“Draven’s suggestion is a good one,” Adriel said. “And perhaps the best course.”

Glancing up, I saw the spirit floating beside me. I’d left her and the guardian only a few minutes ago to ruminate over the choices he’d presented me with. I didn’t know what the two had spoken about, but I could guess.

“I know,” I replied, letting my gaze drift back to the landscape. Now that the nether cloud was gone, I could see the entirety of the rocky valley that had housed the void tree. For the most part it was flat, and unbroken. Here and there, though, shards of oblong black crystal—remnants of the stygian nest—cut through the surface.

In the far distance, huddling in the shadows of the cliffs rimming the valley—and about as far away from the guardian as they could get—I spotted clumps of nether creatures. They, unfortunately, had not been banished with the nether, nor destroyed entirely, even after Draven’s killing spree.

How many remain? I wondered. A hundred? Two hundred? More, I thought. They were still a threat—if a minor one.

“Shouldn’t we kill them?” Ghost asked, following my thoughts.

“We will if they are foolish enough to attack us,” I assured her, “but I suspect Draven will get around to dealing with them eventually.”

“Oh,” she said, sounding disappointed. “But what about the seeds? We shouldn’t just leave them lying about. It’s not safe.”

My lips twitched upwards. The spirit wolf was bored and anxious to begin her new existence, not that I could blame her. Trapped in a cloak, I would be just as restless.

Before I could respond to her though, Adriel spoke again. “Then, why are you reluctant?”

I turned back to the lich, mentally backtracking to pick up on the threads of the conversation again. Her question was a pertinent one, but the answer was neither straightforward nor easy to define. “What Draven said was true. Time waits for no one.”

Adriel cocked her head to the side. “I don’t understand.”

I sighed. “I’ve already lost over a month in—”

“Prime?” Ghost interjected. “Did you hear me?”

I broke off, losing my train of thought.

“I think we should destroy the seeds,” she added.

“What is it?” Adriel asked nearly at the same time.

For a moment, I sat there, mouth opened, eyes unseeing, and attention split between the two disembodied entities who couldn’t see or hear each other. “I’m an idiot, that’s what.” I laughed. “Trying to hold two conversations at once is not a good idea.”

The frown marring Adriel’s face vanished. “Ah. Ghost is awake,” she guessed.

I nodded. “Should I let her manifest?” I asked, projecting my voice to both of them simultaneously.

“Yes, please!” Ghost exclaimed, seeds forgotten.

Adriel’s response was more tempered. “I suppose,” she conceded, gaze darting to the distant stygians. “She has waited long enough.” The spirit smiled suddenly. “And I’m as keen to see her as she is no doubt to get out.”

Grinning, I turned my attention inwards. “Adriel says you can come out—but only for a short time,” I warned. “And no wandering off.”

“Of course, Prime!” Ghost replied, her mindglow dancing with delight.

Saying nothing, I waited. Despite my admonishment, I too, felt no small measure of excitement. Finally, I would get to see Ghost in her new form.

Trails of gray oozed out of the cloak—from the seams, the collar, the arms, everywhere. I glanced over my shoulder. The smoke was forming behind me too, and if I hadn’t known better, I would’ve thought it was I who was the source.

Rising to my feet, I turned around in a slow circle. The cloud about me was growing denser every second, obscuring me from sight. Interesting, I thought.

A moment later, Ghost’s mindglow vanished from my awareness. She had slipped out of the cloak, I realized. Where she was, I couldn’t tell. But I could guess.

The smoke was still gathering, so thick and dark now that it was reminiscent of the void. I sensed no danger from it, though. If anything, it felt welcoming. Raising my arms, I waved them gently through the cloud.

Two orbs of glowing orange appeared before me.

Ghost.

I reached out to her, but before I could make contact, the cloud coalesced in a rush, sucked into and around the shining eyes.

Ghost has cast manifest and has taken the form of a level 1 stygian pyre wolf.

I blinked. A great, big wolf sat in front of me, one formed from the cold unrelieved darkness of the void. No, that wasn’t quite true. While Ghost’s new body was all liquid darkness, her eyes shone with warmth—the warmth of a phoenix’s undying flames.

