Resilience

Seventh-Far-Flier came to meet her by the base of the waterfalls. He was one of the Far-Fliers whom she knew held someone to his liver. That alone meant he was more likely than not to be sympathetic to her cause.

"Warm flights, Seventh-Far-Flier," she purred in greeting.

"Warm flights, Skadi. How can this one help you?" he asked.

She looked around, confirming that they were alone, "Let us speak freely. In the time I have been here, I have seen customs and rules which are twisted. Would you agree with me that this pack has twisted pack-rules?"

He stiffened, not immediately answering as he looked elsewhere, "It is not this one's place to question the pack-rules."

He, like many others before him, was worried, not knowing her reasons for asking these questions, and likely believing this was a test.

"Yes, you do, as all do. Imagine that this pack had different pack-rules, such as allowing mate-pairs and self-names. Would that be better than what is now?"

He thought it would. That was obvious in his life-fire.

"This one is loyal to the pack and our ways," he protested.

She got to her paws and growled at him, "No, you are not. I know you hold someone to your liver as is not allowed. What if I were to become the new Alpha?"

He stared without blinking, "What? Why do you think you can be Alpha?"

"Why not? My sire was the Highest-Alpha whom even your pack's Alpha obeyed."

"Yes, but you are female. Only males are allowed to be Alpha."

He both appeared to believe what he said while also feeling uncomfortable about it. Maybe he saw some of the twisted influence of the pack's customs, but he was unable to free himself from those thoughts. He did not feel at all malicious or cruel in what he said, but there was no good way to excuse his words, other than ignorance due to his upbringing.

"Why?"

"That is how life is."

"The Alpha is only the leader for the pack. Anyone who believes in their own life-fire, has a strong enough will, and can convince others to follow can be the leader. I know what you are thinking: I am probably here to trick you into admitting something that will get you punished."

"Why should this one trust you?" he quickly asked.

She started pacing, "There are several reasons. I am not truly one of your pack, and I came from beyond. I know what other packs live like, and your pack is the most twisted of all of them. No other pack prevents mate-pairs, forces young to be made and raised without sires and dams together, or makes words and ideas not pack-correct or allowed. You are all living in a trap which benefits your Alpha and his kin. You know this!"

He stepped back a pace, probably surprised by how forceful she was. However, he did not admit that she was correct.

"I am not alone. There are others who agree with me," she added.

He blinked, shuffled in place, and slightly relaxed after a few wingbeats, "Suppose this one agreed with you. What is your plan?"

From the way he asked, he might be leaving himself the option of pretending that he was going along with her to get information. However, he was genuinely interested and pleased by the possibility of changing the twisted pack-rules.

"I am speaking to other packmates until I have enough supporters. Once there are enough of us, we will go together and force out the Alpha and all his kin, however we must. As the new Alpha, I will change this pack into what it should be. I will flame the rules which limit you and benefit him and his kin."

He grumbled, "Who are your supporters?"

"I cannot say. You must appreciate why not."

"This one will deny we ever spoke if anyone asks. Without knowing how many supporters you have, this one cannot agree yet."

That was a fair concern of his. The more supporters she had, the easier and safer it would be for others to join her conspiracy. For now, it was safer for no one else to know who specifically was supporting her, since that meant anyone who wanted to tell Alpha the truth had far less to tell. Further, she could easily feel during meeting with them if someone was planning to betray her and tell Alpha. There would be a hint of deception and cunning in their thoughts. There was always the option to trick them into thinking Alpha actually sent her to speak with them as a test, which would convince them to not bother speaking to him or any of the Firsts after all. There was no deception or guile present in his life-fire.

"I understand. Consider what I said. We never had this talk. I trust that you will not speak about this with anyone else," she whispered.

"Of course not."

She was resting in her cave-den after another long waking-cycle of meeting with various packmates, males and females alike. Careful feeling of their thoughts, words, and inclinations helped her guess who was open to hearing what she had to say. Those who disliked Alpha or wanted to make pairs were the most eager to listen and to agree with her plan.

All the sympathizers she spoke to and who freely expressed themselves asked her to not tell anyone else that they agreed with her. The fewer packmates knew everyone who had joined the conspiracy, the safer everyone was. As it was, only she knew everyone who had agreed with her or been sympathetic. First-Hunter learned of more every few waking-cycles as she related to him who she had spoken to.

