The wind stirred the ruins of the sanctum as the fire smoldered low. The scent of burnt metal, flesh, and memories lingered in the air.
Inside the inner chamber, Axel stood before Grandmaster Maldrith, tall, draped in silver robes etched with ancient runes, his long silver hair tied back, eyes as sharp as ever. At his side stood a girl in her twenties.
Sylthea.
She bowed slightly when Axel looked at her, but her violet eyes never lowered.
"She's stubborn," Maldrith said with a faint smirk. "Like her mother."
Axel said nothing, just crossed his arms, the wolf helm receding back into his gauntlet with a hiss.
"She believes in you," the Grandmaster went on. "Says you're more than a killer in a suit. Says you could change things." He looked at his daughter, then back to Axel. "She wants to travel with you. And… she wishes to teach the girl. The goblin. Magic."
Kyra peeked around Axel's side, wide gold eyes blinking at Sylthea. Sylthea smiled softly and knelt.
"You've got a spark in you," Sylthea said. "I can feel it. I'd be honored to help it grow."
Axel remained still. Then, quietly...
"You can come. But I have to do something first."
Maldrith nodded solemnly. "Then go. Return when you are ready."
The road back was quiet.
Ash and smoke still clung to Axel's armor like ghosts. The morning had turned to midday. The sky was overcast.
Axel held Kyra's hand tightly as they walked the winding path back to the place he didn't want to return to.
"Why are we going back?" she finally asked.
Axel didn't answer at first. Then, quietly...
"You were right. I think… the kids pressed the button. I think they doomed the trolls."
Kyra didn't respond. She just squeezed his hand tighter.
They reached the village by afternoon.
There was no celebration now.
No laughing trolls. No fires roasting meat. No children playing hopscotch in the dirt.
Just silence.
And smoke.
Ash coated everything, stone, bone, burned wood, shattered weapons. A few broken walls remained, but most of the village had been erased, flattened by the exterminator attack.
Axel's breath caught as he stepped forward.
Brakar's body lay slumped near the ruined fountain, his massive chest caved in, arms torn. His head… lay several feet away, face frozen in a snarl of rage and pain.
And further down…
The hopscotch stones.
Blackened.
Three tiny bodies lay there, unmoving.
The little girl with the crooked tusk.
The boy who had tried to trip him.
The one who gave Kyra a pebble necklace.
Gone.
Something inside Axel cracked.
The Black Wolf helmet slid over his face, hiding his expression but not his grief.
He dropped to his knees.
His body shook.
He slammed a fist into the ash, once. Twice. Again.
Then the scream came.
Raw, broken.
He cried like a man torn in half.
"It's my fault," he whispered, hoarse. "All of it."
Kyra knelt beside him, wrapping her arms around him tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"No, it's not… you tried to save them, Axel… you made a mistake."
But Axel couldn't hear her through the weight of guilt. Through the silence of the dead.
The silence broke.
Footsteps.
Voices.
"Hey! There he is!"
Axel rose slowly, face covered in soot, tears still drying.
A group of human children emerged from the path behind them. Some carried snacks, others looked tired.
Jaren stood at the front, arms folded.
"We waited," Jaren said. "But the other Exterminators never came. The ship said we should stay put."
He looked around the carnage, the burned bodies, the blackened village.
Then he sneered.
"It's good they're dead," he said, his voice clear. "They were monsters."
Something snapped.
Axel stood slowly.
The wolf helm locked in place.
"Iron Howl," he commanded.
The sword snapped into his hand.
He marched forward.
Kyra gasped and followed, calling out but Axel didn't stop.
He stood before Jaren.
"You did this."
Jaren blinked. "What?"
"You did this!" Axel roared, his voice booming through the speaker in his helm.
He raised the greatsword.
It was vibrating with violent force along its edge.
Jaren's eyes widened as the blade came down, ready to split him in half.
But...
"STOP!!"
Kyra stood in front of Jaren, arms wide, tears running down her face.
Axel froze.
The sword halted inches from her.
The Iron Howl was vibrating with a howl.
She looked up at him, trembling but defiant.
The Iron Howl still trembled in Axel's grip, the blade glowing faintly, thirsting for blood.
