The second moon shimmered with unnatural clarity—twice as bright, yet casting no shadows.
It floated low on the horizon, not following the sun's pull, not turning with the earth. It watched.
Kaelen stared at it, chest rising and falling with growing dread. Beside him, Elara tightened her grip on the pendant, its surface cool once more. The forest behind them still smoldered, trees dying in twisted silence as the god of shadow howled somewhere distant, chasing a scent older than time.
"Elara," Kaelen said quietly, "I'm not alone inside myself."
She swallowed. "I don't understand."
He turned to face her, eyes flickering with silver and… violet.
"You saw one Kaelen fall. But the Oath wasn't mine alone. When the Hollow reforged me, it didn't just bring me back—it awakened what was sealed with me."
The Vale of Bones stretched before them.
A cursed valley buried in history, avoided by wolves and humans alike. Once a battlefield for the first war between pack and pantheon, it now lay forgotten—covered in mist and silence, where every stone told stories in blood.
Aiden stepped cautiously, sword drawn, wary of the bones half-buried in moss and dust.
"We shouldn't be here."
"That's the point," Kaelen murmured. "Nothing from the gods can pass beyond this vale. Not fully. It's our only chance."
Elara looked ahead. Through the fog, ruins rose—massive stone arches carved with inscriptions that shimmered faintly in the dark.
"That's the gate?"
Kaelen nodded. "Yes. But we're not the only ones looking for it."
They pressed on, following the ancient glyphs etched into the stones.
As they moved deeper, Kaelen's aura changed. His gait slowed. His breathing grew labored. The violet glow returned—brighter. Fiercer. A second presence fighting within.
Elara stopped him. "Kaelen, what's happening?"
He looked at her, hollow-eyed.
"The Second Kaelen isn't a person."
"He's the choice I never made."
In the earliest age, Kaelen had faced a prophecy.
He could become the Alpha—the chosen of the moon goddess—or surrender his bond, and walk away from fate. He chose the Oath, breaking hearts, severing bloodlines, and spilling sacred blood in the name of peace.
But in another reality—he chose differently.
He refused the Oath.
And became something else.
Something darker.
The moon shimmered again, and a sound rippled through the veil—
A laugh.
Soft.
Cruel.
Echoing through every stone in the vale.
Elara spun around. "Did you hear that?"
Aiden nodded grimly. "We're being followed."
Kaelen turned toward the nearest ruin, eyes narrowing.
"No. We're being anticipated."
From the fog, a figure emerged.
Tall. Cloaked in black. Silver-haired.
And wearing Kaelen's face.
But not his eyes.
They burned violet.
Elara gasped.
Aiden raised his sword.
Kaelen dropped to his knees.
The doppelgänger smiled. "So," it said, voice silk over venom, "this is the life you chose."
Kaelen's fists clenched. "You're not real."
"Oh, I'm real," the other Kaelen said. "I'm consequence. I'm what happens when you run from your nature. When you let love weaken destiny."
He stepped forward, hand outstretched toward Elara.
"Did he tell you the truth?" he asked her. "That he didn't die for you? That he died to suppress me?"
Elara didn't move.
The other Kaelen smiled wider.
"And now I'm free."
Aiden stepped in front of Elara. "You're not touching her."
The other Kaelen laughed. "How noble. How dull."
Without warning, he vanished—and reappeared behind Aiden, slamming him into a stone pillar with bone-crushing force.
Aiden groaned, dazed.
Kaelen lunged forward. "Stop!"
The other caught him mid-air, gripping his throat.
"We're the same, you fool," he whispered. "We are the Oath."
Kaelen struggled. "You're a shadow. A mistake."
"I'm your truth." The shadow's grin turned wicked. "And I'm stronger."
Elara raised the pendant.
It glowed once.
The other Kaelen recoiled.
"What is that?" he hissed.
Elara's eyes burned with fury. "A piece of the Oath you rejected."
The air cracked.
The pendant pulsed.
And the shadow Kaelen screamed.
Kaelen broke free, grabbing Elara's hand, and together they hurled the pendant at the second Kaelen's chest.
A shockwave tore through the ruins, knocking everyone to the ground.
When the dust cleared, the shadow Kaelen was gone.
But so was the gate.
The arch had shattered.
The glyphs—dead.
Kaelen knelt, stunned.
"No…"
Elara stared at the destruction. "Did we just lose our only chance?"
Kaelen said nothing.
He turned, eyes distant.
"No," he murmured.
He raised his hand.
And from the wreckage—a third moon rose.
Not in the sky.
But from the earth.