The scan was quick and painless, and I was feeling in peak physical condition when I got out of the chamber. The most uncomfortable bit was that I had to strip nude in front of my Commanding Officer.

And Kaiser.

He was insistent that human anatomy was unnecessarily awkward, and I kind of had to agree with him on that one.

I slipped my gear back on as Xiphos swiped through the scan reports on a nearby screen one by one. Layer by layer, my body was laid bare. My skeleton looked normal, which was a quite reassuring. My musculature and circulatory systems didn’t show any anomalies, but when Xiphos swiped across to the next slide which showed my anima system, the whole thing was lit up like a Christmas tree.

There was a whole network of anima channels which ran throughout my body, similar to a circulatory system but different. Many of these vein-like structures were focused in my left hand, which was where my claws were. The anima channels were strong and deep leading into my chest, which was also reinforced and intertwined all my vital organs. It looked like anima itself was flowing into my heart, lungs, stomach and everything else like a spreading root system.

“Is it supposed to be like that?” I asked.

Xiphos shook her head slowly, then stood from the desk. “Here, press this button to start a new scan.”

I looked away as Xiphos started to take her gear off.

“Don’t be a child,” she said with a hint of amusement in her voice. “We’re all soldiers, and we’re going to be closer than family before all this is through. Don’t let a bit of skin send you into a conniption.”

“Right, sorry,” I said.

She stepped up into the regeneration tank and that’s when I noticed a dark scar that ran from her chest right down her abdomen. The scar was jagged and deep.

“What’s that from?” I asked, pointing at the massive scar.

“From my first mission,” she said. “Not really something I want to discuss right now when we’ve got competing priorities.”

With that, she closed the lid on the chamber from inside and gave me a nod from behind the glass.

I pressed the scan button, which started dumping reports into another folder in the same directory mine were saved in. It was over in a few minutes, and soon Xiphos was dressed and back in control. She opened her anima network scan and placed it next to mine.

The difference was stark.

Mine appeared as a complex network of interlinked channels, paths and culverts, whereas Xiphos’s looked like a stick figure drawing in comparison. Her anima network was made up of thick lines leading out from her chest, from a small flickering spark in the centre, up her neck, down her arms, into her core, and into each leg. The fibres which spread away from those central channels were small and sparse.

On the flip side, my anima network was rich and complex, with a spark burning in the centre like an out-of-control wildfire.

“Whatever happened to you on your first mission, and then what Balaur did to you here, it’s almost like you’re something more,” Xiphos mused.

“I’m still me,” I replied.

Kaiser whined.

That’s when the rest of the team came back into the room. Xiphos left the scans up for all to see.

“What the hell is that?” Stiletto asked, pointing at my scan.

“This changes our mission parameters,” Xiphos said. She relayed the gist of what we’d discussed with Commander Cato, and what my changes meant for our way forward.

“So you’re some kind of super man now? Like, for real?” Stiletto asked.

“Not quite. Still mastering that whole shooting laser beams out of my eyes thing,” I said with a grin.

Khopesh grunted.

“Hatchet can do things the rest of us can’t.” Xiphos raised a hand to quell Khopesh’s attitude before it got out of control again. “He’s an asset, just like each and every one of you. We need to use each asset we have to the best of our ability. Hatchet’s our only direct line to Balaur, and he can show us exactly where we need to go to cleanse Trajan’s corruption.”

“We have good news on that front,” Naginata said. “We found a whole fleet of snowmobiles, so covering lots of ground will be no problem for us know. Plus, we found some intel that will help us fight back against the dragonslayer.”

Naginata held a gleaming silver cylinder out to me, which was exactly as it appeared to be. It was a rod made of pure silver.

“It turns out that some of the legends about what hurts vampires and werewolves are true,” Stiletto said. “Yeah, I can read books too, brainiac. EDGE Force had a bunch of intel about this area that they didn’t pass onto us, which I’m still dirty about if you want to know the truth. Turns out if you shoot a werewolf with silver bullets, it’s a hell of a lot easier to kill. Now check these out!”

