The infirmary was in shambles.
Healers shouted over each other. Their voices were too shrill because they were filled with overwhelming panic. They were on the verge of losing their Alpha while the pack was already going through such a ssy conflict!
" More gauze!" Soone yelled.Blood splattered the silver floors, mixing with ash and the faint glow of healing runes scrawled hastily across the air.
Mango stood hunched over Kieran’s convulsing body, sweat dripping from her brow, lips moving in rapid fire chants as she pressed her trembling hands against his open chest.
The wound looked horrible.A jagged, ugly puncture just left on his heart that oozed blackened blood despite the layers of poultices packed into it.
"Scrape it again," Mango ordered, her voice strained. One of her subordinates obeyed imdiately, fingers trembling as they dug into the wound with a silver tool, scooping out another clump of rotting flesh. The stench was nauseating. It was tallic, but with an underlying decay, like sothing long dead.
Dax stood at the foot of the bed, his jaw clenched so tight his teeth ached. His Alpha’s face was ashen, his breathing so shallow it was nearly imperceptible.
Every few seconds, Kieran’s body would jerk, his muscles seizing as if fighting an invisible force.
"Faster," Mango snapped.Another healer rushed forward, pressing a steaming cloth soaked in very bitter slling herbs against the wound. Kieran’s back arched off the bed, and then a guttural groan tore from his throat.
Dax could not take it anymore. "Damn it, Mango...is he even going to make it?"
Mango did not answer.
"Keep the seal steady!" she scread at a young warlock who had gone pale. "Do not let it break!"
Dax stood up, staggering back, waiting stiff at the edge of the chaos, blood coating his arms up to the elbows. He had held Kieran down while they had cut away the rotting flesh.
His bone was nearly visible beneath the layers of decomposing muscles. Now, his Alpha lay still, his face still white like a ghost, lips parted as if hanging halfway between this world and the next.The white of his eyes were visible sotis, otherwise they were closed shut.
Autumn lay motionless on the next bed beside the chaos. All bandaged and unconscious, chest rising in a steady rhythm. Her face was pale too, streaked with dried blood.The sedative was keeping her still. For the mont, all attention was on Kieran...because he was slipping. Very bad.And ti was running out.
"Pulse is still weak!" one of the healers cried.
"Seal is slipping again!" the warlock wheezed.
Mango swore in an ancient tongue, planting her palm directly over Kieran’s heart. She slamd her staff to the floor. And runes exploded outwards like spiderwebs, flaring golden then fading into the air.
A beat passed. Then another. Then a
gurgle ca out like a breath and it escaped Kieran’s lips, followed by a long, rattling exhale.
But Mango did not slow down or look relaxed. Her lips kept moving soundlessly, her fingers tracing glowing sigils over Kieran’s skin. The symbols burned bright gold before sinking into his flesh, sealing the edges of the wound inch by inch.
Then ,finally, Kieran’s chest rose in a deeper, steadier breath.
Mango gasped, sagging forward as if her strings had been cut. Tears stread down her face, mixing with sweat. "He will live! " She announced, but waited, watching him, with utmost patience.
The entire room stilled.
His chest rose. Then again.
Mango stumbled back, her legs finally giving out, and caught herself on the nearest table. She let out a choked gasp, then covered her face with blood streaked hands, shoulders shaking as she broke into tears.
Dax rushed to her side. "Mango! Are you alright..."
"Don’t," she said sharply, voice ragged. "Don’t touch ,Dax.Stay back."
Dax froze on his tracks, so very confused.
She inhaled deeply, composing herself, and turned to the healers, witches and warlocks. "All of you...out. Now. I will call if I need you again."
"But..."
"Now!" she barked.
They scrambled out like frightened birds, so still clutching half used runes or spell scrolls. The door shut with a dull thud, sealing the chaos behind it.
Silence returned, but the room was heavy with the stench of magic, sweat, burning flesh and scorched rot.
Hurriedly and with deliberate movents, Mango stripped off her ruined healer’s robes, her undergarnts sticking to her skin. She stood bare for a mont, then raised her hands and summoned a blue fla...cold, cleansing, ethereal...The Blue Fla that Healers only summoned in dire situations.
