Ava's povXander addressed the warriors next. “The rest of you will assist where needed, but you will also stand guard. Ava and I do not know the full extent of magic in this place and we want to ensure everyone's safety Incase if anything happens.”Elder Garrick scoffed, crossing his arms. “We’re wasting time playing scholars. We should be preparing our warriors and—”“You will do as you are commanded,” Xander growled, letting his alpha king authority wash over everyone in the room. “Or you will leave.”Garrick seethed but after exchanging glances with the other council members, he said nothing.To everyone's surprise, Xander's father spoke up. “I am not one to say something like this but I do believe we should trust Ava and Xander and see where this goes.”Everyone stared at him in shock. I turned to look at Xander who had his eyes locked on his father, something quietly passing through them.“Okay..” I said breaking the silence and taking a step towards the floating boom. “It's set
Kael's povWhile Ava, Xander, Vanessa and the council were focused on deciphering the book and its connection to the riddle. My group and I were focused on trying to find spells— protective wards, enchantment and crafting magical weapons.It was quite shocking to find out that the entry to the dark forge would be in the same place the first war took place. It was a smart location to hide it, plus it wasn't far from Ashville.Everything was beginning to tie together perfectly. I was loyal to my king and will forever remain loyal, now, my loyalty also extended to the Luna queen Ava.Although she hadn't been formally announced as the queen, I already saw her as one and would treat her accordingly.I ran my fingers along the spine of an ancient book on the shelf. Dust rose to the air slightly disturbing my nose making me sneeze.Rowan, Draven, Lyra and a couple of enforcers worked alongside me scanning the shelves for anything useful.“This place is a goldmine for knowledge. ” Lyra murmur
Ava’s POVWe listened as Rowan and Kael explained their discovery to us. I could feel a lot of energy radiating from the hallway they had opened.Xander stood next to me, arms crossed with his grey eyes locked on the map which floated in front of us. His expression was unreadable.“I can't believe this.” Xander muttered, his voice low and laced with curiosity. “There has been an entire forge beneath us all this time.”Vanessa leaned forward, studying the map closely. “If this is true then why are we wasting time? Let's go.”I ran my fingers over the glowing runes on the map, the magic dancing across my fingertips. “I'm impressed Kael, at your quick thinking and the way you located the bookshelf after a few minutes of studying this map.”Kael gave me a small bow. “Thank you so much, Ava.”There was a slight murmur that rippled through the elders, warriors and enforcers as they stared at the hallway. Most of them have spent their entire lives in this castle yet none of them had any know
Ava's povXander stood next to me, his sharp eyes scanning the large chamber. The others were in awe as well, looking at the relics scattered across the forge.“This place is… incredible.” Kaida said in my mind, stepping forward. Her green eyes scanned the place.“Alright, spread out.” Xander ordered, his voice deep and commanding. “Examine everything. If there's anything here we can use, we need to find it.”Rowan, Vanessa, and Draven moved toward the far end of the forge where racks of old weapons lined the walls. Lyra and Kael studied the anvil at the center of the room, their fingers tracing the glowing runes embedded in its surface.I took a deep breath then exhaled, trying to familiarize myself with the energy around me. I felt Aria do the same as well. “There’s something else here.” I murmured.Xander glanced at me. “What do you feel?”I wasn’t sure how to explain it. The energy of this place wasn’t just hovering— it was waiting for something.I reached out and brushed my finge
Ava’s POVThe forge had given us answers, but they came with more questions. The words rang in my mind."The path to reforging light begins with fire, tempered by will, and sealed by sacrifice.”What does it mean?Xander stood beside me, his gaze locked on the golden script as if he was commanding it to give us more answers. The others stood around us still processing what I had just said.“We need to figure out exactly what this means,” Rowan said, his brows furrowed. “We know fire is involved—probably referring to the forge itself. But ‘tempered by will’ and ‘sealed by sacrifice’… that’s more vague.”Vanessa crossed her arms. “I don’t like the sound of sacrifice.”Neither did I.Kaida, who had been standing silently beside me, suddenly reached for the book. Her fingers brushed against the ancient pages, and the moment she made contact, the golden letters shimmered and shifted once more.A new paragraph formed beneath the riddle"To awaken the light, the forge must be fed the gifts o
Ava's povEveryone was busy trying to familiarize themselves with their new weapons when Lyra let out a gasp.“Guys. Over here!” She called out.Alarmed, we all turned and headed towards her. We found her standing in front of a bookshelf at one end of the forest. She had pulled a rusted chain attached to the wall which removed and revealed a hidden mechanism.After exchanging a look with all of us, she pressed the mechanism. A low click sound echoed through the chamber followed by a groaning sound then the bookshelf shifted.Dust fell down as the bookshelf continued to move, making me sneeze.Xander stepped forward, his expression unreadable. “What the hell is this?”Kaida ran her fingers along the stone, eyes narrowing. “It’s another passage.”Rowan exhaled. “How many damn secret tunnels does this castle have?”As I stared into the darkness, I felt a sense of familiarity settle in me. Like I had been down there before.“This path leads to something important. Something you hid long a
