The obsidian points at my fingertips extended reflexively. It was still strange to see them there, an entire set of razor-sharp daggers on each hand. I had no sword, no spells I could call upon, and no idea how to use these new powers fighting for control inside me.

  All I have are these claws and a voice in my head screaming for blood. Speaking of which, I really needed to have a talk with my subconscious about its boundary issues.

  The Glimmerwood lived up to its name, even in the midday shadows. Bioluminescent moss clung to the burls of massive, silver-barked trees, and the forest floor was carpeted in fragile, crystalline ferns. They looked like blown glass, shimmering with a faint, internal light that made the ground feel like a jeweler's display case.

  Lyren was poised for a fight, her staff lowered toward where the creature should emerge any moment. Even with her broken arm tucked against her side cradled in the sling I’d made her, she looked confident, not to mention formidable.

  The brush ahead rustled violently. Lyren's jaw set as she tightened her grip on her staff until her knuckles went white.

  "Chimeras," she whispered. "Four of them. My shouting earlier must have drawn them." A flush crept across her cheeks. "Some veteran I am, after a dozen trips through the Glimmerwoods."

  She leaned closer, her voice hardening. "These creatures hunt like wolves, one draws attention while the others circle. They'll try to separate us if they can. Whatever you do, don't let that happen."

  Lyren had somehow recognized the breed of chimera before I could spot them with my enhanced vision. But my questions about how that was possible would have to wait to see if we survived first.

  Okay, these things are going to be here any second, I thought, trying to maintain control over my new senses that were going crazy as the creatures approached. Lyren is still pretty badly hurt. I know she can still fight, but she doesn’t heal from her injuries like I do. That means I need to stand out front and take the hits.

  My mind flashed back to our terrifying experience in the grotto. I remembered my fight and how much stronger I had been compared to the Darroch, yet they had almost killed me repeatedly due to my lack of combat experience. Nyxora’s power granted me the instincts to use the strength and agility of my new body efficiently, but taught me nothing about how to fight. Apparently that was something I could only gain through practical experience.

  Alright, time to nut up Garber. Your job description in this fight is to stand between the bad thing and Lyren, get stabbed, regenerate, repeat. Just don’t try anything crazy and we will be fine.

  I let out a deep calming breath. Ok, let’s go get stabbed.

  Dropping into a crouch, I rolled my shoulders, the reactive muscles shifting beneath my skin like coiled snakes ready to strike."Stay behind me. I’ll keep them off you for as long as I can."

  One elegant eyebrow arched as her lips curled into a smile that was both amused and dangerous. "You think I need your protection?"

  I gave her a thin lipped smile, trying with futility to hide my irritation. "I'm sure you don't need my help, but you're still injured. If you pass out again, I'm not hauling your unconscious body all the way to Velis."

  Lyren turned away to hide the blush that spread across her face, not that it did anything to prevent me from feeling her embarrassment through our bond.

  "Besides,” I added. “I’m a hands-on learner. What better crash course in my new powers than getting right up into the mix and surviving another monster or four that want to kill us?"

  My pulse quickened with excitement at the thought of facing against these creatures. The realization dawned on me, I wasn't just putting on a brave face. Some part of me actually craved this fight, wanting to unleash this new strength I possessed against a worthy opponent.

  Had Nyxora's "gift" rewired my instincts, or had surviving that bloodbath in the grotto simply shattered whatever was supposed to pump fear through my veins?

  A heavy, cloying scent suddenly rolled over us in nauseating waves. It smelled like freshly turned loamy soil soaked with something rancid, like meat left too long in summer heat. My enhanced senses recoiled and I choked down the bile I felt rise up in my throat.

  We continued staring at the dark underbrush, where something clicked and chittered, making enough noise to wake the entire Glimmerwood.

  “Not exactly nature's stealthiest hunters, are they?” I muttered.

  The sound of their approach was a rhythmic crunch-shatter as the glass-like plants were pulverized under something heavy and clumsy.

  Branches shook and snapped directly in front of us as four monstrosities burst out from the undergrowth. They were a horrific fusion of predatory insects, each a biological middle finger to the natural order of things. The creatures had the segmented lower halves of a massive scorpion, glossy black carapaces stretching eight feet long, with stingers that dripped a potent neon yellow venom. But where a scorpion's head should have been, a mantis-like torso jutted upward, sickly green and unnaturally jointed. Their scythe-like limbs scraped against each other like knives being sharpened. Three compound eyes on each side of their heads swiveled independently, assessing us with a cold, alien hunger.

  SCREE!

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  The lead chimera's scream cut through the air like a diamond on a pane of glass, vibrating my molars in their sockets. Above us, four massive birds, charcoal-feathered behemoths, burst from their hidden perch among the shadowed branches, wings thundering against the still forest air.

  Even with my heightened sense and whatever detection abilities Lyren had going on, we hadn’t even noticed the void-like predatory birds hiding in the shadows no more than a dozen feet above us. Fortunately it seems they were not into sharing prey, retreating into darker parts of the forest.

  The bug monsters ignored the strange raven creatures completely, charging at us as a pack.

  "Stay together!" Lyren shouted, but her words barely penetrated the fog descending over my mind. My legs were already moving, carrying me not toward the front of the pack where I'd planned to shield her, but straight at the largest beast trailing the others. Nyxora's gift surged through my veins like liquid adrenaline, demanding confrontation, conquest.

  I’d expected to have to deal with the beast dwelling inside me at some point during the fight but not so soon. I'd intended to at least begin the fight as Lyren's shield, but my body betrayed me. It was like having a psychotic backseat driver grab the wheel from you. The violet power didn't seize complete control as it had when the Darroch had bitten Lyren, but its whispers of violence grew to deafening shouts I couldn't seem to silence.

