He was admired by the Luna. Though she had defeated him in a friendly match, everyone could tell he had held back.
When Luna Reana personally chose him to lead the delegation to the Southern Islands, he didn’t decline—and none of the warriors protested. They knew he was the most deserving.
On the way, he defied her orders to eliminate Karl if he caused trouble. Yaz’s reason was simple: "I wasn’t there when Luna Reana gave such a command. Karl is a pack mber. The Luna protects her pack mbers. So do I."
At the Southern Islands, his effortless integration with the Dark Snow Pack earned their respect. Because of Yaz, the trade went smoothly. Even when Karl, as usual, courted death, it was Yaz who convinced the Dark Snow Pack to show rcy.
Before they left, Yaz even negotiated with Beta Qasas to supply them with weapons and shields for the dangerous return journey.
His sword was different from everyone else’s. When he drew it during an ambush and fire leapt from the blade, the warriors were stunned. They assud it was laced with dark magic—but none dared question it. So were jealous, yes. But none spoke a word.
He had not only shown strength and unshakable leadership, he had kept them alive. So when Yaz let go of that fire-forged sword... the very one that had slain more creatures than they could count, they knew they were fuck.
"C–Commander Yaz?" one of them stamred, his hand trembling at his side.
Yaz didn’t respond. He stepped forward, but soone seized his hand from behind.
"What are you doing?!" the warrior barked, though his voice quivered.
Yaz’s gaze swept over the battered remnants of his team. So lay sprawled on the fractured bridge, bloodied and groaning. Others stood barely alive or strong to be called warriors. So were traumatized, dirt-smudged and dazed. So were dead, lying there with missing body parts. Too many were missing – dead already.
"A lot have died to protect the winter provisions," he said quietly. "Too many have died to keep you all breathing. Maybe... maybe my death is a needed sacrifice."
"Wh–what...?" Karl choked out and others had their eyes shaking in their sockets.
But Yaz didn’t explain.
He gently pried his hand free, then walked forward to face the creature, where it was twisted and snarled, waiting.
"Commander, no!" soone shouted, lunging forward but slamd into an invisible wall.
Yaz didn’t look back at people screaming for him to stop. Most importantly, so had rushed forward but found they couldn’t cross over to him. The phenonon left them shocked. Among those people was Karl.
Yaz breathed as he stared at the still forming or unraveling creature ahead of him.
Slowly, he closed his eyes.
The air around him thickened. The smoke from the burning carts curled unnaturally, drawn toward him like mist drawn to a storm. A low hum began to thrum in the bones of those nearby, like the growl of an ancient beast beneath the earth.
Yaz lifted his hands. The veins along his forearms glowed faintly, not red, not blue, but gold, pulsing like molten fire. Symbols...runes, etched into his skin blazed to life, searing through leather and cloth.
The lullaby stopped.
The creature hesitated.
Then Yaz opened his eyes and they burned like suns.
With a guttural, wordless cry, he raised his arms and unleashed.
Golden energy exploded from his chest in a wide arc, blasting the nearest creatures backward. The wind scread as it turned to fla, twisting in spirals of light and ash. Black limbs shriveled. Wings caught fire. Shrieked. Died. The bridge trembled under the force.
"Fall back! To the mountains! NOW!" Soone roared, golden light crackling around them, threatening to devour them like it was devouring the monsters.
However, what they failed to notice was that the golden lightning or the fla didn’t cross over the barrier. But due to fear and the wonder of what Yaz was doing, none of them thought straight.
What remained of the warriors obeyed, stunned into motion. Karl scrambled after them, half-carried by a soldier. The rchants fled first – always the first to flee. Wolves flanking them protectively as Yaz carved a fiery path toward the mountain – he was fighting along now, trapping the creatures in the vicinity behind his invisible do.
As for the escaping warriors and rchants, hope died just as quickly as it blood.
The mont the first rchant set foot into the snow beyond the bridge, the world changed.
The wind scread louder, unnatural now, sharp as knives.
The snow, once soft and powdery, turned blue, like frozen smoke. And as the man stepped onto the slope...
He froze.
Not slowly. Not naturally.
His skin paled. Crystallized. Then, with a terrible crack, shattered.
The wolf beside him yelped, skidding back just as frost raced up the foot of the bridge, chasing their heat like a predator.
"What—what is this?" Karl choked, his breath clouding too fast, too thick.
The warrior who shouted for them to leave, froze in terror. He couldn’t give answers that he didn’t know. He turned back and in the distance, Yaz was still fighting that horrendous creature.
Now, their only hope was for Yaz... Whatever he was, to win. Otherwise, they’d all die.
No wonder the creatures and monsters in the mountain had disappeared from here.
...
anwhile, back at the Black Moon Pack, in the dead of the night, a woman stood by the window of her chambers.
The fireplace crackled behind her, casting flickering shadows across the stone walls. Her long thick robe pooled at her bare feet. Outside, the wind howled like a mourning wolf, snow swiping in through the open window, but she didn’t flinch.
Her eyes were fixed on the dark woods beyond the pack’s territory. And then, there was another caw, drawing her gaze to the branches of the old elm tree just beyond the wall. She reached out her hand and a black bird perched on her finger.
On its legs was a small rolled parchnt, tied with a tiny red string.
She took it gently, her fingers nimble despite the cold. The bird cawed once, then took flight, disappearing into the darkness as if it had never existed.
She turned away from the window and pulled it to a close. When she turned, the flickering firelight illuminated her face at last. She was regal, beautiful, and unreadable. Her lips pressed into a thin line as she untied the string and unrolled the ssage.
Her eyes scanned the paper quickly, and then, a sharp light flashed through her eyes.
"Crystal mine?" her brows creased.
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