Suddenly, a Fighter, Seventh-Fighter, announced himself and landed before trotting to her. This was unexpected, and had her alert for danger as she got to her paws. But he was not trying to be threatening.

"Warm flights, Skadi," he purred in greeting.

"Seventh-Fighter, how can I help you?"

He sat on his haunches before her, leaning closer to whisper, "I heard what you are planning. You are leading a conspiracy."

She stiffened in surprise and worry. She had not spoken to him, which meant someone had been talking about her plan despite the agreement to keep it secret. That was not good at all. However, it appeared that Seventh-Fighter might be on her side, given how he came to speak with her and voluntarily broke a pack-rule in his choice of words. Or maybe that itself was a trick.

"What?" she barked.

"First-Hunter and I have an agreement. I help him sneak kin in or out of the pack's territory when I am being a guard. I do not know why he wants to help those kin, but taking risks and breaking rules is fun. Also, I do not approve of the Alpha or his kin."

So he must be the Fighter which First-Hunter had mentioned in passing before.

She purred, "Good to hear that you agree with us. Why do you not approve of him?"

Seventh-Fighter softly growled, "It is more First-Fighter I hate. He… was not kind to one of our Helpers whom I care about. Is there a plan?"

"The plan is to force Alpha and his kin out of the pack once there are enough of us. I would become the new Alpha, and I would change the pack-rules as many of you want. Do you have a problem with a female being Alpha?"

He briefly looked away, "It might be difficult to accept at first, but I could bow to you if you would make the pack more what I want it to be."

"What about other Fighters? Do you know of any others who are like you?" she asked, having ignored the Fighters so far.

He grumbled, "I doubt there are many, but I have not talked to any of them about this. It is too dangerous. They are more loyal to Alpha, usually."

Unsurprising. The Fighters had some power in the pack, and they were given preference. Alpha had secured more of their loyalty by giving them greater status and authority in the pack, not to mention more females to keep them company.

"When will you act?" he asked.

"I need to speak to more of your packmates first."

"Do you plan to kill him?"

"If necessary."

He shrugged, "Well, I do not know how many you have, but if you will take advice, you must have most of the Fighters away whenever you act. Find a way to have them leave so you can act without Alpha having many guards with him."

She already had a plan. It would be easy to have a conspiring Far-Flier bring back a false report of threatening kin to be flamed away from near the pack's territory. The Fighters would have to fly to the defense, leaving the Alpha relatively unguarded.

"I understand. Since you already help him break rules, go talk to First-Hunter. He knows about this too."

He purred, "Good, I will."

She slowly strolled past the guards into Alpha's cave-den where he was resting with Swirl and Spot. He was fast asleep, completely vulnerable. All it would take to kill him was to jump on him and bite out his throat or crush his head. Any death would be more than deserved for what he and his kin had done to this pack.

But that was not the plan, since she would then be attacked and probably killed by his kin and guards outside. The best way to do this was to keep her rise into power within the pack's customs, more or less. That would help ensure that the most possible packmates would bow to her as their new Alpha.

She took a deep breath and felt for his thoughts without flying into any sleep-visions. His life-fire was calm and still as he slept, but there was a faint concern smoldering within. Maybe he knew without aware-knowing that his power was being threatened. What precisely he was worried about was unclear, and prying too closely could alert him to a presence.

Burning in her thoughts was a clear image of Alpha's ledge and the largest light-rock on it. But it was not him sitting on the light-rock. Instead, she imagined First-Fighter there, proudly perching as an Alpha would while guards stood nearby and others in the pack came to meet him.

She withdrew from his life-fire, and closely watched him. He grumbled in his sleep, twitching slightly before settling down. He had clearly seen the sleep-vision she had forced him to witness.

Satisfied, she backed out of his cave-den, passed Sway and Speck outside as they were talking about nothing important, mumbled the excuse that Alpha was still asleep, and took flight to return to her own cave-den. With any luck, he would further come to doubt First-Fighter, which would weaken his strength before she and her supporters acted.

She had found it useful to speak less about the two-legs, and instead to focus on the pack's twisted customs, probably because the packmates she was trying to convince to follow her cared more about what directly impacted them in the here and now.

They could not be blamed for being shortsighted, as they did not know better. Their entire world had been, for the most part, contained to this pack, its territory, and the rules which kept their lives limited.

