All Chapters of The Wolf's Game: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

AriaThe castle gave me a new room.I didn’t ask twice. When I returned to my old room, a new door was waiting, carved of obsidian. It is clean, quiet, and untouched by the mirror’s damage. When I stepped inside, the air smelled faintly of lavender and rain. The bed was freshly made. The light through the window was soft instead of cruel. It’s almost… gentle, like the castle was trying to apologize.The next morning, I am not woken by the dinging of the bell. Instead, it is the heat of the sun pressing through the windows. Bubbles hops to the windowsill, nose twitching. Her fur glows faintly in the morning light, a shimmer I’m starting to notice more and more. “Don’t give me that look,” I mutter. “You saved me. I get it.”She flicks her ears, unimpressed.The Game feels quiet today. Not over but watching. Waiting. None of us knows if the mirror trial has truly ended, or if this stillness is just another trick before the next horror begins. The tension crawls under my skin like an it

AriaThe bell returns at dawn. It tolls once, rattling the castle from its foundation to spire. By the time it fades, everyone is already moving.We gather in the great hall like sleepwalkers, drawn by a force we can’t resist. None of us are willing to find out what happens if we don’t show up for the next game. The Herald waits for us at the far end, its form shifting subtly every time I blink. The air hums with magic thick enough to taste. Even Kael stands still beside me, jaw tight, eyes shadowed.“Players,” the Herald says with no hint of humor in its voice, “the next Game begins.”The floor ripples underfoot, stone softening, changing. Light blooms from the cracks in the marble, spilling across the room until the world bends. The walls stretch and the air warps, until suddenly I’m back in the underground cavern.The lake. The one Silen and I found.Only now it’s wider, and the ceiling is higher. The water glows faintly from within, silver-blue and still as glass.“The Still

AriaThe other players have turned against me. All but Kael. For some reason, he stands beside me, willing to protect me even if it means he will be the next to die in the Game. Stripping off my wet clothes, I climb into my bed, not caring that I am still dirty. I am tired. Tired of everything. The castle hums long after the others fall asleep. It isn’t loud, just a low vibration in the bones of the walls, like someone plucking a harp string too deep to hear. It should be comforting, but it isn’t. It sounds like Silen.The melody echoes faintly down the corridor, soft and mournful, the same lullaby he used to hum by the fountain. The one he said could calm storms. Now it just makes me ache.I sit up in bed, heart thudding. The sound shouldn’t exist. The siren is gone.Bubbles lifts her head from her paws, ears twitching. She hears it too.The song threads through the dark like a call. I know I should stay in my room, but my feet move before I decide to. I pull on a robe and le

AriaWhen I wake, the air in my room hums. It’s faint, almost imperceptible, like the castle itself is breathing beside me. Morning light spills through the high windows, painting everything in soft gold. Bubbles is curled at my side, warm and still.For a moment, I let myself believe we’ve been granted peace. Then the burning starts.A sharp, stinging pulse flares along my wrist, sudden enough to make me gasp. I sit up, clutching my arm, expecting to see a cut or insect bite. Instead, a faint symbol glows just beneath the skin; thin, intricate, like lines of fire trying to form a circle.It fades when I blink, but the ache lingers.“What now?” I mutter.Bubbles lifts her head, eyes bright. She hops onto my lap, staring at the mark. The glow returns instantly, faint threads of gold tracing through her fur, matching the lines on my skin. The mark hums in time with her heartbeat, or maybe mine.“Bubbles…” I whisper. “What are you doing?”She leans forward, pressing her forehead to the

AriaAt first, I think it’s a trick of the light.The mirror above my vanity fogs, even though the air is cold. I wipe at the surface with my sleeve, but the mist reforms, like a breath against the glass. I can see my reflection beneath it, but it’s blurred, like something underwater.“Stop that,” I mutter. The fog doesn’t obey.Bubbles stirs from her spot on the bed, ears twitching. Her eyes glimmer faintly, gold bleeding through the brown. Her eyes have changed many times since the Hunt Trial, and each time they begin to look more and more human. The mark on my wrist warms as if to answer my pet’s concern.I take a step back. “It’s fine,” I whisper, mostly to myself. “It’s just the castle again.”But it isn’t just the castle. It’s me.I lean closer to the mirror, inspecting myself on the other side. My eyes stare back, but they are different in a way that I can’t place my finger on. “Stop,” I shout at the mirror, and this time the fog obeys. I step back again, needing more dista