Dreadwolf, Lord of Runes

Luna was bleeding from her eyes, her ears, her nose, her mouth. Her usually green eyes were stained with red. Her gaze was full of panic, and fear, her usual playful demeanour gone.

Her body trembled. She felt weak. Pain wrecked every one of her senses, and all she could do was look at Kane, hoping for him to save her.

"Luna!" Kane yelled again as he held her in his arms. His heart was beating like a drum and his face twisted in panic. Blood was rushing in his ears. His thoughts were racing.

But then it all stopped. His discipline reared its head and stamped down on his emotions. His face remained twisted in worry, but calm returned to his eyes. 'I need to calm down. Panicking doesn't help. Diagnose. Treat.'

While Luna gurgled as if trying to say something, Kane quickly put her down on the ground and started diagnosing.

"There's no external wounds, so it has to be internal," he growled impatiently, fearfully. "But why?! It couldn't have been from our fall, it took too long, and I'm fine!"

As he frantically tried to diagnose Luna, the catling herself started shuddering even harder. Still gurgling for breath, she grabbed Kane's shirt in a panic. Her face twisted in pain. Kane looked into her eyes and felt his soul shake.

"Fuck!" he cursed as Luna's life was slowly draining away. "Just hold on, Luna! I'll figure this out!" he assured her, his voice steady. He wouldn't allow himself to panic.

Bringing up his CyberStrap, he started a scan of her body, and quickly found the answer. "Nanites?! What the hell are nanites doing in your system?! They're destroying you from the inside!"

But rather than dwell on that question, he quickly shook his head, "Whatever!" Grasping Luna's shoulders, he looked into her slowly dimming eyes, "Luna! Quickly, can you still use your elements? Channel lightning through your body! That should disable them!"

At the same time, he frantically started typing on the holographic screen in an effort to hack the nanites and stop them rampaging through Luna's body.

Energy moved around Luna's body as she clearly attempted to use her lightning, but nothing was happening. The pain was stopping her from directing the energy in the correct patterns.

Kane's typing sped up, his eyes flying across the screen even as his fingers moved faster than ever before. In his eyes, nothing existed except the screen in front of him. All the while, Luna's life continued fading away in the background.

But then it was done.

Kane pressed a final button on the CyberStrap, and immediately ran another scan of Luna's body.

One second passed. Two seconds.

Then, he breathed a sigh of relief, and sagged forward, grabbing Luna's shoulders again. Beneath, him Luna smiled weakly.

Her Core Awakening stage, third-ranked blood core was quickly helping her body recover. The blood in her throat was clearing up, and some shallow breaths were allowed to pass into her lungs again.

The two of them smiled at each other, but before they could enjoy the win, the situation went from bad to worse.

Luna's eyes widened in alarm. Despite her weakened body, she managed to grip Kane's shirt harder and shoved him to the side with surprising strength.

"What are you—" Kane started, but the next thing he saw was a strange staff weapon, crackling with yellow energy. It shot passed him and hit Luna instead.

"No!" Kane exclaimed while the catling howled in pain. Her body spasming.

When the staff pulled back, Luna lay motionless, her eyes were quickly closing.

In her last moments of consciousness, she smiled at Kane. Her throat no longer obstructed by blood as she squeaked out a few words, "L— Love you…"

Then, she was gone.

Kane froze. His thoughts halted. Dread filled his heart.

Then he noticed her chest rising and he was able to breath again. Relief flooded his system.

But before he could figure out what just happened, or think about Luna's last words, he heard a male voice talking in a language he didn't recognize. "/Idiot girl. It was just the stun baton./"

Suddenly, Kane realized there were more people there. With anger in his heart, he jumped up and pulled the sword from his back with a practiced motion. The slightly curved, mat-black edge gleamed in the light as he held it with both hands.

In front of him were two tall humanoids in bright, white, plated armour, carrying strange but elegant staff weapons. The weapons were divided in a blunt end with crackling yellow energy, and a bladed edge on the other side.

They seemed like humans, but their faces were more androgynous, and their ears were long and pointy. One had blond hair, the other blue. 'Elves?' he thought, confused, as he remembered various myths from Earth. But he quickly focused on more important matters.

"Who are you?!" he growled threateningly, releasing his Core Awakening stage pressure. They may not have killed Luna, but they did more than enough to piss him off.

'I don't feel any Mystic power or cybernetics… but there's no way they're just this world's equivalent of dregs, right?' he thought, filled with suspicion and caution. 'They're acting far too arrogantly, and my pressure doesn't seem to have any effect on them.'

The two possible elves looked at him with clear ridicule in their eyes. Then they ignored him and turned their attention back to Luna. "/We were only told to get the boy. What do we do with her?/" one of them asked.

Once again, they talked in a language he couldn't understand. Realizing that, Kane took action, rather than try to talk again.

He quickly took a step forward to stand in between the unconscious Luna and the newcomers. His sword raised, and his eyes narrowed. He was hesitant to attack for now. Their power was uncertain, he was on an alien planet, and Luna was still alive. He had plenty of reason not to act irrationally.

The possible elves continued ignoring him, however.

"/Just kill her. She's a first stage beastling. Useless. We only need the boy,/" the other elf shrugged, his tone nonchalant.

Although Kane still couldn't understand them, for some reason his instincts went on high alert. 'Whatever,' he growled to himself, not willing to ignore his instincts. 'Let's just try to incapacitate them at least. I can't just keep standing here like an idiot.'

He didn't say anything. He knew there was no point.

Shadows started swirling around him as he activated his cloak of shadows technique. Taking a combat stance, he prepared to attack.

But before he could, the world suddenly stood still. The shadows dissipated and he lost the ability to move. 'W— What the…' he mumbled inwardly as he struggled to free himself from invisible bonds.

"/Why did you do that?/" the blue-haired elf asked the other, curiously.

"/I think he was about to attack,/" the blond elf shrugged casually.

"/That's hilarious,/" the blue one chuckled, clearly dismissive. He walked around Kane, and brandished the bladed edge of his staff weapon.

What happened next would haunt Kane's thoughts for a long time to come.

The elf stabbed down, piercing the unconscious Luna's chest, and destroying her heart.

'Luna!' Kane roared inside his mind, still unable to move. Pain, guilt, and wrath engulfed his mind, but he had no outlet. Rage filled his heart. A strange red glow passed through his eyes. A finger twitched…

Then, pain wracked his body.

The other elf had touched him with the blunt end of his staff. Crackling energy surged through his body.

He regained his ability to move, but now all he could was crumple to the ground. There, his slowly closing eyes were focused on Luna's bleeding chest and motionless body. He no longer saw anything else.

"L— Luna…" he whispered softly.

Then, all went black.

* * *

A few minutes later, the two elves were leisurely walking away from the clearing, leaving Luna's body to rot. Beside them floated Kane's unconscious body, his sword now lying on the ground next to the catling.

Yet, when they were gone and the last of Luna's life was about to drain from her body, the bracelet on her arm started blinking.

Then, it dissolved into her body.