Speck landed in her cave-den and strolled to her. Speck, and any of Alpha's mates for that matter, rarely flew to speak with her. Something must be at paw.

"Warm flights, Speck."

Speck huffed, "Warm flights, Skadi."

"How can I help you?"

Speck grumbled, laying down beside her, "You can help me learn what is happening among the Far-Flier-Helpers."

She stiffened out of worry. Was Speck hinting that she heard something of the plan? Had one of those Helpers been whispering when she should not have? Were rumors spreading?

"What do you mean?" she calmly asked.

"I heard whispers of them wanting change, more status, and other things they cannot have! Unacceptable."

"Is that so? Do you know where those whispers came from?"

"No, and that is why I want your help," Speck answered.

There was no clear deception. The ignorant, twisted light wing truly did not appear to know where those ideas came from, thankfully.

"Sure, I can help. How do you want me to do this?"

"Just speak with my Helpers, get their trust, and convince them to speak to you. They might trust you more than me."

This was perfect, since it gave her more opportunity to speak with the remaining reluctant females while also having a valid excuse to be doing so.

"Fine. I will. Does Alpha know about this?"

Speck purred, facing her, "I will tell him. You have my thanks."

"For the pack," she chuckled.

Speck departed. With Speck gone, she softly growled, amused at how Speck had no idea how trapped she was. Speck was just as guilty as Alpha or his other mates and kin, all because she supported him and benefited from his rule.

She listened as First-Hunter gave her and a pawful of Hunters and Hunter-Helpers allies a report of who had expressed interest in their cause. They were all being cautious by only speaking to those they could trust and had expressed sympathy for their ideas in private before. She had already met with and explained herself to everyone in his secret group of allies.

The last pawful of waking-cycles had gone peacefully enough with no drama or causes for concern. She had spoken to a total of four tens of packmates, most of whom had privately agreed with her. The Hunters and most of the Far-Fliers were open to the plan. Their Helpers naturally agreed too, since most of the changes planned for the pack would directly help all females. There were ten other packmates who said they needed to consider helping, because of the danger of doing so, or had not trusted her enough to speak freely.

However, assuming they were willing to help, she would have between a third and half of the pack willing to support her. Further, there were many others she had not spoken to, and there were certainly many among those who would support a change in leadership. Only she and First-Hunter, him to a lesser extent, knew how much of the pack would secretly support their cause at the moment. That was a necessary precaution, just in case someone turned against them. A traitor from outside the secret group of male and females within the Hunters could only name her. That was unlikely to happen, since she could know if anyone she spoke to had felt opportunistic or had any deep loyalty to Alpha.

All that was necessary would be to gather enough supporters, arrange an opportunity when Alpha's loyal Fighters were mostly away, and then act together. They had enough reason to act for their own benefit. The majority only had to gather, demand change with one voice, and it would happen.

Sway was waiting for her after she returned for rest after another waking-cycle.

"Sway, can I help you?" she politely asked.

"Alpha wants to speak to you soon here in your cave-den."

"Any idea what he wants to talk about?"

Sway shrugged, "Something about a decision he made, maybe about the two-legs you are concerned about."

She hid her surprise. Had he finally come to understand the danger? It would not change anything if he had.

"I will speak to him."

Sway took flight, leaving her to wait alone in her cave-den.

She paced back and forth, waiting for his arrival. No one else was visible out in the range. She tensed, feeling as though she was not alone, but there was no one else there in the cave-den. There was nothing except her own shadow upon the wall.

"Have anything to say?" she growled.

Nameless did not answer or do anything a shadow should not do. Nameless must be pretending to not be there.

She turned tail on the shadow.

"Good! You never say anything warming anyway!"

Why was Nameless always so critical and liver-chilling? Could that shadow-life say anything good about her instead?

'Comforting words do not help you grow.'

She spun around and flamed at Nameless out of anger. Fire could not hurt a shadow-life, but it felt good to let out some frustration.

"You know nothing! I have to do everything myself!"

"What?" Alpha asked.

She spun around and saw Alpha sitting on the outer ledge. He must have just touched down, and he appeared very curious or confused.

"Sorry, I... I was not talking to you," she grumbled.

He got to his paws and approached, "Who were you talking to? Yourself?"

He had to be convinced that she was thought-twisted, which might be partly true.

She chuckled, "No. I see a, how do I say it, a shadow-life which talks to me. Twisted, is it not?"

"Very."

