Dance of Shadows and Steel

The night wind howled fiercely, making the flames of the campfire flicker unsteadily. The undergrowth rustled in all directions, an ominous sound that foretold the inevitable.

Red eyes glowed in the darkness.

One, two, three... ten. Ten pairs of crimson eyes watched them from the shadows, motionless, calculating.

They were surrounded.

Fenix felt his body tense instinctively.

The beasts emerged from the trees, gliding like living shadows. Their fur was as dark as the night itself, making them nearly invisible, except for the flickering of the campfire reflecting on their silhouettes and the spectral glow of their eyes.

They were monstrous, three times larger than a common wolf, with imposing bodies and taut muscles that moved with lethal precision.

For a second, no one breathed. No one moved.

Then, hell broke loose.

The first to react was Vanya.

Her bow, charged with that strange cutting wind, rose with the speed of a blink, and her first arrow vanished into the darkness like a fleeting lightning bolt.

A piercing howl echoed through the trees.

Her arrow had found its target, piercing the eye of one of the wolves. The beast collapsed to the ground, convulsing, its paws clawing at the earth in a final spasm before going still.

But the others did not stop.

Vanya drew her bow again with superhuman speed, releasing two more arrows in rapid succession.

The nearest wolf dodged the first with a swift lateral leap, its movements too fast, too precise for a creature its size.

But the second buried itself deep into its side.

The wolf let out a snarl of fury and pain, but it did not fall.

Its body trembled, its legs buckled for an instant, but its gaze remained fixed on them.

It wasn't dead. Just wounded.

And a wounded wolf was even more dangerous.

The wolves launched their attack.

The moment they entered the fire's radius, Ron and Rhen moved as if they had been waiting for that exact instant.

Fenix saw them in action for the first time.

The twins did not fight as separate individuals.

They moved as one, synchronized to perfection, each movement complementing the other without the need for words.

A wolf leapt directly at Vanya, its fangs ready to tear into her flesh.

But it never touched her.

Before it could reach her, Ron was already there, stepping in its path with his sword raised.

With a fluid motion, he spun on his axis and slashed across the beast's chest, opening a deep wound that spilled dark blood onto the ground.

The wolf howled in agony, staggering.

But before it could even attempt to retreat, Rhen appeared from the other side.

With a swift, precise slash, he cleaved through the wolf's neck, the force of the blow so great that its head rolled across the ground, stopping just at Fenix's feet.

Fenix blinked, frozen, his breathing unsteady.

'This is madness… this is too much.'

He forced himself to stay calm, even in this extreme situation.

Without realizing it, he slipped closer to the fire, instinctively moving away from the severed head.

Once he was at a safe distance, he was able to take in the full scene.

And what he saw captivated him.

Ron and Rhen continued their slaughter, shielding both Vanya and him from the wolves claws.

"They're anticipating the wolves' movements…" Fenix murmured without thinking.

They weren't just reacting.

They moved as if they knew what was going to happen before it did.

Another wolf lunged at Ron from his left flank, a fast and lethal maneuver.

But Rhen was already turning toward it.

With a precise kick, he struck the beast's snout, knocking it off course just enough for Ron to drive his sword into its throat.

The wolf struggled, convulsing in desperation.

But with a brutal twist, Ron wrenched his blade free, slicing through muscles and arteries.

The beast collapsed to the ground, its final breath rattling in its throat.

A chill ran down Fenix's spine.

'It's beautiful… it looks like a dance.'

The precision, the harmony in the twins' movements, the way they read their enemies' attacks before they happened—

Fenix couldn't look away.

Every movement had intention. Every attack had a purpose, executed with a fluidity that bordered on the supernatural.

'They're not fighting on instinct. They're executing a strategy.'

Vanya, protected by Ron and Rhen, did not stop firing arrows, making sure to cover any blind spots.

But the wolves were learning too.

One of them, cleverer than the rest, slipped to the side, using the underbrush as cover, dodging Vanya's arrows with calculated precision.

Fenix noticed it before anyone else.

"To the left!" he shouted without thinking.

Vanya spun instantly and fired without hesitation.

The arrow pierced the wolf's leg, stopping it before it could launch its attack.

The beast snarled in pain, collapsing onto its wounded side.

"Good eye" Vanya murmured, a faint note of approval in her voice, before finishing the creature off with a direct shot to the chest.

The wolf shuddered, let out one final breath, and lay still on the bloodstained grass.

One by one, the pack was being wiped out.

The wolves' bodies lay scattered, their dark blood soaking into the earth, mixing with the flickering light of the campfire.

The last of them, the largest, tried to retreat.

But Ron and Rhen gave it no chance.

With impeccable synchronization, Ron attacked from the left, while Rhen attacked from the right, forcing the beast to turn and expose its weak spot.

Rhen did not hesitate.

With a brutal thrust, he buried his sword deep into the beast's abdomen, driving it up to the hilt.

The wolf howled in pain, its body convulsing, but before it could react, Ron moved with surgical precision and slashed its throat in one clean motion.

The wolf collapsed, its breathing ceasing in seconds.

Silence descended upon the camp.

Ron exhaled, wiping his sword against his cloak.

"That was easier than I expected," he remarked with a slight smile.

Vanya lowered her bow and sighed.

"Yeah… it's over."

But Fenix felt that something was off.

The fog remained thick.

The wind was still heavy with the scent of blood.

Something wasn't right.

Then he saw it.

A wolf, agonizing but still alive, staggered to its feet among the corpses of its pack.

It was the one Vanya had wounded at the start of the battle, the one that had remained motionless with an arrow lodged in its side.

But it wasn't dead.

Vengeance burned in its red eyes like smoldering embers.

With a rabid snarl, it lunged at Vanya in a final, desperate attack.

Its muscles still held enough strength to kill.

And Vanya didn't see it coming.

Fenix moved before he could think.

His eyes locked onto a dagger near the fire.

It was Vanya's.

He ran.

The wolf was inches away from Vanya when Fenix grabbed the dagger and spun on his axis, thrusting the blade upward in a desperate motion.

A sharp impact.

The steel sank into the beast's neck, slicing through skin, flesh, and arteries.

A choked snarl, a strangled whimper.

Hot, thick blood splattered across his face.

The wolf collapsed on top of him, its massive weight nearly crushing him against the ground.

Fenix gasped, his chest rising and falling heavily, his heart pounding violently in his ribcage.

Silence.

The crackling of the campfire was the only sound breaking the stillness.

Vanya stared at him, surprised.

Ron and Rhen watched the scene in stunned disbelief.

Finally, Ron broke the silence.

"If you hadn't done that… Vanya would be dead."

Vanya stepped closer and, after a few seconds of hesitation, offered him her hand.

Fenix took it and pulled himself up, his legs still trembling slightly from the adrenaline.

Vanya studied him with an unreadable expression before saying:

"I didn't think you had the guts."

Fenix smirked faintly, still feeling the weight of blood on his face.

"Neither did I."

The battle was over.

But Fenix knew he would never forget this night.

He hadn't just witnessed what Awakened could do.

He had killed.

And he would do it again if it meant surviving.