It was a beautiful summer morning in Finnmark, despite the temperature hanging around the freezing point.


    A watery sun shone down on the ruins of what was once Kirkenes, which was no longer the deserted ruins that Erik and the others found almost a year ago. Instead, they were just ruins.


    The snow-covered town was now filled with a few thousand figures, from apparent humans, to obvious shapeshifters, there was a palpable gloom hanging over everyone. Yet, no one sat still. Everyone was training hard and on constant alert, fully aware an attack mighte at any moment.


    This was thest remaining holdout of the Silver Enve.


    The war had not been going well for them. At first, after Nora learned the sigil to disrupt the Dominion''s control over their ghouls, things had improved for the Enve. After a number of Dominion patrols and hunting squads had been wiped out by the very ghouls that were supposed to serve them, the Dominion had be far more careful.


    This had given the Enve a wee respite from the constant hunting. One they used to their advantage by nning and preparing for when the Dominion woulde for them again. After all, they couldn''t use this sigil to go on the offensive.


    Unfortunately, peace wasn''t meant tost. Two months ago, the Dominion suddenly started pushing aggressively again.


    They had reduced their number of ghouls by giving some of them the blood they required to be vampires again. It wasn''t a perfect system, as many of the former-ghouls had psychological problems stemming from their time as mindless monsters. Not to mention that most of them were understandably resistant to serving the ones that had starved and then enved them before.


    But it didn''t matter. Dissenters and those whose minds were entirely fried were quickly put down by the overwhelming power of the third-ranked Sigurd, and everyone else fell in line after realizing the alternative to obedience.


    At the same time, everyone finally found out what had happened to their former ruler, Liv Frost, who now served by Sigurd''s side as an obedient ghoul. Or, mostly obedient. Many had seen her show surprising aggression towards her master, but since she still obeyed his orders, it didn''t actually change the reality: Sigurd ruled supreme.


    Thus, the dominion now created a new tactic. Instead of sending in overwhelming amounts of ghouls into Enve camps, they send in regr vampires to first destroy the sigils, and than send in the ghouls to mop up what remained.


    When the Frostfang learned of this, he knew there was only one way to survive, at least for a time: consolidation.


    Thus, rather than have the Enve be divided into arge number of hard-to-find smaller camps as before, he pulled everyone together into one the ruins of Kirkenes, which they had prepared for this very purpose during the lull in offensive actions against them.


    Now, Kirkenes was a fortress under siege.


    The Dominion''s army surrounded the ce, but despite their superior force, they couldn''t actually start an assault. Kirkenes was surrounded by a great many disruption sigils, which meant the ghouls weren''t able to enter without turning on their former masters.


    At the same time, the Dominion''s new tactic of sending in the vampires first didn''t work because they didn''t have enough of them. Currently, the Dominion was divided into about four thousandghouls, and a thousand vampires, while the Enve still had around three thousand shapeshifters, now all holed up in Kirkenes.


    Those thousand vampires would never be able to destroy the disruption sigils before the three thousand shapeshifters overwhelmed them. Even Liv Frost as a third-ranked ghoul didn''t make a difference, as she would be affected by the disruption sigil as much as any of the others.


    Thus, the Enve and Dominion were locked in a stalemate, and they were both be impatient and anxious.


    While the Enve could technically stay holed up for as long as they liked, because they didn''t actually need any sustenance, shapeshifters loved their freedom, and being stuck in one ce like this was making them stir-crazy.


    Meanwhile, the Dominion didn''t have enough blood to sustain their current thousand vampires for long, let alone turn any more ghouls into vampires, which meant they were equally anxious to get this over with so they could capture as many of those shapeshifters as possible, and put them in the blood farms.


    All in all, it was a tenuous situation, and it wouldn''t be long before it all came to a boil.


    In the middle of Kirkenes, two women were sparring and training with each other. One was a voluptuous woman with tinum-blond hair, while the other was more athletic and with an ash-blond hair color. "Why do you look so happy this morning, Nora?" the athletic woman asked, grumpily. "It''s annoying. There''s nothing to be happy about in our current situation."