"Speck said you wanted to talk to me about a decision."

He looked away, "Yes, I understand everything much better. I was being twisted and blind to the truth."

He had seen the truth after all? How had he finally learned? It might be good to know so she could help others learn as he had, even though he still did not deserve to be Alpha.

"How did you learn?"

"Someone told me. What they told me made sense the more I considered it."

She had told him so many times, but he listened to someone else? That was frustrating.

"What did they tell you?" she asked.

He came closer and leaned in to whisper.

He swung a paw and struck her in the head. Everything spun as a weight crashed into her shoulder, knocking her onto her side. Panicked, she swung a paw at him and missed as he ducked. He snarled and struck, his extended claws cutting her side. Vision itself spun. Another desperate swat at him failed, and he lunged while she was imbalanced, knocking her onto her back.

He fell on her, knocking out her breath. No breath to roar or flame or plead.

Helpless to act. Unable to fight. No breath.

He reared up, swung a paw, and struck at her head.

And all went dark.

'Only in darkness the light.'

She blinked, spinning in place to find the speaker. Nothing was visible in the encompassing dark.

There had to be more light, so there was. Her wings burned with blue and white light, forcing back the darkness.

Except for a shadow in her own shape and size. The Nameless shadow stood calmly before her, its wings burning with dark light which dripped onto the ground and floated in the air. Was Nameless causing the darkness itself?

"You? What are you doing here?" she gasped.

'You believe you are alone, but we will never betray you.'

Betrayal? What was that referring to?

"I do not understand."

'We know what you have felt. We know suffering, just as you do.'

How could a shadow-life have suffered? Looking into Nameless's life-fire and memories was an option and might help with-

"Wake up!" a muffled voice commanded.

She groaned and whined as awareness returned, and with it the pain everywhere. Confusion quickly passed.

Alpha somehow learned what she was planning, so he acted first and attacked.

"No..."

"Eat!" the voice commanded.

She barely opened her eyes and looked around. This was not her cave-den. Rather, it was a dark cave which sloped down to where she was prone on her side. She could not recognize wherever this was. The rocky ground where she lay had small, dried pools of her life-water from the worst hurts. A pair of fish and a pawful of pain-helping plants lay nearby.

Sway was sitting before her, staring down impassively.

"Eat," Sway said, nudging the fish and pain-helping plants.

She wearily crawled closer until she could snap up the fish and pain-helping plants. Walking hurt too much. The pain-helping plants would need time before they helped.

"Thank you... Sway," she groaned.

"Thank your Alpha."

Alpha. Her attacker.

"He... he attacked me!" she whined.

"As you deserve."

"What? How... could you say that?"

"You were planning against us. You are lucky he wants you alive."

"Why... why?"

"He will get eggs from you. Do not bother trying to escape. You will regret it if you try. There are guards above, and they have orders to keep you here."

Sway spun around and flew up the steep slope, vanishing over the peak.

Anger and fear bubbled within. Anger that Sway could say such rotted things, and fear of everything else. Was Alpha truly only keeping her alive to get eggs from her? It was possible. He had been obsessed with her all along.

He would never get eggs from her, even if that meant smashing them herself! Giving a monster like him an egg was not acceptable!

She froze in horror.

Did the pain in her flanks mean he had forced himself on her while she was not awake? There was no other explanation. He had to have done that.

No…

No.

No!

This could not be happening!

But it was. There was no reason to deny the truth. Closing her eyes, feeling sadness and chill, and letting out sounds of hurt would not change anything. Feeling was itself part of the problem. Feelings, good and bad, would only prevent action. Feeling nothing was better and would help to survive and endure. Bury that pain deep away where it would never bother her again.

Deep breaths followed as she fought to still her racing life-organ and control her thoughts. Nothing but one breath after another. She was still alive, and that meant action was possible.

She cautiously stretched her wings and tail, finding nothing broken. At least there was that.

The slope up which Sway flew was too steep to easily climb up. A small stream fell off a corner of the slope and flowed into a deep hole near the rear of the cave. The water would probably be good for drinking, but the hole was too small to climb down, though the water had to flow somewhere. There was no visible way out other than the path above.

How did he learn about the plan? He said something about hearing the truth from someone. Had one of the conspirators tricked her and told him the truth? That was most likely, but who would have done that? No one she had spoken with had felt suspicious or plotting. She had to have made a mistake and missed something. It would be possible to learn if she met with each of them one at a time and used all her powers to inspect them. Whoever had betrayed her would suffer, but that required getting out of here first.

