A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

On top of the city wall, three grim faces looked out over the sea of people besieging their city… but most of all, they focused on the recently formed, blazing triangle.

"What are they up to…" the left-most man muttered, gloved fingers stroking his chin under his golden mask. Red eyes shone from behind open slits in his visor.

"Who cares!" the right-most man bristled, his half-naked body twitching from restlessness, the fur of his werejackal body standing on end.

Two sabres trembled in his hands, desperate to taste the blood of his enemies, his jaw and animal teeth trembled with barely contained rage. "We'll deal with it when they inevitably come! I still don't understand why we're not fighting on the walls with our men! Why are we just standing here watching them?!"

Nasir snorted and shook his head. "Isn't that obvious? If we get involved, then those three get involved, and things instantly get worse for us. If we start fighting other third-rankers to the death among our warriors, then many of them will inevitably die because of it!"

"So will theirs!" Zohran growled in response, yet already a little less certain of himself. "It's not a fate I wish upon my fighters, but we are fighting for our very existence here!"

Sighing wryly, Nasir waved his hand across the bustling sands in front of them. "Yes, but as you can see, they have many more people than we do. We can't replace those who die during our battle, but they can. If we win, we end the siege, true, but if our battle with them stalls, then our warrior's disadvantage only increases as more of them die because of us."

He lowered his arm and frowned before continuing softly. "And that's not even considering the consequences of losing…"

"Losing?!" Zohran immediately roared, his fire re-ignited by the insinuation. "To those fuckers?! We've fought their kind before, and won easily! We can each take two of them, at least! I—"

"Enough!" Zahra snarled sternly. The beautiful woman stood between the two men and finally decided to interfere in their bickering. "Arguing among ourselves will just make us lose faster."

She pointed at the blazing triangle. "Whatever they're planning, we all know there's more than just those three here. We know each of us can take down two of them, but so do they! Do you think they would have come here unprepared, Zohran?! Do you really want to start a third-rank group fight among our warriors?"

Zohran bristled for a moment longer, trying desperately to find a counter-argument, but then deflated a little. "No…" he grumbled unwillingly, but also tightened his grip on his sabres. "I just hate standing here uselessly… This reactive approach is not how you win a battle!"

Thankful for Zahra's intervention, Nasir sighed helplessly. "I agree, Zohran, but what else can we do right now? We have no way to prevent their third-rankers from engaging in the battle without fighting them, and we can't fight them without affecting our warriors."

Silence fell, as neither Zahra nor Zohran had an answer to his question. Of course, they all knew of one option they had—that man's visit happened nearly two months ago already, but those events remained burned in their memories. Still, none of them even wanted to suggest it. Not yet.

Around them, the battle continued. Roaring, screaming, magical fizzling, and metallic clanking echoed everywhere. The defenders remained full of grit and purpose, unwilling to give even an inch. Chants of freedom and resistance rose into the air, drowning out the frenzied, animalistic snarling and growling of their attackers.

Several more minutes of fighting passed before something finally changed with the triangle of power. It flashed and surged with aetherium. Then, a strange, dark-blue, egg-shaped, swirling form appeared hovering just above it. "What the hell…?" Zohran muttered sceptically. Nasir didn't look any more enlightened then his shapeshifter friend.

Yet, Zahra, as an Arcanist, was far more attuned to the moving of aetherium, and her eyes widened. "Behind us!" she cried, and was the first to turn around towards the city interior. There in the city-centre, now floated an identical egg-shaped form… and an unfamiliar third-ranker stepped out of it with a wide, sadistic grin.

Before Zahra could even react, the man lifted a hand and conjured a magic circle. Instantly, a spear of ice formed, and launched itself at a group of nearby warriors running to their next assignment.

Time slowed down. Nasir and Zohran turned around as well, just in time to notice what was happening.

"Fuck no!" Zohran roared immediately, his voice filled with fury, yet also the strange relief of someone finally able to do something. Lifting his sabres, he turned into a shadow and surged forward at incredible speeds.

He had no ability to increase his speed, but werejackals were always one of the faster shapeshifter-types, and Zohran was powerful, as well as fuelled by indignant rage.

Howling all the way, he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, reaching speeds that even Erik would be hard-pressed to reach without using any of the many enhancements and abilities he had access to. Although Erik's body was powerful and infused with several bloodlines, it wasn't built for speed—especially not when carrying his hammer and wearing his armour.

And… it paid off. Mere inches before the spike of ice impaled tens of his warriors, Zohran's sabres sliced it apart in mid-air, not even taking the time to slow down. After saving them, his body zoomed on and crashed into the building ahead.

Nasir and Zahra quickly followed, though Zahra was obviously slower. As she ran, she was thankful for their decision to send their civilians away.

In the end, not everyone was capable of fighting, even in this world. Some possessed abilities or spells that were useless in battle, others simply didn't have the stomach for it, and some were too talented in different fields that having them as warriors would be a waste.

These people would have gathered in the city centre, supposedly as far away from the fighting as possible, but Zahra had insisted on sending them away instead.

Moments later, she finally arrived near the portal and was filled with dread by what she saw…