All Chapters of SILVER PACT: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The woods were silent, save for the rustle of leaves underfoot and the whisper of wind through ancient trees. Moonlight spilled through the branches like liquid silver, casting long, shifting shadows across the forest floor. In the distance, an owl called a sharp, solitary sound then silence again, deeper and more unnerving than before.Ari Hale tightened her grip on the leather-bound notebook clutched in her hand. Her breath came out in soft clouds that hung in the air before fading into nothing. She had walked this trail a hundred times in daylight. It coiled around the edge of the small town of Varro’s Hollow, wound past the old well, and slipped into the forest like a forgotten memory. But tonight, everything felt... different.She stopped walking and listened.Behind her, the woods stretched back into darkness. Ahead, the narrow path forked at a bent oak tree, its gnarled limbs twisted like grasping fingers. She’d never gone beyond this point. Locals avoided it. Some said the air

Ari didn’t hesitate.The silver dagger pulsed in her hand, cool as river stone one moment and burning like a brand the next. Outside, the figures crept closer their shapes no longer fully human, no longer trying to be. They moved with precision. Coordination. Like they didn’t fear consequences.Like they knew she couldn’t stop them.She looked at Kael. “What happens if I fail?”“You won’t,” he said.She raised the dagger. Her hands were steady, though her heartbeat was a war drum in her ears. She pressed the blade against the inside of her forearm.“Wait” Kael’s voice caught in his throat. “Once you do this, there’s no undoing it.”“I know.”She drew the blade across her skin.The cut was shallow but immediate.Pain flared. Blood welled. And then the world changed.The air vanished.Not literally, but everything around her seemed to warp sound, colour, even time itself. Her knees buckled as a heat bloomed in her chest and shot outward. The medallion around her neck, forgotten until no

They crossed the river of bones at first light.The water ran red from minerals, not blood — or so Kael claimed — but the name had stuck since the Pact Wars, when Mira Hale fought Seris to a standstill on these very banks.Ari didn’t speak as she crossed. The weight of Mira’s scroll sat heavy in her pack, and heavier still in her chest. The truth of the Pact was clear now, but what she was meant to do with that truth remained a fog.Behind her, Kael waded silently, hand on his sword. Erin was scouting the ridge. Lyra carried the map. And Jeremiah—She glanced back.Jeremiah was quiet again.Too quiet.They entered the Blightlands by dusk.What once had been a thriving border village lay in ruins — homes collapsed into ash, trees rotting where they stood. A gray mist curled around them, reeking of copper and old flame.Kael crouched by a scorched sigil on the ground. “Blood magic. Recent.”Erin unslung her bow, her expression hard. “Seris is close.”Ari shivered. She could feel it, too

They crossed the river of bones at first light.The water ran red from minerals, not blood or so Kael claimed but the name had stuck since the Pact Wars, when Mira Hale fought Saris to a standstill on these very banks.Ari didn’t speak as she crossed. The weight of Mira’s scroll sat heavy in her pack, and heavier still in her chest. The truth of the Pact was clear now, but what she was meant to do with that truth remained a fog.Behind her, Kael waded silently, hand on his sword. Erin was scouting the ridge. Lyra carried the map. And JeremiahShe glanced back.Jeremiah was quiet again.Too quiet.They entered the light lands by dusk.What once had been a thriving border village lay in ruins homes collapsed into ash, trees rotting where they stood. A gray mist curled around them, reeking of copper and old flame.Kael crouched by a scorched sigil on the ground. “Blood magic. Recent.”Erin unslung her bow, her expression hard. “Saris is close.”Ari shivered. She could feel it, too the tr

The crag rumbled beneath Ari’s boots as she stood on the broken stone, looking down at the sea of faces gathering below her fighters from the scattered Freeholds, rogue Pact-walkers, forest clans who once vowed never to fight again.And yet, here they were.Because Saris had pushed too far.Because the old world was ending.Because they believed finally, maybe foolishly in her.Ari Hale.The heir of Mira. The girl who woke the Circle. The one who would remake it.The flames from her pendant pulsed against her chest. Not wild, not consuming controlled, forged. The mark of Veda’s trial burned on her palm, a silent oath.Beside her stood Kael, pale but upright. Erin, grim and ready. Lyra, armour half-strapped and soaked with rain. None had slept.None would, until this war found its shape.Ari stepped forward, her voice rising over the wind.“We are the ones they forgot.”The crowd stilled.“We are the stories they buried. The names they erased. The villages they burned.”She raised her