Where was here?

The cave could not be too deep, since there was faint light coming from above. There was also the small stream and a constant drone of water falling, so it probably was not up too high in the range. Alpha would want to keep her close and not out among the rest of the pack, so the cave was probably one of the ones up on his special level or at the base of his level.

She stretched her wings and flew up to the top ledge as silently as possible. She landed and looked around for any sign of the guards he would have assigned to keep her here. The cave sloped upward to a waterfall which blocked the exit, and a small stream flowed down the right-paw side of the cave.

She strained against weariness and a throbbing headache to use life-fire-sight, only to confirm that there were three light wings, probably Fighters, on guard just outside the waterfall. And those were only the ones she could see. Getting past the Fighters would be difficult. Her headache was not helping either.

Sway had warned her not to try to escape. Obviously, Alpha would not want her to try to escape, but what would the consequences be for trying and failing to escape? Probably more force-mating and beating, or maybe something worse without actually killing her. Think like him. What worse would he do to keep her trapped here?

She flinched as the answer came to mind. He would likely break her wings if she failed to escape. There was no better way he could permanently keep her trapped than to ground her. Why had he not already grounded her? What did he gain from allowing her the ability to fly? Whatever his twisted reason was, it was a mistake.

The waterfall and unseen guards were not far away, just a quick dash up the cave. One of them could come back to check on her at any moment. They surely had orders to attack her and force her back into the trap if they saw her trying to escape.

Deep breaths followed as she focused only on what had to happen next. She had to escape this trap, flee to her supporters, and get rid of Alpha however was necessary. Her allies would probably be wondering where she was, or they would wonder that in time when she did not return to them.

Alpha would probably pretend that she had left his pack to return to another for some reason. But if that was true, he would need to limit the number of his packmates who knew about her. Even most of his Fighters and personal guards could not be allowed to know the truth, else that truth could get out into the rest of the pack through whispering and rumors.

Despite all the guards the Alpha could put outside the trap, she had what others did not have: powers even Alpha did not know about. She had kept secret the full extent of what she could do, only letting him know about her thought-speak.

If only her head did not hurt so much.

She felt for her life-will-power, but... it was not working as it should. The Fighters outside were too indistinct, leaving her unable to closely feel their life-fires.

Her powers were largely missing, or she could not find them, or something else bad. Her wings could not burn with light and power!

What was wrong? Why were her powers not answering? This had never happened before despite everything else she had endured. It had to have something to do with being attacked or chilled or confused or feeling lost or-

She hung her head and whined at the pain and chill. Not the body-pain. That pain was slowly fading or at least tolerable.

How had this gone so wrong? What mistake had she made by trusting someone she should not have?

Alone, no one there to give any comfort or warmth. Her allies had no idea where she was or what had happened to her.

The exit was right there, easy to escape through if only she made a desperate dash to-

No. Why was thought itself so twisted and flying too fast?

Acting hastily would bring unacceptable risks. Failing and having her wings broken would be too terrible. How many Fighters were on guard out there beyond the three she knew about? Trying to fight multiple guards at once would not work, especially in her condition. There was no chance of immediate escape.

Staying here surely meant enduring him, only this time being awake. He would not make the mistake of being alone and giving her a chance to kill him.

Motion caught her attention as the waterfall was disturbed. Someone was walking through the waterfall.

Alarmed, she spun around and jumped down into the bottom of the trap-cave. She dashed to the rear of the cave where the water pooled before pouring down the hole, and curled up by the water to pretend to be asleep while listening to the approaching light wing.

She barely opened an eye to see who it was, and confirmed that it was one of Alpha's personal Fighter-guards, surely loyal to him. The male light wing snorted and walked back up the slope, probably reassured that nothing strange was happening.

Relieved that she was still alone, she got up and looked down at her reflection in the water, seeing new scratches, hurt-marks, and places where scales had been lost. She closed her eyes and looked away, not wanting to see that.

How had this gone so wrong, why had she been blind to it, and what was the haze and weariness in her thoughts? What was dulling her life-will-powers, preventing her from attempting anything with the guards outside?

A possible explanation came to mind. The fish she was given could have been tainted with berries or some other plant which might influence thought or block life-will-powers. That was only a guess which was unsupported, as she knew of no such plant which could do that. Only time could tell if that was a valid explanation, though it did not feel like a complete answer.

