They said blessings come with the moon's light…
but that night, the moon bled.
Its glow bathed the SilverMist Pack, painting the forest in hues of death and prophecy. Wolves howled from every ridge, their cries trembling like warnings to a world too stubborn to listen.
Inside the Luna's chamber, chaos reigned. The storm outside answered every scream that tore from Luna Alara's throat. Sweat and blood mingled on her skin as her body fought destiny itself.
"Push, my lady! The child is coming!" cried midwife Aelina, her voice quivering under the thunder's roar.
"Not tonight!" Luna Alara gasped, gripping the sheets until her knuckles turned white. "Not under this cursed moon, Aelina! Not tonight!"
The priestess stood who beside the Luna's chamber door said immediately, "You cannot silence the hour chosen by the Goddess. The moon decides when life begins."
Alara's voice cracked with despair. "She took my mate, my Alpha died beneath her light! Must she take my child too?"
Her final scream split the night, and then….
a baby's cry pierced the air.
"Wow, it's a girl," the midwife whispered, awe softening her trembling voice. "Your heir, Luna. Your light."
For a heartbeat, the world seemed kind again. Alara's shaking hand reached for her daughter, tears of relief shimmering in her eyes.
Then immediately, the air shifted.
The candles flickered violently. The priestess's chant faltered. A chill swept through the room… one that didn't belong to any wind.
Alara's body tensed, another wave of pain ripping through her. "No," she choked, "no—it's done!"
The midwife froze. "Luna… wait, there's… another child!"
Blood. A scream. A silence too deep to be mortal.
Then, a second child emerged….silent, still, eyes opening toward the window where the Blood Moon blazed like a wound in the sky.
The midwife's lips parted in horror. "Goddess help us… twins."
The priestess stumbled backward, her staff trembling in her grasp. "Twins born under the Blood Moon,... it's forbidden. One soul divided… two fates bound to ruin."
Alara turned, voice raw with dread. "Take her away! Take that thing before the Goddess sees!"
"My lady…"
"I said take her!" Her scream broke something in the air. "She is death itself, I can feel it! She shouldn't exist!"
The priestess slammed her staff to the ground, a pulse of gold spreading through the room. "Silence, Luna Alara! You curse what the Goddess has permitted! Destroy her, and your line will rot in its own blood!"
Alara's tears came harder. "I've lost my mate, my pack bleeds in war… must I raise the very curse that ends us?"
Then, a sharp light appeared.
Every flame vanished at once, replaced by a silver glow that filled the chamber like breath itself. The midwife dropped to her knees, clutching both infants.
A voice rolled through the silence, calm yet thunderous.
"Luna Alara of SilverMist."
The Goddess appeared… veiled in moonlight, eyes vast and knowing. Power coiled in the air, bending even the storm outside to stillness.
"You name one child blessing and the other curse," Goddess Selune said, her voice echoing like eternity, "yet both are threads of my own soul. What you fear today, you will beg to love tomorrow."
"Please!" Alara sobbed. "Take her, take the second one! Spare my pack, I beg you!"
The Goddess gazed down at the infants…. one peaceful, one silent, her crimson eyes unblinking.
"You see the shadow but not the source," Goddess Selune whispered. "The first carries mercy. The second carries wrath. Light and fire, one cannot live without the other."
Alara's breath hitched. "What does that mean?"
Selune's glow began to fade, her veil turning to mist. But her final words lingered….haunting, heavy, final.
"When envy learns to love, the curse will burn itself clean. Until then… even the moon shall weep."
The Goddess raised her hand over the silent child, her touch leaving a faint silver mark that pulsed once, like a heartbeat. " I name them Seraphine and Selena" she said and disappeared.
And as her light vanished into the storm, her whisper brushed against the wind…soft, almost tender.
"Selena."
The room fell into silence, broken only by the fragile breaths of two newborns… one steady, one shallow.
The midwife's hands trembled. "They are one soul… divided in two."
Alara turned her face away, unable to look at the crimson-eyed infant fate had placed in her arms.
Outside, the Blood Moon lingered over SilverMist… ancient, unblinking, alive.
And beneath its light, the world sealed its curse with the name that would one day bring it to its knees.