Shani’s eyes snapped open. She sat up again, going through the same motions she had at the start of her dream. Except now the grass was dark blue and the others stirred awake around her.

“Are you guys okay?” Vex asked. “You all dropped like a rock and I couldn’t do anything to wake you up.”

Kiypu groaned and rubbed his ruby gemstone eyes. “I saw… many strange things.”

“I did as well,” Raiqo added. His face looked even more haggard and pale, as if he’d awakened after a long sickness. His brows creased in a troubled expression. “And not all of it was welcome.”

“And you, Shani?” Kiypu asked.

Shani nodded, the events of the dream still vivid in her mind. It had all been an illusion, of course, the mana of the totem playing strange tricks on them. To have been so close to growing stronger was a cruel trick.

“Your arms!” Vex said, drawing her from her thoughts.

Shani held her arms out in front of her, frowning. Strange patterns covered both of them from the wrists, past her elbows and halfway up her shoulder. Kiypu hurried to her side and without asking, grabbed her hand, examining the various symbols and shapes closely.

“These markings…” he muttered. “I have never seen anything like them in all my days. But I sense bad mana in them. What did you see in your dream, little sister?”

Pulling her arm back, Shani frowned at him. “It was nothing. A mana spirit from these plains spoke to me.”

“What did he say?” Raiqo asked. By now, Shani noticed everyone was watching her.

“These spirits cannot always be trusted, I think,” Kiypu said. “I have never seen one that I recall before entering this totem. Not all of them are good.”

“Why am I being lectured on this?” Shani asked, feeling threatened. Everyone circled around her like she’d done something wrong.

“We are not accusing you of anything, little sister,” Kiypu said, softly. His hoarse voice almost sounded like she’d hurt him. “I am only concerned for you. There were no mana spirits that spoke to me in my dreams.”

“Nor in mine,” Raiqo added. “Shani, we only wish to know what was said.”

Shani flushed. The way they were acting, she would be ashamed to speak of the dream to them. It hit too close to her heart. “I… I do not wish to speak of it right now.”

“Wait a second,” Vex said, thankfully drawing their focus away from her. “Where’s Inferi?”

Everyone looked around. Shani realized her Mana Beast hadn’t been there when she’d awakened. Yet she still sensed her presence close, though it was different somehow, as if a strange aura was cloaked Inferi’s familiar mana. The grass rustled behind Shani.

“I am here.”

The voice was Inferi’s but deeper and husky. A swirl of purple shadows emerged from the grass. As it faded, revealing Inferi, Shani gasped.

In place of the knee-tall hyena stood a bulky creature as tall as Shani’s shoulder. It was still Inferi, though packed with twice the muscle and several other changes. Her hide was still gray and covered in swirling purple markings that emitted tendrils of purple smoke as she stepped forward. Her eyes were inky black now and her teeth were as long as Shani’s hands. A broad, square muzzle looked large and strong enough to crush a person’s head, if the hyena had the mind.

The most profound difference was a row of off-white bone spikes running down the length of Inferi’s back from shoulder to hips, ascending length to the tallest at the middle of her back before descending again. The longest stood as tall as one of Shani’s arrows and as thick as a war club at the base before tapering to a needle-like point. Inside Inferi, Shani sensed a whirling of shadow and storm mana: inky purple clouds and flashes of black lightning. Within her beast heart, she felt the same. The spirit had kept its word and more.

“Holy… hell.” Vex said, dumbfounded.

Inferi grinned at him, showing off her rows of canine fangs. “Can you feel it, Shani?” she asked, looking at her Beastcaller. “Guardian strength! The spirit kept its word!”

“And what did the spirit ask you in return for this power?” Kiypu’s voice was cold and demanding. Shani had never heard him speak to anyone in such a manner.

“Only to be free of this prison,” Inferi answered for them. “Much as we are free from the judgment of others.”

“They are at the height of Guardian,” Skystrike said in a hushed tone. “Not far from Chieftain strength.”

