The fire burned low, casting the clearing in flickering shades of amber and shadow. Beyond the circle of light, the forest was a wall of darkness—thick, silent, and watching.Mia sat cross-legged on a fallen log, the faint warmth of the flames seeping into her chilled hands. Around her, the hybrids moved in quiet rhythm—some tending weapons, others mending torn gear, their voices kept low as if the night might listen.Damian stood a few paces away, speaking with Riven about tomorrow’s route. His voice was a deep murmur, a sound Mia had grown used to finding in the background, steady and grounding. But tonight, she couldn’t focus on his words.Her gaze kept drifting to the pendant hidden beneath her shirt. It had been silent for days, its strange pulses and surges gone. Yet now, sitting here with the fire crackling and the forest breathing slowly, she could feel it again—a faint hum. Not threatening, not urgent. Just… present, like a whisper from a forgotten dream.She told herself it
Night had fallen. The Archive Sanctuary stood in silence, but its walls felt alive—watching, remembering. Marisella sat near the rune lectern, the sigil blade still untouched, yet burning in her thoughts like a scar.“I saw something,” she whispered, still trembling. “In the vision. A man in silver. His voice… he spoke like he knew her.”Eryx leaned against the wall, arms folded, gaze distant. “The Queen had many allies. Most turned. Some… were turned against her.”The High Seer knelt by the shattered glyphs, tracing their curves with trembling fingers. “That blade belonged to the man who betrayed her. It was forged in the last days of the First Blood War.” Her voice dropped. “And that betrayal was personal.”Marisella glanced at the weapon. “Was he her lover?”“No,” the Seer said. “Something worse. He was her brother.”Silence slammed through the chamber. Eryx shifted uneasily. Even the air seemed colder.“She had family?” Mari
Two days had passed since the Queen’s emergence, and the temple had grown colder by the hour. Not by climate, but by something older—like the walls themselves were mourning her reappearance.Marisella hadn’t slept. Not really. Her dreams were filled with fractured voices and blinding flashes of battlefields she'd never stood on. She wandered the sanctuary corridors like a ghost, the blackened pendant hidden under layers of fabric, its weight growing heavier each day."Are you sure this is wise?" Eryx asked, as he guided her through a narrow hallway lined with iron sconces and cracked murals. "The Archive Sanctuary was sealed after the last rebellion. The Seer only reopened it for one reason."“To find answers,” Marisella replied softly. “Before the Queen returns.”The Archive Sanctuary was unlike any place she’d seen. Vaulted ceilings towered above shelves lined with scrolls, tomes, and relics that pulsed with faint magic. Whispered chants drifted from un
The silence that followed Marisella’s declaration hung heavy in the chamber, broken only by the flickering hiss of ancient torches lining the obsidian walls. Eryx didn’t flinch, but his grip on the twin sigil stones pulsed with restrained power."You want truth?" he asked finally, voice like steel dragged across stone. "Then prepare yourself. Because it’s uglier than the legends ever whispered."Marisella stepped forward, her boots echoing against the polished obsidian tiles, one hand clutching the edge of her cloak. The pendant at her neck—the one she thought was merely ornamental—had begun to glow faintly. She touched it. The coldness bit into her skin, radiating up her arm with unnatural clarity.The air itself began to feel heavier, as though the chamber recognized what was about to happen. The High Seer turned slowly toward the altar of bones. Her eyes shone with more than ancient knowledge now—they gleamed with dread."She’s awakening."Eryx snarled. "Not her. Not *now*."But it
The forest beyond the barrier had not changed in any way the eye could see, and yet none of the hybrids could shake the feeling that something waited beyond the trees. Something patient. And watching.Mia stood at the edge of the courtyard with the others behind her. The pack had gathered just after dawn, summoned not by horn or order, but by instinct. Damian stood at the center, his hands clasped behind his back, gaze fixed on the invisible veil that separated them from the rest of the world. The barrier shimmered faintly in the morning light, a translucent curtain stitched with the runes Sybil had redrawn only days ago.“Today,” Damian said quietly, “we step outside.”The words hung in the air like a spell being cast.No one spoke. Even the birds had gone quiet in the trees above.Mia’s pulse quickened. She felt Snowy stir inside her, the wolf’s senses sharpening in her mind.This is the true beginning.Sybil stepped forward from the outer ring of the courtyard, her robes trailing b
The following day began with the same ritual: a shared breakfast, slow breathing, a circle in the courtyard. But today Sybil introduced something new. She placed seven stones in the center of the circle, each marked with a different rune. “Today,” she said, “you will learn to pass energy.”They began simply. One person focused their power into a stone, and the next had to take that energy and pass it to the next without breaking the thread. At first it was shaky—too much power from Antonella, not enough from Leif—but slowly they began to adjust. By the third round, the energy moved from stone to stone as smoothly as water flowing between cupped hands.In the afternoon, they took it further, using the technique during movement. It felt like dancing, passing the energy between them as they weaved in and out of each other’s paths. By the end of the day, they could sense exactly where each thread was in the circle, even without looking.When they finally collapsed in the shade, exhausted,