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ATM Rewrite: B3 — 29. Freedom
🕑 Added 2025-04-24 22:46:36 +0000 UTCPoV:
1. Kari (Our Empowered Wolf Girl!)
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Kari shed her human form the moment she escaped Sora’s stunned gaze and the arena’s clamor. There was nothing else left for her in this tournament for today, Jin had all but confirmed it, and she wouldn’t put Sora in until tomorrow—she was sure of it.
The real shocker would be her going into the arena twice, but that was who Jin was turning out to be. A mysterious Dragon Founder, who did whatever she wanted. Why she’d taken an interest in her didn’t matter in the end.
All that matters are results.
Her wolf body—larger than it had been just months ago—moved like a shadow through Avalon’s grounds. She knew where she wanted to go.
No. Where she needed to go.
You held my paw long enough, Sora… I know you won’t like what I’m going to do, but Jin’s right. You have enough on your plate, and I’m a big girl. I can walk on my own… I can own up to my mistakes and take responsibility. I can take ownership and be that wolf, always climbing the hill… I’m not alone anymore.
The crowd’s distant roars faded behind her, replaced by the sound of her own heartbeat and the whisper of paws against earth.
The weight of that confrontation Wendy—a public apology—still hung heavy in her chest.
Was it perfect? No. I flipping ran away, like usual… I managed to say it at least, and my tail wasn’t between my legs, but… Wait, does this mean my pride is coming back? I mean, I don’t know if that’s a good thing… It’s something. Mary will probably have something to say about that, she internally growled.
I just need space. Distance from all the drama… Time to prepare for Eric.
Her path took her northwest, away from the dormitories, where Sora and the others would eventually return. Dormitories she would not be returning to tonight.
Please, Sora, don’t send out a search party and trust me… Have faith in me.
Her heart squeezed at the thought, her wolf jaws locking together as the unsure emotions welled up within her.
You were the first person who had faith in me. The first who thought I could take Eric… Even if it was sort of your only option. Things are different now. I’m different.
The looming shape of one of Avalon’s ancient forests beckoned as she allowed the transportation gate to carry her to the location. Veiling swirling mist pulsed with faint iridescence, infused with potent fae magic.
The average students avoided this area but you had your rebels—rumors claimed the fog confused navigation, inducing panic in those unprepared for its effects.
So, the place Tiri ended up is also off-limits to students. This place even has a magical fog that always guides you out. Interesting that some students use it as a sort of game to see how far they can go… Avalon Academy is so large that it makes sense they need to use magic to restrict certain areas. They can’t guard everything. Also, some places you wouldn’t want guards who could snoop around.
Magic wasn’t exactly all that effective against her, though.
The mist parted around her fur like water, its enchantments sliding off her fenris hide without taking hold. The forest beyond was untamed, nothing like the manicured grounds near the academy buildings. No, these grounds felt more like the forest Sora and her had explored the Shadow Pit. No, perhaps shrouded in more potent magic than that.
Ancient trees towered overhead, their bark shimmering with runes that were invisible to most eyes but glowed a faint blue to her sight.
Wards mixed with more spells. This magic…smells similar to Titania’s. She had a hand in it. There’s others, too, but hers is the most recent. Why would the High Queen personally get involved in this project? Does it even matter right now? Not if I don’t make it out of this darkness…
For a moment, Kari paused at the tree line, hesitation gripping her chest. Her claws flexed out, feeling the vibrations deep within the soil—a potent, drawing pulse that cried out to touch, to enrapture.
Tiri wouldn’t hesitate… This voice in the back of my head that tells me I’m not enough was always there. This poison that drips into my veins… Am I really the closest to Grandpa’s lineage than any other fenris wolf, or is Tiri? They basically called me royalty.
Eric always told me I was. Mom said I was almost entirely fenris wolf…but what else does that make me? What gives me this cowardly, fearful voice in the back of my soul? How do I silence it? Just…charge! Tiri jumped into this forest and lake area. Go!
She plunged into the trees, letting instinct guide her in a way she hadn’t before. Her senses sharpened with each stride as she acted—the forest’s scents flooding her awareness. Pine and earth, yes, but also something else: old magic, yet woven very recently, bitter and sharp.
The fog thickened, but her eyes pierced through it, the magical concealments losing all power the moment their weave came into her vicinity. What would disorient humans and fae alike merely rendered the forest dreamy and ethereal to her sight.
