LOGINChapter 18: The Choice of World'sThe world ended at 3:47 AM on a Tuesday.Not with explosions or invasions, but with a simple broadcast that reached every connected device on Earth simultaneously. Director Frost's face appeared on billions of screens, her expression serene as she announced humanity's forced evolution."Citizens of Earth," she began, "in one hour, the next stage of human development begins. Water supplies in major population centers have been prepared with evolutionary catalysts. Do not be afraid. You are about to become something greater."I stood in our makeshift command center—the academy's old library converted into a communications hub—watching the panic unfold across news feeds from around the world."She moved the timeline up," Marcus said, his fingers flying across multiple keyboards. "We're not ready.""We're never going to be ready," I replied. "Send the counter-broadcast now."Our message was simpler, more direct: "You have a choice. Find us for voluntary t
Chapter 17: The Shadow's HeartThe video had been watched fifty million times in three days.I stood before the Blood Parliament, watching my own image on the screen—silver-eyed and blood-covered, standing among the ghostly Moonsingers as the Shadow Council forces fled. Someone had filmed the entire battle, broadcasting our impossible victory to the world."We've received responses from forty-three academies," Selene reported, scrolling through her tablet. "Seventeen are dealing with their own uprisings. Twelve want to join our alliance. The rest are waiting to see what happens.""And the Shadow Council?" I asked."Silent. No official response, no retaliation, nothing."That worried me more than an attack would have. The Council never stayed quiet unless they were planning something devastating."They're regrouping," Morrison said from his cell—we'd converted the old dungeons into holding areas for captured Council operatives. "You won one battle against an expeditionary force. They h
Chapter 16: Dawn of SilverFour hours before dawn, the first probe came.I felt them before the scouts reported—twenty enhanced werewolves moving through the forest like smoke. Their blood sang with artificial power, twisted mutations of what Frost had tried to create. Through my connection to the transformed students, I sensed their approach like discordant notes in a symphony."They're testing our defenses," Zephyr said, his transformed eyes tracking movement beyond human sight. "Standard Council tactics—probe for weakness, then exploit."We stood on the western wall, where centuries ago the academy's founders had built fortifications against human armies. Ironic that we now used them against those who claimed to protect humanity."Let them come," Kaine growled, his partial transformation rippling beneath his skin. "My pack is ready.""No." I placed a hand on his arm, feeling his wolf recoil then submit to my touch. "We don't reveal our strength yet. Let them think we're disorganize
Chapter 15: The Blood ParliamentThe great hall had been transformed into something between a courtroom and a colosseum. Three hundred students filled the space—some human, some werewolf, and nearly a hundred bearing the silver marks of their forced evolution. They'd come for answers, for justice, for blood.They'd come for me."We should kill them all." The speaker was Dimitri, a senior who'd been one of the first transformed. His new form was elegant—elongated limbs, silver-traced skin, eyes that held multiple pupils. "The professors, the staff, anyone who knew and did nothing."Murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd. Three days since Director Frost's death, and the academy teetered on the edge of complete anarchy. Only the presence of the princes—and the fear of what I might do—kept violence at bay."Death solves nothing," I said from my position at the high table. The placement felt wrong—me above them, like the very hierarchy we should be dismantling."It solves revenge,"
Chapter 14: The Underground TruthThe administrative building stood like a monument to normalcy in a world gone mad. While the rest of the academy burned with transformation, this fortress of bureaucracy remained pristine, its windows dark and unwelcoming."Motion sensors," Rowan whispered, pointing to nearly invisible fixtures along the entrance. "Pressure plates in the main corridor. This isn't just protection—it's a funnel.""She wants us to come," I realized."Of course she does." Zephyr's transformed senses were on high alert, his head tilting at sounds we couldn't hear. "We're not infiltrating. We're accepting an invitation."Behind us, the academy continued its metamorphosis. The stabilized students had begun forming groups—packs or herds or something entirely new. Some retained enough humanity to help others; some had become something more primal. All of them bore the silver mark of my blood."We could use them," Kaine suggested. "Storm the building with numbers.""And get the
**Chapter 13: The Silver Plague**The screaming lasted three hours.We barricaded ourselves in the medical wing's trauma center—the only room with reinforced walls designed to contain transformed werewolves during medical emergencies. Through the bulletproof observation windows, we watched the academy tear itself apart."Twenty-seven," Rowan counted, tracking movement in the courtyard. "Twenty-eight. Twenty-nine fully transformed.""Define 'fully,'" Kaine muttered, pressing gauze to a deep gash on his shoulder. "Because what I'm seeing out there isn't any transformation I recognize."He was right. The affected students weren't becoming werewolves or Moonsingers or even hybrids like Zephyr. They were becoming something broken, caught between forms in an endless cycle of change. Their bodies shifted constantly—human to wolf to something silvered and wrong, then back again. Each transformation seemed to cause them agony."It's diluted," I realized, watching a freshman claw at his own ski







