(Lilith – The Forgotten Howl)
Blood.
The scent of it danced in the wind like a memory she could never forget.
Lilith stood alone at the edge of the mountain ruins, overlooking the valley below—Selene's territory now. Their territory, once.
She gripped the stone altar before her. Beneath her clawed fingertips were markings from a time older than memory—etched by Moonborn wolves, just like her. Just like Selene.
But only one of them was chosen.
And it wasn't her.
---
They took her name first.
She remembered the cold hands of midwives pulling her from her mother's body second. Selene had cried first—they always said that. The first-born. The loud one. The light.
But Lilith had opened her eyes in silence.
She was the second howl, and in the eyes of the old Luna priestesses, that made her lesser.
Her mother had tried to protect them both, but when the prophecy came—"Twins born of blood moon, one to save, one to destroy"—the choice was made.
Selene was kept in the Moonborn Pack.
Lilith was taken away.
"To protect them both," they said.
No.
It was to erase her.
---
Lilith dug her claws into the stone altar.
"You were always the golden one, Selene," she whispered bitterly to the sky. "And I was the shadow you forgot."
But she hadn't stayed forgotten for long.
The rogue wolves had found her—broken, abandoned, angry. They taught her how to survive. How to fight. How to kill. The curse pulsed in her bones every time she spilled blood, and she welcomed it like warmth in the cold.
And now… now she wasn't alone.
Behind her, the Marked Wolf appeared from the shadows—tall, with ink-like veins glowing under his skin.
"They're training her harder now," he said. "Kael's getting her ready."
Lilith didn't flinch. "Let him. It won't be enough."
"She's stronger than expected."
"She's soft," Lilith snapped. "She still believes the Moon Goddess cares. That this curse has meaning."
The Marked Wolf tilted his head. "Doesn't it?"
Lilith turned to face him, her eyes glowing crimson.
"No. It's not a curse. It's a lie. The only thing real is the power. And it should've been mine."
---
She walked past him into the temple's heart, where a circle of ash and bone pulsed faintly with energy. She knelt, placing her hand over a glowing rune in the center.
"I'm almost ready," she whispered.
The Marked Wolf knelt beside her. "You're going to awaken it?"
Lilith nodded slowly. "She awakened her wolf. I'll awaken mine. But I won't stop there."
A low growl escaped her throat.
"I'll awaken the Blood Wolf."
The Marked Wolf hesitated. "That wolf hasn't been summoned in centuries. It nearly destroyed the Moonborn line."
Lilith's smile was cruel. "Exactly. Let the Moon Goddess watch her 'chosen' fall."
---
Outside, the wind howled. Thunder cracked.
Lilith stood, staring toward Selene's land once more.
"She doesn't even remember me," she said.
"She will," the Marked Wolf assured her. "When she sees what you've become."
Lilith's voice dropped into a whisper:
"Then let her come. Let her see what being forgotten does to a twin."
---
Back in Selene's territory…
Kael stood at the edge of the training grounds, sensing something shift in the air.
Selene approached, sweat-soaked from training but eyes sharp. "What is it?"
He didn't answer right away.
Then:
"Something's stirring. On the other side of the mountain."
Selene's expression tightened. "Her."
Kael nodded. "Your sister is calling for war."