Born From The Ash
We were deep beneath the foundations of the estate, in a place that felt older than the pack itself.
The staircase ended abruptly, opening into a vast, circular chamber. I raised the lantern high, its light skittering across the space, failing to reach the domed ceiling lost in shadow. And then, the light caught on something in the center.
A massive, dormant crystal, taller than a man, stood on a stone dais. It was opaque, dark, and lifeless, like a shard of frozen night. It was ringed by nine smaller, identical stones, all equally dark. Etched into the floor around them was the same sigil from the study— the crescent moon flanked by twin wolves.