Eventually, the trees thinned, revealing a vast body of water that stretched beyond sight. The mist was heaviest here, clinging to the surface in undulating patterns, occasionally revealing hints of the lake’s true size.
The waves lapped against the shore like any other lake, nothing out of the ordinary, but there was something different about this zone. Eyes low as she lowered herself to stare into the liquid as it ebbed and flowed around her paws, she breathed deeply—visions of her time inside the Shadow Pit ignited, the emotions of Tiri enveloping her.
The Darkness… Heart hardening with the resurgence of guilt that nipped at her tail, she shook it off with a snort and creased nose. Something’s wrong… The mist isn’t suppressing it, it’s hiding it and allowing it to spread within. Is this…and experiment?
“I misjudged you.”
Kari’s fur bristled as the low, masculine voice that slid through the air toward her from the fog.
“Who are you?!” she snarled, jumping back and squinting into the mist as the outline of a dark-skinned figure emerged, black hair flowing as if in a gentle breeze. “You’re…Oberon—the High King?”
The tall elf stepped fully into view, his obsidian and gold-trimmed robes flowing around him like liquid shadow. His pupilless gold eyes regarded her with an intensity that made her wolf instincts bristle between fight and flight.
He’s strong. Very strong…and after smelling The Darkness, he’s wearing enchanted items woven from fae Founder magic. It’s not corrupted but pure… How did Sora miss all of this? I guess she is distracted.
“You are correct, young wolf.” His voice carried neither warmth nor hostility, just a measured calm that seemed to settle the very mist around them. “I expected you would come here eventually, but not so soon. Not with such purpose or to find such a connection. It is…a development that exposes many flaws in the design Titania has foreseen.”
Kari shifted back to her human form, feeling oddly vulnerable but needing to face him as an equal. “What do you want? Are you here to stop me from finding my sister? Wait, are you saying you didn’t even know Tiri was here or that she was a fenris wolf?”
A subtle smile touched Oberon’s lips. “What I know and do not know is irrelevant in the equation. If I wished to stop you, I would not have intervened before you passed the boundary wards. No, I am here because what sleeps beneath these waters is of interest to both of us.”
He gestured toward a rocky outcropping that extended into the misty lake. “Walk with me, daughter of Lady Alva. Lady Mia told me a little about you but I must say, your path has been inspiring to watch.”
The mention of Sora and her mothers’ names sent a jolt through Kari’s spine. Cautiously, she followed him along the shoreline, her senses hyper-alert. “You…talked to Mia about me and my mother?”
“Of sorts. Personally? No. Yet, I knew about your mother long before Mia decided we were worth her attention,” he corrected, his long strides measured and unhurried. “Typically, your kind operates on a level we cannot fathom. What do I know? Your bloodline is unique, even among fenris wolves. It carries echoes of something…other, much like Lady Sora.”
He found his hands behind his back, gazing over the gentle sway of the dark lake. “We are all but pawns in the grand schemes of a fate woven long before we had any hope of altering the final picture. At least, that was true before you arrived… When Lady Jin decided to leverage her own vast knowledge and influence to force a new design…against Lady Mia’s wishes.”
“Humph.” Kari crossed her arms and put weight on her left hip, not wanting to step into anything complicated with what she was already dealing with. “Great. Isn’t this something you should be talking to Sora about? You know, someone who cares. I couldn’t give a damn about you fae people or this realm. I only want one thing…my little sister. Jin can do what Jin wants and if Mia isn’t going to stop her, no one can.”
They reached the outcropping, and Oberon sat upon a flat stone with the regal bearing of one who commanded worlds. And yet, he spoke as if he held no power at all.
The man’s vision fell to the waves, lapping against the rocky shore. “Ah, but that is the question,” he whispered, twisting his hands around the fog and making it bend and smooth out as if silk before it returned to vapor. “There is a delicate balance to keep that we must maintain. We cannot directly influence Lady Sora to our own ends. Lady Mia put very clear rules in place for me, my wife, and The Foundation. But we were also privy to certain uncomfortable details.”
“Oh, such as?” Kari muttered, cursing herself for taking the bait moments after.
“Such as the fact Sora was never meant to cause a stir within our universe,” he evenly responded. “It is clear she cares little or has a pre-established agreement with the fae Founders. Regardless, Lady Mia used this section in her domain for the fact it was obscured by fae Founder magic already.”
