The Adlets welcomed us into their camp, now that they understood how much we had in common, despite our origins. We gathered around the fire while the younglings went off to prepare several holes in one of the mounds for us to sleep in.

At first, I’d been worried that Hundurr might end up hurting Scarlett. However, the more time I’d spent around him, the more I’d understood that the pit wolf was fiercely loyal to her. But there was an Adlet behind those glimmering red eyes. A creature who understood more than I’d given him credit for.

Like me, Hundurr had fallen victim to the machinations of an evil overlord. Unlike me, Hundurr was stuck in that form. But was he, really? What magic was truly permanent and irreversible in the end? I’d thought the same of my existence as a Destroyer. I’d thought I could never come back, and yet, thanks to Vita, I’d managed to break free.

“Tell us about what brought you here,” Colton said, taking his seat by the fire.

Scarlett and I sat next to each other, and Hundurr settled by our side. Dion and Alles stayed close to Heron and Avril, visibly intimidated by the Adlets. Compared to them, the two Imen scouts were tiny and a little too easy to break, especially after they’d seen their full wolf forms.

“After we defeated Azazel,” I said, “we aligned ourselves with GASP, an organization that spans across multiple worlds now and is dedicated to protecting creatures of all kinds, to restoring peace and balance where chaos and murder reign. We opened up a base on my home planet, Calliope, and we chose our strongest and brightest to join new teams. The purpose was to help rebuild our society and return it to its former glory. We were well into that when an Exiled Mara returned to Calliope using swamp witch magic. Rewa of House Xunn, to be precise.”

“Ugh. I’d love to chew on her entrails right about now,” Jahiem muttered.

“You know her?” Scarlett asked.

“We know all the so-called royals in Azure Heights,” Isom replied. “We made it our business to know our enemies, and their friends. We’ve also had a couple of altercations with the Exiled Maras. In fact, the last time we had issues with a convoy of House Xunn Maras, Hundurr nearly ripped Darius’s throat out. Rewa promised vengeance, and, well, two weeks later, Hundurr was taken by the daemons during a hunt on the far east side of the plains.”

As tragic as what happened to Hundurr was, I couldn’t help but think this would work in our favor now. The stronger their hatred of the daemons and the Exiled Maras, the better the chances of us counting on the Adlets’ support for what came next.

“Rewa told us about Azure Heights, about how they’d resettled here on Neraka—”

“Mind you, the Maras were already kicked off one planet, thousands of years ago, for doing the same crap they’re doing now,” Heron interrupted me, and for good reason. It dawned on me that the Adlets might not be fully aware of the Maras’ dark history.

“The Maras came from Calliope,” I said. “They killed innocent creatures for blood, and were exiled as a result. Those who repented were allowed to stay and rebuild, including Heron’s forefathers. We never heard from the Exiled Maras again, until just recently, when Rewa came to us asking for our help. She told us her people were vanishing, and that the Exiled Maras had turned over a new leaf here, on Neraka. That they were peaceful and kind, and so on.”

“So she lied to your faces and brought you all over here for what, exactly? And how long did it take you to figure out what Rewa and her people have been up to?” Colton replied.

“Well, they put on quite the theatrical display, I’ll give them credit for that,” Avril chimed in. “It took us a few days, and we almost got ourselves killed in the process, but we managed to get out of Azure Heights.”

“Thing is, we can’t get off the planet,” I added. “A powerful shield went up after we came here. It’s stopping everything and everyone trying to leave. We can’t communicate with our base, and they can’t reach out to us, either. We know about the Druid delegation that the Maras hijacked, and we know that the swamp witch who was on it is still alive. If we find her and rescue her, she’ll bring the shield down. It’s the only way for us to stop all this madness and obliterate both the daemons and the Maras. We have armies of creatures far more powerful than these fiends. We have dragons and Druids, witches and jinn. All the daemon cities would be reduced to a pile of dust in a matter of hours. We just need to find the swamp witch.”

Colton nodded slowly, occasionally glancing at Hundurr and smiling softly. “For bringing Hundurr back to us,” he said, “you have our strength and our allegiance, Druid. But I don’t know how we could possibly help, since we don’t know where they’re keeping the swamp witch.”

“We suspect she’s in Draconis, and the rest of our team is currently on their way there,” I replied. “What we need from you is exactly what you offered—your strength. A time will come, and soon, when we will have to fight the daemons and the Exiled Maras. Our strength does not lie in numbers, but in our abilities, and we will have to keep these bastards at bay while the swamp witch brings down the shield. You know as well as I do that, once they lose the witch, the daemons and the Maras will stop at nothing to get her back.”

“That is true. They’ve been using swamp witch magic for millennia now, and they won’t give up their mystical motherlode so easily,” Colton said. “I have to give her credit, though, for surviving until now. But what if she’s sided with them? What if she’s willingly helping them?”

“It’s against a swamp witch’s very nature to tilt the balance of the world in the favor of darkness,” I said, remembering everything I’d learned about swamp witches during the months I’d spent on Calliope. “Swamp witches use the power of the word for their magic. They function with precise formulas and exact quantities. Everything is measured. Everything is balanced. They would never empower one nation against another. They don’t even get involved in wars. Most importantly, they know how valuable their magic is, which is why they keep their distance from creatures who are prone to such mindless violence. Frankly, I don’t think she belonged in that delegation in the first place, but what’s done is done.”

“We’ve only heard rumors of the witch still being alive, you know,” Isom replied. “We’ve never seen her. The only thing we’re certain of is the damage of her magic. Hundurr, here, is a prime example. Does that look like balance to you?”

