The portal sealed behind them with a deafening hiss , as though the world itself had drawn a final breath. The sky bled red. The air shimmered with unfamiliar power.
Selene stumbled forward, the scent of iron and frost thick in her lungs. The ground beneath her boots pulsed faintly, veins of black light weaving through the soil.
Kael caught her before she fell, his grip firm, possessive, his jaw tense, eyes cutting through the fog.
"Stay close," he said. His tone wasn't a suggestion. It was law.
Darius stepped up beside them, gaze scanning the landscape, pale, sharp, calculating. "We're not in our world anymore."
They weren't.
The Forgotten Realm stretched before them , a wasteland of silver forests and black rivers that whispered in voices not their own. In the distance, shadowed towers rose from the mist like broken teeth.
And something was watching them.
"Do you feel that?" Selene whispered. Her voice was trembling, not from fear , but from something inside her that hummed, a pull so strong it made her veins burn.
Kael's hand brushed the small of her back. His heat steadied her, his presence grounding the chaos within her. "Whatever it is, it reacts to you," he murmured. "This realm knows who you are."
"Or what she is," Darius added quietly. His gaze met hers , soft, uncertain, almost… afraid.
A sound tore through the silence — a cry, half-human, half-something else. Out of the silver fog, creatures emerged. Veyrix, the winged sentinels of the veil. Their eyes were black voids, their skin shimmering with light and ash.
Kael moved before the others could blink, claws unsheathing, aura flaring with Alpha dominance. The air vibrated around him, his growl shaking the ground.
"Stand back," he warned.
The nearest Veyrix tilted its head, wings unfurling. "The blood returns…" it hissed. "After centuries, the cursed bloodline breathes again."
Selene's pulse quickened. "What are they talking about?"
The Veyrix leader extended a skeletal hand toward her. "You, child of both moon and shadow. Your blood broke the veil. The Forgotten Realm calls to its queen."
The words slammed into her like a storm.
Queen.
Before she could react, Kael stepped between them, a wall of muscle and fury. "You'll address her properly. And you'll do it from a distance."
The Veyrix hissed, retreating into the fog. "The old one awaits. The lord of the first blood."
They followed the whispers through the twisted forest. Shadows slithered like liquid beneath their feet. Selene's power pulsed with every step, pulling her toward something ancient.
Darius walked ahead, his voice low. "Kael, we should turn back. If the old one is who I think…"
Kael's growl cut him off. "We don't turn back. We finish what we started."
His hand found Selene's again , firm, grounding, possessive. She hated how much her heart obeyed him.
The path opened into a ruined temple, its pillars carved with moons and wolves and wings. At its center stood a figure draped in shadows. His eyes glowed crimson, his voice smooth as venom.
"Welcome, daughter of the blood," he said. "Do you know whose heart beats in your chest?"
Selene froze. "What…"
He smiled , a terrible, beautiful thing. "Mine."
Darius stiffened. "You're lying."
The figure laughed softly. "Am I?" His gaze slid to Kael. "And you, Alpha of the Moon's Fang… you bear the curse that binds her to two. Your hearts are linked, your fates entwined. One love must end — or all three will burn."
Kael's jaw flexed. "We'll find another way."
"There is none," the lord said, stepping closer. "Unless you are willing to bleed for her. The bond can be broken only in the Heart of Shadows, where no light can survive."
Selene's body trembled as the realization hit — this wasn't just a quest. It was a death sentence.
Darius turned to Kael. "If we go there, one of us won't make it back."
Kael's gaze didn't waver. "Then I'll be the one who does."
He turned, brushing past them both. But before he could leave, the ground split open beneath them — black fire erupting, swallowing the forest whole.
The old lord smiled, his voice echoing like thunder:
"You've already chosen, Alpha. The shadows will collect your debt."
The last thing Selene saw was Kael's face fierce, unyielding , before the flames consumed everything.
When the smoke clears, Selene awakens in a different part of the realm. Alone. The moon above her is crimson. And from the darkness, something whispers her name — a voice that sounds just like Kael's, but older… colder… inhuman.