“I feel our mana returning as well,” Raiqo said. “This spirit must have been the lord of this plane. We have fought several such spirits and Mana Beasts inside the totem, each one the protector of the area.”

Kiypu shook his head. “You have made your choice, little sister. I fear it was not a wise one.”

Something inside Shani snapped, heat rushing through her body like lightning. Thunder rippled through the skies overhead.

“Unwise because it was not done your way?” Shani asked, voice rising. “All my life, I have struggled, watching my band grow weaker, wondering why I was not chosen to be a Beastcaller. And then, by some miracle when it happened, I was little better than a cripple! What we were was not a blessing—it was a curse!”

“We have only taken what was owed to us,” Inferi growled.

“Nothing is owed to any Beastcaller,” Raiqo said in a quiet voice. “What is gained must be earned. I do not know the price you have paid for this power, but the debt will be collected.”

“I care nothing for the cost,” Shani hissed.

“You felt much the same before Ubira was slain, little sister,” Kiypu said, shaking his head again. “Tell me, did that make you whole?”

Before Shani could answer, a behemoth bolt of lightning smote the sky in the distance to her left. Thunder rolled and the wind howled, the grass whipping every which way. When the light faded and the thunder ceased, a great pillar of light rose in the distance, up out of sight beyond the clouds.

Vex, Raiqo, Skystrike, Kiypu and even Shakraa watched her. Their sadness filled her with shame. That shame burned in the fires of her anger. She turned away from them. The pillar of light called. Perhaps they would think better of them after she and Inferi stopped the Snake cult.

“Shani, wait!” Kiypu called. “You do not have to walk this path alone.”

Ignoring his calls, Shani and Inferi set off through the tall grass, leaving the others behind them.

She swung onto Inferi’s back, the space between her bone spikes just large enough to sit. She clung to the one in front of her and Inferi bounded through the grass, clearing several paces with each leap. It wasn’t long before they reached the pillar of light.

Up close, Shani could feel the crackle of electricity and saw the lightning leaping up the sides of the column. Far overheard, an ominous purple-gray thundercloud swirled, identical to the one they’d seen around the head of the totem in the outside world. The light disappeared into the depths of the cloud.

Sliding from Inferi’s back, Shani approached the light with an extended hand. The storm mana within her thrummed, the points of her fingers crackling with electricity as she reached out for the pillar. At Companion strength, the drain of the totem hadn’t affected her. Now, even at Guardian, she felt charged. Stronger, faster and quicker than she’d ever been—all thunder, lightning and dark clouds. She threw back her head and smiled. It was a true smile, the first she’d worn in what seemed a lifetime.

“What are we waiting for?” Inferi rumbled beside her. Small crackles of electricity coursed across her powerful frame and purple smoke drifted from her bone-crushing maw.

Vex had said this Frog Priest was seeking the heart of the Storm Totem. Shani knew in both her hearts that this pillar could only lead to one place. If she beat the Snake Cult there, she would wait for them. If they were there already, they would pay a terrible price.

“Shani!”

She turned and saw Kiypu struggling toward them, leaning into the force of the whipping wind. With one hand, he held his knitted hat clamped against his head. In the other, he had Shakraa pinned to his side. Vex pushed forward beside him, head down, ears flapping in the storm. Raiqo and Skystrike stood farther back, watching like silent judges. Why had they followed her? Even now, with proof before them, they doubted her.

“Shani!” Kiypu repeated, drawing close enough his yells could be heard over the wailing winds. “This is not the way. Your bond and strength should come from a place of love and trust with your Mana Beast. I feel nothing but anger and hate from the two of you.”

“Please listen!” Vex shouted at Inferi. “This isn’t right!”

“Do not lecture us!” Inferi barked, lowering her head and locking eyes with Vex as she snarled out a challenge.

“We have taken what we were given,” Shani said. The words of the gaunt wolf echoed in her mind. There are many paths to power and many secrets to strength.

Turning their backs on the others once more, Shani and Inferi stepped into the pillar.