Content warning: Profanity, physical violence, and mentions of blood

Murat’s pleading brown eyes met The Silver Sorcerer’s gray ones as Ulanbek, still trapped in the three-eyed wolf’s jaws, continued to scream above them.  The wolf’s sharp teeth were beginning to break through the shield cast around Ulanbek, piercing his armor and drawing blood.  Ulanbek’s screams intensified.

“Please!” Murat cried.  “We don’t have time!”

The Silver Sorcerer wrapped his fingers over Murat’s hands and leaned forward.  His form began to unravel and he melted into Murat.  Murat felt a warmth radiate through his limbs and rivers of sensation flow through his nerves.  He felt like he was being torn apart and put back together, like a caterpillar undergoing metamorphosis inside a chrysalis.  Darkness filled his vision, and then receded like a curtain being pulled away.  He was now two beings sharing one physical form.

Silver Murat’s irises resembled the sky before sunrise.  The midnight black perimeter of the pupils gave way to a grayish gradient that ended with a daybreak of silver hues around the edges.  His arms and legs felt restless as if lit by lightning.  Everything now looked sharper and sounds were louder and unfiltered.  Soft rustles of leaves sounded like bones crunching, and Ulanbek’s screams shook every fine little hair in his ear canals.  He pulled his qama dagger out of its sheath.  The sound of sharp metal scraping along the inside of the scabbard pierced the air.

Silver Murat waved his hand over the blade and it glowed a scintillating silver with an otherworldly hum.  The wolf holding Ulanbek in its jaws paused to stare at the light.  Ulanbek’s limbs went slack and his head drooped.  Thin rivulets of sweat mixed with blood trickled down his limp arms and legs.

Silver Murat raised the qama over his head.  Glowing threads spiraled outward from his feet, unfurling like a metallic flower in bloom.  Shock waves radiated and the three-eyed wolves braced themselves against the impact.  While the wolf holding Ulanbek was distracted, Silver Murat bent his knees and propelled himself upward.  His boots connected with the spiky fur and he began to scale the wolf’s gigantic legs.  With his glowing qama held out to his side, he ran up an almost vertical slope.  His eyes had an inhuman intensity while the rest of his face was as still as a stoic statue.  When he reached the top of the wolf’s leg, he grabbed the spiky fur and swung himself above the head.  Time seemed to slow down as he was airborne.  When he reached the top of his arching trajectory, time sped up again and he pointed the qama downward, plunging it into the wolf’s third eye.

The wolf’s pained howl cut through the air like a thousand shards of glass.  Its jaws loosened their deathly grip on Ulanbek and its head began to toss and turn.  Dark wisps of smoke burst from the third eye and formed claw-like hands.  They clutched at the fabric of Silver Murat’s chokha and pulled him downward.  The pupil dilated and the iris swirled like a vortex.  The surface of the eye liquified and he felt himself sinking.  He saw the world around him disappear and plunged into darkness.

***

Time seemed to stop altogether.  Silver Murat felt like he was sinking in endless waters.  He waved his arms and legs and they moved slowly, like he was pushing against molasses.  Although merged into one body, the Silver Sorcerer and Murat still had separate thoughts running in parallel.  One eye to peer into your soul!  When the Silver Sorcerer had said that earlier, Murat thought he was just speaking nonsense again.  But now he sensed there was some truth to it as he felt like he was being turned inside out with his innermost thoughts laid bare for scrutiny.  Although he still had feeling in his extremities, the rest of his body felt like it was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Why do you help the humans? a disembodied voice boomed, sounding like it was coming from all directions.

“Who I help is my own business,” Silver Murat replied, channeling the Silver Sorcerer’s thoughts.

You are born of the forest, one of us.   How could you turn your back on your kind?

“What kind?  I have just as little in common with you wolves as I do with these humans.  Do not presume that I would naturally ally with you.”

You favor the humans even though they destroy our home?

“Psh!  Not at all!  I disdain them in general as much as you do!  But this one in particular, I will not let you harm.  Nor the other one, who lies precariously between your teeth!  Now let us out, so we can be on our way!”

