Greykin Valley

| 79 | Victor

⥐ ⋞ ☽ ⋟ ⥐

| Jackson |

The abandoned mining town lay still beneath the canopy of towering pines, the air thick with an eerie silence that echoed the anticipation of the looming confrontation. The battleground raged, framed by the skeletal remains of buildings, silent witnesses to a struggle between dark and light.

Kane, his black fur blending seamlessly with the shadows, moved with a sinister grace. His eyes betrayed a wicked intelligence as a subtle smirk curled on his lips. He circled Cyrus, who stood tall on his hind legs, his stoic demeanour belying an equal measure of caution. His wounds looked much worse than Kane's, but Jackson knew that was because his fur was white, the perfect canvas for the crimson dismay seeping from between his fur. Kane was bleeding all over the snow, leaving a trail as he prowled warily.

Jackson watched between the rubble of the building he lay in while Raphael tended to his wounds. The two monstrous wolves clashed in a dance of fangs and claws, each strike met with a counter from the other. The snowy ground beneath them bore witness to their ferocity, a rain of red marring the purity of the ice as they exchanged blows. The crowd, a sea of wolves divided between Cyrus' and Kane's packs, watched in breathless silence, seemingly oblivious to the storm of cadejo trying to breach their defences just a few feet away.

Unable to take his eyes off the fight, Jackson felt the weight of the impending doom hanging in the frigid air. His breath escaped in shallow puffs as he anxiously observed, knowing that the outcome could seal the fate of the entire wolf walker species.

The fight raged on, each combatant seemingly evenly matched, until Kane, true to his crafty, cowardly nature, executed a sudden move that caught Cyrus off guard. He lunged at Kane, who instinctually moved to block his attack just as he had several times before, but Kane moved with speed he hadn't displayed before, and when Cyrus lifted his arms in defence, the black wolf curved his strange body and savagely sunk his teeth into Cyrus' thigh. He yanked back and forth as Cyrus yelped in agony, and when he tore a huge chunk of the white wolf's flesh from his body, a low growl of satisfaction escaped Kane's maniacal breaths.

A surge of panic rippled through the onlooking crowd. Even Jackson flinched.

"Don't fucking move!" Raphael growled.

Jackson fell still but didn't spare his healer a chance. He couldn't look away, not for a moment.

Cyrus stumbled back and hit the ground, grasping his thigh with both his huge paws. Kane cackled as he prowled around him, and then he burst forward and clamped his jaws around Cyrus' arm. As the white Alpha snarled and yelped, Kane started tugging, harder and harder as his pack cheered him on. No matter how many times Cyrus' fist met the cruel wolf's face, Kane didn't let go, and when the sound of tearing flesh cut through the roaring crowd, Jackson cringed and fought the urge to look away.

But he was glad that he chose to keep watching.

Just as hope seemed to wither away, something miraculous occurred. Cyrus, battered and seemingly defeated, summoned a surge of strength from deep within. Despite the horrific injury on his leg, he managed to lift it and kick Kane's side, sending the black wolf stumbling aside. His white fur gleamed in the moonlight as he rose, a newfound determination burning in his eyes, and his wolves among the crowd, momentarily silenced by despair, erupted into gasps of disbelief and renewed hope.

With a roar that echoed through the snowy forest, Cyrus unleashed a torrent of power. His form seemed to radiate an otherworldly light, and the very ground quivered beneath him. Kane, caught off guard by the sudden reversal, found himself unable to withstand Cyrus' unleashed might. His desperate attempts to avoid and block each of Cyrus' devastating blows were almost laughable, and when he evidently worked out that it was over for him, he tried to turn around and run.