For several days after the patrol, Aanya kept mostly to the forge yard. The fight against the crystalline wolves had left her sore and shaken, but not broken. If anything, it lit a fire under her.

  Morning after morning, she practiced. Her stance was clumsy at first, her swings too wide. Sparks fizzled uselessly along her blade, sometimes flashing so violently that Marin had to leap out of the way.

  “You’re going to cut your own foot off,” Marin groaned, lounging on the fence with a mug of tea.

  “At least I’ll be improving while I do it,” Aanya shot back, hair plastered to her brow with sweat. She raised her sword again, focusing. This time, the glow flickered more steadily, humming faintly instead of spitting.

  Marin tilted her head, eyes narrowing. “Better. Still terrible, but better.”

  Aanya laughed breathlessly, lowering the blade. “Coming from you, I’ll take that as high praise.”

  While Aanya practiced sparks, Marin practiced forging. The hammer sang on the anvil late into the night, sparks flying in arcs of gold. Slowly, their little partnership settled into a rhythm—steel and spark, hammer and flame.

  ***

  On the fourth morning, they accepted a simple guild job: a caravan escort along the southern road. Officially, it was to guard against bandits, though most caravurers feared stray beasts more than thieves.

  “This’ll be the first time you get to test your little glow trick in the field,” Marin muttered as they walked.

  “That’s the point,” Aanya said, adjusting her grip on the hilt. Her badge gleamed faintly at her side.

  The job proved less exciting than Aanya had hoped—only a few wild dogs strayed too close. But when one lunged, teeth snapping, her sword blazed. The clean strike split the air with a hum, scattering the beasts. The merchants gasped, impressed.

  By the time they rolled back into Rivermarch, Aanya was grinning, the weight of the coin pouch in her hand proof that her training had paid off.

  “See?” she said, nudging Marin. “Controlled, focused, and not a single limb lost.”

  Marin rolled her eyes but smiled. “Congratulations. You’re officially less of a hazard.”

  ***

  On their way home, the bracelet pulsed.

  At first Aanya thought it was just her heartbeat, but the warmth grew sharper, tugging her like an invisible thread. She slowed, glancing into the trees.

  “Aanya?” Marin asked warily.

  “Do you feel that?”

  “I feel tired and hungry,” Marin said flatly.

  But the pull wouldn’t let go. Aanya stepped off the road, following the pulse. The air thickened, humming faintly, until the shimmer appeared—thin as glass, wedged between the roots of two gnarled oaks. A rift, so faint it might have been mistaken for heat haze.

  Marin cursed. “You’ve got to be kidding me. After all that practice, your big discovery is another way to get us killed?”

  Aanya’s breath caught. “No one’s marked it. No one knows it’s here. Marin… we found it.”

  “We should report it,” Marin insisted. “Not stroll in like idiots.”

  But Aanya’s feet were already moving. The bracelet’s pulse steadied her chest, like a heartbeat not her own.

  “Just a look,” she promised. “If it’s bad, we run.”

  Marin groaned. “Famous last words.” Still, she followed.

  ***

  Crossing the rift was smoother this time, though the jolt in her stomach still made Aanya stagger. When she opened her eyes, twilight stretched around them.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  The forest here was quieter, darker than the last. Trees towered like pillars, their bark streaked with silver. Strange fireflies drifted in clusters, glowing pale blue. The air smelled faintly of iron.

  Marin’s hammer was already in her grip. “I hate this.”

  Aanya whispered, awestruck, “It’s beautiful.”

  They pressed on carefully. Then the sound came—thin, broken. A whimper.

  They followed it into a hollow where the roots of a great tree twisted like claws. There, curled in the shadows, was a small creature.

  It looked like a pup, though unlike any breed Aanya had seen. Its fur was black as midnight, streaked with faint pale lines that glowed like veins. Its eyes glimmered weakly, reflecting fear more than fury.

  Marin stiffened. “Great. A cursed stray.”

  But Aanya’s heart clenched. She knelt, lowering her sword. “It’s just a cub.”

  The little beast whimpered, shrinking back. Then her bracelet pulsed, and the pup sniffed hesitantly before pressing its muzzle into her palm.

  Warmth spread through her chest. She scooped it gently into her arms, ignoring Marin’s exasperated groan.

  “Of course,” Marin muttered. “Of course you’d collect monsters like pets.”

  Aanya smiled softly. “It’s not a monster. It’s lost.”

  ***

  They turned back toward the rift, the cub nestled against Aanya’s chest. That was when the forest shifted.

  A low growl rippled through the trees. Then another.

  Glowing shapes emerged from the shadows—wolf-like beasts, their bodies radiant with shimmering mana. Their eyes burned with hostility, fixed not on the girls, but on the cub.

  Marin raised her hammer. “Figures. It’s not us they want.”

  Aanya tightened her grip on the pup, heart pounding. The beasts snarled and lunged.

  Marin met the first with a crushing swing, hammer sparking against its skull. Aanya drew her sword, the bracelet flaring. Light rippled along the blade as she slashed, striking another across the flank. The creature howled, staggering.

  But there were more—three, four, circling. One lunged straight for the cub.

  Aanya threw herself sideways, sword blazing. The strike cut clean, scattering sparks of light as the beast recoiled.

  Marin swung again, grunting with effort. “This is insane!”

  “Keep them off me!” Aanya shouted, clutching the cub tight. The pup whimpered, trembling in her arms.

  The fight dragged on, each blow shaking her arms, each spark draining her strength. Finally, as Aanya drove her blade through the last beast’s shoulder, the pack broke, retreating into the twilight.

  The forest fell silent again.

  Aanya dropped to one knee, panting, the cub still clutched protectively against her. Marin leaned on her hammer, sweat dripping down her brow.

  “They wanted it,” Marin muttered. “All that fury—aimed at the little thing.”

  Aanya stroked the cub’s fur gently. “Then it needs us even more.”

  ***

  They staggered back through the rift as dusk settled over Rivermarch. The cub blinked at the sunlight, then yipped softly, curling into Aanya’s arms.

  Marin shook her head, though her voice softened. “First sparks, now strays. You’re impossible.”

  Aanya smiled faintly, brushing her cheek against the pup’s fur. “Not impossible. Just unstoppable.”

  The cub’s glow steadied, faint but warm, as though it had already chosen its place at her side.