He motioned for her to join him. “What we struggle with is something impossible to combat. At least, on our level, which is why everyone is vying for Sora’s influence through those close to her. What do you feel when you look upon these waters, Daughter of Alva?”
Stomach knotting at the conversation’s twists and turns, she didn’t know how to answer. She stared into the mist-covered lake for a moment, her instincts both drawn to and repelled by whatever lay beneath.
“It’s…calling to me, in a way. In a way that the other forest and Shadow Pit did with Tiri’s memories. But this is different—deeper,” she admitted. “This isn’t just The Darkness, is it? It’s something else mixed with The Darkness. Another Founder? Wait, does that mean you’re trying to manipulate me to manipulate Sora?!”
Oberon’s golden eyes studied her with renewed interest. “Perceptive and not entirely wrong. Manipulation can sound harsher than where my intent lies. Knowledge is power. Can you say that Jin isn’t manipulating you for her own end… Into having this very conversation with me.”
Her teeth ground together as she considered the dragon’s golden, entertained smirk in their last encounter. “As long as Sora isn’t hurt—including collateral damage—and I get what I want…then I don’t mind listening to you,” she begrudgingly muttered.
“Acting as one should,” he said with a neutral nod. “As for your answer, few can distinguish the subtle currents that flow beneath the obvious ones yet your senses subtly go beyond the universal level.”
He waved his hand, and a portion of the mist parted, revealing glimpses of an underwater city—spires and domes of a civilization that should not exist.
“What the—”
Kari leaned forward, feeling whiplashed as she tried to bring it into more focus, but whatever residence was inside was shrouded in shadows.
“The Darkness has affected our realm for far shorter than the three or four centuries that most believe. There are deeper layers to this tale that others cannot pierce.”
Kari’s eyes widened as she caught sight of movement within those distant underwater structures—something larger. “What is that place? Who lives down there?”
“They exist in the twilight between normality and The Darkness,” Oberon whispered. “Neither fully corrupted nor fully pure. They remember a time before the split—before Avalon was torn in two… Your sister spent time there. Where she went from there, I cannot say.”
Mind piecing together everything Oberon was laying out, comments Sora had made and bits of information she gleaned from her discussions with Mary came to light. “Didn’t something like this happen to Sela's kingdom… Honeydew?”
The elf king’s expression remained unreadable yet she could sense a heaviness underneath his tone. “…That is not something I should speak on since it involves my wife. I can say that there was a reason Sela was driven out of Avalon instead of brought to court.”
“I hate people like you,” Kari growled, frustration building as she stared down at the shadowy underwater kingdom. “Why are you showing me this—telling me Tiri was down there? It has to be to manipulate Sora, but by what, sending us into The Darkness?”
Oberon folded his hands in his lap, an uncomfortable silence passing between them for a few seconds. “…There are things you can accomplish that no one else can, Lady Kari. I will say your sister did not simply fall into these waters,” Oberon said, his voice dropping lower. “She was drawn into them, just as you are being lulled in. The question isn’t why I’m telling you these things…but why someone is trying to get their hands on fenris wolves.”
Kari stood abruptly, her patience wearing thin. “Okay, no more riddles! The Darkness here doesn’t feel like pure fae Founder magic. There's something else—something older mixed with it. The fae Founders used The Darkness, didn’t they? It’s not ‘older’ like pre-Founder, but just pre-mixed. It’s the only thing that makes sense. They found something that was here before them, and used it. What is it?”
For a moment, Oberon’s composure slipped, a flicker of surprise crossing his features before he mastered it again. “Remarkable that you can sense that. Interesting. Very interesting. And that is also news to me and gives me much to ponder… It seems you have taught me something, young wolf.”
He rose to his feet, towering over her. “Founders aren’t bound by typical universal or omniversal laws. Neither you…nor your sister. So why go after someone who holds protection, like Sora, when…”
“…You have a broken Founder family that doesn’t have the same protections,” Kari finished with a twist of her nose, glaring at the dark waters. “So, you’re saying your hands are tied, and this is, what, you’re way of getting a word in?”
Oberon’s lips moved into a cryptic smile as he closed his eyes, his words deep and penetrating while turning to observe her with his golden globes. “What I am saying…is that I have placed my trust in you, Kari when everyone else lets me down. My son will need guidance in the end…”
Kari’s throat constricted, unsure how to even respond to that. He was placing his trust in her? To do what? His son? The guy Sora’s been crushing on?
