A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing-Chapter 696 - Let me correct that

"Stay alert, my love," Elora demanded through their bond, a hint of nerves in her voice. "Keep your omnisense active, alright?"

As he stalked through the dark stone streets, Erik pursed his lips playfully. "I’ve never known you to be so nervous, Elora. You know it’s probably nothing, right?"

Frustration radiated from their bond. "Shut up!" she grumbled, a little annoyed at both of them. "Just pay attention! I’m not there with you right now..."

Erik chuckled wryly. In understanding where her nerves came from, he knew there was nothing he could say to reassure her. In fact, despite the casual confidence that usually radiated from him, he felt the same as her...

The reason for their nerves came from the fact Elora had no way to join him right now. Since her spot in his soul was still occupied by the Elorium core, she could only watch him from his dimension. Yet, that dimension could only ever have one opening, and it was anchored in the palace right now.

Even back during the battle against the hunters, Elora was already confined to the dimension, but at least the dimension opening wasn’t anchored anywhere, so Erik was the portal himself and she could join him whenever she wanted.

This was probably the first time in eight years that he was going into potential danger without Elora with him. At least, not directly.

But despite knowing there was nothing he could say, Erik found it difficult to remain silent. He felt the nervous energy radiating from his first wife, and it made him want to comfort her. "It’s probably just so—"

Suddenly, he stopped talking and halted in his tracks, frowning deeply. He was about to step into one of the city’s many stone plazas, and something... felt wrong. Visually, it looked like any of the other plazas in the city. The darkness of night made it a little harder to see, but there was plenty of moonlight to illuminate it.

Yet his instincts were gnawing at him. He pumped his omnisense into his surroundings, but found nothing. Empty streets and abandoned buildings surrounded him. For a moment, he halted there, brows furrowed, but hands still casually in his pockets.

"Do you sense anything...?" Elora asked carefully. She had no idea why he suddenly stopped, but knew there had to be a reason.

"There’s something here..." he answered with confidence and suspicion. "But I can’t find anything substantial. I just trust my instincts."

Elora nodded seriously. Over eight years, she’d learned his instincts were often correct. "You should ask Naeku to scan the area," she suggested tensely. "Her nature sense should be able to reach from the palace to here, and it can easily penetrate through most things that defend against omnisense."

"True..." Erik muttered thoughtfully, but then pursed his lips. "My bond with her is telling me she’s still asleep, though... She’s had an emotional day. I’d rather not wake her."

Instantly, Elora did a spit-take and uttered one of her rare, crude sentences. "Rather-not-wake-her, my tiny, fairy ass! I’ll wake her up if you’re too scared!"

Chuckling, Erik shrugged. "It’s called compassion and love!"

Before Elora could send a scathing response about his bleeding heart, a confident, even excited flash passed through his eyes. "Besides... Don’t you think it’s been far too long since we jumped into the unknown? I’ve gotten pretty complacent over the last year, you know?" frёeωebɳovel.com

"Wha—" Elora began, panicked, but Erik already stepped forward.

Fwoom

Instantly, an expansive field of darkness extended in all directions around him as the city was swallowed up. "Oh?" he hummed out loud, curiously. He could see nothing but his own body, yet didn’t sound especially concerned.

"This is—!" Elora began in his mind, but another voice spoke up somewhere near Erik.

"Finally!" a frustrated female voice grumbled in relief. "I was afraid he wasn’t going to step forward! Attack now!"

"Hmpf, don’t tell me what to do, Zahra!" a cold, male voice answered.

"Don’t be a sourpuss as usual, Nasir," the excited roar of a shapeshifter echoed in response. "Let’s just kill this brat!"

"Illusion spell!" Elora cursed, and immediately started sending messages to their allies.

Erik, however, stayed calm and closed his eyes. He didn’t know who his attackers were, or how they got there, but he’d think about that later. He did know his eyes were useless right now.

He could hear people approaching him quickly, but they were taking pains to obscure their advance, so he couldn’t hear their exact position. He did, however, realise he only had time for a single action before they were on top of him.

Erik lifted his foot. Icy-blue light flashed in the darkness, and a magic circle appeared under his sole.

Boom

He crashed his foot down, and an icy dome rapidly formed around him, immediately followed by the sound of two people crashing against it. The dome shook and trembled, but it held.

"Fuck!" the man identified as Nasir cursed. "Break it!"

His assailants prepared to attack his dome of ice, but there was a reason Erik chose his ice-maker spell, rather than his thundersnow shield.

He raised his arms and balled his fists. Dark blue magic circles appeared on his knuckles. With a confident grin and a deep grunt, he smashed his fists together.

Boom

His repulsion spell erupted. A dome of spatial magic crashed against his ice, and didn’t stop. The ice shattered. Two pained roars followed as shards of ice joined the outward force of his spell.

The darkness remained, but he’d gained a moment to breathe.

"Eira is in," Elora suddenly told him, and Erik nodded inwardly.

As Erik heard the assailants continue to reel from his attack, he waved his hand. Instantly, the Taurus Runeguard appeared on his right forearm.

During the wedding preparations and everything after it, he’d left Eira with his family, giving them the opportunity to bond. Just now, Elora ensured Eira’s return to Erik’s dimension, so that he could pull her out of it from where he was—after all, only living matter needed the portal to leave. Objects could be pulled out at any time.

"Enemies, Master?!" Eira’s anxiously excited voice echoed in his mind as her sigil core on the armguard thrummed with anticipation.

"Yep," Erik smirked, calm confidence and fighting spirit oozing from his being. "Armour up, and start scanning for sigils. There should be something here, but I can’t find it with omnisense."

Without another word, Eira acknowledged his command. With the clinking of metal against metal, armoured plates extended across Erik’s body as he shifted into werewolf form. At the same time, he summoned his hammer from the dimension as well.

"What the shit..." the woman they called Zahra cried out in shock. His transformation from a half-naked human to an armed and armoured werewolf was startling

"I’m afraid your sudden arrival has strained my hospitality," Erik growled, a grin spreading across his wolfish lips. "Let me correct that..."

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