Morning rose red.
The Bleeding Dunes shimmered under the weight of an unnatural sky, where clouds spun like whirlpools and the wind whispered names not meant to be spoken aloud. Something had changed in the night—something had shifted.
Aria woke with a jolt.
Her mark throbbed wildly, glowing beneath her skin. Not the soft silver pulse she'd grown used to, but a furious, urgent blaze.
She sat up fast.
"Kade!"
He was already awake, sword in hand. "I feel it too."
Lyra clutched her temples. "He's calling."
Mira trembled. "Not just calling—reaching."
Across the campsite, Kai stood stone-still, his eyes gold and wide.
"He broke the seals," he said. "Varian has our names. He's tied to our blood."
Aria stood. "Then we sever the ties. All of them."
---
They gathered around the fire. The coals had long gone cold.
"There's a final name," Aria said, her voice calm despite the rising wind. "One more Moonborn. One even Mira couldn't see. One even the prophecy hides."
Reid frowned. "How is that possible?"
"Because they were hidden," Mira said. "Buried deeper than I was. They're not sleeping."
"They're guarding."
Kade nodded. "Blackridge."
Aria turned to him. "You said there was a sealed crypt beneath our old home. The one we couldn't open."
Kade's eyes narrowed. "It was locked by blood magic—meant to remain closed until the Convergence."
Reid stood. "Then we've reached the Convergence."
---
The journey back to Blackridge took a full week.
The closer they came, the worse the nights became.
Aria's dreams grew darker. Each time she closed her eyes, she saw him—Varian—standing before a great stone gate, bleeding from the palms, chanting in tongues long forgotten.
He wasn't opening the gate.
He was summoning what lay behind it.
And he had already begun.
---
When they reached the mountain forest, the land had changed.
Blackridge was no longer quiet.
Fires burned in the distance. Wolf howls echoed through the trees—not wild, but wrong. Twisted. Unnatural. The kind of howls that made the earth flinch.
"His army's begun to rise," Kade muttered, staring down at the valley. "Rogues, cursed ones, outcasts. He's calling them."
Lyra drew her blades. "We'll cut them down."
"No," Aria said. "We're going beneath. Straight to the source."
---
The entrance to the crypt lay hidden beneath the ruins of the old Moonborn Hall—a stone circle surrounded by pillars, where once councils met and laws were spoken.
Now, it was overgrown. Forgotten.
Until Aria touched the ground.
Her mark pulsed.
The earth responded.
Rocks shifted. Runes blazed to life in a circle around her feet.
The stone floor split down the center.
And the stairs were revealed.
---
It was dark below.
Ancient.
Silent.
The kind of silence that screams.
They moved slowly, torches flickering. Mira clung to Aria's arm. Reid covered the rear. Kade led.
And Kai—Kai walked as if he'd been here before.
"There," he whispered, pointing to a giant iron door marked with crescents and chains. "That's it."
Aria stepped forward.
The air vibrated with pressure. Her heart thundered. Her blood burned.
She touched the door.
It melted away like mist.
---
Inside, a single figure sat on a stone throne.
Wrapped in layers of silver cloth. Long, white hair falling over closed eyes. Skin pale. Still.
Neither dead nor alive.
A woman.
She looked like Aria.
Mira gasped.
"That's her."
Lyra stepped back. "Is she…"
Aria moved closer. "She's in stasis. Preserved by ancient magic."
Kai whispered, "The First Moonborn."
---
The woman opened her eyes.
They glowed.
Bright as a rising moon.
"You have come at last," she said.
Her voice echoed like memory.
"I am Selene. Daughter of the First Light. Guardian of the Bond."
Aria dropped to her knees. "We need your help. Varian's returned."
Selene nodded. "Yes. I felt him stir the moment you awakened."
"Can you stop him?"
"No," Selene said softly. "But you can."
---
Selene rose from the throne.
As she stood, the crypt shifted—walls pulsing with power.
"You carry the mark of unity," she said. "But unity is not yet complete."
Kai stepped forward. "There are five of us now."
"No," Selene said. "There is a sixth."
Aria's breath caught.
"Who?" she asked.
Selene looked at her. "You already know."
Then, she turned… and looked at Kade.
Everyone froze.
Kade blinked. "That's not possible. I'm not—"
"You were suppressed," Selene said gently. "Your power buried by your father to protect you. But your blood remembers."
Aria stepped forward. "Kade…"
He looked at her—eyes wide, filled with the weight of forgotten truth.
"I felt it the first time I touched you," he whispered. "But I didn't understand."
Selene smiled faintly. "Now, you will."
She raised her hand.
Kade doubled over, gasping—his chest glowing with light.
And then…
His mark appeared.
A burning silver flame.
---
Outside, thunder cracked.
The wind shifted.
Varian's voice echoed through the mountains.
"I see you, my children. I see your flame. Now come… and burn."