Oberon's gaze drifted toward the submerged city. “I can tell you this much: what lies beneath these waters is connected to what drives your search for your little sister. We both know it is far harder to kill a fenris wolf than is reasonable.”
He turned his full attention back to Kari. “Nothing is as simple as light and shadow. Lady Mia, your mother, The Mórrígan, and every other faction moving has their own reasons. What you see on the surface is nothing but an illusion… What lies beneath the surface is often scary, but without you, I don’t believe Sora can uncover the truth.”
With that cryptic warning, he took a step back, his form already beginning to dissolve into the mist. “The night grows deep, and the waters call to you. I will leave you to your vigil, young wolf. Remember that not all darkness is evil, as Sora discovered with Sela, just as not all light is good. It is the purpose to which they are bent that determines their nature… The best intentions can lead to the hottest hell.”
As his form faded completely, his final words drifted like whispers on the wind: “When you face your brother tomorrow, remember who you want to be—not just what others have told you that you are, the sister you think Tiri deserves, or any abstract concept… Because if Tiri told you she hated you, would you run away…or would you fight harder?”
Then he was gone, leaving Kari alone with the mist and a cold shiver that reflected the constant, gentle lapping of waves against stone. The city drifted away in the ripples, Oberon’s parting question was ice digging into her veins.
What…would I do if Tiri said she hated me? I…don’t know. I’ve never even considered that, but that…would suck. But I’m still her older sister. I thought she’d died. I didn’t abandon her. Eric didn’t even tell me about her…or what happened to Mom.
Her fingers curled into fists, smelling the blood from the pressure she exerted. Mom, even if we hated your decision, you still made it to protect us… Even if it killed you, you did what you had to do to save us, giving up everything we had to beg for asylum from foxes. Hell, Eric knows I hate him, but still loves me in his messed up way… I’m not Eric.
She found a rocky outcropping that jutted into the water and transformed, leaping onto it. Settling her massive frame onto the cool stone, she stared into the dark liquid between the light and shadows—a portal to the divide between them.
Here, the academy and its concerns felt distant, insignificant. Only the lake, the mist, and her own thoughts remained.
Tomorrow I’ll face him for us, Tiri… No. Not for us. For me. To finally accept myself, weakness, flaws, and all. I can admit, I’m not fireproof. Did Grandpa have these thoughts? Jin didn’t seem to think so…
Kari’s ears flattened against her skull at the thought. Eric. Her brother. Her alpha. Her tormentor.
The memories surfaced unbidden: Eric’s claws digging into her flesh when she’d challenged him at thirteen. The humiliation as he’d forced her to submit, pinned beneath his superior strength in the wake of their mother’s death, her flesh still on his breath.
Words that had not been Eric’s floated up through the pool: “You’re nothing but a failed experiment, Kari. Mother’s disappointment. Her shame.”
Her brother’s voice was so clear in her mind that Kari snarled, hackles rising. A nearby boulder cracked as her aura flared unconsciously, power leaking out with her anger.
Is that the best you’ve got, Darkness? I’m calm. Focused. Eric always told me I’m not living up to my potential… It’s messed up, but he has always been my biggest believer…toxically so.
Jin’s words from their private training sessions echoed through her mind: “Fenrir wasn’t unstoppable because of his size, power, or strength of will alone. He was unstoppable because he believed himself to be the greatest, period. Faith in one’s own supremacy—that’s what made your grandfather a legend that even hosts of Primordials feared. He believed it was impossible to constrain his power, and so it was that the Primordials had to come up with the impossible to constrain it, and even that didn’t last all that long against his ego.”
Kari’s form shifted, bones and muscle rearranging until she sat in human form on the rock, legs dangling above the misty waters. She examined her hands—hands that had struck down three opponents today without hesitation or fear.
Is it really supremacy or ego that is our power, or something deeper? The way Nilly talks about Grandpa feels…different. It doesn’t matter how Grandpa was so strong. What matters is what I believe. And I’m changing. Growing stronger. Not because of some insane belief in my supremacy…but something else.
Sora’s face flashed in her mind, followed by Eyia, Wendy, Mary, Aiden, and so many others who had somehow rallied around her in various ways, some even antagonistic. Yet, that seemed to help her just as much.
For the first time in her life, Kari had caught glimpses of what it might mean to exist outside Eric’s shadow. To forge connections based on something other than dominance and fear. The nature she’d been taught that felt…askew was a good word to describe it.
