Blackw

eve before the next assault. I knew Stellan Maris would not st

ciousness. This time, there was no anger. The voice was smooth, almost sedu

d on its words. *

e now that of a bored academic. *A recurring narrative. When one player is removed, a soul with a similar traject

otic actions are creating stress fractures in the fabric of th

s were mobilizing, their movements tense and sharp. The news of Rowan's r

in my mind. *Is t

suasion. *I can offer you a peaceful end. A quiet fading, free of pain. In your

promising a pig a quick death. You fundamentally misunderstand. I don't

ing, it could process. But a subject who simply did not care for the rew

asked, her wolf-mind tempted by the

k of certainty. *There is no 'better next time.' There is only

prescribed future: a slow, lonely death in this very room, my body growing frail, my mind lost to a sorrow

details. In one flash of me lying on my deathbed, I saw it-a symbol carved into the headboard. A stylized wolf intertwined with

It had roots. It had rules. An

found boredom. *Are we done? This is terribly tiresome.

had thrown its best weapons at me, and I had treated them like m

lpha seat was a bloody, desperate affair that he ultimately lost, leading to his ex

t lose?* A truly delicious, d

different now. Cold, sharp, and deadly serious. *You truly care for nothing, do yo

orphan, and given me a name and a home. The only person in this world who had ever shown me true, unconditional ki

e one string it could pull.

ly was a dead calm. *He died in a ri

discovered the pact. He was trying to free the Black

tilted o

the grieving, heartbroken Luna. Fulfill your tragic purpose. Do this, and I will tell yo

ossible choice. My freedom,

ave my answer. A single, whispered

.Fi

ecede, satisfied. I slowly opened my eyes, and they held no trace of sorrow