*Briella*
My shoulders slumped in relief as I watched the shadow monsters disperse and flee. Above , Kryzen allowed his magic forcefield to fall and turned toward . He offered his hand from my crouched position. My heart skipped a beat as our eyes locked.
I reached for his hand and grabbed it. His warm calloused grip hauled up more easily than I wanted to admit. He had gotten stronger, much stronger. When we were kids, that would’ve threatened , now it stirred sothing completely different inside of .
I couldn’t find the courage within to pick apart the emotion, but it was sothing light, tingly, and curious.
With my eyes still locked on his, I said sothing completely different.
“I guess you have co a long way. You couldn’t do protection magic like that before,” I quipped, looking away from his gaze and off into the deserted street.
“You’re not the only one who’s grown up, Black.” Kryzen’s words were harsh, but his voice wasn’t.
“Bri!” Drius called out from my side. Imdiately, I was wrapped up in an embrace.
Drius’ eyes darted across my face and body, noticing the cut on my arm.
“You’re bleeding!” my dark-haired childhood friend exclaid as he held my wounded arm. “We should get you so dical attention. Maybe we should take you to see a healer.”
“I’m fine, Drius. I just need to get it cleaned and put a bandage on it. It’s nothing I can’t handle myself,” I replied, pulling back my bloodied arm.
I fought a wave of irritation. During military training, we had suffered cuts and scrapes not unlike this, and he never reacted like this before.
“You need to be more careful. These shadow monsters are really sothing fierce,” Drius murmured. This ti, my temper rose.
I went to open my mouth when Roy appeared, holding out disinfectant and a clean cloth from the dical kit. I inwardly blushed because I hadn’t even rembered to grab it. I doubted Drius and Kryzen did as well.
“If there was anything I need to do before the next mission, it’s to prep more thoroughly like Roy.” I smiled and held out my arm for him to clean.
I could feel two pairs of eyes burning on , and I think Roy did as well.
“Don’t be silly, Briella. It made sense for to bring the dical pack since I did so when I faced combat before with Kryzen.” Roy sprayed the antiseptic. I winced as it stung.
“Roy, as much as I appreciate how thorough you are, are you sure she doesn’t need a more experienced healer?” Drius pressed. This ti, I suppressed an urge to roll my eyes.
“First, you’re hovering over Briella like an overprotective grandmother, and now you’re questioning soone who’s been through real combat. Watch yourself already.” Kryzen’s voice sliced through the air, dark and acidic.
I didn’t even need to witness his venomous glare to see that Kryzen hated being around Drius. I felt torn because I could understand where both were coming from. Growing up, my parents treated Drius like a third son, and he seed to still take that role seriously. I could tell that Kryzen was defensive because he knew Roy’s expertise in the field and trusted to know my limits from our rivalries.
“I’m taking her health serious–” I cut Drius off as Roy finished cleaning the cut and handed Kryzen the roll of gauze to bandage it.
“Drius please, I’m fine,” I insisted, my voice gaining an edge. “We need to focus on what we should do next.”
A welco tingle zipped up my spine as Kryzen’s fingers ghosted over my skin with the gauze, wrapping it with precision and perfection I hadn’t seen in him.
“What do you think our next course of action should be?” Kryzen asked, his intense eyes locking onto mine again.
My breath hitched a bit as he finished delicately bandaging my arm, the warmth of the pads of his fingers leaving my forearm.
“We need to report to Alpha Ray,” I said, swallowing. “We need to debrief him on what happened here and then strategize about what we should do next,” I responded, snapping back into reality.
A blush crept up my neck at the thought of how I still felt his skin on mine.
“I agree. I don’t think we can handle all these shadow creatures on our own,” Roy admitted, putting his hand to his chin. I could tell he was a bit banged up as well.
I wanted to stay helpful to Alpha Ray, but I had to agree with Roy. If they could be this dangerous and this nurous, we needed help.
“I don’t think you should have to handle them at all,” Drius remarked. I had to agree with him. I wished the monsters would leave and never co back.
However, the way Drius said it made think he ant that soone else should be fighting them instead of us.
I let it go as we slowly moved out of the shopping district, watching every angle in case the magical monsters returned. But they never did. It remained eerily quiet.
“Each ti we fight the shadow creatures, we learn more about them. When they attack again, I know we will find a way to better deal with them,” Kryzen stated. He then stumbled on his words a little. “Not that I think those creatures attacking Celestial City again would be a good thing.”
I smiled, knowing that Kryzen didn’t have to explain himself.
“Yeah, we learned that you just might be useful too.” I stuck out my tongue, teasing him a bit.
I half-expected him to fire back in a fit of indignation like usual, but I was surprised with a pause.
“I carry my weight just as much as you,” he snarked back. I knew he was just joking.
It was a different sensation to not argue in such anger at each other but still keep the other on their toes. It was nice to have the competition but not be so angry in each other’s faces.
“Did you just admit that I have to carry your weight?” I laughed back, and Kryzen kicked a pebble my way.
“You know what I ant.” A brilliant smile unfolded across Kryzen’s face.
“Oh lord, you two are insufferable,” Roy huffed, facepalming. I just made a face back at him.
Roy should have been used to us ribbing each other by now.
“Roy is right. We should be focusing on our audience with the Alpha.” Drius’ voice was a bucket of ice water over our lighthearted conversation.
It pulled back to the situation at hand. Drius was right, and we were wrong for poking fun at each other right after such a dangerous encounter. What if soone was seriously hurt like last ti? I should have kept myself on task and not gotten carried away with enjoying my ti with Kryzen.
“Maybe unlike so people, I think Black and I can do two things at the sa ti,” Kryzen bit back, his eyes narrow.
I nearly paused in my step.
