"In every oath lies a shadow—the part you swore to forget."
— From The Founding Verses of the Silver Order
______________
The storm had not stopped for three days.
Rain lashed against the silver-plated carriage as it rolled through the mountain pass, wheels crunching over ice and stone. Inside, Captain Elira sat in silence, her armor dulled by soot and travel. The smell of oil and wet metal clung to everything.
Across from her, Garran shifted uncomfortably. "We should've burned the bodies," he muttered. "Leaving them like that will call scavengers."
Elira didn't answer. Her gaze was fixed on the horizon, where lightning flickered faintly beyond the spires of the Silver Bastion — the Order's capital, carved into the cliffs like a wound that refused to heal.
"They were soldiers," Garran continued. "They deserved rites."
"They got fire," Elira said. "That's enough."
The commander fell quiet. He had seen her like this before — when she'd lost people. Her silence meant she was thinking too much. That was dangerous in their line of work.
The carriage rattled to a stop at the gates. Two sentinels stepped forward, faces hidden behind polished masks. "Captain Elira of the Fifth Order, authorized from the Northern Front," one recited. "The Council awaits."
Elira stepped into the rain.
____________________________
The Silver Bastion was colder than she remembered.
Pillars of pale stone lined the corridors, carved with the Order's crest: a sword entwined with a serpent. Torches burned behind mirrored glass, giving the illusion that every flame had eyes.
Elira walked alone toward the council chamber. Her boots echoed across the marble floor like clockwork.
The hall itself was a cathedral of silence — vast, circular, lined with high-backed chairs of iron. Twelve figures sat beneath the banners of the Silver Moon. At the center stood a single chair raised higher than the rest.
The man seated there was Lord Inquisitor Varis Kael.
He was tall, thin, dressed in robes that shimmered faintly like liquid steel. His hair was the color of frost, but his eyes were black as pitch — cold, depthless, consuming. When he smiled, it didn't reach them.
"Captain Elira," Kael said, voice smooth as smoke. "Our stray wolf returns."
She saluted crisply. "My Lord Inquisitor."
"Your report reached us," he said. "A battle at the Northern Valley, yes? Significant losses on both sides."
"Yes," she replied. "The pack was organized. Led by an Alpha known as Fangxin."
Kael's fingers tapped the armrest. "And this… anomaly you mentioned?"
Elira hesitated. "A hybrid, my lord. Man and wolf both. He fought differently — controlled, aware. He protected one of our men before fleeing with the beasts."
Kael's smile sharpened. "How poetic. The cursed protecting the cursed."
"He wasn't like them," Elira said, carefully. "He hesitated before he struck."
The chamber stirred. One of the elder councilors leaned forward. "You imply conscience, Captain. Are you suggesting intelligence?"
"I'm suggesting uncertainty," she replied. "He could be reasoned with."
Kael's eyes glinted. "You mean used."
Elira stiffened. "If captured alive, perhaps studied—"
"—then dissected," Kael interrupted softly. "Like all the others."
Her jaw tightened. "With respect, my lord, if this creature retains memory, it could reveal how the curse evolves."
Kael rose from his seat with unhurried grace. His boots clicked on the floor as he descended toward her, the movement eerily quiet for his height. "And yet you call it he," he said. "Not it. Curious."
"I call him what I saw," Elira said evenly.
He stopped in front of her, close enough that she could smell the faint burn of alchemical silver on his robes. "Do you doubt the Order's purpose, Captain?"
"No."
Kael tilted his head. "But you doubt the cost."
The room went still. Every whisper died.
Elira met his gaze. "I doubt only what happens when the hunt never ends."
For a heartbeat, silence hung heavy. Then Kael smiled again, too slowly. "You remind me of your father."
The words hit her harder than a blade. Her breath caught. "You knew him?"
"Oh yes," Kael murmured. "He was brave. Stubborn. A good soldier. And like you, he thought he could control the truth. Until it consumed him."
Elira's fists clenched behind her back. "What truth?"
"The one written in blood," Kael said. "The wolves you hunt are not the first of their kind — nor the last. The moon remembers its own. The question, Captain, is whether you do."
He turned away before she could answer. "You will lead a new expedition. Reinforcements are being prepared under my command. You'll hunt this Alpha — Fangxin — and bring me the hybrid alive."
He looked over his shoulder, eyes gleaming faintly. "If you fail, I'll assume you've joined them."
The council dismissed her without another word.
___________
Elira walked the long corridor back to her quarters. Her boots left faint silver dust on the black stone floor. The rain had stopped outside, but thunder still growled across the cliffs.
When she reached her chamber, Garran was waiting. "How did they take it?"
"They'll send us back," she said, stripping off her gloves. "With more fire."
He frowned. "You don't sound relieved."
"They want the hybrid alive."
"Wuji?" Garran asked quietly.
She froze. The name hadn't left her lips in years.
"You recognized him," he said softly. "Didn't you?"
Elira didn't look at him. "I saw his eyes. No one else had eyes like that."
"Then maybe there's still something human left in him."
"Maybe," she said, voice flat. "Or maybe that's what the curse wants us to believe."
She turned away, staring out the narrow window toward the storm. "Either way… we'll be hunting him next."
__________
Far away, under the same moonlight, Lin Wuji knelt beside the river.
The scent of smoke from the humans' camp carried faintly on the wind. His golden eyes flickered once, catching the light.
"They're coming," he murmured.
Fangxin's shadow loomed behind him, a low growl vibrating through the earth. "Then we'll meet them again."
Wuji didn't turn. "And if they come for me?"
The Alpha's silence was answer enough.
When Wuji finally looked at the river's surface, he saw his reflection twist — man, wolf, man again. Both sides waiting. Both sides ready.
The war had only just begun.