Lone Wolf belongs primarily to Joe Dever, with Ian Paige earning a hat-tip for the Grey Star books. They created the world; I'm just playing in it. And an especially deep hat-tip goes to the awesome people at the Aon Project, who made the gamebooks and most of the supplemental materials available online.

Also, although I did find a Lone Wolf category entry on FF Net, there were no character listings for World of Lone Wolf characters. Nor was there a separate category. So technically, this is an in-universe crossover using both Lone Wolf and Grey Star as main characters.

WARNING: This story includes occasionally graphic depictions of violence, a brief description of psychic torture, non-canon character death, villainous dialogue that may count as Nightmare Fuel to some, and the occasional extremely bad joke. Then again, any veteran reader of the gamebooks should be familiar with all of the above. Except for maybe the jokes…

This is set during Lone Wolf's time studying with the Magi in book seven of the main Lone Wolf series (in the introductory sequence of Castle of Death), and about six months or so after Shasarak's defeat in War of the Wizards at the end of the Grey Star series. So far as canon is concerned, I am prioritizing canon as laid out in Grey Star's series (after all, only four books; much easier to keep track of!) and the Lone Wolf series up through the sixth book (Kingdoms of Terror). I haven't read most of the later parts of Lone Wolf's series, and only skimmed the first parts of The New Order – mostly for the express purpose of research for this story. I am also explicitly rejecting the epilogue published in a magazine for the Grey Star series, and some things mentioned in Voyage of the Moonstone. And I'm more or less declaring The Magnamund Companion as a source to be cherry-picked as I see fit. (Basically? If it's in Grey Star, or in the early Lone Wolf books, I try to adhere to canon. After that…) For the most part, my changes are aimed at better integrating the backstories for Lone Wolf and Grey Star, particularly regarding the origins of the Kai Lords; crossovers work much better when you can intertwine the wider worlds of the characters involved, after all.

Therefore, this story should be considered AU as of the beginning of Castle of Death and the end of War of the Wizards, and with regard to a few relatively minor world-setting details. In particular, this story deliberately renders AU: 1) The timeline, particularly as it relates to when the events of the Lone Wolf and Grey Star take place with respect to each other (with subsequent consequences to relative character ages); 2) details of what happened to Grey Star following the ending of War of the Wizards, and 3) the identity of the creators of the Sommerswerd. Information on the timeline changes can be found in the closing AN below; I will provide similar details in the ANs of later chapters, as the other changes become relevant.

Finally, a word of warning to those who come to this story from The Dragon-King's Temple or BFF-verse: I grew up reading Tolkien. Which means sometimes my plotbunnies want to just sit back and wallow in every single hammy Epic Fantasy Adventure trope they can possibly get their paws into, from quasi-archaic formal narrative style to Epic Battles for the Fate of the Universe. This story is pure author-candy, through and through.

INTRODUCTORY NOTES: I began this story over Christmas break, when my brother idly mentioned that the Lone Wolf gamebooks had a video game adaptation that had recently been ported over to the computer. This got me looking at the books again, after a good fifteen years and more of never even thinking about them. Then I found out that they're all available online. Having just come out of Nanowrimo to run straight into three back-to-back weeks of end-of-term-and-finals hell, I was in the mood to indulge in brain candy.

This woke up a very, very old bunny. Just as I was getting the energy to write back.