Stiletto pulled his dual daggers out of their sheaths and they both gleamed with the same sheen. Naginata and Khopesh’s weapons both had the same silvered edges.

“Use this silver to upgrade your weapons,” Khopesh said. “Look at the stat boosts you get.”

I took the rod of silver into my inventory, then set down my mobile crafting bench. I combined my tactical hatchet with the silver and upgraded it into a brand new edged weapon called a Silvered Tactical Hatchet. This one had some new text new text right below the name which made me grin.

Damage increased against enemies infused with aberrant anima.

“Aberrant anima, huh? Is that what EDGE Force are calling it?” I asked.

Naginata shrugged. “Must be leftover from their first research missions here. I’ll bet this damage boost will also work against anything infused with Balaur’s anima.”

“Including me,” I said, sharing a look with Xiphos. “If Edgebreaker knows this too, then I might be in trouble.”

“They couldn’t know about your connection to Balaur. We only just found out,” Stiletto offered.

I shook my head. “They saw me kill Trench, then bring Naginata back from the dead. They will know that something’s changed. It’s just a matter of time before they put all the bits and pieces together.”

“Best to be cautious,” Khopesh added.

Naginata started taking a whole bunch of crafting components out of her inventory. She placed them down on a nearby desk and sorted them into neat piles.

“Upgrade your armour before we leave,” she said.

I was more than happy to comply. I upgraded the armour rating of every piece of my gear, added more inventory slots to all of them too, then reshuffled my inventory so it was better organised. That’s when I saw the book of Romanian myths and legends I’d gotten from back at the gift shop at the ski lodge.

Now that I’ve unlocked the Learned Scribe skill, I would be able to read it.

But not right now. Time was of the essence, and we couldn’t let Trajan’s corruption continue unchecked. I had no idea when I’d get the time to actually open that book, but it would come eventually. It had to.

“How are you feeling Kaiser? Ready to go kick some bad guy butt?” I asked, reaching down to ruffle his neck.

One bark. Yes.

“Oh hey, one second,” I said, then scooped up a bunch more crafting components from Naginata’s stash. I shaped them all into a warm leather hound cuirass, which Kaiser was more than happy to put on.

“This’ll protect you from the elements and any sharp teeth or claws that might do you harm,” I said.

Kaiser licked my hand in response.

Xiphos sent the scan reports off to EDGE Force, we refilled our ammunition supplies in the EDGE Force armoury, then followed Naginata down to a huge hangar filled with snowmobiles and some big military-looking trucks.

Travelling together in one of those massive trucks would have been preferable, but we were cutting across country. There were no roads where we were headed, so snowmobiles would be the best choice.

More snowmobiles were dead than alive, and it took us some time to find five of them that would actually start. We had to refuel those, which took even longer. Time was ticking, and I was itching to get back out into the world and reconnect with Balaur. He would know what to do, where to go, and what we’d need to do once we got there.

The outside world was accessible through a small tunnel which only allowed us to travel single file. The noise of the engines was deafening in the enclosed space. Thankfully, the door opened for us. The light from inside the tunnel died shortly after it pierced the black of night. We thundered out into the snow, the headlights of our snowmobiles the only light in the darkness.

We stopped once we were outside and the chill of the wind sunk deep into my skin, even through the warm clothes I wore. Kaiser sat unceremoniously between me and the handlebars. His front paws were propped up on them like he was driving.

He already thought he was people, and this would not help my argument that he wasn’t.

I stepped off my snowmobile and took off my gloves. As I reached down into the freezing snow I felt the energy of Balaur’s anima network reaching out to me. It felt comforting and warm, like meeting up with an old friend. The moment we connected, my awareness spread out through his network, but guided in a specific direction.

Snapping back into my own consciousness, I could now see a trail under the snow for us to follow. It led down the side of the mountain, to the bottom of the valley, then far to the east.

“We’ve got our heading,” I said. “I’ll lead the way, because nobody else can see it. You guys trust me, right?”

It was heartening to hear every single person in my squad reply with a resounding yes, including Kaiser’s single bark in the affirmative.

I sped off down the side of the mountain, following the glowing green trail of Balaur’s anima.