Kyra stood firm in front of Jaren, eyes shining with tears and fury.
"Please…" she whispered. "Don't."
For a long moment, the only sound was the wind shifting ash.
Then...
With a hiss, the helmet retracted.
Axel's face was twisted in rage, his eyes bloodshot, jaw clenched tight.
"They killed them," he growled, voice shaking. "They doomed this whole village. Those demons..."
He glared past Kyra, straight into Jaren's terrified eyes.
"They should be sent to hell."
"I know," Kyra said, her voice soft but unyielding. "I know they did this… but they're just kids. They only did what they were taught."
Axel's breath came in heavy gasps. His hands trembled on the sword.
Then… another voice.
"She is right, Axel," Black Wolf said through the helm's internal speakers. "They are children. Conditioned. Programmed. They do not understand. Not truly."
Axel didn't move for a moment.
Then, slowly… he exhaled.
The fire in his eyes dimmed.
With a grunt, he slid Iron Howl back onto his back.
The sword hissed as it locked into place.
The helmet sealed over his face once more with a metallic shhhk.
"…Follow me," he ordered coldly.
The children hesitated, but followed.
Axel walked through the forest, every step heavy with restraint, with grief. Kyra stayed at his side, eyes never leaving him.
Eventually, they reached the camouflaged ship half-buried in moss and brush.
Axel stepped inside.
The ship lit up, systems humming awake.
He approached the console, fingers flying across the screen. Lines of data scrolled by, past mission logs, coordinates to exterminated zones, targets, command orders.
All of it.
Erased.
He entered a new set of coordinates: Human Capital – Orbital Dock Virellia.
The ship locked on.
Autopilot engaged.
Axel turned without a word and walked out as the doors sealed behind him.
The ship rose through the treetops, fire blasting beneath it as it disappeared into the sky.
"That was the right thing to do," Black Wolf said quietly.
Axel said nothing.
They returned to the village.
The wind had shifted, pushing ash into thin, swirling clouds. The silence here felt heavier now. As if the ghosts were watching.
But then...
A movement.
A faint scuffling near the wreckage of a hut.
Axel raised a hand, Kyra paused.
From the shadows crawled a young troll, barely more than a teenager.
Lean, dust-covered, eyes wide with terror.
He held a broken spear and raised it weakly.
"D-Don't come closer…" he muttered, voice cracking.
"We won't hurt you," Kyra said gently.
The troll trembled, eyes darting between them.
"I… I hid. I didn't fight. I heard them coming, and I hid. I heard Brakar scream and the kids… I didn't do anything."
He dropped the spear and collapsed to his knees.
"I'm a coward. I'm a dishonor to my race."
"No," Axel said, stepping forward. His voice was low but strong. "You survived. That takes more courage than you know."
The troll looked up slowly.
"My name is Korrak," he said, voice shaking. "I'm eighteen."
His eyes filled with tears.
"I didn't want to die…"
Axel didn't speak.
He just knelt, opened his arms, and pulled the boy into a hug.
Korrak sobbed into his chest.
Kyra joined, wrapping her arms around both of them, her tiny hands rubbing Korrak's back.
None of them said a word.
They just held each other amid the ash and ruin.
Later, the three of them stood side by side, shovels in hand.
One by one, they buried the bodies.
Brakar.
The guards.
The mothers.
The hopscotch kids.
No songs were sung. No words were spoken.
Only tears.
Kyra laid the pebble necklace on the smallest grave.
Korrak placed Brakar's war-badge beneath a stone cairn.
Axel stood alone at the edge of the burial ground, the wind carrying soot across his armor. His visor hid his face, but not the weight that bowed his shoulders.
When it was done, the sun had begun to set.
Gold light fell across the graves, lighting the ash like dusted gold.
Korrak sniffed and wiped his face. "Where will we go?"
"To a place where they won't hurt you," Axel said. "To the Sanctum. You'll be safe there."
And together, Axel, Kyra, and Korrak turned their backs on the ruined village.
They left footprints in the ash.
Headed back toward the land of magic.
Toward something uncertain.
But maybe, just maybe...
Toward something better.