For those of you who don't know the books, or haven't looked at them in years, the Lone Wolf series is a set of Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks, where periodically the reader makes choices for the protagonist by turning to different page numbers corresponding to options offered by the text; you can read the same book ten times over and get a slightly (or sometimes very) different story each time. Where the Lone Wolf books differ from most gamebooks is that first of all, you get to take part in character creation, by choosing special abilities for your character that then have an impact on how certain events in the story progress. (You also get stats for the character, and there's a combat system and everything. Being a cheaty cheater who cheats, I just skip that part; I'm more interested in the story!) Second of all, there are multiple books following a single protagonist, Lone Wolf, the last survivor of the order of Kai Lords after the monastery was wiped out by a sneak attack. (The author calls the Kai Lords "D&D Psionic Rangers"; me, I call 'em Fantasy Jedi. Po-tay-to, po-tah-to…) The reader follows Lone Wolf through twenty different books, until he gets so badass that he's not really a viable protagonist anymore. (Seriously. Equal Opportunity Awesome applies to villains, and once your hero has walked into the home dimension of all that is evil and cut a mile-wide swath through their leadership, it's just kinda hard to come up with a villain who can challenge him properly!) At that point, the story shifts to follow Lone Wolf's (unnamed) successor.

The Lone Wolf books have several spinoffs – the aforementioned videogame, several board games and RPG books, and a second gamebook series called The World of Lone Wolf. The World of Lone Wolf books are a four-book series following a young wizard named Grey Star. Grey Star was raised by a race of wizardly demi-gods who exiled themselves to an isolated island after swearing an oath to the goddess Ishir that they wouldn't interfere with humanity anymore. But right next door to their island, a renegade Shianti is building an Evil Empire. And then one day a shipwreck washes up a human baby up on their shores, and… well, ain't no law against teaching the kid their magics. And he is human and not bound by any oaths…

I confess – my plotbunnies always liked Grey Star. (In part because he receives a bit more characterization than Lone Wolf.) And they always wanted the protagonists of the two series to meet…

~Nexus of Light: PROLOGUE~

Shadows clung in choking cobwebs to the old stone, enhanced more than challenged by the fitful flickering of a scarce handful of torches, set here and there along the walls. Rather than lighting the hall, the dim glower of the torches cast looming black shapes against the walls as the squad of soldiers passed, and the occasional glint of baleful orange where friction had rubbed away the sooty blackening on chainmail shirts worn under black tabards.

These men were the elite of the Drakkarim, hand-picked for this mission. Even so, hands tightened uneasily on weapons as eyes flickered back and forth in the shadows of their helms. Whatever their alliances and allegiances, no amount of devotion could change the fact that humans were creatures of daylight, ill-suited to the tangling shadows of this cold, dead world. It made them restless, on edge, uneasy, unhappy. Only their own pride and determination not to be seen as weak by their fellows kept every one of them from glancing over his shoulder when the low moan of the empty wind outside sobbed through the echoing hallways.

Which was why none of them noticed one of their own dropping farther and farther back, until he walked at the very rear of the line. Or that, when they reached the next branch of the hall and turned rightward, he turned instead to the left without breaking stride – until ten paces down the corridor, where he abruptly side-stepped into a small alcove. And, finally, released a sigh of not-quite-relief that shook only a little, as he did his best to wipe away the cold sweat on his brow without actually removing that concealing helmet.

Well. So far so good. As far as that goes.

Which wasn't as far as he would have liked. For the moment, the Drakkarim warriors seemed unaware that his cell now stood empty. Whether that was thanks to the woven tricks of shadow and light and suggestion he'd left in his place, or due to whatever event had distracted them long enough for him to escape in the first place, he didn't know. But he was free of his chains, had something resembling a weapon again…

And what good does that do me, when the world in which I stand is itself a prison?

Pressing his lips together, he shook his head firmly. Such thoughts did him no good. For now, he had to focus on the present. And in the present…

They will notice I am missing, sooner or later. And that their numbers have increased by one. Or that their uniforms have decreased!

He almost laughed at that. But he was acutely aware that he'd spent more of his reserves than he liked on the magics that had freed him from his cell and woven the deceptions to buy him some time. He was weary, and hungry. And aching; his captors had not been gentle in bringing him here.

And his only resources for the moment were the robe he wore under borrowed armor, and a heavy axe that he had not the least idea how to use as a weapon.

He allowed himself one last slow, bracing breath, and then slipped from his hiding place, careful to walk with the brisk stride of one who knew his business and would tolerate no interruption as he carried it out. And thanking the unknowing assistance of no small number of the black-armored zealots for showing him the safe paths, free of the dangerous traps that lined many other corridors.