  Through the bond I felt Lyren’s irritation with me. However, she had been right that she didn’t actually need my help, my chivalry had been noted but unnecessary. Out of the corner of my eye I watched the lead chimera charged her, one of its mantis scythes blurring through the forest air. Despite her broken ribs, Lyren extended her staff, her teeth clenched against obvious pain.

  Lyren's voice cut through the air. "Morior!"

  A concentrated hurricane erupted from her staff, wind made visible as it bent light into crystalline fragments. The creature's attacking limb disintegrated into yellow mist. Its screech pierced the forest quiet, mandibles snapping in desperate, spasmodic clicks.

  Lyren's methodical dismantling of her opponent contrasted sharply with my own predicament. Having charged ahead recklessly, I now faced two scorpion-mantis chimeras simultaneously, a harsh lesson that real battles bear no resemblance to choreographed kung-fu films where enemies politely attack one at a time.

  The smaller chimera pulled my attention away from my opponent by awkwardly circling behind me. In that moment of distraction the larger monster struck. Its chitin scythe sliced across my abdomen, carving a deep furrow below my ribcage before I could defend myself. Blood spilled hot down my front. I retaliated, raking my claws across the mantis's chest, drawing furrows that oozed black ichor. To my annoyance the wound wasn’t very deep, barely penetrating the creature’s natural plating.

  As I backed away further, to avoid getting flanked, I heard the shout of another of Lyren's casting another spell.

  "Scylla!" Her staff swept low in a graceful arc, unleashing hundreds of wind-blades that shimmered like heat ripples as they severed all six legs from her opponent. The crippled monster's tail lashed out in desperation. Lyren ducked forward, positioning the creature's mantis torso between herself and its venomous stinger. With its clicking mandibles inches from her face, she thrust her staff into its maw and called out, "Morior!"

  Wind magic exploded through the creature, shredding its head into fragments. Yellow fluid erupted in a violent spray, splattering across Lyren's face as the chimera collapsed, its legs curling inward like a dead spider's.

  Through our bond, Lyren's triumph blazed like wildfire, pure elation mixed with the dark satisfaction of avenging her people's suffering at the claws of these monstrosities.

  I had no time to share in her victory though. The larger chimera caught me looking away and charged. I side stepped, dodged a lightning fast tail strike before barely rolling beneath a sweeping scythe. I’d planned my roll to end in what I thought would be a safe spot near the rear of the creature but despite being too close for the stinger to target me, the chimera’s tail swept out with terrible force. Bracing myself I mitigated the initial damage, as the thick appendage slammed into me, but was sent flying across the clearing into a tree trunk wider than I was tall.

  My spine cracked against silver bark, the impact embedding splinters deep into my flesh as I peeled myself from the tree's embrace.

  "You’re doing great, Garber," I muttered, sarcastically. Blood coating my teeth. Not a single thing had gone right since I fucked up the plan and ran off on my own but there was no putting that toothpaste back in the tube.

  My flesh knitted itself together with unnatural speed, wood fragments pushing outward as new skin sealed the wounds. Being thrown across the clearing had one upside, I'd landed with both chimeras in my field of vision instead of one sneaking behind.

  In the distance, Lyren used the wind to dance around her second opponent, the runes of her staff glowing as bullied the creature with magic. I flexed my claws uselessly, envying her ranged attacks. "Extendo-claws," I grumbled. "Couldn't have been fireballs or lightning. Had to be the discount wolverine package."

  Fuck it. Not a damn thing I can do about it for now. If all I can do is heal like a certain merc with a mouth, then that's what I got.

  I rotated away from the smaller chimera causing the animals to snap at each other in frustration. Then I deliberately stepped within reach of the larger chimera's scythes. The creature seized the opportunity, its blade-like appendage piercing into my ribs. White-hot agony exploded through my torso, stealing my breath, but I forced myself to move through the pain. Before the monster could withdraw its limb, I locked my right arm around the chitinous appendage while driving the claws of my left hand deep into the joint. The creature's shriek pierced the air as I wrenched my claws free, taking its entire arm with me.

  The beast reeled backward, but its barbed tail whipped forward in desperate retaliation. Twin punctures bloomed in my shoulder and chest before I could evade. Rather than press its advantage, the injured chimera retreated, its alien voice keening over its severed limb.

  My body's new healing abilities should have sealed the new wounds in seconds, instead crimson arterial spray pulsed from my abdomen with each heartbeat. Venom burned through my veins like acid, blackening the area around the wounds. The severed limb slipped from my grasp as I collapsed, shattering delicate glass ferns beneath me into a constellation of glittering fragments.

  “Ok trading hits wasn’t the best idea either,” I groaned, hoarsely. After defeating the Darroch back in the grotto I had felt nearly unstoppable but now I was wondering where that feeling had even come from. Some warrior I turned out to be.

  It felt like my veins were being filled with molten lead, a searing heat that radiated from the puncture wounds and raced toward my heart. The fire beneath my skin was followed immediately by a terrifying coldness that turned my muscles to stone.

  While the larger monster had backed away to lick its wounds, the smaller chimera was creeping up behind me, preparing to launch its own attack. My increased senses had been letting me track it by its pungent smell but even though I sensed its approach I couldn't move. Paralysis from the venom was taking hold, my body feeling as if it were petrified. All I could do was kneel there like a garden sprinkler, my lifeblood painting the colorful mossy carpet of the Glimmerwood crimson.

  "Myles!" Lyren's voice reached me as if through fathoms of water, distorted and fading.

  Blackness started creeping in from the sides of my vision. A final breeze lifted my hair, gentle fingers against my face, before the world dissolved into nothing.