“The collars, much like all the magic the daemons use, are a perversion of the original swamp witch spells,” I said. I’d read Viola’s translations of the witches’ tome over and over. I knew their mindset better than most. “Swamp witch magic doesn’t adhere to good or evil. Those are abstract terms. Instead, their spells focus on what is ethical. What hurts other creatures, and what doesn’t. What is useful in times of war, and what is necessary in times of peace. The collars themselves would have been meant to tame violent beasts, for example. Not to enslave innocent creatures. It’s not the spell that is evil; it’s the person wielding it.”

“Besides, I doubt that the witch gave away the most powerful of her spells,” Heron added. “From what we’ve seen so far, the daemons’ knowledge of swamp witch magic is somewhat limited.”

“You know more than they do?” Colton replied, raising his eyebrows.

“We probably do, but we don’t have the ingredients,” I said. “Every spell that the daemons are using is adapted to Nerakian plants and crystals. We have the recipes for powerful magic, but they’re based on Eritopian ingredients. So we’re a bit stuck on that end. Which is one more reason as to why we need to get the swamp witch away from the daemons.”

“Before they adapt the more powerful spells to our world, right?” Colton asked, and I nodded. “I understand. So you’re trying to strike up some alliances with those of us who continue to resist the daemons, then?”

“Yes. We’re also hoping to reach out to the Dhaxanians, provided they’re still holed up on their mountain, up north,” Scarlett replied, scratching Hundurr behind the ear.

“You can spend the night here,” Colton said. “We’ll provide you with food and shelter, and you can try your luck with the Dhaxanians tomorrow. Although I doubt they’ll be much help. No one has seen or spoken to one of them in decades. Rumor is they’re all dead.”

“I guess you’ve heard different rumors,” Dion smirked, “because we’re told the Dhaxanians are still up there, holding their ground.”

Colton shrugged. “Either way, be careful. Try not to travel at night, either. The daemons fare much better in the dark than they do during the day.”

“Thank you, Colton,” I replied, then offered a half smile. “I’m glad we’re able to count on you and your people for this.”

“Father?” The voice of a young male Adlet reduced us all to silence, and we turned our heads to the right. Hundurr sprang to his feet and whimpered softly at the sight of two children, a male and a female, cloaked in animal skins and carrying two baskets of roots and vegetables they’d picked from the forest.

They both stared at Hundurr, their amber eyes wide and glassy as they recognized him.

“Saya, Embry, you’re back,” Colton said, then stood up and looked at Scarlett and me. “These are Hundurr’s children. They haven’t seen their father in two years.”

“It’s him, isn’t it?” Saya asked, setting her basket down with slow movements. Colton nodded, and she let out a long, most painful sigh.

They both came closer. Hundurr waited, still and quiet. “Does he know it’s us?” Embry murmured, taking a couple of steps forward, until there were only a couple of feet between him and Hundurr, his father-turned-pit-wolf. My stomach churned. I could only imagine how ravaged Hundurr probably was, deep down.

He didn’t react to their proximity in any way, but I could see that glimmer of recognition in his red eyes. He knew exactly who they were. I had a feeling he was playing his pit wolf role, in a way, to make them think that he wasn’t truly there anymore—at least, that’s what I would’ve done, to spare my loved ones the suffering of seeing me in such a state.

“I don’t know,” Colton breathed. “I don’t think we’ll ever see the real Hundurr again. I’m sorry. I think this creature is all that’s left of him.”

Saya was the first to break down and cry, while Embry did his best to keep a straight face. He reached out, and Hundurr sniffed his fingers, then licked them. Saya came to the front, weeping, and Hundurr lowered his head farther, allowing her to wrap her arms around his neck.

She held him like that for a while, whispering in his ear. Hundurr listened and kept his gaze fixed on Embry. “He’s alive,” Embry whispered, his lower lip trembling. “That’s all that matters.”

Hundurr huffed, then nuzzled Saya’s red curls. Embry then patted the top of his head and nodded slowly. They were all communicating without words, their blood connection stronger than any swamp witch magic.

I understood, right then and there, that I couldn’t let Hundurr stay like that forever. He was in there, somewhere, between layers of darkness and suffering, and I knew I’d eventually find a way to bring the Adlet back to the surface.

Scarlett sniffled by my side. A sharp pain clawed at my heart when I looked at her. Her suffering was mine, and I couldn’t bear to see her crying. She cared about Hundurr, and she’d become very attached to him—knowing what he’d been through was really doing a number on her. Coincidentally, I, too, was broken and dysfunctional. I understood the darkness that had turned Hundurr into a pit wolf. Except that I went on like that well after I turned back to my Druid self. I’d allowed the pain, the grief of losing Kyana, to turn me into a lifeless husk.

I’d spent a lot of time wallowing in self-pity and grief, until she came along. Scarlett was my way out, my ray of sunshine, that glimmer of hope I held on to. She was the unexpected change in my life, the one who brought all of me back. Judging by how Hundurr looked at her, he saw the same creature as I did. I could tell, from his eyes, that he was fond of her.

The Adlet inside him was harboring strong feelings toward her—feelings that would’ve made me uncomfortable, and downright jealous, in different circumstances. All the times he’d growled whenever I got close to her were starting to make sense. But maybe that was what Hundurr needed to get himself out of that state. My love for Kyana had helped me break out from my Destroyer form.

As awkward as it sounded, maybe his feelings for Scarlett could do the same for him. I promised myself that I would do everything in my power to help Hundurr cross that threshold. One way or another, the Adlet was going to come back. I’d make sure of that.