Kael's body was wrenched through a torrent of shifting shadows and howling winds as he plunged into the Forsaken Veil. Light fractured around him. Time bent. Memories—his mother's face, Aria's laughter, the scent of snow in the north—flashed and twisted before him.
Then, silence.
He fell, hard, onto a stone floor veined with glowing crimson cracks. The air reeked of ozone and decay. There was no sky—only a swirling mass of dark clouds and flickering stars above.
"Aria?" he whispered.
No response.
He stood slowly, every sense alert. His wolf growled within him, sensing danger everywhere. The Veil was a prison of ancient evil, and now he was inside it.
Suddenly, voices. Not words—whispers.
She doesn't love you.
You were too late.
She belongs to him now.
Kael clenched his fists. "You won't break me."
But already, the doubt that had shattered their trust began creeping in again.
He pressed forward, each step taking him deeper into the surreal landscape. Jagged mountains floated midair. Trees bled black sap. The laws of nature were broken here.
Then, he saw it.
A fortress of bone and crystal stood in the distance, floating above a pit of swirling shadow. Screams echoed from within.
He ran.
---
Aria's wrists were bound by chains made of silver and shadow. Her body ached from the endless cycles of pain and magical suppression. She had been in the Veil for… she didn't know how long. Days? Weeks?
Karis was always there.
Watching. Smiling. Whispering.
"You're nothing but a vessel," Karis said sweetly, brushing Aria's tangled hair aside. "A pretty little tool the Whisperer wants."
"I'm not afraid of you," Aria hissed.
"Oh, I know. You're afraid of him."
Aria froze.
"You think Kael will come for you? That your bond is stronger than my history with him?" Karis laughed softly. "He doubted you. Betrayed you. All it took was a whisper."
Aria's eyes flashed. "He still loves me."
"But will that love survive what he finds here?" Karis purred.
Then she turned and opened a portal with her blood. "Come. The Whisperer wants you."
---
Kael stood before the gates of the bone fortress, panting. The ground beneath him trembled. The air thickened with magic.
The gates opened without a sound.
Inside, darkness coiled like a living thing. A grand throne of twisted iron sat at the center, flanked by black pillars. On it sat a figure cloaked in shadows—The Whisperer.
Kael growled. "Where is she?"
The Whisperer's voice echoed across the hall. "She is becoming what she was always meant to be."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"She was never just a girl. She is Lunaria—the daughter of starlight and ruin. She is mine now."
Kael stepped forward, eyes glowing. "You don't own her."
A laugh rippled through the chamber. Karis appeared beside the throne, and behind her… Aria.
She was floating. Unconscious. Her hair had turned silver. Her skin shimmered faintly. Runes had appeared across her arms and collarbone, pulsing with violet light.
Kael froze. "What… what did you do to her?"
"She is evolving," The Whisperer said. "Unlocking her final form. But she had to be broken first."
Kael surged forward, only to be slammed back by a wall of force.
"You broke her long before I did," Karis said coldly. "Your mistrust cut deeper than any blade."
Kael's eyes brimmed with pain.
"She left because of you," Karis continued. "She cried your name as she bled. She would have died for you. And yet, you believed I was the one telling the truth."
Kael's growl turned into a roar. He summoned his wolf, black fur blazing into being as he lunged forward. The Whisperer rose, and the world shattered.
---
Aria awoke inside a storm.
Magic tore through her body. Visions flared in her mind: her mother dying, Celene laughing, Darius falling to protect her, Kael walking away.
"No," she gasped. "I won't let you break me."
"You already are," the Whisperer said from within her head. "But that's the point. I need your broken pieces. They make you stronger."
"No," she whispered. "I'm more than what they did to me."
Her magic surged.
The chains exploded. The storm pulsed out.
---
Kael, in wolf form, clashed with Karis midair. His transformation was monstrous—fur black as midnight, darker than the void, with golden eyes glowing like embers in the dark. He was no longer just an Alpha—he was a force of nature. Her form shifted—bat wings, dark claws, a vampiric snarl. They collided again and again, howls and snarls echoing through the collapsing throne room.
Then—light.
Blinding, burning light.
Aria descended like a comet, eyes glowing white. Her runes burned. Her voice was not hers alone:
"I am Lunaria, daughter of the moon flame. You will not own me."
Karis screamed as the light incinerated her. The Whisperer snarled and vanished into shadow.
Kael collapsed, shifting back, barely conscious.
Aria knelt beside him, tears falling. "You found me."
He reached up weakly. "I'm sorry. For everything."
She pressed her forehead to his. "We're not finished yet."
Then the Veil trembled again.
And a voice rang out:
"You may have won this time, Lunaria… but the final eclipse draws near."
To be continued