Tel’nakran is the small forest to the south of the Desert Triarchy on the border of both the Southern Darklands and the coast. While inhabited by elves they are not aligned with either of the other elves groups and do not seem to care about the demonic taint that infects the land to their east. They kill all those trespass on their land but there has never once been a fiend that has been found moving through their border. Due to this the Desert Triarchy is content to leave them alone, while the more immediate threat of the demon taint is still a problem.

Kythia

I try to hide my displeasure over how my mate is looking at the two elves. He is strong enough that it would not shame me if he took a second mate but they look weak, and worse they have not been as respectful of him as a host.

No, the priestess of the elven goddess of magic has done nothing rude but the other has. Thalia, that’s the name of the rude elf. She needs to be taught some respect and courtesy. . .

My thoughts stop as my mate's hand slips under the soft fine fabric of the clothes he gives me to wear. His large rough hand glides along as he guides me to just sit next to him and wait.

I follow his lead, I still can’t believe that I thought he was weak but two weeks ago. It was only days after I meet him that he had surpassed my skill in magic. He can even beat me in an unarmed spar, when he has enough desire to.

I lean up against my mate’s chest, content to let him hold me as I enjoy his scent as my mind wanders. If only the two of us could go off to hunt together. Should I talk him into doing it even through Ragnor forbids us?

My thoughts of running through the woods on a moonlight night end as I hear a shout outside. I only notice the noise itself but the meaning is clear; the pack is under attack. My mate does not immediately recognize the noise for what it is but follows behind me as I answer the call to arms.

The elves being closer to the door arrive outside before me and the one who does not carry a sword begins to chant a spell. I don’t recognize it but can tell that she was using the tongue she spoke to my mate in for the incantation, or at least a language close to it.

The final syllable leaves her lips and an illusion I broken barely a stone’s throw from me. Four figures come into view, a human male, either the tallest halfling woman ever or the shortest human woman ever, a two tailed kitsune, and a man that looks exactly like my mate but not quite in as good of physical shape. He also lacks the confidence and martial skill of my mate in how he walks.

I glance to my real mate as he leaves our small hut, he scans over the nearest four Althaen fodder but seems to recognize them. At least until he suddenly stops and vanishes. I turn to the four enemies and their false copy of my mate is gone.

I growl as I charge their caster, drawing the bone blade that my mother gave me after I had accepted my mate. The fox bitch has to be responsible for this. The ‘humans' are more confused than she appears to be. I am cut off as the human male wearing a chain shirt blocks my way with his shield.

Somehow, he braced himself in time to keep his footing but I got close enough to catch her smell and the smells on her. Three scents of people that I have never met but one that I do. The double of my mate smells exactly like my mate did a few days before the Paring Howl.

The glow of some sort of self-augmentation spell covers the male who block my path, and I withdraw while unleashing a barrage of Magic Missiles. He keeps himself between the fox bitch and me as I rush through my thoughts on their smell.

My mate said he got thrown into the present from the future and the other male that disappeared has the same scent, not just a similar one. Was he my mate’s past self?

“What did you do to my mate fox?” I shout at the kitsune.

“Nothing, Ria is his best girl” she answers while wagging her tails a bit, not caring at all that all she has to defend her is a half trained human spellsword.

The elven sisters look around scared before they run to some other part of the village, but I pay no attention to them as a few conclusions are made in my mind. First, my mate and his past self just meet; which may be why both of him just vanished. Second, the fox's scent despite being covered with my mate’s still marks her as an unclaimed female.

Then the fox’s words hit my mind, and I forget everything. His best girl? How dare she consider herself that when she hasn’t even lain with him. Flashes of my first time with my mate go through my mind, how he wrestled me to the ground and dominated me completely but only after I consented to him.

She must have refused to let him inside of her. I slam into the human blocking my way. That whore fox tricked my mate, and I will not let her get away with it.

Adrian

The strange mindscape vanishes, and I find myself standing in the small circle of huts that is the village of pack Bloodclaw. It takes me a moment to adjust to what happened to me before I notice everything around me. I don’t know what happened or exactly how much time has passed as I fought that other, me? but at the moment K is beating the crap out of one of the guys from before. He seems to be only barely holding her single blade back with his sword, shield and help from the kitsune.

Wait no, I know their names. The male is Bryan and the kitsune is Ria. The other girl, the short one, I know her too but I just can’t remember her's at the moment. Where did the elven twins go? Can I remember any more about them?

No, focus. Now is not the time to be going through this. I need to stop the fighting between my Terran friend and my K. That and the attack is still going on. The Althaen, no, a subgroup of them are doing this.

