The cave trembled as if the mountain itself had awakened. Aria stood frozen, her breath forming frost in the air. Caleb's hand tightened around hers as the ancient seal dissolved into ash, revealing the chamber beyond—a wide, circular cavern veined with glowing lunar crystal and silver filigree etched into the stone.
At the center, suspended in a cocoon of light, was a figure.
She floated, hair weightless, silver eyes closed. But it wasn't Mara.
It was someone else. Familiar.
Aria stepped forward, and her heart nearly stopped.
"Mother," she whispered.
The woman inside the cocoon looked just like Aria—only older, regal, a heavy sadness lining her features even in sleep. Around the edges of the cocoon, runes pulsed with warning. Caleb moved in front of her.
"Wait. This isn't just spirit magic. This is something older."
A voice echoed from the far side of the chamber—raw and sharp like breaking bone.
"She is the First Alpha. The true bloodline of the Moonborne."