First things first. You must find something to eat, and a safe haven, however temporary, to rest and plan.

His head rose sharply at the distant tread and clank of armored feet. Not many; three or so, perhaps, and walking slowly.

Too few; I cannot simply attach myself to their number as I did before, they will notice. I must find somewhere to hide until they pass…

As though his own thoughts had summoned it, his eyes landed on a half-opened door, leading to a small chamber partially filled by boxes, and some form of desk. A storeroom of some kind.

Good enough! Action was no slower than thought; he'd quickened his pace and eeled through the opening almost before he made the decision. Quickly, he ducked behind the door to press his back against the wall, so that if the approaching soldiers looked inside there would be no shadow to betray him.

His foot knocked into something soft and yielding as he moved. Startled, he looked down, heart hammering. Then his eyes widened as the dim light creeping through the half-open door revealed what he'd found.

My pack!

Almost dizzy with relief, he quickly gathered it up, and nearly fell to his knees for joy when he discovered his herbalist's belt underneath it. A quick search revealed that the contents were mostly intact, although all of his money and travel food had been taken.

But not these. His fingers plucked out one of the packets of bizarre blue mushrooms he'd carefully dried and stowed away, and he smiled to himself. They must not have recognized them as food. Thank you again, Urik.

Perhaps they'd thought the mushrooms part of his alchemist's kit. From the look of things, the soldiers had taken anything recognizably mundane – coins, food – and left the rest for their masters to peruse at leisure.

His lips twitched as quickly checked the contents of his herb pouch. Or else the Darklords and their followers don't care for dried flowers. Such a pity.

One thing was missing, however. Search though he might, he could find no sign of his staff.

Eyes narrowing, he considered that grimly. Without a prepared conduit and focus, he could still work magic freely enough, but he would drain his reserves all the more quickly – and if found, would have no weapon he knew how to use at hand.

Moreover – without his staff, he had no hope of opening a portal to take him out of this dead world and home again.

Think. Where would they have taken it?

Footsteps clattered in the corridor outside and he reflexively drew back into the corner as he began gathering energy. Hidden in the shadows in the blind spot of the door, he would at least have the advantage of surprise on his side. That might be enough to bespell or fell all three.

Might.

If not, then this will be a very short escape indeed. It was all he could do to keep his breathing steady and silent as the door creaked fully open.

But the soldiers didn't enter. Instead, a bundle flew inside, striking the floor with a heavy thump and a rattle of metal.

"Would have expected one of the accursed Sunsmen to carry more – something worthwhile, not just a few baubles!" someone grumbled.

"Baubles and plenty of weapons," said another. "Not sure why he bothers, with that accursed sun-sword at hand…"

The second speaker was interrupted by a dull thmp – the sound of an impatient cuffing. "Enough with your complaints," a third, clearly the leader, snapped. "The great one has plans for the blade and its master. We're done here, now move along!"

The door swung mostly closed again, leaving him in darkness again.

Slowly, he released his breath. And swallowed.

Sunsman?

A Kai Lord. Carrying a sun sword.

There could be only one person who matched that description.

~Nexus of Light~

Cold bit into his wrists, the icy burn never warming from his own body heat the way simple steel might. But these were no mundane shackles that held him.

Though it made little difference in the end, save for discomfort. Magic or mundane – a Kai Master could push his body to unimagined feats of strength, speed and agility, but mortal flesh and bone had their limits. He could not break these bonds by sheer force. And even if he tried…

Lone Wolf narrowed his eyes slightly. He could see nothing. But his senses screamed that dark energy knotted all around him, ready to scream to every soldier and demon in this place the moment he should win free of this cage.

He gritted his teeth. It was a trap.

