ログインAella POV"Hunter!"The word tore itself from my throat as the portal snapped shut.One second he had been smiling at us.The next...Gone."No!" Sol tried to stand, but the moment he pushed himself off the ground, his knees buckled. I wasn't doing any better.The sixteen-hour ritual had left us with barely enough strength to breathe, much less fight.I planted my hands against the earth and tried again.Nothing.My arms trembled violently before giving out.We both collapsed back onto the grass.Chaos was already beside us."Don't move.""We have to—" Sol protested."You can't," Order interrupted.For once, neither spirit sounded calm.Hunter had been taken.Order looked toward the place where the portal had appeared, his expression unreadable."There is no residual magic.""What?" I whispered."It disappeared completely."Chaos cursed under his breath.Without another word, the two spirits placed a hand on each of us.The world blurred.The Sanctuary.We reappeared inside the throne
Aella POVFive hours.Five hours of walking.Five hours of bleeding into the earth.Five hours of repeating ancient vows until the words no longer felt like words, but part of my breathing.Step.Blood.Promise.Step.Blood.Promise.The ritual had become almost hypnotic.My palm no longer hurt.It had gone numb hours ago.The earth beneath our feet glowed faintly wherever our blood touched it, ancient runes awakening one by one as the Academy slowly accepted our oath of protection.Order's prism light continued to bend around Sol and me.To anyone watching, the forest appeared completely empty.Only the footprints forming in the dirt betrayed that someone had passed.Even those disappeared moments later.At the five-hour mark, fatigue finally began catching up with us.My shoulders ached.My legs felt heavy.Every step required conscious effort.I could feel the same exhaustion through the Bond.Sol was hiding it.Poorly.Ahead of us, Hunter and Chaos continued walking as if nothing
Aella POVThe Academy adapted.It wasn't something I wanted to admire.Most of the students were between fifteen and twenty-two years old. They were no longer children, but they were still far too young to become accustomed to war.Yet that was exactly what was happening.The Academy had become a fortress.Not because of its walls.Because of its students.As Sol and I walked through the campus after the attack, I watched the future leaders of the shifter world doing exactly what they had been trained to do.Senior Alpha students organized defensive patrols around the damaged buildings.Older Beta students established communication stations, handing out phones so younger students could contact their families and reassure them they were alive.Gamma trainees coordinated supplies, distributing food, water, blankets and first aid equipment while directing volunteers toward the infirmary.The warrior cadets were already rebuilding barricades and repairing defensive positions.No one had o
Aella POV The attacks didn't stop. If anything, they became worse. Every morning another report arrived. Another village destroyed. Another pack asking for help. Another family displaced. Every time we thought we had identified a pattern, Elias changed it. One day the mutants attacked from the north. The next from the east. Sometimes they struck three places simultaneously. Sometimes they vanished for days before appearing somewhere completely unexpected. It was impossible to predict. Sol and I answered every call we could. The commanders from the Academy spread across the neighboring territories, reinforcing the smaller packs. The Silver Pack sent warriors wherever they were needed. The Dragon Kingdom joined the effort under Queen Samantha's command. Even the newly formed Void Guard began escorting civilians away from dangerous areas. It still wasn't enough. The mutants were relentless. They didn't retreat. They didn't surrender. They fought until every last on
Aella POVWe kept the portal a secret.As much as possible, anyway.Only a handful of people knew the truth.Me.Sol.Hunter.Chaos.Order.And the two guards assigned to monitor the location.Interestingly, the guards had no trouble remembering the tree.Neither did Hunter.Neither did Chaos or Order.The memory effect seemed specifically targeted at Sol and me.Which only reinforced our growing suspicion that Elias had designed the enchantment with us in mind.I hated how personal that felt.The tree remained quiet.Silent.Still.A massive ancient oak standing between the Silver Pack and the Academy.A tree that wasn't a tree.A doorway that led somewhere we still didn't understand.Weeks passed.Then another week.Then another.The children continued growing.The kingdoms continued rebuilding.The Academy prepared for the barrier ritual.And still the portal remained inactive.Part of me began hoping we had misunderstood.That perhaps it had been abandoned.Forgotten.Broken.The
Aella POVThe answer took two weeks to find.Two weeks of searching through ancient records.Two weeks of arguments between Chaos and Order.Two weeks of reading texts so old that some of them practically turned to dust whenever anyone touched them.And two weeks of desperately trying to understand how Elias thought.That last part was the most difficult.By the end of it, I was convinced that normal logic simply didn't apply to him.He had centuries to plan.Centuries to obsess.Centuries to search for loopholes.And unfortunately, he had found one.The realization settled over the throne room like a storm cloud.No one spoke for several moments.Order stood beside a table overflowing with books and scrolls.Chaos leaned against a pillar, unusually quiet.Sol sat next to me, rereading the same passage for what had to be the fifth time.As if the words might change if he stared long enough.They didn't.I rubbed my temples."So let me see if I understand this correctly."Order nodded.
We walked quickly toward the access doors of the Silver Tower. Bruno—the Tiger Alpha—was already speaking into his comms, his voice clipped and controlled. “Monarchs have arrived. Repeat—Monarchs have arrived. Maintain barricade positions. No one breaks formation without direct authorization.”
The transition from "Ascended Monarchs" to "starving shifters" happened remarkably fast. For hours, we were buried in vellum and leather. We moved through stacks of ancient scrolls, but it seemed the Great Library of the Queens had a sense of humor—or a very mundane side. We found "The Little Drag
-------SOL ---------------- She was gone. Just like that. Gone. No scream. No body. No blood. Just empty stone where she had been standing seconds before. My knees buckled before I realized I was falling. Linus caught me under the arm, steadying my weight like I weighed nothing. “Sol?” Hi
The atmosphere in the Grand Hall shifted from shock to a heavy, simmering tension. While the rest of the students were being herded toward the Moon and Heir towers, Pamela and I stood in the center of the atrium, looking at our digital assignment badges. "There must be a mistake in the logistics,







