The wind howled like a dying god as Kael and Sylah crossed the broken plains toward the Crimson Citadel—a fortress carved from obsidian, veined with red light, and rumored to be built atop a cursed battlefield where thousands of werewolves once died screaming under moonfire.
Kael knew they were outnumbered.
Outgunned.
Hunted.
But he didn't care.
His sister—Lina Varos, the last of his blood—was alive. And she was being held by the monsters who had killed their kind, slaughtered his village, and tried to erase their legacy.
No more hiding.
This was war.
---
They made camp beneath the shattered ruins of an old observatory three miles from the Citadel gates. Sylah kept watch as Kael sat with the ancient Blood Registry opened before him, scanning the Moonborn names, trying to piece together the truth of his bloodline.
That's when he saw it.
Arion Varos. Status: Deceased. Cause: Executed by order of Alpha Kieran for High Treason.
Kael's chest went cold.
His father—Arion—executed by the Crimson Alphas… for treason?
His heart raced. He flipped the pages.
Beside Arion's name was a classified note, sealed in runic fire. Kael touched it—and the page lit up, revealing a single entry written in a faded red ink:
> "Arion Varos betrayed the Moonborn by revealing the location of the Hidden Brood in exchange for his children's safety. Both offspring presumed dead."
Kael stared in disbelief.
"My father… betrayed the bloodline?" he muttered.
Sylah looked up. "Sometimes people do terrible things to protect the ones they love."
Kael slammed the book shut. "He should've fought."
"He did," Sylah replied, softer now. "He died for you. That choice… that blood is in you too."
Kael clenched his fists.
So that was why the Crimson Alphas hunted him with such fury—not just because of who he was, but because his survival was a living reminder of the only man who ever made them bleed from within.
Kael stood.
"There's no turning back now. If I don't save her, everything my father died for means nothing."
---
Meanwhile: Crimson Citadel Dungeons
Lina Varos hung from enchanted chains, her arms cut and burned by silver cuffs that never let her heal. But her spirit remained unbroken. For weeks, the Crimson Alphas had tried to break her—through pain, starvation, manipulation.
They failed.
Alpha Kieran often visited, whispering twisted promises.
"Join us," he said. "The blood in you is pure. You could be more than a prisoner. You could be a queen."
Lina spat in his face.
So now she was left to rot.
Until the day she felt something—a pulse. A connection. A heartbeat that was not hers.
And she knew.
Her brother was coming.
---
Midnight: Crimson Citadel – The Break-In
Kael and Sylah stormed the Citadel gates during the moon's highest point.
Using illusion runes stolen from the Ravenspire vaults, they masked their scents long enough to slip through the outer wards. But the Crimson guards weren't fools—they sensed the shift in energy.
Sirens rang. Wolves howled.
Kael didn't run.
He unleashed the warform.
The transformation cracked through his skin like lightning. His arms grew thick with muscle, his claws gleamed, and the Fang of Varok ignited in his grip with silver-blue fire.
Sylah darted through shadows, taking down archers before they could call for help.
Together, they carved a bloody path through the outer halls.
But the Citadel was a trap.
As they reached the dungeon stairwell, steel gates slammed shut behind them—and in front.
Dozens of elite Crimson warriors descended the staircase, their red eyes glowing in the dark.
And at the center of them was Alpha Kieran, clad in war-armor, his crimson cloak flowing behind him like the wing of a demon.
"Well, well," Kieran said, voice like venom. "You look just like your father before I took his head."
Kael's warform snarled, stepping forward.
"Then you'll die the same way."
---
The battle exploded in seconds.
Kieran lunged—faster than Kael expected. Their blades clashed, shaking the walls. Kael roared, claws slashing, but Kieran met every strike with cruel precision. The Alpha was stronger than anyone Kael had faced—older, experienced, and blood-fed.
Sylah held back the rest of the Crimson warriors, spinning in a deadly dance of knives and instinct, but she couldn't hold them forever.
Kael knew he had to end it—fast.
Drawing from the core of his blood, Kael focused—reaching past pain, past rage, past even his warform—into something deeper.
Something pure.
A silver aura exploded around him.
Time slowed.
And in a flash of light, Kael became something more.
Not just a warform.
But something older.
A Moon Ascendant—a legendary transformation that no one had seen in over five hundred years.
Kieran's eyes widened. "Impossible…"
Kael didn't give him time to recover.
He struck once—and shattered Kieran's blade.
He struck again—and broke Kieran's ribs.
Then he plunged the Fang of Varok into Kieran's chest, piercing the crimson crown.
The Alpha gasped—blood bubbling from his lips—as Kael leaned in close.
"For my sister."
He twisted the blade.
Kieran's scream echoed across the entire fortress.
---
Moments Later: The Rescue
Kael burst into the dungeon with blood dripping from his arms.
"Lina!" he called.
A voice—hoarse but clear—answered from the shadows.
"Kael?"
He found her chained, pale, but alive.
They stared at each other
for a long second.
Then they embraced—two broken siblings, reunited by war, bound by blood, strengthened by betrayal.
"You came," she whispered.
"I always would," he said.