Sigmir and Ylva, joined together in their Avatar-state, were an awe-inspiring sight. Their overall size wasn’t that different from Sigmir’s normal, hulking form but instead of the face I adored, their head was clearly canine in nature, covered in soft-looking, silvery-white fur, with a pair of cute ears on top. If we weren’t engaged in a fight for our lives, I would want to pet them, simply to find out if their fur was as soft as it looked and if those ears were as sensitive as Sigmir’s normal ears. A part of me also wondered about that canine tongue.

Curiously, while their head was strongly influenced by Ylva, their body looked to be more influenced by Sigmir, retaining her bipedal nature and the opposable thumbs. There might have been more changes but I couldn’t investigate further, due to combat and clothing, I would have to take a closer look once those were gone.

But while the overall changes were relatively minor, in the grand scheme of things, the underlying change quickly became obvious. Instead of being pushed back by the Manticore she had been fighting, she was now pushing forward, using an opening made by Adra’s spear to bury her axe in its neck, ripping open a gaping wound with a twist of her arm. The Manticore didn’t die instantly, but from the amount of blood staining its fur, I was reasonably certain it wouldn’t last long.

While the others disengaged from the dying Manticore, to attack the other Manticore that was pressing in, I took a second to consider my next step. Using Ice-Magic would work, my spells and power allowing me to kill two, maybe three, Young Manticores near instantly but it would require the use of Overflow, leaving me near useless afterwards. On the other hand, if I managed to get my hands on their Blood, especially Blood that was drained with Blood Magic, the number of Manticores I could take care of went up by quite a bit, depending on the amount of Blood taken. Death-Magic, without a suitable medium, had an even worse mileage than Ice-Magic, while Darkness-Magic lacked the punch to deal with a Manticore’s powerful body quickly.

With my shuttles shattered, I decided to use the next best thing to harass the Manticores, while observing the situation, waiting for a chance to strike. Maybe it was fitting as we were in a thicket of thorny vines and I was extended the Eisblumen, vines of flexible Ice formed from Astral Power. To this day, I still wasn’t certain how the Ice could be flexible, my best guess was that it was a structure formed from diamond dust or something similar, but I didn’t know. And in the moment, it didn’t matter, what mattered was that I could use the Eisblumen to tangle into the physical vines, using the combination to disrupt and delay the other Manticores, essentially binding and restraining them, giving the others time. At the same time, as it wasn’t actually me who held the Manticores, but the thorny vines around us, the Astral Power cost was moderate.

As I carefully moved my Eisblumen, sometimes to tug at the vines around us, forming them into slings, other times pulling at the legs of a Manticore, causing it to tangle in the vines and slings I created, I could feel the familiar power of Adra reach out and help me. Not in an active fashion, I could see that she was too focused on her part of the fight for that, but simply supporting the plants around us, making them a little more supple and just a little harder to tear. And all the while, the battle continued, with Sigmir and Ylva, now truly one in mind and body, tearing into the Manticore’s as they tried to force their way into our thorny sanctuary.

But I could see that the Manticores were gaining ground, not on an individual level, simply by virtue of numbers. By the time the others had killed off the second Manticore on the ground, another had moved past the dying form of the first one, starting to tear open the vines, despite my best efforts. Before the others could even engage that one, a third Manticore started to open up yet another path, almost mindless in their attempt to get at us.

For a moment, I wondered just why those beasts were as focused on us as they were, willing to step over the fallen bodies of their brethren, just to get at us. I could understand if people, sapients with convictions to a greater cause, had such suicidal fervour, but for a beast to ignore the basic impulse of survival, there had to be something more. It might be that they were similar to the Arachne, more than simple beasts, despite their monstrous bodies, capable of abstract thought and complex convictions. Sadly, there was no room for negotiation, so it didn’t really matter. They were coming at us, thus they had to die.

As Sigmir and Ylva buried their axe in yet another Manticore, a cracking sound got my attention, making me realise that one was coming towards Olivia and me from behind. With a mental nod to Lenore, we, too, changed, joining our minds together, to gain as much power as possible.

Stepping through the shadows, we instantly arrived above the Manticore the others were fighting, using the perception we received from Sigmir and Ylva to move into its blindspot. It didn’t know we were there, not until our talons ripped into its body and for a brief moment, we could tear out some of its Astral Power with our Blood Magic. Hopping off, moving through a space Sigmir and Ylva opened for us, we disengaged, not even wasting our power to step through the shadows, it was not needed with our other half covering for us.

With our talons covered in Blood, a smile came to my lips, the connection between the Manticore, its Astral Power and the Blood within had yet to dissipate, allowing us to draw on it. Not strongly, but there was a faint link. A link that we grabbed hold of, even as the Blood turned into a small Icicle and flew forward, propelled by our magic.

That small Icicle, barely the size of Morgana’s pinky-finger, shot into the other, approaching Manticore, creating a connection between the two Manticores and us, a connection of Blood, of magic and, thanks to our efforts, of death. Blood Magic was a curious thing, especially once you combined it with Death Magic and in this case, it allowed us to take one Manticore’s vitality and use it to poison another Manticore, turning their powers against each other.

Loud shrieks erupted from their throats, as they cursed the world in their pain, shrieks I joined in, singing a dirge to shepherd these proud creatures from one world, into the next. They were lions no longer, before the Raven’s Shadow, they had turned into sheep and the wolves were closing in.

Another voice joined in to our song, singing of hunger and the hunt, their howls piercing the sky, adding yet another layer, one that we gladly took and wove into the Song of Death. More voices joined in, shrieks of agony as more lambs came before the wolves, their pride driving them into our fangs.

As we rose into the sky, our song joining with the wind, howling around the mountains, there was a flicker of golden light below. For a brief moment, we considered snuffing that light out but there was no need, not while the lambs that thought themselves to be lions thought to take the skies from us. Taking their wings, breaking their will, shedding their blood and using it to rip the life from their bodies, all the while our song rose to the sky, the wind slowly turning cold as we sang of the coming end, of Darkness of Ice and of Death.

And the lambs scattered, knowing that they were no lions, that the wolves were running free and coming for them.

Finally, silence returned to the mountains, the winds abated as our song ended.

We sank to the ground, hoarfrost crunching beneath our talons, sagging against our other half, as she held us, giving us a place to rest. Our wings wrapped around us, just like her arms embraced us.

And in the silence, there was peace, as darkness slowly settled over the land.