He'd felt something strange and uneasy in the air at Lord Errich's manor. But he had half-expected as much; after all, he'd come seeking King Ulnar's lost grandson, the heir apparent of Sommerlund after his father had fallen in battle. The boy had vanished, guards and all, somewhere on the road as he returned from his summer retreat to the household of his mother's kin.

Prince Hamil was the last male descendent of King Ulnar still living, after plague and the machinations of the Darklords had whittled away so many of the royal line of Sommerlund. As soon as word reached the capitol city of Holmgard, King Ulnar had sent a desperate message out to the Elder Magi, with whom the last of the Kai Lords was studying, begging for help. Lone Wolf had answered.

That Lord Errich would be ill at ease was only to be expected. The boy's safety had been his to guarantee. He'd welcomed Lone Wolf with obvious, desperate relief, sharing all they knew of the boy's movements after he had left their hall. That foul play was at work was plain to see…

Foul play indeed. How long has it been since Errich yielded to the Darklords? How long were they planning this?

In the battlefield, he could – and had, all too often – face a dozen, even a score of enemies. But this had been treachery, drugs and magic in the night. And now…

Agony tore through his mind suddenly, icy claws tearing at his mind's defenses. Biting his lip hard enough to taste blood, Lone Wolf shored them back up, throwing mental shield after mental shield in place, wrapping his thoughts and knowledge and self in layer after layer of misdirection, reflection, and iron walls, so that with every defense the Darklord shattered or circumvented, three more stood ready to take its place.

The tearing, raw savaging of the assault was torment. His eyes were open, but he saw nothing; he remained upright only because his arms shackled to the ceiling of his cage allowed him to do nothing else, because his legs had no strength. Distantly, he heard a low groan of pain, and it took him far too long to realize he'd heard himself.

The mental invasion suddenly broke off with mocking laughter from all around. As vision slowly returned, Lone Wolf found himself staring into black-on-black-on-black eyes that smiled mockingly, before turning away.

He didn't know the name of the enemy he faced. He'd never seen a Darklord without armor, in a form so very close to human.

Possession. He'd encountered such craft only rarely, for all his travels – but he knew what he faced. Given his mission here, he was grimly certain that he knew from whose eyes his foe watched.

Prince Hamil. Please let something of his own self yet survive. Possessions can be broken, if some trace of the original mind remains…

Lone Wolf drew in as a deep a breath as he could manage. It was less than he liked. Shackled with his arms over his head as he was, barely able to reach the bottom of the cage to ease the weight of his own body from his arms, his shoulders and chest were strained near their limit. As a Kai Master, his endurance would allow him to last longer than most, possibly for days… but eventually, his legs would give out, the muscles of his chest would tire, and he would suffocate.

His lips thinned. Though I truly doubt the Darklord would allow my end to be nearly so easy.

Thinning his lips, he forced his head to raise, scanning the ancient throne room. He had to escape. And quickly. Unfortunately, this Darklord had seemingly learned from his predecessors' mistakes. No secluded cell for Lone Wolf this time. In addition to the shackles, cell, and spells, guards stood watch from every wall of the room, armed with crossbows. And the Darklord himself lounged comfortably on the ancient throne, looking on with easy amusement…

Look! Here!

Lone Wolf started.

His vision was still clouded from the agony of earlier, casting painful light-halos around even the dim torches that seemed to stab into his eyes. But better that than the sense of darkness clinging poison-thick to the guards. They were human, so far as he could see – but they'd given themselves heart and soul to their dark master, with no regrets or second thoughts, and that choice clung to all of them like a shroud.

All, save one.

Just another guard, standing stiff and ready near the door. Except where the others loomed in his senses, dark and dire, grating on a mind already raw from the Darklord's attack… his senses welcomed this presence, like emerging into moonlight from the depths of a mine.

What…?

For just a moment, the guard's head turned ever so slightly, and he stiffened as his eyes met Lone Wolf's.

Then, in a subtle motion, he raised his free hand to his mouth, as though to stifle a yawn or cough-

-and a slight skirl of air in the cold drafts of the room carried soft words to Lone Wolf's ears.