    "Not yet, you mean," Nora grinned happily. "But good things areing, Anne. Trust me!"


    "Ugh," Anne groaned, still grumpy. "What''s happened to you, anyway? You''ve been acting weird since Frostvik; talking in these strange riddles, mood swings… and when''s thest time you yed with one of your toys, anyway?"


    Used to be that Nora had a number of mostly first-ranked shapeshifters who she turned into her submissive toys, but since Frostvik she hadn''t touched any of them, a fact that confused not only Anne, but anyone who knew Nora.


    "At first I thought you were affected by Bj?rn''s betrayal and f''s nearly dying," Anne continued as she threw a few more punches in Nora''s direction, "but its been more then eleven months since then! Why are you still acting weird?!"


    "I have my reasons," Nora smiled mysteriously as she defended against Anne''s attacks. "Maybe I''ll tell you about them someday." At the same time, Anne could swear she saw some strange symbols shing across Nora''s neck. Yet when she looked again they were gone, and she figured she''d imagined them.


    Anne scoffed at Nora''s exnation, but could see she wasn''t getting anything better, so she let it go and they continued sparring. Her confusion about Nora''s behavior continued to grow, however, as she could see the blond woman''s mood improving even further with time.


    Finally, when Nora seemed to be almost bouncing with enthusiasm, an rm suddenly sounded across town, and everyone around them sprang into action. At the same time, Anne could hear Nora mumble something under her breath: "He''s finally here."


    Naturally, Anne found that suspicious as hell, but she had no time to deal with it now, simply storing it away forter.


    All second rankers were supposed to report to the location of the rm, so they both ran in that direction, although differing expressions. Anne was anxious, thinking the attack had finallye, while Nora looked excited for her own reasons.


    When they got there, there was a bustle of activity around one of the town''s entrances. Arge group of people were watching amotion in the Dominion''s ranks across the sigil-filled no-man''snd.


    "What''s going on?!" Anne asked one of them hurriedly. "Is it the Dominion? Are they attacking?!"


    "We don''t know, Ma''am," he first-ranked shapeshifter responded respectfully, knowing Anne''s status as a second-ranker. "There''s some kind ofmotion among the blood suckers, so we assumed an attack just to be safe, but… I''m getting the idea they''re fighting something from the other side instead."


    With a confused frown, Anne turned her attention towards the Dominion''s side, and had to agree with him. Rather than face the town, the vampire''s and ghouls in this section of their army seemed to be facing the other side, while the rest of the Dominion''s army seemed to be focused in that direction as well.


    That was when she even noticed the most hated leader of the Dominion, Sigurd, making his way in that same direction, with his ghoulified enforcer in tow.


    At the same time, it looked like something or someone was making its way to them from the other side. Now, there was a race going on between Sigurd and whatever or however was trying to break through the Dominion lines. Sounds of fighting echoed across the divide as it sounded like flesh tearing and ghouls screeching.


    But before the two third-rankers could get there, a bloody, armored werewolf burst from the Dominion ranks, howling into the air. His ws dripped blood as he still held the torn heads of vampire and ghoul alike in his hands. The moment he burst free, he tossed the heads behind him and dropped on all fours as he sprinted on to the town.


    Behind him, a horde of vampires and ghouls followed, but as soon as the ghouls stepped into the disruption sigil''s range, they started raging against their masters and the pursuit was quickly halted.


    Sigurd also stopped before the sigils, as he didn''t want even the smallest risk that his new third-rank puppet might step into them. Thus, he simply looked at the disappearing werewolf with anger and suspicion, wondering where this powerful person suddenly came from.


    "Tell me exactly what happened," he growled at the second-rankmander of this section.


    While Sigurd was getting a report, the werewolf came to a skidding stop by the crowd of shapeshifters in front of Kirkenes. Righting himself, he smirked at Anne, "Hey Anne, been a while. How''s f?"