The Vale of Bones
The journey northward was a march through death.
The Vale of Bones earned its name honestly—great beasts lay fossilized in the cliffsides, their ribcages arching like bridges, their skulls weathered and hollow. Ice coated everything. The wind moaned through broken canyons like spirits too tired to scream.
Alaric led the pack. Rhaegor beside him, Lyra behind with five wolves from Vargfen, all hardened survivors. They traveled in silence—too aware of what waited ahead to waste words.
On the third night, they found signs.
"Blood," Lyra said, kneeling by a frozen stream. "Human. But mixed with… something else."
Alaric touched the snow. It melted beneath his fingers despite the cold.
"She's close," he whispered.
They moved faster after that.
On the seventh day, they reached the tower.
It wasn't just obsidian—it bled shadow. Rising out of a dead crater, the tower stood like a fang against the sky, its windows glowing faintly red. Around it, ruins of old settlements lay scorched and cursed. No birds flew here. No wolves howled.
"This was the village of Ovrik," Rhaegor said grimly. "One of the first to welcome the Moonborn. They paid for it."
Alaric didn't answer. His eyes were locked on the tower.
He felt her inside. Seris.
Waiting.
"We go now," he said.
The pack moved like whispers, blades and claws ready. They approached the shattered bridge leading to the tower's gate—but the moment they crossed the threshold, the sky shook.
The tower screamed.
Dark figures erupted from the earth—Wraithbound, dozens of them, their bodies slick with ritual oil, their eyes hollow and red. They weren't guarding the tower.
They were summoning something.
A massive circle of runes ignited around the base of the tower, trapping the wolves inside.
"It's a blood trap!" Lyra shouted. "They want your essence, Alaric—they need it to complete the gate!"
Too late.
A beam of red fire lanced from the tower's peak—straight into the rune circle.
And Seris stepped through the flames.
No longer a girl. No longer innocent.
She wore black and silver armor of ancient design, her eyes glowing like twin dying stars.
"Alaric," she said softly. "You came."
He stepped forward, claws bared. "You remember me."
"I remember everything," she said. "We were meant to rule this world. Together. The Circle only feared you because you had heart. But that's a weakness I burned out."
"Then I'll burn it back in."
With a roar, Alaric charged.
Seris met him halfway.
Claws met claws.
And the war between the reborn began.