Reluctant Allies

The tension was palpable, the electrical ghost of Serena’s power lingering faintly in the room, like the weather left over from a storm. Lucian's eyes were still on her, hard and unyielding. He could not deny her grip over him then, nor could he look away from how she wore herself, defiant, a woman decidedly in her own body. The change had occurred, and it had occurred swiftly and almost violently, but it couldn’t be denied: Serena was other.

Elias stood beside him, stiff as stone, fists curled at his sides. His body went rigid, every muscle trembling under the strain of the moment. Lucian felt it, too — the tension between them, the weight of the past, the uncertainty of the future. They had been enemies long before that, their rivalry stoked by decades of bloodshed, treachery and ambition. And now, there they were, she and Serena, on the defensive, chained to the drive of Serena’s power and the falling ranks, the rotting world around.

Lucian read Elias’ mind. He could see that it wasn’t a convincing answer, the flicker of uncertainty, anger that he had struggled to hide. It was difficult enough for any of them to admit — much less embrace — that they were on the same side. But among all those lies was a truth that could not be ignored: Serena had united the packs, and unless they followed her, they would stand to pay the price on their own.

“You know this is insanity, don’t you?” Elias grumbled as he did so, mostly to himself. He turned his head to Serena, standing tall, power emanating from her in the air. “We’re trusting her … so trust her.” His voice oozed incredulity. “The packs. After everything.”

Lucian's head turned lazily to the side, fixing Elias with a blank, cold, steady look. “It’s not trust,” he said quietly, colored with an emotion that he wasn’t sure how to label. “It’s about survival.”

Elias scoffed and upwarded his eyes. “Survival?” He laughed, such a bitter, joyless laugh. “Joining the packs? That’s the answer?” And after centuries of conflict, you expect me to just… get over that?”

Lucian was quiet at the end of the line. He knew Elias’s anger, his distrust, was justified. But there was no time for that right now. It was all crumbling and changing and burning and slipping right through their fingers, and they were watching it: but Serena was that last line of hope for staving off the implosion.” They were no longer rulers by themselves. They’d miscalculated, underestimated the strength of the packs, and now they were about to pay for their percipience.

“We do have a choice,” Lucian finally said defiantly, his tone more purposeful because it was ominous and seemed weightier on him too. “You think we can fight with the Elders alone? The packs are our only hope. “If we don’t protect each other, we’re going to be all taken out, one at a time.”

Elias hesitated, still looking at Serena, his jaw twitching slightly as he considered her words. “I don’t like this,” he said eventually, breaking the silence. “But I don’t have an alternative.”

Lucian understood. They didn’t care whether things were to their liking; this was not a question of liking. The past didn’t matter, not in the grand scheme. They had once been mortal enemies, separated by long-held jealousies and centuries-old grievances, but none of that seemed to matter in that moment. They were battling against an enemy the likes of which they had never encountered before, and if they didn’t unite, they would lose everything they ever fought for.

All Lucian could see was Serena. She stood straight, energy cracking around her like a storm given flesh. She had been the one they had never expected to rise, and now she had become everything, the one who might alter the path of history. She was the one the world had to bend the knee to, like it or not.

“She’s not like them,” Elias said after a moment, and now he spoke softer, almost reluctantly. “She is not the girl that we grew up knowing.” The one we deemed not good enough to lead. She’s become something else.”

Lucian nodded slowly. “No, she’s not the same. And maybe that’s all we really needed anyway.” His voice was soft, but something was in it — something like awe. Serena had been so much more than a girl, so much more than the scared girl, who once had no idea where she fit in. Well, she had gotten it now, and she wasn’t scared to own it.

Elias inhaled sharply and wiped his hand across his face. “I don’t know that I trust the packs. Enemies don’t turn into allies overnight, Lucian. You’re asking a lot from me.”

Lucian’s gaze hardened. “It’s not about trust. It’s about survival. Together we stand, divided we will fall. By the Elders, by the coming darkness … whatever rises for us.” He waited with the words — weighted — before saying, The packs come together, and if we’re with them, we have a shot.”

Elias glanced over at Serena with a slight squint. Now he realized that Lucian had been read in. They had no other choice. The Elders had ruled too long, our iron fist over the packs. But the world was changing, and they were part of that change now, whether they liked it or not.

He looked at Lucian, and the air between them crackled with tension, but something had changed. There was some unspoken but no doubt understood no-go zone between them. “OK,” Elias said hoarsely. “We do this your way. Together. But if this goes south—”

“It’s not,” Lucian interrupted, his voice firm even with the specter of the unknown looming over them both.

Both of them turned back to Serena and at her, their resolve was galvanised. She had indicated she would not be stepping back. The prophecy would need to be amended, and they would take part in that amendment. They had to be.

Serena’s eyes skimmed toward them, and they lingered as if she knew precisely what they were thinking. And Lucian knew in that moment: there was no going back. They were crossing too many lines, and the world would never be going back.

And so he keeps going, hand on the hilt of his weapon, muscles taut. Elias took the seat next to him, but they didn’t greet each other except with a slight nod. And together they made them stronger than ever before.” But as they started to move forward on their journey to Serena, prepared for the challenges ahead, a shadow fell over them and the room darkened.

Then the ground beneath their feet began to shake, violently, in a deep, rattle-the-bones kind of quake that pushed all other thoughts to the back of their minds. The temperature was falling, the lowest it had been, and the walls of the chamber were beginning to disintegrate.

Serena appeared momentarily wide-eyed. Her eyes went wide, a whisper of something — panic, perhaps — trembling through her features for the first time. “No,” she said, at a whisper loud enough to hear.

Lucian’s heart leaped into his throat. “What is it?”

And one third and last: And then, in the corner of the room, something stirred in the shadow and approached the light.

It wasn’t just anyone.

Yet it was a person they all thought had died.

And if nothing else, behind a smile that turned ice to Lu

to run like cian’s blood, (said the figure, the voice up.

“It’s just beginning.”