The battlefield shuddered as if the world itself were breaking apart. Wolves stumbled, claws digging into the torn earth, ears flat against the thunderous sound of snapping chains that echoed across the valley. One by one, the bindings that had held Fenris beneath the abyss for centuries split open, glowing cracks running through their runes like veins of fire.
The air was thick with smoke and blood. Wolves from Silver Ridge and Nightfang packs scattered in panic, their earlier unity crumbling. Some fell to their knees, whispering frantic prayers to the Moon Goddess. Others clawed at the ground, trying to flee the epicenter of destruction.
Above it all, the First Howl writhed, its massive shadow-corrupted form blotting out the starlight. Its body pulsed with veins of dark energy, and its howl tore the sky itself apart.
The battlefield shuddered as if the world itself were breaking apart. Wolves stumbled, claws digging into the torn earth, ears flat against the thunderous sound of snapping chains that echoed across the valley. One by one, the bindings that had held Fenris beneath the abyss for centuries split open, glowing cracks running through their runes like veins of fire.The air was thick with smoke and blood. Wolves from Silver Ridge and Nightfang packs scattered in panic, their earlier unity crumbling. Some fell to their knees, whispering frantic prayers to the Moon Goddess. Others clawed at the ground, trying to flee the epicenter of destruction.Above it all, the First Howl writhed, its massive shadow-corrupted form blotting out the starlight. Its body pulsed with veins of dark energy, and its howl tore the sky itself apart.
The silver wolf’s fangs descended toward her throat, gleaming like shards of moonlight sharpened into death.Serena’s body moved before her mind could. Shadows burst outward, wild and desperate, wrapping her in a cocoon of black tendrils. The ground beneath her cracked as though the earth itself recoiled from the force of her power. Yet the First Howl was faster—its colossal jaws crashed down, ripping through her defenses with a sound like tearing thunder.The world slowed to a heartbeat.She thought she felt teeth against her skin. She thought she heard her own scream tearing loose from her chest. But instead of pain, instead of the final silence of death, there was pulling. A violent drag, not outward but inward—like she was being ripped away from t
The battlefield was already trembling from Serena’s crown of shadows when the sky itself began to break. Cracks like silver veins spread across the face of the moon. Wolves raised their heads instinctively, howls caught in their throats. Then, with a sound like the shattering of glass heard through water, a piece of the moon tore free and fell.The shard was enormous—bright as a thousand suns, yet cold, burning the eye not with heat but with purity. It streaked downward, a comet of white fire tearing across the heavens. The moment it struck the earth, the world convulsed.The ground heaved; trees were ripped from their roots; wolves were thrown backward like leaves in a storm. Lucian shielded his warriors with a wall of fire, Elias caught his breath as lightning grounded itself into the soil to anchor his pack, but even they were nearly swept away.The shard landed with a blinding detonation, carving a crater into the heart of the battlefield. Silver
The ground trembled as though the world itself had been struck by a colossal heartbeat. From the rift in the earth, shadows erupted in great torrents, writhing upward like serpents made of smoke and blood. Serena’s body arched violently, her scream tearing into the night sky, echoing through the forest and beyond. The shard of the Blood-Eclipse crown embedded itself into her, burning molten crimson against her skin before vanishing into her body. The rest of the fragments, scattered across the battlefield, answered its call—shooting like meteors into her chest, her head, her bones.She collapsed to her knees, clutching her head as the shadows cascaded outward in violent waves. Wolves across both Silver Ridge and Nightfang packs were forced onto their bellies, whimpering, claws scratching at the earth in instinctive submission. Even the fiercest warriors bowed their heads, spines quaking under the pressure of a power none had ever known.Lucian fought agains
The battlefield was no longer a battlefield.It was a wound in the world.The abyss split wider with a thunderous crack, tearing apart the stone plateau where the wolves and witches had clashed. Black dust rose into the blood-red eclipse, carried by a wind that screamed like dying stars. And from within that endless pit, the chained claw of Fenris—the First Wolf, the Devourer of Suns—dragged itself higher.The claw was impossibly vast, each talon longer than a tower, dripping shadow that burned holes into the ground. Wolves scattered in every direction, howls turning to whimpers. Some collapsed outright, their bodies unable to withstand the sheer weight of the aura pressing down upon them.Only three figures stood unmoving before the abyss.Lucian. Elias. Serena.Her chest heaved as though the eclipse itself had descended into her lungs. Shadows rippled along her skin, licking outward in serpentine tendrils that coiled and withdr
The battlefield was silent, but not with peace.It was the silence of breath stolen, of wolves held in unnatural stillness, of the earth itself pausing as though waiting to see what Serena Vale would do.Above her, the fused Crown hung like a bleeding star. Its jagged edges burned with a fire both black and silver, casting shadows and brilliance across the broken ground. The voices within it had merged into one, and that voice drummed against Serena’s skull with merciless clarity."One must fall. One must bleed. Blood seals power. Ascend."Her heart pounded, caught between two rhythms—the searing pulse of Lucian’s fire and the steady storm-beat of Elias’s bond. Both bonds yanked her toward different destinies, each demanding, each aching, each promising ruin if ignored.Serena staggered a step forward, her hands trembling.“Serena.” Elias’s voice broke the stillness. His wolf form flickered away, leavi