What if those life-will-powers were connected to Nameless, somehow? How could it be otherwise?

"Are you there?" she whispered.

There was no answer. The cave was dark enough that she saw no shadows, though that did not mean Nameless was not there. Nameless promised to always be with her and-

She growled at herself in annoyance at how wildly her thoughts were flying. None of this was helpful at all! However, Nameless being gone at the same time her powers were weakened had to be significant somehow.

There had to be a way to escape this trap, get to her allies, and kill Alpha. But rushing to blindly act would only make the situation worse. More information was needed at the very least, and she had to find out what happened to her powers. Nothing could happen without those.

She curled up tightly and tried to forget everything else, listening to the constant drone of the distant waterfall.

"There she is!"

His voice was foul and terrible.

Her claws slowly slid out as she prepared to fight. There was no other option. Fight him to the death, or...

Or let him do what he wanted. He needed her alive to get an egg from her, and being docile was probably the only way to not suffer more than was needed. Just survive him, pretend to be defeated, do not get hurt worse or become grounded, and escape when there was a good chance after learning the routine, whenever that happened. Staying resilient and being patient had worked with the two-leg monsters in the above.

Slowly and warily, she looked up at him while getting to her paws.

Alpha was perched on the edge of the drop and was leering at her. He also had what looked like a couple Fighters, probably his personal guards, behind him. Now he probably saw no need to trick and pretend to be what he was not.

How to play this with him? Fighting was not an option. There was no denying the plan. Perhaps she could pretend that she was going along with the plan just to learn more about it before telling him? Would he believe that? Probably not, even if that was the truth. He was too suspicious and worried about keeping his power and status. He had already decided on her guilt. Nothing she could say would convince him otherwise.

He leaped off the ledge, landed, and approached, "Do you like your new cave-den?"

She shrugged, looking away from him, "I have lived in worse."

"Good, because you will have a long time to come to like this place. I assume you know why you are here."

There was no option but to go along with him and pretend. Fighting against him and his guards was pointless. Pretending to be submissive had worked against the trapping two-legs above. Doing the same had to work again here with him. There was no other option.

"Yes…"

"You are staying in this cave for the rest of your life unless I change my mind. Other than my kin, only a few loyal Fighters and guards know where you are. Everyone else heard that you left the pack to return to your true one far away."

She looked down to her paws, pretending to be afraid, "What do you want?"

"You will give me eggs. Those eggs will go to my mates, and the young will be loyal to me."

His voice dropped lower, almost touched with a growl as he looked around the cave-den, "You will get enough fish to live on, you have water, and there is a hole for waste. Resist me or try to escape and you lose your wings. Do not resist, learn to enjoy our time together, and I might forgive you once you have learned your place. Do you understand how generous I am?"

"I do," she whispered.

"We will see. I will enjoy this more with you awake. Get down!"

She lay down on her belly as he instructed and remained still, not resisting as he forced himself on her. She whined, trying to ignore his sounds and movements, his guards standing above and watching with twisted interest, and the pain.

Think about nothing at all. Escape the present by thinking back to better, warmer waking-cycles long ago. Playing and having adventures with her former friends.

Completely alone now. No, not alone. Her supporters and conspirators in the pack would act once she got out.

He finished, climbed off, and stood before her while rumbling to himself.

"That was fun. We should do it again soon. I will have questions for you later, and you will answer them."

He jumped, flew up to the top level, and was gone. The guards also departed, though they had likely not gone far. All was silent except for the constant flow of water.

She waited many wingbeats until she was certain that he was gone. She got to her paws and washed as well as possible in the pool to get as much of his scent and foulness off as possible. With that done, she found a dark corner where she could hide and feel safe, even though nowhere was safe at all here.

Weary and in lingering pain, she curled up to rest. Sleep, hopefully dreamless, would be a welcome escape, as at least she could not feel any pain while asleep. Trapped and alone, she had to endure on her own. Even Nameless would be welcome company.

Before closing her eyes, she tried to touch her powers again, finding them unresponsive. The loss of her powers and ability to influence others was all that could keep her trapped here. What had happened to make her powers not answer? There was no more important question, but there was no clear answer.

Whatever else happened, he would eventually die at her claws, teeth, and flame. No one else would have that pleasure.