“Kythia, I know him. He isn’t our enemy” I shout out.

“What do you mean and what did his ally do to you?” she answers without letting up on her attacks against Bryan.

“What did you do to Adrian?” the short girl yells at me.

“Now is not the time for this, stop fighting” I yell at the three of them.

“They’re with the Holy Empire, they are attacking the pack” Kythia shouts just before throwing a barrage of Magic Missile at some guy I do not recognize, probably someone on the Althaen side that broke through the melee at the edge of the village.

“We were forced to, we only wanted to sneak away during the fight. We don’t need to fight” the kitsune, Ria says.

“Shut up fox whore!” Kythia shouts at the fox girl.

“I’m not a whore, I’m still pure an innocent.”

“Yet you’re covered in my mate’s scent. . .”

“You know what, just don’t go killing or crippling each other. I’m going to go deal with the Althaen bastards” I shout at the two bickering women.

“Wait, you aren’t. . .” Bryan begins but I don’t hear the end of his sentence as I rush off to the front.

As I get a clear look at the front I see the blood-soaked ground covered in dozens of dead bodies, most of which seem to be untrained fodder and the youth in Naliya’s class. What remains are some of the adults of the village and soldiers that are far better armed and likely better trained than those that have died.

I shape mana as I had done earlier this morning into a barrage of Magic Missiles, but not only does my mana feel weaker but the missiles also disappear seemingly negated as they strike the nearest Althaen soldier. How? Kylana and Kythia have broken them apart with counterspelling techniques but never like this. Was this antimagic?

No, focus, I need to focus. To fight and kill my enemies.

I charge at the nearest soldier and shift into my draconian form, my clothes tearing as my body expands before I tackle the chainmail covered man. My claws puncture the iron rings and the soon to be corpse screams in terror for the short moment before ribs crack and break. My right hand gets covered in the soft tissues of his lung and intestines for a moment before I throw a handful of them out of the man’s chest.

A man in full plate shouts out at me but I do not fully hear what he says as my focus is taken by as two blades bite into my left arm and back. My scales deflect the angle to a glance and keep the blade from cutting into me as much as it should have. I lash out and try to claw my melee assailants and feel a flash of heat, my claw misses but they still scream in pain.

An instant later, I feel my focus shift like when I reach that strange battlemind but different. Rather than suddenly knowing all that is happening around me; I can feel my injuries, the flow of my blood, and the state of every muscle in my body. I don’t know why but I will the damage to heal and with an itching feeling the cuts close and repair themselves. What is going on? How did I just heal myself?

I jump and fly into the air to dodge a glowing blue blade on reflex as the man in plate shouts something about ‘heretic’ but I remain confused as to what I just did and how come there are scorch marks and burnt corpses to the left of where I just was. Arrows puncture my wings and I crash to the ground, landing on the ground breaking one of my wings only for my mind to turn inwards again for a moment. Again, I feel my mind focus in a strange direction and my wounds close as the bones snap back into place.

I roll out of the way of the plate wearing man’s blade. A name flashes through my mind, Brightblade. I don’t know why but I push at something in my mind a fire erupts around me, killing those around me but a blue glow covers the man in plate as he continues his assault on me.

The melodic chant of a spell comes from his lips as white fire covers his sword. I throw a barrage of Magic Missiles, but like before they dissipate rather than discharge as they hit his plate. My mind shifts focus again as I fall into the frame I’ve used for battle several times now.

This time it feels almost too easy, barely taking any effort and I can pull more information from. . . something. I dodge all of the strikes in the flurry of attacks that are unleashed at me completely. I just knew exactly what moves the man would make and how to dodge, though there were no openings for a counter attack before the end of the move chain.

Once I see my chance I take it, deflecting the sword aside I get within his reach. My claws leave a deep scrape on the plate before I plunge them in the gap between the helmet and breastplate. I smirk with a feeling of joy at killing the man unlike the other soldiers, as if he had wronged me.

In this moment of letting my guard drop and the Knight’s last gurgling breath, an explosion of white fire explodes outwards enveloping the two of us in a pillar of white flames. Searing pain comes from every part of my body, yet there is no heat, no smoke nor ash as I burn in the suicide attack of the dying man.

A second later the world that was covered in white fire ends, the Knights and other Althaen, alive and dead are untouched as are the woodlands around us but the corpses of the werewolves caught in the fires are gone. I once more begin to somehow start magically healing myself without mana, my mind wandering into questions of how I can just will myself better.

As soon as I have recovered enough I begin to charge the nearest enemy. I lash out on instinct, killing all those that are not Bloodclaw, or otherwise recognized as i fall into flashes of confusing memory.