You shall not leave.  You have great power within you, and since you wish to go against us, you will be absorbed and your energy put to proper use.

”Heh, you mean to consume us?  Not without a fight, you gluttonous cur!”

A warm glow emanated from Silver Murat.  The surrounding darkness was washed away by a blinding light.   He flailed his arms and kicked his legs, swimming upwards through a viscous goo while an immense pressure caved in on him from all sides.  A small patch of sky materialized above and grew larger as he continued his ascent.  It was a portal back to the outside world.  He could now feel the hilt of his qama in his hand again.  He pointed the tip of the blade upward and swiped forward as he approached the surface of the portal.  When the blade made contact with the translucent surface, it wobbled as the tip sank into the gelatinous mass.  Cold liquid sprayed at him and the portal membrane felt slimy against his skin as he pushed through.

Cold air hit him like a blizzard gust.  He was airborne again, staring down at the wolf’s face with the dilated third eye.  Ulanbek’s limbs could be seen protruding from the wolf’s jaws.  He descended and grabbed onto the wolf’s snout.  Hot air came out in puffs through the cavernous nostrils.  Ulanbek was half-conscious in the wolf’s mouth.  Silver Murat slid down and planted his boots on the wolf’s lower lip.  He sheathed his qama and put his fingers on the wolf’s teeth.  One hand pushed down while the other pushed up.  His eyes flashed silver and he pried open the wolf’s jaws.  The wolf growled in protest and saliva gushed out, threatening his hold on the teeth.  When the jaws were open just enough, he kept the higher hand pressed against the upper jaw and used his feet to press down against the lower jaw.  He reached in with his free hand and wrapped it carefully around Ulanbek’s back.  He pulled him close to his chest and propelled himself away from the wolf.  The wolf’s jaw snapped shut as they sailed backward in the air.

“Murat?” Ulanbek whispered through ragged breaths.

“Shhh, you’re severely injured,” Silver Murat replied.  “Don’t exhaust yourself trying to speak too much.”

While they were in mid-air, the two other wolves swiped their sharp paws at them.  Silver Murat curled himself around Ulanbek and took the brunt of the razor-sharp claws.  The surface of his clothing vibrated with a silvery glow as the tips of the claws scratched against the shield cast around him.  They landed on the forest floor, throwing up a flurry of leaves.  The three wolves surrounded them and their jaws all descended at once.  Silver Murat rolled back and forth the damp dirt to avoid the barrage of teeth.  Twigs and dirt stuck to his clothing and hair.  Ulanbek’s blood bloomed on the fabric of his chokha, staining the deep blue with a dark crimson.  

He shifted Ulanbek to one of his arms and unsheathed the qama with the other.  As another set of canine teeth threatened to descend, he struck upwards.  Silver sparks flew as metal clashed with enamel.  His dark hair flowed wildly and his eyes glowed silver again.  The blade of his qama followed suit, emitting a harsh light that scorched the wolf’s retinas.  The wolves retreated backward, their eyes squeezed shut.  However, what they did next was completely unexpected.

The two wolves on the side merged with the one in the center.  It was akin to a potter taking smaller clay pieces and squeezing them together to create a larger ball.  There was a squishy sound as tissue bore against tissue and an eerie rattling as bones merged with other bones.  The three wolves were already large enough when they were separate beings, and the resulting mega-wolf towered over them like a pillar that could reach the edge of the heavens.  The mega-wolf’s eyes also shifted.  Instead of two eyes in the usual position and a third eye on the forehead, the furry behemoth had two parallel rows running from snout to ear with four eyes each and a central eye nestled between them.

Silver Murat’s eyes flashed with a glint and he smirked.  “Well, at least the number of eyes remains the same.  I wonder why you don’t have twelve legs and three tails as well?  Would that make it too hard to run around?  You would be like one and a half spiders.”

The mega-wolf’s nine eyes glowed red and its spiky fur stood on end.  It opened its jaws wide, spewing saliva all over.  The back of its mouth began to glow with a reddish hue and blinding rays radiated outward.  A brilliant reddish white beam of light shot forward, heading straight for the hapless humans below.

Silver Murat looked up at the incoming energy beam.  “Oh shit.”