2025-04-07 03:56:21"Keep moving!" Skylar shouted, ducking beneath a low-hanging branch.
Lucas panted, his legs burning, boots slamming against wet earth. Behind him, the sound of pursuit never faded. Distant howls. Cracking branches. The echo of footsteps that didn’t belong to them. Dan ran beside him, keeping pace. “Remind me why we’re running toward a place called Moonveil? Sounds cursed.” “It is,” Skylar called back. “But the hunters avoid it. They think it’s haunted.” “Awesome,” Dan muttered. “That’s so comforting.” The forest thinned as they approached the ruins. What remained of Moonveil was barely more than shattered stones and crumbled archways buried in moss. A half-collapsed watchtower loomed over the clearing, and a thick fog clung to the ground like a second skin. The eerie silence that hung in the air was broken only by the soft crunch of their steps on the forest floor. Lucas slowed, his breath visible in the sudden drop of temperature. His heart thudded harder. “This place...” he whispered. “It feels wrong.” Skylar raised her hand. “Stay sharp. We’re not alone.” They crept between broken pillars, shattered stained glass crunching underfoot. Each step they took seemed to echo louder than the last, swallowed slowly by the heavy mist. Dan pointed. “Over there.” A circular stone platform lay in the center of the ruin, etched with faint symbols similar to the ones from the underground map. The symbols pulsed faintly, as though waiting to be awakened. Lucas approached slowly. His steps were hesitant, his instincts screaming caution. As his foot touched the edge, the symbols flared with dim, cold light. A sharp hum rippled through the air, and a gust of wind swept around them. Skylar cursed under her breath. “You activated it.” Dan looked around nervously. “Uh… is that bad?” Lucas crouched, brushing dirt from one of the markings. “Same emblem. From the chapel. Same half-moon and crimson eye.” “Then this is one of the places from the map,” Skylar said. “A node. A memory site.” Before they could speak further, the fog around them thickened. The air grew dense, harder to breathe, as though the ruins themselves had come alive. Shadows twisted along the edges of their vision. Then a voice echoed through the ruins. “Lucas Tallman...” Lucas froze. The voice wasn’t Skylar’s. It was female. Familiar. Whispered directly into his mind. “Who—who said that?” he asked, spinning. Dan’s eyes widened. “Dude, your eyes. They just flashed gold.” Lucas clutched his head. Images flashed through his mind—wolves fighting beneath a blood moon, shadowy figures bowing before an enormous white wolf, chains breaking. Each image was sharp, vivid, and terrifying. Skylar grabbed his arm. “Lucas! Focus!” He gasped, stumbling back. The images stopped. “Was that... a vision?” he asked, chest heaving. Skylar’s grip tightened. “It was a memory. This place stores ancestral echoes. You just triggered one.” Dan whistled low. “That’s new.” Lucas sat heavily on a stone. “It felt real. Like I was there. Like... I was one of them.” Skylar knelt beside him. “That’s the Alpha’s Echo. One of your bloodline’s gifts. You’re remembering their past... because it’s becoming part of your future.” Lucas looked at her. “Then I need to know more. All of it.” A soft growl interrupted them. They turned. At the edge of the ruin stood a massive wolf, black as midnight, its eyes glowing faint red. Not a rogue. Not a hunter’s beast. Something else. Something worse. Skylar’s voice dropped. “That’s not one of ours.” Dan stepped back. “Why’s it staring like that?” Lucas stepped forward. “I think it wants me.” The wolf snarled. A second form stepped from the trees behind it—a man with jagged scars down his cheek, armor made of dark leather, and a necklace of claws. His eyes locked onto Lucas with a predator’s focus. Skylar’s mouth twisted. “That’s Carver. Rogue Alpha. Exiled five years ago for killing his own pack.” Carver smiled coldly. “And yet I’m still standing. Unlike them.” Lucas squared his shoulders. “What do you want?” Carver tilted his head. “To see if the boy who wears the True Alpha’s scent is worth the hunt.” Before anyone could react, Carver leapt forward. Lucas’s body moved on instinct. He dodged, barely missing the sweeping claw aimed at his chest. The force of it sent a gust of wind spinning behind him. Skylar launched a silver dagger. Carver batted it aside with ease, eyes never leaving Lucas. Dan shouted, grabbing a rusted spear from the ground and swinging wildly. Carver caught it mid-swing and snapped it in two with one hand, flinging the pieces aside. Lucas growled. Not a human sound. Something deeper. His bones shifted—not a full transformation, but partial. His hands clawed, his eyes burning gold. The energy around him trembled, like the echo of something ancient waking up. He lunged. Claws met claws. The two crashed into a fallen pillar, dust exploding around them. Carver grinned. “You’ve got potential. But you’re raw.” Lucas pushed back. “Then let’s fix that.” He drove his knee into Carver’s side. The rogue stumbled, snarling. Skylar tossed him another blade. Lucas caught it mid-spin and slashed upward. The motion was smooth, instinctive. Carver hissed as the silver kissed his skin. “Enough.” He leapt back, blood dripping from his side. “This was just a test, pup. You pass... for now.” Then he turned and vanished into the fog, the black wolf following close. The sound of his departure faded into silence. Silence fell. Lucas collapsed to his knees. Skylar rushed to his side. “You okay?” Lucas nodded slowly. “I held my own.” Dan exhaled. “That was insane. Also... awesome.” Skylar didn’t smile. “He’ll be back. And next time, he won’t be alone.” Lucas stared at the glowing symbols. A faint new mark had appeared—Carver’s clawed print, now etched into the stone beside the True Alpha crest. Dan looked down. “Was that always there?” “No,” Skylar whispered. “It’s a warning.” Lucas stood, brushing dust from his arms. “We find the next site. We keep moving. No more running. No more hiding.” Skylar studied him. “You sound different.” Lucas met her gaze. “Because I’m done being hunted.”
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Chapter 13: The Pact of Shadows
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Chapter 12: The Coordinates of Death
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Chapter 10: Blood on the Leaves
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Chapter 9: Moonveil's Curse
"Keep moving!" Skylar shouted, ducking beneath a low-hanging branch.Lucas panted, his legs burning, boots slamming against wet earth. Behind him, the sound of pursuit never faded. Distant howls. Cracking branches. The echo of footsteps that didn’t belong to them.Dan ran beside him, keeping pace. “Remind me why we’re running toward a place called Moonveil? Sounds cursed.”“It is,” Skylar called back. “But the hunters avoid it. They think it’s haunted.”“Awesome,” Dan muttered. “That’s so comforting.”The forest thinned as they approached the ruins. What remained of Moonveil was barely more than shattered stones and crumbled archways buried in moss. A half-collapsed watchtower loomed over the clearing, and a thick fog clung to the ground like a second skin. The eerie silence that hung in the air was broken only by the soft crunch of their steps on the forest floor.Lucas slowed, his breath visible in the sudden drop of temperature. His heart thudded harder.“This place...” he whispere