C20 The blood Oath

Rhygar’s howl clawed at the heavens, raw and jagged, ripping through every wolf’s bones.

The moons pulsed crimson.

The air thickened with the stench of iron and rot as ancient words spilled from his maw, words no wolf had dared utter in centuries. His body convulsed, twisting, breaking—bones cracking, sinew stretching. His wolf form warped, growing grotesque, larger, darker, veins glowing red as though fire itself coursed under his skin.

Gasps broke across the square.

“The Blood Oath…” whispered an elder, her voice trembling. “He’s forsaken the goddess.”

The transformation finished with a scream that rattled windows, a sound no living wolf could mistake—it was no longer an Alpha’s call. It was a monster’s.

Rhygar’s eyes glowed blood-red, his fangs dripping with black venom, claws lengthened into talons that carved the stone beneath him.

“Now,” he hissed, voice guttural and broken, “let the goddess watch her chosen fall.”

He moved.

Faster than sight. Faster than breath. Wolves loyal to Vashti leapt to intercept him—and were torn apart in an instant, their bodies shredded like paper. Blood slicked the ground as panic spread.

Lucas stood tall, his body a ruin of wounds, but his gaze steady. He pulled Zoe tighter into his arms and handed her to a trembling loyal warrior. “Take her. Don’t stop. Run until the trees hide you. If you fall, you crawl. If you crawl, you still move. Keep her breathing.”

The warrior swallowed hard, nodding, and vanished into the night.

Vashti shifted fully, her wolf radiating gold, eyes blazing with command. She stepped to Lucas’s side, her flank brushing his bloodied arm. “We fight together.”

Lucas’s lip curled in a fierce smile despite his pain. “Always.”

Rhygar’s monstrous form loomed over them, every breath shaking the earth. “Together?” he mocked, drool hissing on the stones. “Then you’ll die together.”

The square became a graveyard.

The Blood Oath monster lunged.

And Lucas and Vashti charged to meet him, side by side, bound by love, desperation, and the goddess’s light.

As claws and fangs collide, the ground splits beneath them, opening a chasm glowing with unnatural red light—dragging the fight into a battlefield no wolf has ever survived.

*******************

The earth shattered beneath their paws.

The square gave way with a deafening crack, stone crumbling into a yawning abyss. Crimson light bled from below, thick as fire and ash, as though the Blood Oath itself had torn open a vein of the underworld.

Lucas and Vashti tumbled, claws scrabbling against rock until they landed hard on jagged ground. The air burned to breathe. The sky above was gone, swallowed by red haze.

And then Rhygar dropped into the chasm after them.

His monstrous form filled the cavern, red veins glowing brighter in the suffocating dark. Every breath steamed. Every step quaked.

“This,” he growled, his voice a guttural echo, “is where you die.”

Lucas staggered up, chest heaving, blood soaking his torn shirt. Beside him, Vashti’s wolf bristled, golden aura flaring brighter than it ever had before. But even her light trembled against the choking red.

Lucas spat blood, lifting his chin. “If this is where I die, then I’ll make sure I drag you with me.”

The battle ignited.

Claw against claw, fang against fang, the cavern became a storm of fury. Sparks flew as talons met stone, each strike shaking the walls. Lucas’s body screamed with pain, every wound reopening, yet he fought harder, faster—every move driven by Zoe’s face in his mind.

Vashti launched herself at Rhygar’s throat, golden light blazing as she bit deep, tearing through corrupted flesh. He roared, slamming her against the cavern wall, the crack of stone ringing like thunder.

Lucas lunged, raking claws down Rhygar’s side, black blood spraying. It hissed when it touched the ground, burning holes through rock.

Still, Rhygar laughed. “Do you see? Even the earth bends to my oath. You cannot win.”

The crimson light around them flared, and shapes began to stir within it—shadows twisting, clawed hands stretching from the chasm walls, whispering voices older than any wolf. The Blood Oath had summoned not just power, but watchers from the abyss.

Lucas’s stomach clenched. They weren’t just fighting Rhygar anymore. They were fighting the abyss itself.

Vashti shifted back into her human form mid-leap, blood and light dripping from her skin, her eyes blazing gold. She landed beside Lucas, her hand gripping his. “If we fall, we fall together.”

Lucas tightened his grip, his wolf surging beneath his skin. “Then let’s take the bastard with us.”

They roared as one, charging into the red storm.

As Lucas and Vashti strike, the abyss answers—one of the shadow hands seizes Lucas by the throat, dragging him down into the glowing pit beneath, separating him from Vashti in a single heartbeat.