirit that allowed this human to kill so much." Moving its head down, the recently reverted body of the human was placed on the muddy earth. Telsin dashed towards him and grabbed the body, preparing to go back underground, looking behind him at the wolf jumping along the highest and strongest trees.

"Fillar is dead, spirit!" Telsin shouted.

It stopped for a moment, turning its head back and echoing his voice once again.

"Then I will claim this place for myself," it said before disappearing into the forest.

Telsin had to crouch and crawl through the muddy earth as the wind's strength became great enough to push his body.

["Hazel, do what you must. I will recover."]

* * *

Alexander examined Max's wound and made sure the human would stop trying to get up lest the cut on his shoulder would open again. No matter how much Telsin's light stopped the bleeding and started the slow regrowth, it still looked like he kept his entire arm through sheer luck or some unexpected hesitation from the werewolf.

"I'm fine, let me up!" the human said, unable to lift up his body without a lot of shaking, only using his left arm.

"You can't move your right arm, Maximillian. Stay down," Alexander said.

"That's because that fox enchanted it so I wouldn't make it worse. I can still draw-"

"No. Your arm is much worse than you think, you won't be able to move for..." Alexander hesitated, "a while."

"It doesn't even hurt anymore! I want to see-"

"Max!" Sarah yelled, unsheathing part of the enchanted sword she had retrieved from the ground, "Try to move again and you're gonna get my father's sword on your face!"

Alexander's ears perked and his eyes widened at that strange hostility, but he decided to remain silent as he saw Max relax back on the stone ground and Sarah's sigh before she put the sword back and turned back at him, smiling gently. He blinked twice and felt relieved at how the situation ended.

["Watching."]

"Cairo?"

["No..."]

The wall behind them cracked, startling Sarah enough to make her once again draw her sword before the dust cleared and revealed Zavi'sh's trembling body.

He had deep cuts all around his arms, chest, belly and around his left eye, which laid closed but bleeding into his fur. He still leaned with all of his strength on the wooden cane from before, but now with his left arm - as his right seemed too wounded, bloodied and weak to carry his body forward. Still, he held a painful smile on his muzzle.

"Where's that lazy fox?" Zavi'sh asked, receiving only the concerned looks from the three inside the chamber. "I look bad, yes, no? You worry too much!" His voice came clear through the blood that almost drooled from his mouth.

Before Alexander could muster a response, a beam of light came crashing through the hole in ceiling, bringing an assortment mud, dust, leaves and the unconscious body of a human down to the underground chamber. Telsin's body had reverted back to normal and the light aura around his fur began to dissipate among the dust in the chamber as he managed to look up towards his friend's wounded corpse. He laughed.

"How much of this is your fault, Zavi'sh?"

"None, you lazy fox! We were distracted, led astray and didn't act in time, yes?" His gaze moved to the human body on the ground that Telsin brought, "So this is the beast?"

"The human, yes. The beast is gone, but we have another one to be worried about."

"I'll deal with him, but before that..."

Without moving his body, Zavi'sh reached for the rock under him to move, quickly rearranging itself in order to bring him closer to Telsin faster than he would by walking. He lifted his cane and smacked the fox's smiling face.

"You've been deceived by your light, fox!"

"And you by your damn knowledge-seeking habit! We both acted without knowledge, don't throw everything on Hazel's light! You know it's guided us before."

"And now it has misguided us, yes? Enough for all of this to happen," he stumbled towards the nearest granite wall and placed a clawed hand over it, "Your light is always right, fox, but we are not, no," Zavi'sh paused and shook his head, "Russel had a chance, yes, and it was the death of this human, yes, yes?"

"Of course it was! But killing him wasn't the right choice either!"

"And killing this one man was, fox of light?"

"That's what the light showed me, I can't see the future!"

"It's our lesson then. We agree that we were both wrong, yes?" Zavi'sh lifted his shaking, blood soaked right arm towards Telsin, who shook it slowly and summoned his healing light toaid in his friend's pain. "And that orange juice is better than wine, yes?"

"That," Telsin retreated his paw, "is too much."

Zavi'sh giggled and squeaked as he walked to the nearest granite wall.

"Let me put the pup back in his place, yes?" He pressed a claw on the rock.

The wall opened as he pushed through the stone and once again his body was guided forward as the rock and earth moved around him. In a quick moment, the wall closed back, letting Alexander and the two humans stare at it and the smiling fox, dumbfounded and confused at what just happened.

"Telsin..." Alexander said.

"Long story, Alexander, but nothing you should wor-" Telsin stopped, getting up from the ground, cleaning most of the dust off of his fur and sighing, "Actually, there are some things you must worry about, but not right now. We just need to wait for this new storm to settle and rest assured that none of this is your fault."

"How!?" Alexander snarled, "Cairo's spirit is now out of control and-"

"No, he's not. He's doing exactly what any ancient wolf spirit would in this place and none of you could have predicted it. Just another thing to throw at the pile of unfortunate coincidences.