Aria's povThe journey to the battlefield took a day and a half. Although it was in Ashville’s territory which had extreme heat, the battlefield was surprisingly cold. Eerily so.The closer we got the more the temperature dropped as we got to the land where thousands of lives were lost and their bloods soaked deep into the earth. The land was bad here— ashen soil, rocky cliffs, remnants of the dead could be seen everywhere.Nothing grew in this part of Lycara, it was as if the place was cursed as even the sky above it was grey as not even the heavens dared to shine light on this cursed place.We dismounted from our houses as we got closer to the centre. Vanessa was the first to take a step forward, kicking dirt with her boot. “It's eerie here. This place clings to the memory of the past.”“It does,” I murmured.Kaida stayed close, her eyes scanning the area. Rowan stood beside her with a protective stance, if it were any other situation I would have found it cute. The enforcers spread
Ava's povThe weight of what we had just seen clung to us like smoke as we rode hard and fast back to blackthorn. No one said a word and no one looked back, we just hoped we'd make it there in one piece.The forge truly was buried beneath Ashville and worse, Zerathos's prison was there as well.We had seen too much, yet not enough.We barely escaped with our lives after the cloak failed. I had faced danger before and felt fear but none was compared to the fear I felt when that cloak collapsed, the eerie shriek of whatever was done there still haunted me.By the time we returned, the others were back from their mission as well and they were waiting for us in the grand hall. Xander stood at the head of the table, his eyes scanning us as we entered.“Something happened.” He said immediately, his voice was calm but I could see the tension in his shoulders. “What happened? What did you find?”No one said a word. We are all still in shock from our near death encounter so I took the lead and
Ava's povWar doesn’t start and end in a day. It takes a while.To build. To break. To bleed.To bury.And when the sky finally cleared of fire and ash, when Zerathos’s monstrous form vanished into the nothingness from which he had come from, taking his cursed army with him, all that remained was silence.A thick, eerie, unnatural silence.Like the earth itself was holding its breath.The blood-soaked ground beneath my feet was still warm, humming with the leftover power of dark spells and light magic. The battle was over…for now but it didn’t feel like a victory. It felt like a pause. A line right in the middle of a war that hadn’t even shown us its worst yet.All around me, bodies lay scattered like fallen birds—our warriors, his Shadow slaves and everything in between. Some would never rise again. Others would carry the scars forever.My heartbeat echoed in my ears, the only sound I could hear over the rush of adrenaline still coursing through my veins.Xander stood a few feet from
Ava's povThe moment the black mist erupted from the ground, I knew that things were about to get much worse.It was reeking badly.The ground cracked open beneath our feet like a wound splitting wide, and from it, the shadows poured, thick and choking, whispering in voices I couldn’t understand.Zerathos was coming.And I wasn’t ready, it was too soon.But I had to be.I knew that if I had continued to wait in blackthorn, I would never fully be ready. Now, regardless I was already here and needed to get things together and end this.I turned, eyes widening as I sensed something coming."Shields!" I screamed, summoning my light magic and making a dome flare out around us, golden and humming with energy just as a blast of shadows shot out from the crack on the floor and hitting the barrier with so much force that the forge shook.We stumbled.Xander caught me by the elbow, his arm strong, steady. His eyes locked onto mine for half a second stormy gray-golden eyes clashing with my elect
Xander's povI spotted the command post—a black stone tower in the heart of the forge still standing amidst the chaos.“Take the south side!” I shouted to Kaida. “Keep them from regrouping!”She nodded once before leaping into the shadows, other nightshade warriors next to hermI tuned to the rest. “Push forward! Get to the tower! Cut the head off the snake!”We broke into a small unified group, making our way to the gate. More and more of Zerathos' warriors began flooding in from the rear now—those that were not caught in the explosions. Reinforcements. Bigger. Angrier.But it was too late.Too slow.I could feel it.Their fear.Their unraveling.And beneath it all the Forge began to make a groaning sound.Like something buried deep beneath was awakening.We reached the tower. My claws tore through the doors.We stormed inside and then came the scream again.A sound that shattered bone and split stone.The Howling Horror. Another one.It was close.And it was coming.I turned toward