Was I enjoying my ti with Kryzen? Since when had that changed? When we first ca upon him and Roy in the woods, I wished practically any other person would’ve appeared in front of .
But now...
Sothing had shifted, and it hadn’t just started from when he protected that day. It had to have started before then. Otherwise, this would’ve felt more jarring and unusual. Nothing about this felt weird. In fact, our banter now felt natural.
Kryzen and Drius were talking back and forth, but I let their conversation drown out in the background as we approached the Alpha’s palace. The entrance was flanked by two guards. I saw two mages chattering in hushed tones with mystic tos walking out of the Alpha’s ho.
That gave an idea.
“Okay, everyone, we should get on the sa page before we see Alpha Ray.” Roy was now standing between Kryzen and Drius, both had murderous looks painted across their faces.
I wasn’t sure what had gotten into them.
“Yes, thanks, Roy.” I looked at both of them with a deadpan expression. “I have a tactic that I’m going to pitch to Alpha Ray. Everyone, just follow my lead, okay?”
“Sure thing, Black,” Kryzen responded without a hint of sarcasm.
“Briella, do you want to handle this yourself?” Drius asked. I nodded.
“I got this. Don’t worry,” I reaffird as we stepped into the polished foyer of the Alpha’s mansion.
Everything remained almost identical to when we last visited after the first shadow creature had attacked, except for one egregious detail. My blood froze as I spotted the imposing figure standing next to the seated Alpha Ray.
It was General Tian.
His face was a frigid glacier, and his body was a massive mountain next to Ray.
“Miss Black, Mr. Stormfall, and Prince Roy, welco back to my ho. I see you have a new addition to your team.” Alpha Ray rose. Despite the pleasant greeting, dark circles ringed his eyes, and his skin looked pallid.
He had obviously not been sleeping well since these attacks.
“I’m Drius Drogomor. It’s a pleasure to et you, but maybe not under these grave circumstances.” Drius turned up the charm, reaching his hand to shake hands with Ray.
“I agree. We received reports there were rumors of shadow monsters in the crowded shopping districts and cleared them out. I’m assuming,” the young Alpha’s amber eyes stopped on my bandaged arm, “that those rumors were unfortunately true.”
“Yes Alpha Ray, unfortunately, three shadow monsters appeared in the main pedestrian street.” I stepped up, keeping my voice professional. “All three appeared at once and coordinated their attack against us. Unfortunately, our blades were mostly ineffective against them. It wasn’t until Kryzen Stormfall used his defense magic as a shield that they stopped attacking and retreated.”
“Hmm, thank you for that report. I do have to ask, if Kryzen’s magic was just defensive, why did they stop attacking?” Alpha Ray paced back and forth a bit thinking.
I looked to Kryzen, who shrugged.
“I don’t know, sir, but it looked like the three shadow monsters non-verbally conversed between themselves before disappearing,” I answered honestly. General Tian scoffed, his dark eyes slicing into .
“Non-verbally conversed? What on earth does that even an?” the imposing general snidely asked.
“It ans they grouped together, were all motioning to each other, and then left together. They seem more intelligent than we originally anticipated.” I kept my tone even and calm, even though I could tell he wanted a rise out of .
Or maybe he wanted to undermine my intelligence to Alpha Ray.
“Hmmm, that’s not good news. At least we know that they don’t like magic. Do you have any insights on how we should proceed from here?” Alpha Ray sighed, pinching his nose.
I felt for him. He probably felt incredibly out of his depth while protecting his people.
“Yes, we noticed that maybe it is not just my special type of Embervalian magic that is effective. Kryzen saved my life with his magic, so I devised the following tactic,” I admitted, sneaking a look at Kryzen, who blushed a bit.
It was my first ti saying it out loud, but it was true. I could tell by the way Kryzen squird that he wanted to say sothing but not in front of the Alpha.
“The best tactic would be to post all able-bodied mages and sorcerers in pairs at key points around the city. This will not only help us with a quicker response ti and more accurate information but also may help keep them at bay as a preventative asure,” I stated, feeling even more confident in my tactic than before I walked in.
“That’s a smart idea. If they’re in pairs like guards, they will feel more confident. I’ll go ahead and decree this to our head of magic.” Alpha Ray punched his fist into his hand enthusiastically, but General Tian, who was behind him, took an aggressive step forward.
“This plan is a disaster, your grace. I don’t think this woman here has even thought it through in the least. It would bring ruin to implent it,” General Tian snapped, his venomous eyes drilling into . “Our mages aren’t trained in combat. So probably haven’t had to sprint in years.”
A fla of anger ignited in my chest.
“As we said in our report, the shadow monsters are threatened by magic, not swords. The mages and sorcerers don’t need to have combat training, and we will be on the scene as soon as we can to support them. If combat training is so important, I’m sure your guards can provide so lessons,” I reiterated, standing my ground.
“How dare you speak out of turn. You’re not even a citizen of Celestial City, and you think you’re now the Minister of Strategy.” General Tian strode toward in a blatant attempt to intimidate .
“Hey, don’t speak to her that way.” Surprisingly, Drius edged between and General Tian to have my back. “Have so respect. She is here fighting these creatures on behalf of your Alpha.”
Drius defending reassured that I wasn’t going crazy. Sothing was definitely up with the general’s behavior. It was as if he had it out for .
“This is all true General Tian.” Alpha Ray defused the situation “I specifically tasked her and her team to help repel these shadow monsters. So far, they have done so marvelously and at their own peril. I trust her judgnt, and I will have your support.”
Alpha Ray stood his ground. This was the first ti I’d seen him take such a firm stance and defend a viewpoint. I was beginning to, in turn, respect this Alpha more.
“Of course, Alpha Ray.” General Tian sliced his dark gray gaze back at .
If looks could kill, I would have been a ghost by now.
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