All semblance of control broke loose as Svala gave the command. 

The skirmish spread, Unbounds weaving easily into the cracks of Cayden's carefully planned defense and fracturing their lines quickly. Though the ley guard-Mythic pairs remained together for the most part, they were seperate entities fighting a unified force. He knew if he didn't do something to save it, they weren't going to last two minutes. 

"New plan," said Cayden to the other two ley guards beside him. "We're going to do what we can to incapacitate the heads of their assault, the djinn and the valkyrie. Remove those two, and we might have a chance."

"The valkyrie is the key," said the taller of the two. "Her protection is still cast over the djinn, but we cannot afford to have him in the fight while we take her down."

"So you need a distraction," said Cayden, twirling his sword. "I believe I can help you with that. He took a rather strong disliking to me during my time at the temple, and I doubt that's changed much since his last scowl." 

"What of the phoenix and the muses?" 

Cayden glanced over his shoulder. The muse of body stood guard over her sisters, spirit and mind, as their song turned tangible, rising up and over Nazine's body as he continued to try and attune with the portal. It spoke volumes that the djinn didn't seem concerned with stopping him. Either he doubted Nazine's success as much as Cayden did, or he believed himself to have a way around the attunement. 

"Kat?" said Cayden as the shadow Mythic reappeared beside him. "Think you can keep the Unbounds off them?" 

"On it," she said, with a frown. "Though I may have to duck out soon. The Order's calling."

"We'll make it quick, then," said Cayden, running forward. 

The other two ley guards split off and disappeared in the mass of bodies as Cayden went straight for the djinn. 

Cayden managed to knock out two Unbounds on the way over--a siren who opened her mouth too far for his reassurance and a giant who attempted to pick him up by his ankle. Upon reaching the back edge of the fight where the djinn stood with the valkyrie, Cayden reached for the ley vessel on his belt. 

The djinn's eyes met Cayden's glare with an amused smile. "Ah, not quite so content to sit out of the fighting this time, Cayden?" 

"I never was," said Cayden, cracking the seal on the vessel and flooding his body with ley. His scalp tickled as his hair lengthened down to his waist, but prepared, Cayden took his strip of leather and bound it back. "You and I have a little unfinished business, djinn." 

The valkyrie's eyes slid to Cayden. "Do you wish for me to take care of the defiler, djinn?" 

She didn't move, but the ghostly figure beside her did. As the ethereal figure stepped forward, armoured in a design similar to the valkyrie's own, Cayden's heart nearly stopped. 

Freya. A shiver ran down Cayden's spine. One of the ascended abilities of a valkyrie, to bring back the spirit of a warrior who had proven herself to the valkyrie's ideals. Svala had brought Freya back, and Cayden was willing to bet the djinn hadn't approved of it. 

"No," said the djinn, stepping away from the valkyrie. "I rather wish to deal with this defiler myself." 

Cayden leveled the tip of his sword at the djinn's throat. Though they were still several metres apart, the djinn got the message. 

"Are you sure you can deal with me?" said Cayden. "I've been trained to deal with Unbounds like you."

"I assure you," said the djinn, his eyes crackling with lightning. "You have never been trained to deal with an Unbound like me." 

Cayden charged, driving ley into the blade of his sword. He closed in on the djinn, who remained perfectly still, and once in range, Cayden swung his sword horizontal, aimed for the djinn's waist. The ley flung from the blade, creating an arc of light that echoed the blade's motion and would inflict just as much, if not more damage upon contact--only it never made it. 

The sword bounced off an invisible shield, leaving Cayden to deal with the unexpected recoil. The arc of ley suffered a similar fate, only when it should have bounced back, it swirled up into the djinn's raised hand and coalesced into an orb. 

"How kind of you," said the djinn. "I don't even have to use my own ley." 

The djinn's hand came down faster than Cayden's eyes could follow, launching the orb straight at him.

Cayden lunged to the side, but he wasn't fast enough. The orb of his own ley caught his thigh and knocked him to the ground. 

Just have to keep him distracted, Cayden told himself as he jumped to his feet and prepared for round two. Just have to keep him away from Svala long enough for the other two to disable her. I'll  catch him by surprise when her shield drops. 

Cayden changed tactics. He had to keep the djinn's attention away from the two ley guards charging the valkyrie behind him. "I'm surprised you could bring yourself to touch the same ley as a defiler, djinn." 

The djinn sneered. "I find the irony amusing. Your own stolen weapon turned against you. You can't hope to compete with me for its control; I could rip it straight from your body without a second thought." 

"See, you talk a lot about things you can do and things you're going to do," said Cayden, examining the edge of his blade. "And yet, I don't think you can. I mean, you couldn't even tell when a novice kitsune was faking a thrall."

The djinn seethed. "I knew. I was hoping she'd see the truth of the matter." 

"I don't think you did know, not in the beginning," said Cayden. "Besides, she never did see your 'truth', did she? You never got her." 

"She would have seen it!" roared the djinn, flinging his arm wide. Ley sliced through the air, catching Cayden on the arm. It was so fast the pain had barely registered before the blood started seeping through. "She would have seen the truth, had you not... not defiled her with that bond!" 

"You didn't give her an option!" said Cayden. "She refused to let Nazine die, and she refused to feed from me any longer in case she turned feral! She turned feral, all because you couldn't accept that you'd lost and kept her key! You killed her name, djinn, not me!" 

Another bolt of ley caught Cayden across the shoulder, driving him to the ground from the sheer force. A flash passed through his mind, too quick for him to identify. Pain yet not. Urgency. Fear. 