She closed her eyes, letting her mind drift to the people who had, against all odds, begun to matter to her.
Sora—relentlessly hopeful and kind, even when Kari had given her every reason to hate her. The fox’s perspective somehow shifted problems until they appeared as opportunities. That seemed like her true power that way outshone her true vulpes magic. She’d forgiven the unforgivable and looked at her as if she were worth saving.
I cut her hair. Humiliated her. Made her life hell for years, which is eternity to teenagers like us, literally. And now she’s fighting to help me find my sister…and pushing back against Wendy, who is her best friend, basically her sister now.
Then there was Eyia—unyielding in her principles, yet somehow not rigid. The valkyrie moved through the world with absolute certainty in her path, even when that path led through pain. Kari had watched her face down Jin without flinching and facingterrifying culture shocks.
Odin’s daughter… Grandpa killed her father. Yet, because of Sora defending me, she now is looking at it from a different light. Maybe things aren’t so black and white, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t pain and raw emotion to work through. But when she looks at me, there’s no hatred in her anymore—only a search for truth.
Jin herself was a study in contrasts. Lazy yet calculating, seemingly indifferent yet orchestrating events with precision. She answered to no one, recognized no authority but her own or anyone who could demand it of her. The dragon moved through the world as if its rules were merely suggestions, to be followed or discarded at her convenience.
That’s power. Real power. The kind Eric envies and tries to reach. Not the petty dominance Eric wields over Miami’s monsters, but the confidence to simply be without equal and above anyone in a room. And yet, Eyia seems to be changing her, and Sora has her part in that too.
And Wendy—the girl who had a sort of sisterhood with Sora. How strange to think of her now with something approaching respect. The tanuki girl’s vulnerability wasn’t weakness as Kari had once believed. It took its own kind of strength to remain open in a world that had given her every reason to close herself off. Mary helped her realize that.
I said I was sorry, and I meant it. Would the old Kari even recognize me now?
The realization startled her: she wanted to be better. Not just stronger or more dominant, but better. She wanted to take pieces of each of them—Sora’s compassion, Eyia’s integrity, Jin’s self-assurance, Wendy’s ability to not close herself off, Mary’s insight—and forge them into something new. Something that was still Kari, but a Kari worthy of being friends with Sora.
A ripple disturbed the lake’s surface, drawing her attention. The mist had thickened, now completely obscuring the far shore, giving the illusion that she sat at the edge of an infinite, fog-covered sea.
As she watched, the mist began to coalesce into shapes—vague at first, then more distinct. A small girl with wild hair and wilder eyes, running through a forest. A woman with amber eyes and silver-streaked hair, her hand extended protectively. A swirling vortex of darkness. Blood on snow.
Kari’s heart pounded against her ribs. “Memory magic…fae Founder magic,” she whispered, recognizing the signature from what she’d experienced before. Something or someone was attempting to pull memories from her mind, projecting them onto the mist as darkness fell.
She should have been afraid. Should have run. Instead, she leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. “Fine. Show me,” she challenged the mist. “Show me what you think I fear. Because, I can’t imagine who I’d be if I was happy, and that scares me the most… But I have a way forward. You cannot break what you didn’t build, and I’m ready to rebuild what I allowed to break.”
The mist responded, the images swirling faster. A massive black wolf with eyes like burning coals—Eric in his true form. A younger Kari cowering before him. Blood. Pain. Submission.
But then other images appeared—Sora standing between her and Eric during their confrontation in Miami. Jin teaching her to channel her rage into power. The moment she’d learned Tiri might still be alive. The surge of purpose that had given her. And all of Mary’s supportive council that rebuilt her self-esteem with all the connections she’d blinded herself to.
The Darkness crept closer, trying to weave itself around her consciousness, far more potent than anything on the surface of this world. Kari recognized the sensation—similar to what she’d felt at the Shadow Pit but more refined, more focused. More deliberate.
It wasn’t entirely fae Founder magic either. There was something else mixed with it, something older and colder—something that felt foreign. Something that called to her, but not her fenris blood—something else.
You weren’t meant for this path. You’re too weak. Too broken. Eric will destroy you, and everyone you’ve begun to care about.
