Chapter Twenty-Five: The Severing Star

The Valley of Whispers thrummed with a chorus of ancient voices, their chants of sacrifice reverberating through the mist-choked expanse. At the stone altar, its runes glowed in time with Veydranos, pulsing under the severing star's silver light. Ethan gripped the Severed Fang, its weight anchoring him as the air grew thick with tension. Kael, his ember-red eyes blazing, accused the Nightbound leader of coveting the Blade of Command, his spear trembling with restrained fury. The leader, their blue gaze cold as frost, countered that Kael's oath was false, a betrayal forged in shadow. Behind Kael, a wraith-like figure shifted, mimicking other Nightbound, its voice a guttural echo of Strahen's, taunting Ethan to choose wrongly. Helena, her shoulder bandaged from the prior battle, clutched her satchel, her voice urgent but strained. "The valley's magic will corrupt the Rite if we falter. We must act as one."

Ethan's silvered eyes scanned the group, his wolf blood snarling, his vampire blood stirring with hunger. The Blade of Command hummed, urging him to lead, but doubt gnawed at him. Rufik, limping from wounds in Boneglass Canyon, growled, his axe slung over his shoulder. "These Nightbound reek of treachery, Ethan. That shadow knows too much." Among the Nightbound, Voren, a warrior with sapphire-blue eyes, lingered near the altar, their rune-etched cloak catching the starlight. Their calm observation felt off, too measured. Ethan noted it but said nothing, the whispers pressing against his mind.

"We trap it," Ethan said, his voice steady despite the chaos. "Helena, bind it with sigils. Nightbound, strike from the flanks. I'll finish it with Veydranos." Rufik grunted, eyeing Voren warily, but nodded. The pack tightened their formation, claws flexing, while the Nightbound's spears glinted, their runes pulsing faintly. Helena traced sigils in the air, golden lines weaving a net. As the shadow lunged, it unraveled the sigils with a flick of its dark tendrils, dodging the Nightbound's spears with eerie precision. A tendril slashed a pack member's leg, blood soaking the ground, and the shadow vanished, its laugh echoing: "Your plans are foreseen." Ethan's grip on the Severed Fang tightened, its hum faltering, as if sensing betrayal.

The group staggered back, the wounded pack member leaning on a comrade, their growl pained. Rufik's face darkened, his voice rough. "That thing knew our every move. Someone's talking." He glared at the Nightbound, his axe twitching. Voren stepped forward, their voice smooth. "The pack's recklessness invited failure. We followed the plan." Their precise recall of Helena's sigil pattern struck Ethan as odd, but the shadow's return cut his thoughts short. Helena, wincing from her shoulder, shook her head. "It's Strahen's will, amplified by the valley. We need another plan."

Ethan nodded, his vampire blood pulsing, a red haze flickering at his vision's edge. "Feint a retreat," he said. "Draw it out. Nightbound, circle behind. I'll ambush with Veydranos." Voren nodded slowly, their eyes lingering on Helena's satchel. The pack moved, pretending to fall back, their steps heavy in the soft earth. The Nightbound flanked silently, but the shadow anticipated, bursting through the mist. It shattered Helena's protective sigils, its tendrils grazing Kael's arm, drawing blood, and nearly pinning a Nightbound to the ground. Helena's sigils flared just enough for Ethan's strike with the Blade of Command to force the shadow's retreat, but the group teetered on collapse, their breaths ragged. Rufik roared, his voice hoarse. "Twice now! It's like they're reading our minds!"

Kael rounded on the Nightbound leader, his spear raised. "You hesitated. Your spear missed its mark." The leader's voice was ice. "You knew its path too well, Kael. Where does your loyalty lie?" The pack growled, claws bared, while the Nightbound stood apart, their runes glinting. Voren, silent, adjusted their cloak, a faint flicker of a blood rune catching Ethan's eye, unnoticed by others. The valley's whispers chanted betrayer, pushing the group to the brink. Helena, her face pale, urged calm. "We're bleeding and bickering. The Rite can't start like this." Ethan felt Veydranos's pulse, its hum urging him to act, but his dual bloods warred within, his vampire side craving control, his wolf side howling for freedom.

The group regrouped near the altar, tending wounds under the severing star's cold glow. Rufik, bandaging his cuts, demanded Ethan confront the Nightbound. "They're hiding something, Ethan. Look at Voren, always skulking." Helena, her burned shoulder slowing her, clutched her satchel, her voice soft. "The valley twists our minds. We need to trust, or we're lost." Ethan's silvered eyes caught Voren lingering by the altar, their fingers brushing a rune that pulsed briefly, then faded. A pack member, limping, muttered about abandoning the Nightbound, straining the alliance further. Helena pulled a scroll fragment from her satchel, her hands trembling as she read. "The Rite demands a memory or bond to sever Strahen's tie to his generals. Past wielders failed because their souls fractured." Her vagueness sparked Rufik's anger. "More secrets? You're as bad as the ghosts!" Ethan mediated, his voice low. "Enough. We fight again, or we die here."

A stronger manifestation of Strahen's will emerged, a crimson-eyed specter crowned in bone, wielding a corrupted shadow of Veydranos. Ethan led a desperate plan: Helena's sigils would shield the group, the pack and Nightbound would attack in unison, and Ethan would strike with the Severed Fang. Voren suggested a tight formation, but Ethan altered it, his instincts wary. The specter predicted their original plan, its tendrils lashing through the mist, but faltered against Ethan's improvisation, his wolf's ferocity disrupting its rhythm. The Blade of Command's silver light flared, clashing with the specter's darkness. Helena's sigils wavered, her leg grazed by a tendril, blood seeping through her cloak. The pack's claws and Nightbound's spears held the line, and Ethan's final strike banished the specter, its crimson eyes fading with a hiss: "You cannot hide forever." The narrow victory left the group battered, Helena barely standing, Kael's arm bleeding, and the pack's wounded limping.

Rufik spat, his voice raw. "We're dying out here, and someone's selling us out." His gaze locked on Voren, who stood apart, their cloak's runes dim but steady. Ethan nodded, his silvered eyes narrowing, but said nothing, the traitor's shadow still hidden. Veydranos's pull intensified, its hum risking his humanity, his vision tinged red with vampire hunger.

Exhausted but resolute, Ethan placed Veydranos on the altar, initiating the Rite's first stage. The severing star's light flooded the Blade of Command, its runes blazing. The altar demanded his blood, and Ethan cut his palm, wolf and vampire essence mingling. The altar drank, and pain seared through him, his soul trembling as Veydranos bound to him, a piece of his essence woven into its steel. The valley's voices screamed, revealing the next stage required a memory or bond to sever Strahen's tie to his generals. Helena, weakened, her leg bandaged, admitted her scroll hinted at this cost, her voice breaking. "It's more than blood, Ethan. It's who you are." Rufik's anger flared, his axe slamming into the earth. "And you didn't tell us? We're bleeding for your secrets!

Ethan's chest tightened, the Severed Fang's hum now his heartbeat. "If I'm not enough, we all fall." A guttural howl echoed, ancient and bone-deep, signaling a general's approach. The altar's runes shifted, revealing a stone staircase descending into a crypt beneath the valley, the Rite's final stage. Velhara's voice whispered through the mist, sharp as flame: "The traitor watches, and the Rite will test all." Ethan led the descent, the Blade of Command pulsing, his silvered eyes catching Voren's cloak flicker once more, unnoticed in the dark. The pack followed, their wounds slowing them, while the Nightbound's spears glinted, their loyalty fragile. The valley's whispers trailed them, promising ruin, the traitor's shadow still hidden among them.