It licked over her skin, burning away blood, gri, and exhaustion, leaving her raw but clean. The scene looked quite intimidating.
Dax stared, jaw slacked. "Mango... what the hell are you doing?"
She ignored him, not bothering to answer. Instead, she turned back to Kieran, whose body had finally stilled in sothing resembling sleep. She approached slowly, her staff glowing faintly...bluish.Perhaps remnants of the summoned Blue Flas.
"Co here," she finally called Dax over.
Dax obeyed, his jaw tight. Mango knelt beside Kieran, ran her fingers gently over the wound they had carved open to scoop out the contamination. Her fingers stopped over the gnarled center, where the wound did not heal like it should. Where flesh curled like blackened thorns.Tiny, tendrils of dark energy writhed beneath his skin, as if sothing alive had burrowed inside him.
She dragged a single finger through it. "Demon knife."
Dax stilled.
His mouth opened, then shut again. He leaned down, his sharp eyes narrowing as he examined the twisted, blackened tissue that spiraled like roots from a central point. "Holy hell... that’s not possible."
"It shouldn’t be.But it is...its right in front of us..."
His breath hitched. "How did he survive a Demon knife? Are you absolutely sure he is breathing and out of danger?"
Mango nodded slowly. "He is stable. His vitals are normal. The seal is holding. Miraculous, yes. But... I have no idea how."
She stole a quick glance at Autumn lying unconscious on the other bed. Her expression flickered for those who would notice. Sothing like awe, or suspicion. But Dax did not notice for sure. He was too fixated on the man they had almost lost.And his impossible looking wound that was about to open the door to more chaos.
"He should be dead," Dax muttered. "I thought... Demons were extinct. That kind of blade has not been forged in centuries."
"They were never forged,dear, " Mango murmured, now moving towards Autumn’s bedside. She picked up her dress from the chair and began slipping it on. "They were birthed through sacrifice and ancient magic no sane being would dare touch...forbidden for a reason.And only a Demon could birth it with his vein...and blood. It is more like a vicious pet that does your bidding than an actual weapon. It holds loyalty and cannot be yielded by all. If the master died, the blade died along with them...until and unless, passed on to the next generation."
Dax turned sharply, eyes wide with worry and confusion. "Then how? Who the hell had access to sothing like that?"
Mango draped her cloak over her shoulders and picked up her walking stick. She moved with slow, deliberate grace around Autumn’s bed. Kneeling beside her, she reached out and stroked the girl’s blood matted hair, her thumb brushing gently over her temple.
"Apparently," she said softly, "not all of them are gone."
Dax’s expression darkened, his fists clenching. "This changes everything.Damn! What is this new ss we got ourselves into!"
" Guess you will have to wait for your Alpha to wake up for more answers." Mango shrugged.She only looked at Autumn, her eyes stormy and unreadable.
She just humd, her fingers lingering on Autumn’s brow.She was definitely watching sothing... an interesting phenonon that was going on.
And if Dax had been paying attention, he might have seen it too. There were these faintest flickers of gold beneath the girl’s skin, pulsing in rhythm with Kieran’s slowing heartbeat.Like they were invisibly bound. How fascinating... but a howl interrupted the mont.
Dax imdiately stood up and rushed towards the door. " If you need anything or if anything changes... you have my mindlink. I will keep it open for you to access under all conditions! Stay here! Don’t leave Alpha alone. "
Dax darted out as Mango nodded but the scene that he was t with was utter chaos.
The borders had been breached. There were a few bodies sprawled here and there. He noticed the small gang, holding the rest of his n hostage.
Damn it! The Bloodfangs!
Those bastards must have sniffed Kieran’s condition. Words flew faster than wind with so many moles and spies, littered all over Blackmoon.
" What do you want, morons! Let my n go! So I will consider letting you live another day! " Dax roared from where he was, drawing out his weapons, his eyes shifting, his fangs bared!
That one guy from Bloodfang sneered. " Oh co on, Beta! Don’t be so an! We heard your pretty little Alpha boy fainted while fighting so rogues??? We ca to give our condolences!" Then he pointed at the bodies that were littered. " These mother fuckers would not let us in! So we had to cut them off! No hard feelings, huh! "
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