"It is said that Kai Lords have the ability to hide their presence from all senses. Can you do this? Even from the Darklord?"

Could he? Were he facing only humans and Giaks – yes. It would be difficult, demanding all his skill and concentration – but what else had he to concentrate upon? But against a Darklord…

The Darklord is limited to his mortal vessel, for now. And mortal eyes… were prey to mortal mistakes.

But why? All eyes were on him; they would know what had been done, or guess easily enough. Even if they somehow failed to notice as he vanished from their sight, the spells would betray that he had not actually escaped by their silence.

I see little choice but to try.

After a long moment of hesitation, Lone Wolf let his head fall – and rise slightly before falling again, a subtle nod, as he kept that guard who was something quite different in the corner of his eye.

Wind whispered in his ears again. "Then be ready to do so, when you see my signal."

Fighting for another deep breath, Lone Wolf half-nodded again, and began to calm and center his mind. It seemed his unexpected ally had a plan. He could only hope the other had some way of supporting the deception.

Breathe in, difficult as it was against the relentless weight of gravity and fatigue. Breathe out. Breathe in…

The Darklord's throne exploded.

The Darklord, in his human vessel, went flying forward to land flat on his face in an undignified sprawl as ancient wood burst apart in flames and fragments. For a moment, he simply lay there, clearly stunned by the unexpected attack, as the guards stared in shock, and the scraps and sparks of flame pulled together momentarily into a form clearly never intended to be human, but with white blazes like eyes burning with angry knowledge at the fire's heart-

Then it vanished, and the spell of shock abruptly broke. The Darklord shoved himself back to his feet, shouting something about an escape, as the guards around the room started, clearly uncertain how to react.

And for those moments, all eyes in the room were turned away from Lone Wolf.

Breathing a prayer to the sun, Lone Wolf let his eyes fall to half-mast as he sank his mind into the distant peace of not-being.

All around, the alarm-spells went off, shrieking an alert that Lone Wolf had escaped.

Surprise nearly undid Lone Wolf's grasp on the meditation. What? But – I've gone nowhere. The spells shouldn't have triggered…

The Darklord turned abruptly to stare at – an empty cage and empty shackles, Lone Wolf reminded himself, sinking deeper into the meditation; empty, all of it, all that was here was emptiness…

And to his shock, the Darklord did not see him.

…of course. He half-expected that I would escape when all were distracted!

And if one expected to see something…

Eyes narrowing, the Darklord lashed out in fury, knocking the seemly-empty cage loose of its moorings to topple to its side on the ground and roll away, the screaming spells cutting off abruptly as their material focus was cast aside. Unable to roll with the impact, Lone Wolf could only ride it out, the pain cushioned by the same meditation that hid him from their senses.

But that will hurt, very much, very soon.

The Darklord stalked from the room, followed by the guards. All save one, hidden from sight by the shadows, only ghosting out when the hall was emptied.

Not a moment too soon. Lone Wolf abruptly felt his meditation break as the cage slammed against a wall and his head struck the bars, and a different form of nothingness entirely descended as he fell unconscious.

AN: NOTES ON CANON AND TIMELINES: Warning! Extreme geekiness ahead…

One of the primary changes I've made is to the relative timelines. The Magnamund Companion and Voyage of the Moonstone/Buccaneers of Shadaki claim that Grey Star the Wizard and Flight from the Dark (the first Grey Star and Lone Wolf books, respectively) take place on the same year. Except that's close to impossible, because they both meet a particular character: Madim Rendalim, the master Healer from Durenor who appears in Fire on the Water (the second book of the Lone Wolf series, taking place immediately after the events of Flight from the Dark), also appears in Grey Star the Wizard.