"I had a plan!" said the djinn. "I always have a plan! It didn't matter if she turned feral! I was going to use my third wish to restore her mind, a mind that would have learned not to trust humans, but then you had to go and bond with her and ruin it!" 

Cayden's eyes went wide. "What? You were going to--"

"And now, she is defiled!" said the djinn, barely a metre away, bearing down on Cayden with all the force of a god. The air was electric around him. "She is tainted by your essence, a taint she will bear until her death! Congratulations, defiler, you have doomed her to wander as a mindless beast!" 

"You hate humans so much that you'd be willing to let her wander because she bonded with me to save another Mythic?" said Cayden. "And you have the nerve to call yourself a leader of the Unbounds?" 

"Like I said," said the djinn. "I always have a plan, defiler. To break the bond, it doesn't have to be one particular end. If I kill you, she will be cleansed, and she can be restored."

Cayden faced that fact with little regret. He'd have kept his promise to Rena. Ensured he was the only one to pay for the journey that had restored Nazine. Ensured the djinn no longer had his third wish to ensure the Unbound's victory--even if it wasn't looking like he'd need it in a million years to hold Leristith. 

"Then do it," said Cayden. The blood running down his arm was making the sword hard to hold. "Why bother waiting?" 

"As much as I would like to be the one to send you to the void," said the djinn with a composing sniff. "A djinn and his wishes cannot be marked by death. If I were to kill you, I would forfeit my third wish. Luckily for you, there's loopholes for every rule. Unbounds!" 

And suddenly, Cayden understood. He understood why the djinn had raised an army to take over Leristith when he could have done it himself. It didn't exactly halt Cayden's impending death in any way, but maybe that was for the best. 

It didn't stop him from gripping his sword tighter as the five Unbounds to answer the djinn's call closed in on him. 

"Unbounds," said the djinn. "Kill the defiler." 

They moved as a team and Cayden, for all his training, couldn't hold off five of them coming at him from all angles. No matter how quickly he maneuvered his sword, how clever he was at evading one attack, there was another four he couldn't. The scratches and bruises built up on and under his skin as the seconds ticked by until finally, Cayden's knees hit the ground. 

He lowered his head, expecting the final blow when a flash of orange drew his gaze. 

The orange blur leapt from the ground, landing on the back of the Unbound to Cayden's right. Teeth sank into exposed flesh just under the chin and blood spewed across the ground, wetting the pavestones crimson. The Unbounds left Cayden on the ground and turned to face the new threat: a kitsune with burnt orange fur and tails tipped in white. 

Cayden watched, bewildered as the kitsune, as Rena took the Unbounds down one by one. The fire on her tails set anything they touched to flame, her claws and teeth ripped straight through every defense, every armour or scale the Unbounds had to offer. Svala's shield was non-existent to Rena's attacks as the kitsune bent the energy aside, leaving them defenseless. 

Yet, as Rena started on the third Unbound, Cayden realised she wasn't holding up well. 

The kitsune was covered in deep wounds, the most significant stretching from shoulder to hip as some claw or talon had sliced her open. Every attack the Unbounds launched towards her Rena took directly, even after she'd dodged them by centimetres. 

Because Svala's shield wasn't the valkyrie's only ability. One lonely moment in the hall, where the valkyrie had struck Rena across the cheek and revoked the maiden's blessing was coming back to haunt her. 

When the Unbounds launched their attacks, their limbs would jerk in unexpected, unnatural ways as the valkyrie's power took effect. Their claws would extend just enough to inflict damage when they should have missed entirely. Rena's paw would catch on the body of an Unbound she'd already felled as some unseen force nudged out a lifeless hand. 

And so, after the fifth Unbound fell dead to the ground, the kitsune's shaking limbs gave way. 

Cayden scrambled across the ground, his sword forgotten as he scooped her writhing body into his lap. Blood matted fur covered her convulsing limbs, each one spurting even more liquid from the gaping wounds. The fire on her tails was gone. 

"Djinn!" said Cayden. "Your third wish--use it!" 

The djinn's face was stone. All traces of emotion had vanished from his face with the exception of his lips. Right at the very corners, Cayden saw the slightest downturn. Distaste. 

"You're still bonded," he said. "I don't find myself inclined to use my wish on a Mythic who'd betray her own kind." 

"Then hurry up and kill me, damn it all!" said Cayden. "Kill me and use your wish to save her!" 

"I'm afraid I can't kill you myself," said the djinn in a careless manner, flipping his hand to the side as he turned. "And all my other Unbounds appear to be busy. Terribly sorry." 

"You bastard!" Cayden screamed after him. He pulled Rena's head higher, against his chest, trying to hold her still as he ripped off scraps of his own shirt and pressed them against the larger of her wounds. The fabric was soaked in seconds. "Rena! Rena, don't you dare die on me!" 

He held on to her for a final few seconds before she stopped thrashing. Her tails went limp. Her head stopped straining against his hands. One eye, a dark pupil ringed by a thin, violet iris stared up at him, as if finally acknowledging his presence. 

"Rena?" said Cayden, giving her a gentle shake. The eye drifted shut. Cayden shook her harder. "Rena, don't you--"

He didn't finish his sentence. His thoughts pulled taut, like someone at the other end was pulling on them. At a certain point, they couldn't hang on any longer, and it snapped. 

The bond was gone.

Rena was dead. 

*+*+*+*

A/N -    ...Yep.