"Flee already, you Fools!"

With these words, his broad paws detached themselves from the dark stone, and the bright figure shot through the darkness like a lightning bolt. With a lion's agility and a trained warrior's strength, he pounced on the first approaching enemy.

He immediately felt the hardened stone skin as bodies collided. But even the solid stone skin of the gargoyles was no match for the Sidhe's fierce claws. A pained roar rose in the darkness as the sharp thorns of his claws sank into his opponent. Mercilessly, they left deep scratch marks on the ancient rock. His speed outstripped his opponent's strength, and the body beneath him shook under the force of the attack. He immediately used the moment of open defense to mercilessly ram his long, flashing fangs into the gargoyle's throat.

Usually, at this moment, he tasted the iron blood on his tongue and felt the warm juice seep through his lips into the bright fur around his jaws. But today, he was denied this satisfying feeling. After all, the stone cracked and crunched under the pressure of his jaws before cracks ran through the rock as if a hammer and chisel had chosen the most destructive spot. The claws desperately tried to strike at him - but it was too late.

With a rumble from his throat, he increased the pressure, and the stone broke apart at the cracks. The stone body immediately froze into a lifeless pile of rubble.

Just at that moment, a breeze brushed his fur. His black likeness shot past him like an arrow and pounced on the next onrushing pursuer. Even though Kaie might not be a match for him, it was still enough for the gargoyle.

A fog of stone dust and death enveloped them while his fur and that of his brother moved through the dull darkness in a dance of light and shadow. His claws twitched through the air and struck their target with deadly precision. The soundscape became a jumble of growls and roars, crunching stone and splashing water.

The Gargoyles were tough opponents in the truest sense of the word, but they were almost as sluggish as trolls. The Sith's speed was their decisive advantage, especially in the murky darkness.

The pairs of fearful eyes, still huddled together like startled rabbits, could barely follow their movements. Paralyzed with fear, they crouched, trembling in the mud, barely crawling a few inches forward, unable to take their eyes off the battle to decide their fate.

Monster against monster.

But no one noticed the shadow lurking in the darkness. And no one, neither human nor Sith, saw the deadly tool in the traitor's hands before the flashing blade rose to take a life.

The sharply honed point shot forward, blending into the battle like an invisible arrow and piercing the darkness with deadly precision. It bore purposefully into the smooth, shimmering fur, penetrating sinew and muscle seemingly without resistance before slipping out of the body with a smacking sound.

Without warning, a sharp pain exploded in the white chest and dug into his flesh like a bullet. The pain felt real and, simultaneously, like a phantom. The alien pain seemed to cut his soul in half, and the white body, still intoxicated from the fight, sank staggering to the dirty ground with the last of his enemies. Then the feeling ebbed away - the connection sank slowly but inexorably like a leaking ship.

"NOOOO!"

A cry of pain and rising, merciless despair left his chest. His body shook with a mixture of hot rage and cold shock. The silver eyes twitched through the darkness, gliding frantically over the piles of boulders, horns, and jagged stones. Meanwhile, the distant footsteps echoed in his perception like a drumbeat, and his eyes instantly flicked to the source of the sound.

But it was too late.

All he could see was a f shadow, and for a split second, he caught a glimpse of an embroidered symbol beneath his tattered clothing. Then, all he saw was the fluttering cloth net disappearing into one of the countless corridors of the catacombs and being swallowed up by the shadows. Like a dirty rat, he slipped into the darkness that cowards loved to use. And then... the sharp eyes caught the body sinking to the ground only a few feet away from him.

"KAIE!"

His brother's name leaped across the beastly lips in a desperate growl as the black feline predator's dark paws gave way beneath its slightly smaller body.

The large paws twitched and spasmed, and claws dug deep furrows into the muddy mixture of blood, earth, and mold. Body and mind fought a desperate death struggle as more of the red lifeblood gushed over the slippery pavement like a freshly broken spring. Red blood shimmered on the dark fur, soaking and sticking to it. More oozed incessantly from the wound, which was barely visible between the dark fur but had penetrated the flank with cruel precision.

"Kaie! No, no, no," the snow-white warrior gasped desperately before rushing to the dying man. He bridged the distance with stumbling steps, and with every heartbeat, he felt an invisible blade digging deeper into his soul. It slowly cut the bond between the brother's fiber by fiber, sending a stab into his soul each time. Kaie was all he had left. The only one he had lived and fought for.

The wiry, animalistic body huddled over his dying brother's, trembling with helplessness. Desperately, he pressed his nose to the broad chest, the color of which resembled his own, and lit up the dark fur like a star. He felt every one of the tortured heartbeats in his own chest. He had known it, felt it, deep inside him. His brother should never have followed him on the path his paws walked. A path full of pain and darkness that Kaie was never made for.

His brother's eyes slid around gropingly and aimlessly, almost as if he were looking for something but couldn't find it. Then, the golden amber finally settled on the snow warrior again.

"Find her," he heard the usually warm voice plead in its last breaths.

"Stop it! You won't die... you can't..." he stammered, his nose pressed against the increasingly cold fur as if it could change anything.

No. No, no, no, no!

This couldn't happen! Not Kaie. He was not ... like himself. Kaie was warm-hearted and merciful ... They were brothers. Kaie was sunshine; he was midnight rain. They were two sides of the same coin. They complemented each other. They needed each other.

But this time, there was no room in Kaie's heart for a smile or mischief.

"Find Myra," he pleaded instead, his chest rising and falling heavily. Every breath, a visible struggle. Every other heartbeat was a trickling grain of sand towards the invisible end. "Protect her ... promise me ... she's ..."

The words blurred in the tears and the darkness that enveloped him. His brother's pupils dilated. Then there was no more breathing, not even a heartbeat. Instead, a thunderous silence and an immeasurable pain settled over him, tearing at his chest and sucking the strength from his limbs like a dark curse.

He wanted to scream, but he didn't have the strength. He wanted to rage—but for what?

An iron claw of grief gripped him all at once before his soul sank into unrelenting winter darkness.

"Ghost..."

A hand carefully placed itself on the white, dirt, and blood-soaked fur that made him unmistakable. They hesitantly groped for the fur of the savior who had paid far too high a price for his deed. For what felt like an eternity, not a word had reached the broken soul that hung mournfully over the fallen body and had not moved for minutes, as if he had died with his brother.

It was the young woman's delicate fingers that hesitantly stroked the fur dress and more or less tried to offer comfort. Fingers that had no blood on them. Untainted by war and blood.

And yet this hesitant touch revealed a raging storm inside him as if it were the drop that caused an entire dam to burst.

Suddenly, a dark, reddish glow flashed through the cold, silver-grey earth, the likes of which had never been seen before.

Too fast for a human eye, its body whirled around, and white fangs flashed before they dug mercilessly into the pale skin. They pierced the soft flesh in a deadly attack he mastered as easily as breathing.

Gasps filled the shocked silence. The small body writhed, but the resistance faded in seconds. The slender neck caught between the steel jaws, and the life in the wide-open eyes went out before the body slipped limply from its clutches.

"Scum! Murderers! Traitors!" thundered like drumbeats through the darkness, revealing the fallen hero's baseless, grief-stricken thoughts.

Humans were scum. He had always known it. And now Kaie had lost his life for his naivety, his warm heart...

Sometimes, it was love that made you take the next breath. Sometimes, it was revenge. All he could think about was retribution.

"Run to the world's end, but I will get you! Mine will be the blood that runs through your veins! You will pay this debt with blood!"

Chapter 2 - A Hero's Downfall

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