Why is this a problem? Because Grey Star's adventures take place in the geographic equivalent of South Africa – he's in the far south of the world, while Lone Wolf's adventures are in the geographic equivalent of northern Europe. (Or so the narrative claims. And yet, the area of the Shadakine Empire in the south is depicted more as a subtropic or tropic zone, rather than southern temperate as it should be. See the Azanam jungle, for example. Although I suppose you might make an argument for that being a temperate rainforest.) More than that, when Grey Star met Rendalim (who'd been in southern Magnamund looking for a medicine to cure a deadly plague, and was on his way back), he was traveling in the company of heavily armored knights and a wagon – both of which are fairly slow. They would have been able to take a ship for large parts of the distance, which would have cut down on travel time considerably, but not all of it, particularly given the threat of piracy. And Shadaki, at the time, was hostile territory, which would have complicated travel. So I suspect that we need to budget a good four to six months for that sort of world-spanning travel.

On top of that, I don't recall any mention of a plague in Fire on the Water, save a reference to one that came and went three years before – and a plague would be the sort of thing that would prevent a kingdom from being able to mount any sort of powerful response to an ally's call for help. Since that didn't happen, I assume the plague started after Darklord Zagarna's attempted invasion – particularly because a deadly plague sounds like exactly the sort of thing you'd have to deal with after fighting against undead creatures of darkness! Meaning, Rendalim met Grey Star after his encounter with Lone Wolf. The better part of a year later.

More importantly in terms of plot, Lone Wolf's period studying with the Magi provides a nice window for the events of this story – he's powerful enough to be a figure of significant concern to the Darklords by then, but not overpowered. (It's also the first time we have a solid timescale offered within the books themselves: twelve years after the destruction of the monastery at the beginning of Flight from the Dark.)

On Grey Star's part, I'm placing it soon after the rebellion simply because Grey Star isn't available for adventures until after his series is finished (every book follows immediately on the ending of the previous one). But given the situation that War of the Wizards ends with, it's highly unlikely that his life has been boring since then! I had to make a choice between either making up noncanon adventures to fill the space, or having this story be said adventure. I opted for the latter… which, perforce, means that the war to depose Shasarak has just ended.

Therefore: this story AU's the claim from the Magnamund Companion that Flight from the Dark and Grey Star the Wizard both start in MS 5050 (according to the Magnamund calendar), and instead assumes that Flight from the Dark took place in 5050, and Grey Star the Wizard sometime around 5053 or 5054.

Besides. Given that Cauldron of Fear (book 9) explicitly states that Lone Wolf's time with the Magi was eleven years after the Massacre, while Castle of Death (book 8) claims twelve… well. I'd say canon isn't too stringent about timelines!

This story might also be considered my protest against Buccaneers of Shadaki, the only currently published Lone Wolf gamebook that actually acknowledges Grey Star's existence (to my knowledge). The Grandmaster (Lone Wolf's successor) is carrying the Moonstone to the Shianti, and overhears in passing that, oh, Grey Star has vanished, his court insists he's traveling but we think he was kidnapped by necromancers who want the dark days of Shasarak to return…

Me: Wait, what?

Bad enough that we just hear this in passing. But… the Grandmaster overhears that a good guy responsible for turning a region considered "wild and lawless" into something that has the potential to be a new ally against Naar has been possibly kidnapped by Naar's worshippers… and he just shrugs and continues? Doesn't even follow up? Doesn't even send a message saying, hey, we should look into this? Doesn't investigate once the Moonstone is safely in the hands of the Shianti?

And in fact, so far as I am aware we don't get any sort of follow up on that in the later books, either. For apparently at least twelve years and counting, in-universe.

Get ye back to Hero School! Because that is not cool.

(Particularly given that the whole Moonstone plot in the LW series makes it very clear that apparently the magazine epilogue of the Grey Star series didn't happen. The Moonstone wasn't returned to the Shianti, and they didn't Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence – they're still on Lorn. [See the Retcon entry on the TV Tropes page for Lone Wolf for a nice summation of the issue.] Meaning that Grey Star should still have the Moonstone. And yet Lone Wolf found it in Naar's possession…)