“No.” Kari stood on the rock, her form shifting again—not fully to wolf, but something in between. Claws extended from her fingertips, fur sprouting along her arms, her eyes taking on the amber glow of her wolf sight. “Whatever you think I am or whatever your plan for me is… We are not the same. I am my own wolf. And you, you are nothing but empty words.”
The darkness pressed harder, images of failure and humiliation flashing through the mist: Kari defeated at Eric's feet. Tiri looking at her with disappointment or hatred. Sora turning away in disgust.
“I. Said. NO.”
Power surged through her, raw and primal. The silver traces in her aura—inherited from the First Wolf himself—flared to life, burning away the dark tendrils that sought to entangle her mind. The mist recoiled as if struck, dissolving back into formless vapor.
Kari stood panting, her body vibrating with unleashed energy. She hadn’t known she could do that—hadn’t known her resistance to this other force extended to a more active defense rather than mere immunity.
Something wants me afraid. Wants me doubting to rely on something else within me than Mom’s power. Something—or someone—doesn’t want me ready for tomorrow… Is that what you’re trying to do with Tiri? Good luck.
For the first time, a slow, dangerous smile spread across her face.
Because you’ve made an enemy today, and I know your scent now.
She settled back onto the rock, this time fully human, crossing her legs and straightening her spine. The sky above had long darkened. She would not return to the dormitory tonight. Would not seek comfort in Sora’s reassurances or validation from the others.
This vigil was hers alone. Tomorrow would change everything—she felt it in her bones. Eric would come, and with him, perhaps answers about Tiri. About their mother. About why she’d always felt like an outsider in her own skin despite her fenris blood… About her father’s side of the line.
The Darkness would try again. She knew that with absolute certainty. It would press against her defenses, looking for cracks, for doubts to exploit. It resonated with something else within her, and that was what she needed to analyze. That would only come through fire.
Why’d you stop? Keep going. I’m not done learning… I’m not done evolving.
Kari closed her eyes, slipping into the meditative state Jin had taught her. Her consciousness expanded, wrapping around her in layers of awareness. She could feel the pulse of Avalon beneath her, the ancient magic that ran through its foundations. Could sense the patterns of power that flowed through the academy, converging and diverging in complex webs.
Something was happening here—something beyond Jin’s tournament, beyond her personal vendetta with Eric. The pieces were moving on a board much larger than she’d realized. Jin knew, though. She’d set all of this into motion. Why? That didn’t matter to her. She had one purpose, and everything else would fade into background noise.
I’ll win. I’m never going to lose again. I won’t give in again.
Hours passed. The fruits above casting faded light, casting silver through breaks in the mist. Occasionally, shapes moved in the forest behind her—creatures drawn to her power, perhaps, or simply the normal inhabitants of this secluded realm. None approached. Whether out of respect or fear, Kari couldn’t tell, nor did she care.
She harmonized with herself and her environment, expanding her soul and allowing The Darkness to assault her, hour after hour. And she burned, refined and dived into the pain to forge herself into a new weapon.
As the dawn fruit’s first light began to filter through the eastern mist, Kari opened her eyes. Her body felt different—lighter yet somehow more substantial. More real. The doubts that had plagued her for so long had burned away during the night’s crucible with herself and The Darkness.
She rose to her feet, stretching muscles that had remained still for hours. The academy would be waking now. Preparations for the day’s tournament would be underway. Eric would be arriving soon, if Diane had kept her word.
Kari didn’t transform as she made her way back through the forest. She walked on human feet, deliberately choosing the slower path. Each step was measured, intentional—a rejection of the wild, reactive creature she’d once been. She was something more now. Mother had told them to walk in unison between beast and human to strike a balance, and now she understood why.
I am Kari. Daughter of Alva, granddaughter of Fenrir. Sister to Tiri. A Founder. I may be a wolf, but I am also in control of my emotions and instincts. I’m a new beast.
And for the first time, those words felt like more than just names and titles. They felt like the truth. Like identity. Like purpose.
The mist parted before her as she emerged from the forest. In the distance, the tournament grounds were already buzzing with activity, colorful banners fluttering in the morning breeze. Somewhere in that chaos waited Sora and the others. Somewhere beyond it waited Eric.
Kari paused, allowing herself one final moment of stillness before stepping back into the flow of events that would carry her forward.
I’m ready. After this, I’ll tell Sora everything, and we’ll figure things out together. I’m not alone. I’m a part of a pack… A pack of Alphas, where we each have our own place.
She walked toward her future, unafraid.
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