"You've helped this heir to attain so much control over his spirit that he was able not only to communicate on the day of his Call but also save this human from an ancient curse," Telsin said, looking up and smiling, "It's now trying to save this forest, even if it's already saved. Too bad this spirit can only see the death around the huge trees... Like I did way back then," he shook his head, "I was kinda right because my signature always shows what's right. If it wasn't for Zavi'sh..." he giggled, "but that's the past now."

---

["Heart of the Forest, Burial Grounds, First path of the lost wolf..."]

"Enjoying the forest paths?" Zavi'sh thought.

["As much as the white wolf. I can sense its anger around every crack on the ground."]

"Do we have a chance?"

["No. Destruction is sure to come."]

"It's good we can always be wrong."

Zavi'sh's arrival sent vibrations under the earth that concentrated on a single spot near the meadow where one of the Ancient oak trees had started its regrowth. Not from a single acorn, but from a sapling right next to the previous, dead one which had its trunk and roots snatched out from the earth by the powerful winds surrounding the grand spirit of the winds. The forest had indeed a new spirit, and the guardians would be reborn.

"A spirit of earth?" its voice came with powerful gusts, brushing the fur of the small rat with warmth and dust."The new spirit of Fillar's forest, wolf," the rat said.

"You allowed that murderous beast in your forest?"

"No, I was just another heir in that time, far away from here. But now I'm the one giving my life to regrow what has been destroyed, and I can't let your winds interfere, wolf. Will you retreat?"

The wolf lifted his neck and sniffed around the rat's body, snarling at the sweet and earthy scent invading his nostrils, conjuring the images of the foliage in their surroundings, the trees, bushes, and grass.

"Prove that you can protect this place, earth spirit," its voice softened and he tilted his head, letting the ears droop, "and I will let you keep it."

It gave Zavi'sh an instant to think and then, with a quick surge, the spirit pounced with claws ready to strike. A wall of stone lifted from the ground and blocked the attempt, spreading debris and dust around the two spirits before the winds strengthened and carried them away.

["Finish this, quickly."]

"Impossible. You want more destruction?"

["Is there any other choice?"]

The ground beneath obeyed every command as it, too, needed respite from the assault of the harsh winds. Zavi'sh's spirit called forth the mightiest rocks to roll away and open a passage for the wind spirit to plunge into the darkness of the earth. Before he fell in, though, the spirit leaped over the walls, once again aiming at the tiny rat's body. Before it reached it, though, stone tendrils erupted from the ground and grabbed the large wolf, pulling it back to the opened hole and sealing it shut under the sacred grounds of the meadow.

Winds died down; the smells slowly returned to the enclosed grassland and Zavi'sh returned to his heir form, wounds still dotting his fur and skin, with blood slowly dripping from his arms. "Done, yes?" he gasped, and each breath brought just a single spark of life back.

["No. It'll try to escape. Keep it down."]

A shock underground sent a force wave upwards; blocked by the earth's stability. It increased in power, turning into a tremor that expanded through the meadow, and finally into an earthquake, splitting the stone on its way through the trees, crashing them down as air escaped from the depths, with the strength of a tornado, pushing Zavi'sh away, allowing the wind spirit to jump back into the surface, followed by an air expansion blowing away boulders, bushes, and trees. The wolf descended from the jump, aided by the conjured winds, graciously landing near the torn earth separating it from the defenseless heir of the rat on the other side.

For a moment it only snorted and snarled, eyes and teeth glowing white with the moon's reflection, before it shook its head, growled and lowered himself into the ground. His form shimmered, shone with white light and the spirit disappeared into the clear mist that brought back the heir of the wolf - shivering and gasping.

Zavi'sh took the moment to breathe in deeply and lay his muzzle on his cane. Finally over."Cairo wolf, yes?" Zavi'sh said, moving the earth to propel him forwards ever so slowly.

Cairo steadied his breathing and, supporting his weight on his paws, managed to kneel on the ground. He gazed at the tree stumps curt from their trunks, the bare earth soil where once stood the patches of grass, and the cracked earth going along the forest's grounds. Leaves, branches, twigs, and dust still swirled around them, dotting the barren ground with debris. Cairo gritted his teeth.

"Not now, no," Zavi'sh said, turning around and seeing the same scene. "Wait, wolf. Until the tears you hold have already flowed, yes?"

---

5th of Wind, 6th cycle - Morning

Anginus took the time of the last and long sip of tea to remind himself of another reward to Zavi'sh. Not only the sweet taste, but the strong aroma of the herb - of which he couldn't remember the name - compounded with the light and sweet touch of honey allowed him to stand calm through the whole presentation of five or ten titles from the human announcer that let General Orson inside the meeting room. Anginus didn't even let a puff of smoke after hearing Orson's first exasperated complaints; something that certainly could be attributed to the calming effects of the tea.