Her breath came out in puffs of ash, and when she curled her lips, I saw her teeth bore the distinctive cast of magma. A speck of saliva dripped out of her mouth. I followed it, watching avidly as the tiny drop hit the ground. The rock hissed, then melted, leaving a shallow indentation.

Ghost was a being of fire.

One wrapped in a shell of nether.

A stygian pyre wolf indeed.

“Well?” a voice demanded in my mind. “What do you think?”

I let my gaze drift back upward until I was staring into Ghost’s orange eyes. In her new form, the spirit wolf—pyre wolf, I amended—was at eye level with me. “It’s perfect,” I said, grinning broadly. “You’re perfect.”

Ghost wagged her tail happily.

Adriel floated forward. Circling the pyre wolf, she studied her critically from every angle. “Does everything work?”

My eyes widened at the question. “Does everything—?” I broke off, deciding I didn’t want to know what she meant by that.

Ghost bobbed head up and down. “I think so. Like the Prime said, it’s perfect. Thank you, Adriel!”

Her answer did not satisfy the lich, though. “We’ll see,” she remarked noncommittally. Continuing her inspection, Adriel ordered Ghost to move a foreleg forward, back, up, down, left and right. Then, she began with the next leg, piling on instruction after instruction, all of which Ghost complied with obligingly.

I sat back down. Adriel, it seemed, was determined to be thorough, and not wanting to interfere, I watched on in silence as she ran Ghost through her paces.

✵ ✵ ✵

“She’ll do,” Adriel pronounced after what seemed entirely too long.

I nodded gravely, concealing a smile. “That’s good to hear.”

The spirit sank to the ground, mimicking my pose. A dozen yards away, Ghost… frolicked. That was the only word I could think of to describe it.  Leaping, and darting left and right, the pyre wolf pounced on random pieces of rock. Unlike an ordinary pup though, her magma teeth crushed stone into dust, her stygian claws—formed from dead seed fragments—dug deep grooves in the ground, and her flame breath left puddles of melted rock in her wake.

“She seems happy,” Adriel commented as we watched Ghost, legs in the air, rub her liquid-black coat against a particularly sharp rock to scratch an itch.

“She is,” I confirmed, feeling the glee roll off the wolf’s mind in waves.

“And you? What do you think?” Adriel asked.

I turned to face her. “I think you did better than Ghost and I had any right to expect. Thank you.”

She nodded simply.

“What happens when she becomes a familiar?” I asked. “Will she change in any way?”

From what I’d observed so far, even as a level one creature, Ghost had a formidable arsenal of weapons at her beck. But that was the point, I could only observe. I didn’t have access to the pyre wolf’s Game data—I wasn’t even sure she would have any—nor did I know what it would mean for Ghost to become a familiar.

You’ll see,” Adriel said, smiling mysteriously.

At my confounded look, she laughed. “I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”

I grunted and we both fell silent watching Ghost again.

“You will take care of her,” Adriel said finally. It was not a question.

I shot her another glance. “You will be around to help with that. For a while at least.”

She grimaced. “It seems so.”

“The idea doesn’t please you?”

A welter of emotions crossed the spirit’s face. “No…” She sighed. “It’s just that I thought I was done with this existence.”

I nodded, understanding some of what she meant. I drew out her phylactery from a pouch. “What do we do with this now?”

She glanced at the object. “You will have to hold it safe for the time being. Once we have decided our next move, I will return to my complex and collect another flesh golem.”

“Alright,” I said, stowing away the precious item again.

“Speaking of our next move…” Adriel began, resuming our interrupted conversation as I knew she would. “Have you decided what you will do?”

I blew out a troubled breath. “I can’t do what Draven wants.”

“Why not?” she asked, not looking surprised at my answer.

“I’ve already lost a month in Draven’s Reach, and while I’m not denying the time has been well spent, there are others who need me on the outside.”

Adriel didn’t say anything for a moment. “Is it your Pack that worries you?”

