The tower was nothing now. Just blackened stone, scorched memories, and a silence too heavy to bear.
Qin stood in the ruins, his boots crunching over ash and bone. Every breath tasted like smoke and death. The ring Narin had given him felt heavier than gold—like it pulsed with heat, grief, and something older than either of them.
He dropped to one knee before the crater where the great hall once stood.
"Arcanel," he whispered.
The word meant open the veil in Old Arcanum, the tongue of firstborn mages. A forbidden word. A spell only spoken when the soul demanded answers more than safety.
His fingertips burned. The air shimmered.
Runes carved themselves into the ash before him, glowing crimson and blue. Magic responded to emotion—fear made it flicker, rage made it flare. Qin's magic burned white.
The runes exploded into light, then faded to a reflection—like a shallow pool catching a memory.
In the mirror of ash and flame, he saw it.
The creature. No longer just smoke and bone, but something named.
"Umbhrax," Qin breathed. "A soul-eater."
His mouth went dry. He flipped through mental pages of lessons and old tomes.
Born in the World Between.
Shaped from the sorrow of dying stars.
Fed by fear. Bound by blood.
Qin's jaw clenched. Soul-eaters weren't just random curses. They were summoned.
It didn't come to destroy the tower… it came for me.
The realization hit like a spell to the chest.
Narin had known. That's why he gave him the ring. The symbols weren't just elements—they were paths. Power he hadn't even unlocked yet.
"You will change. You will suffer," Narin had said. "But never forget—conduct crowns the soul."
He touched the ring. The runes around him began to morph—new words forming.
A kill-spell. A binding. A way to trap and banish the soul-eater. But it wasn't easy.
"Three parts," he muttered aloud, tracing the air. "Moonlight. Blood. Fire."
He had two of the three—fire from his own magic, and the blood… well, that would come. But moonlight? That meant traveling. That meant risk.
You'll have to leave the ruin. You'll have to go west. To the Vale of Howl.
He rose, ash swirling around his cloak.
The decision was already made.
Qin moved through the outer edge of the forest as the sun sank into bruised twilight. The weight of loss hung on his shoulders, but the fire in his chest pushed him forward.
He walked until his legs ached, until the wind changed, and the forest felt... wrong.
Branches twisted like claws above him. Shadows moved in ways they shouldn't.
Then he heard it.
A growl.
Low. Deep. Animal.
He raised his staff.
From the trees, something moved—a blur of fur and eyes like burning coins. A wolf—but not. Bigger. Too fast. Too silent.
Another growl came from behind.
Then a third.
He was surrounded.
"Wolves," he said aloud. "No… something worse."
The creatures stepped into the clearing. Three of them—hulking, fur streaked with silver, eyes intelligent and angry.
Werewolves.
One of them stepped forward, sniffing the air. It growled, then spoke—its voice rasping through half-human teeth.
"You smell like magic, boy. That tower's dust. That power's gone. What are you doing here?"
Qin didn't lower his staff. "Looking for a monster."
The werewolf bared its teeth in a twisted grin. "Plenty of those here."
"I'm not afraid."
"You should be."
The lead wolf lunged.
Qin cast before he could think—light bursting from his staff, blinding white and crackling with heat. The wolf slammed into a tree, snarling.
The other two leapt.
This time, he didn't cast.
He moved.
Instinct took over—fast, too fast. His body twisted, ducked, spun like the wind itself bent for him.
He landed behind the second wolf and whispered a flame word. Fire licked its fur.
Why am I this fast? Why are my hands this steady?
He knew the answer.
The ring.
The change.
This wasn't just wizard reflexes. Something else was waking in him. Something he didn't understand yet.
The wolves backed off, growling.
The lead one, singed and furious, narrowed its eyes.
"You're marked," it said. "By more than magic. I can smell it. The beast's in you too."
Qin said nothing.
"Go west, boy," the wolf growled. "To the Vale. But know this—you're not the only hunter out here."
With that, the wolves disappeared into the trees.
Alone again, Qin stood beneath the rising moon.
His ring pulsed.
Fire. Blood. Moonlight.
He had all three now.
And Umbhrax, the soul-eater, was waiting.
It came for me. Now I'm coming for it.
His voice, steady and cold, cut the night.
"Conduct crowns the soul. And tonight, mine's wearing armor."
Qin didn't sleep that night.
He sat beneath an ancient pine, its bark scarred with claw marks, staring into a campfire that whispered and cracked like it held secrets. The stars were sharp above him, clear and cruel. Every shadow beyond the circle of flame felt alive.
His mind replayed the moment Narin died—the way he stood in defiance, the ring tossed into Qin's hands like it was more than metal. A legacy. A key. A curse.
He turned the ring now, studying the three symbols.
Flame. Fang. Moon.
"Wizard. Werewolf. Vampire," he muttered. "What are you preparing me for, Master?"
There was no answer, but the wind carried a howl across the trees—distant, low, ancient. It didn't sound like the wolves from before. This one was deeper. Sorrowful. Like it remembered the world before language.
Qin's stomach turned.
He hadn't cried yet. Not when the tower fell. Not when he stood among the ruins. Not even when he carved Narin's name into a fallen stone with shaking hands.
But now, alone in a forest that shouldn't exist on any map, with his future marked by fangs and flame, the weight finally pressed down.
He clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palms.
You can't fall apart now.
You're the last of the Tower. The last who remembers the code.
He breathed, slow and quiet.
"Conduct crowns the soul," he whispered, eyes closing. "Even when the soul wants to scream."
The fire crackled. The stars stared back. And the boy in the woods, seventeen and hunted by fate, didn't sleep—but he didn't run either.
He just waited. And listened.
Because he knew what came next.
And this time, he'd be ready.