"We are aware of the situation, General," Anginus finally talked, setting the cup back on the table, "and I do believe my assistant informed you that this discussion could only start when-"

"This discussion cannot wait!" the general punched the hard wooden table, making the tea cup vibrate and the waves start to gather inside the remaining tea in the cup. Anginus could feel the fire surging through his chest, but controlling it this time felt easier and easier with each new, fresh breath he took. Partially due to the Wind day, the cold weather mixed with the comfortable warmness of the tea created a sensation quite unlike any other he'd felt before. He took another sip and stretched his wings in order to grab the angry human's attention.

"Just another moment, General. I'm sure they-" Anginus stopped as he gathered the sound of hastened steps through the floor: two pairs of feet running through the stairs. Not as late as Telsin once was; that made him relax even more. "There they are."

Notwithstanding the heaviness (and expensiveness) of the door, the new guests pushed it open not as if they were the owners, but rather raiders that didn't care about any persecution that may come with such an act. Anginus took another sip, drowning the fire that surged once again through his chest.

"Right on time, yes?" Zavi'sh said, entering first and not wasting time to look around the table towards the three humans, one much angrier than the rest.

"Unfamiliar faces..." the second voice - much faster than the first one - echoed around the room with that sharp tone that reminded the dragon of how much he expected this day. Seeing those lean, scaled and clawed feet scraping at the floor before the larger and thicker amalgamation of feathers, starting white at the bottom and ever changing in patterns of orange and russet near the sharp, short beak, reaching darker shades near the tail. He knew that the plump body actually hid the wings, comfortably tucked around the shoulders, and much smaller and weaker than his own.

["Still enough to be faster than you."]

"And a good morning to you too," Anginus thought, "did you at least get those first words from our human guest?"

["Certainly. I'm also going to remember how marvelous are the effects of this drink on your mood."]

"And how enjoyable is seeing the humans' faces when encountering a hawk for the first time."

Hawk Alvar didn't shy away from the behavior that made those high fliers so interesting. He offered his clawed hand to each guest and, with the patience Anginus wished could be either summoned or shared, waited for them to calm down their fears, reach into the rest of their composure and shake it. The most enjoyable part of the interaction was the sudden and brief paralysis as they stared into the deep and frozen eyes of the Hawk, for neither did they blink as she examined and, undoubtedly, registered each face, nor did her head or body move, with the gracious exception of the claw, firmly shaking the skinny hand of the man.

["For the third time on that one."]

"Familiar face. Good morning, General Orson," Alvar said with haste, making the reaction of the human seem too slow to be appropriate.

"Yes, couldn't be a better one," he said as he shook the claw and sat back, moving his glare back at the dragon who calmly took a penultimate sip of the tea and rested his elbows on the table as a sign to start the discussion. The Hawk just nodded at the act and stood behind the serious - and seemingly tired - figure of Zavi'sh.

"Shall we begin? May one of you close the door, please?" Anginus started and, as expected, General Orson replied before anyone on the corridor would be spared of the yelling.

"Start with how this situation ran away from your control and how it will happen again."

"The incident won't-" Zavi'sh started but Anginus tapped a claw to interrupt the rat.

"Only when I call, Zavi'sh. General, I've already sent our plan towards eliminating the possibility of such an incident to occur again. Have you not seen it?"

"I deemed that plan insufficient."

"You now have the time and space to propose replacements and additional measures."

"Don't lose anything, please."

["By the Great Dragon, haven't you learned to trust me yet?"]

"Familiar situation," Hawk Alvar said, gathering all the attention, "Anginus, give time to remind him?"

Anginus blinked twice before looking at the shrugging figure of the General as he leaned back on the chair. "Go ahead."

"In the time past, you sat on the chair on left, looked at each heir face to face, eyes with human ambition. Make each Officer a Sir, make sure beasts can't touch men, also make it the other way, not one paw would step on a foot, and guards would walk on streets and watch.

"Sound reason? What a beast-man shall do and what shall be done? From the service we allowed, the guards of your city, knights on your castle and watchers on your keeps, they've obeyed every restriction.

"You are now doing it again, with the same jittering eye and clenched fist that slammed rules upon rules on your own guards, locking them on the warehouses and uncertainties that came crashing down with the winds of an ancient spirit."

Hawk Alvar finally closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting her wings open just enough for their size to impress the human audience already weirded out by seeing such a rare creature.

"So, another round. Here and there we come, try order, try punishment, try again and forget how much of that will come to a fault and cause death. Begin, General Orson, we're ready for your new rules. We'll try to avoid a war and another Waste, by wasting time."

Silence, like the ominous clouds of the previous days, spreading a cold uneasiness that reached the inner doubts of every creature - man or beast - inside the room.

"Everything?"

["Everything."]

"Thank the Great Dragon."