Xander's povWe didn’t stop to breathe.The moment we emerged from the tunnel, I gave the signal and my warriors immediately sprang to motion like blades being drawn.We moved fast. No more room for mourning, hesitation, or mercy. The Forge was right in front of us. The explosives were set. The path to Zerathos lay wide open, and I was done playing on the defensive.No more creeping in the dark. No more lurking behind shadows.The bombs were planted.The path was clear.It was time.I turned to Kael. “Light them up.”One of his enforcers raised a hand, signalling for someone to hand him a torch which he placed on a wire which was connected to the bombs inside. The spark started, continuing down the path of wire, moving with speed towards the bombs inside.There was a brief moment of silence and then—Boom.The ground trembled beneath our feet as an explosion ripped through the forge’s storage rooms, sending fire and smoke into the sky. The sound echoed across the cursed land like a lo
Ava's povWe pressed forward in silence, everyone trying to keep their emotions in check and eyes peeled. As we got closer to the place where the first war took place I could feel the land speaking to me.It was broken and never allowed to heal. It was corrupt, hollow, scorched and lifeless.I could feel the centuries of history.The pain. The blood that had soaked into the ground during the First Great War.The screams that had rang out through the filled.Ahead of us was the tree that had the main door to the forge. The place where he had built his empire of shadows and death.But before we could take another step then a scent hit us.Blood.Old and fresh at the same time.Xander held up a hand, signaling for everyone to stop. His golden eyes scanned the battlefield, sharp and cautious. I could tell that Leo had taken over because he didn't want to take any chances.And then we saw him.A small body. Unmoving.A young werewolf, no more than fifteen, lay dead on the cold, cursed grou
Ava's povWe moved forward in silence, our boots pressing into the ashen soil of Ashville’s cursed land. The deeper we ventured, the thicker the air became—dense, humid, tinged with a metallic taste that clung to the back of my throat.But soon enough I noticed that something was wrong.Very wrong.I couldn't quite place what it was.The enemy wasn’t meeting us in open battle.They were watching. Waiting. Hunting. I could feel their eyes on us but I couldn't place where exactly they were.Xander walked ahead, his shoulders tense, his grip on his blade firm. The warriors behind us moved cautiously, scanning every shadow, their ears twitching at every distant sound. The silence was what disturbed me the most. A battlefield should have been alive—full of shouts, the clash of steel, the roar of war.But this?This was like stepping into a graveyard before the bodies had even fallen.What's going on?A shiver crawled up my spine. I kept my magic close, simmering beneath my skin, waiting fo
Ava's povThese chains will not hold me.Never.The shadows wrapped around me like living creatures, chains of darkness slithering over my arms, my throat, my legs—squeezing, burning, consuming. It felt like they were alive, like they were breathing, whispering, coiling into my skin with a predatory hunger.I struggled, yanking against them, but it was like fighting the weight of an anvil. The more I thrashed, the tighter they held me.A cruel chuckle echoed through the darkness."Foolish girl," the General sneered. "Do you think you can fight against your own nature?"This isn't my nature! I wanted to shout but couldn't.I clenched my jaw, refusing to acknowledge the way his words made my stomach twist. I wasn’t one of them. I wasn’t his.Never was and never will be.But the shadows thought otherwise.They hissed in my ear, whispering things I refused to hear.I refused to listen.But my body was betraying me.The cold was sinking deeper, flowing into my veins, making my thoughts slo
Xander's povThe words from its mouth sent a chill down my spine but I clenched my jaw, refusing to show fear. My grip tightened on my blade as I stepped forward, locking eyes with the towering figure that lurked in the darkness in front of us.The red eyes of the Nyx Wraiths burned like embers in the night. The Hellhounds stalker along at the edges of the trees, low growls reverberating through the battlefield. The Revenants stood unnaturally still, their decayed bodies could be seen due to the flickering torches we had lit behind us.Outside Ashville it was day but in here, Zerathos' corruption had seeped so much into the land that it was night.I could feel the tension in my army—thousands of wolves behind me, armed and ready strike justification waiting for my command.The figure in the darkness stepped forward and shadows seeped it off its body like ink on paper or smoke in the wind.It is as a General. I could tell by the way it carried itself that it wasn't a regular foot soldi
Xander's povThe scent of damp earth, ash and frost clung to the air as we neared Ashville’s border. The heat had lessened slightly due to the change in seasons but it could still be felt slightly.The trees stood tall and lifeless, their branches clawing at the sky like skeletal fingers. The land here was darker, heavier—tainted by Zerathos’ growing influence.But we weren’t alone.As we got over the final hill the sight that waited us knocked the breath out of me.Wolves. Thousands of them.They were stretched across the valley in a vast sea of warriors, their bodies gleaming in the dim morning light. They came from all nine packs, their banners flapping in the wind, colors blending into what looked like a tapestry of unity.I recognized them by their crests— rainville, iron claw, blood Moon, silver claw, storm fang, thornspike, wild heart, night shade and lastly, Ashville.Their Alphas stood at the front of each battalion, their warriors behind them, waiting.Waiting for me.Ava s