“Yes,” I said simply.

“Then why not keep the boon for later, and return to Draven once you have seen them secure?”

I sighed again. “Because the moment I leave the dungeon, everything changes. I will be amongst players again, elite players, envoys too—not to mention, Powers as well. I can’t walk amongst them unprepared.” I raised my hands. “I know, I know. All that sounds like a good argument to take my time, to go to whichever dungeon Draven sends me to and get stronger in the process, but like the guardian said, ‘time waits for no one.’” I sighed. “I can’t wait. I don’t have that luxury.”

“I can see that,” Adriel allowed. “But what has changed from before? What are you—” She stopped. “It’s your new Mark,” she continued. “You are afraid about what it will mean for you?”

“Yes. I may be able to hide it from lesser players, but from the Powers? That I’m not so sure of.” I turned to face her squarely. “You know more of the Game than I do. What do you think my chances are of concealing my Power Mark if I came face to face with a new Power?”

“By conceal, I take it you mean hiding your Mark using your lesser disguise spell?”

I nodded.

“Then your assumption is not wrong. At best, your chances of that are negligible—at least at your current deception skill.”

My shoulders sagged. “That’s what I thought too. Now, you understand the problem.”

“Perhaps,” she said, studying me thoughtfully. “Are you considering using the guardian’s favor to enter a virgin dungeon, speed running it? Do you think it will make you strong enough to face the new Powers?”

I shook my head. “I wish there was time for that, but I don’t think that’s an option either.”

“So, what will you do? Do you plan on hiding with your Pack on the tundra?”

“I can’t do that either. The Pack’s future must be secured. To do that, I will have to revisit Nexus, the wolves’ valley, and other places besides. I can’t hide out forever.”

Adriel’s brows crinkled. “What then? I can tell you have something in mind. What is it?”

“I need to be prepared,” I reiterated softly. “That doesn’t mean getting strong enough to overcome any new Power I run into—which if I’m being realistic may take decades—but to be ready for my inevitable defeat when I do.” I stared at her mutely for a second. “I need a backup plan in case I fall.”

Adriel’s face grew grave. “By ‘fall’ you mean die?”

I nodded. “Yes. I have to prepare for my final death.”

“You’re losing me again. How can you prepare for that?”

“Seeing House Wolf established is more important than my own survival,” I said bluntly. I fell silent for a moment, chewing over those weighty words. This was the first time I’d voiced the sentiment aloud—or even acknowledged what following the way of the Wolf could cost me.

But the idea did not distress me as much as I feared.

I’d made my peace with it long ago, I realized. In my heart, I’d always known the path I followed could lead me to an untimely death. But it would not, I vowed, lead to ruin. The guardian’s favor was the key. It gave me an unlooked-for opportunity to secure House Wolf’s future.

And I couldn’t ignore it.

I pointed to Ghost. “Protecting her future, that of other yet-to-be-found scions, and the rest of the Pack—Oursk, Aira, Sulan, Duggar—is what’s crucial. If I can do that before I plunge back into the Game’s machinations, then I will have a freer hand to do what I must.”

“I get all that,” Adriel said, sounding exasperated. “But you still haven’t told me what you intend on doing. You’re being awfully cryptic.”

“I guess I am,” I said blandly. “A bad habit, I suppose. I wonder where I picked it up?”

She rolled her eyes. “Just spit it out.”

I chuckled for a moment before my humor faded. “To secure House Wolf, I have to find someone to shepherd the Pack when I’m gone.”

“You don’t mean me,” she deduced.

My lips quirked upward. “I wish it could be you. Or even Safyre. But no, House Wolf needs a Wolf and that means—”

“—finding Ceruvax!” Adriel gasped. “You mean to locate the lost Wolf envoy.” Her eyes grew distant. “Audacious,” she murmured. “But it could work.” She glanced at me. “You will use the guardian’s favor to go to him?”

“Actually, no.”

Confusion colored the spirit’s face again.

My smile turned wry. “I don’t want to use the boon to go to Ceruvax. I want to use it to bring him here.”