Chapter 114:
"When the sky bleeds and the beasts rise, masterless and without loyalty,only one pack howls with the roar of hope.Sanathiel leads the last resistance between darkness and extinction.At his side, Aisha fires light into death. Elliot rejects betrayal.Elbanius rises from the shadows.And amidst the chaos, one promise burns stronger than the fire:'This world shall not fall while I still breathe.'Until the final howl—we shall reign over men."— Sanathiel, the White Wolf
The eclipse gave no warning.First came the wind: a dry whisper dragging ashes… and forgotten names.Then… the moon.It did not bleed.It wept.
Aisha looked up.And for one heartbeat—time froze.Sanathiel no longer looked like a warrior.He looked like an omen.
Around him, the Nevri waited.Some wounded. Others stained with ash and memory.But none stepped back.The medallion burned as if it carried the last prayer of the world.And though the ground trembled beneath the horde's advance…not one retreated.
—"What comes now?" Salomon whispered, his voice torn between fear… or what little hope remained.
Sanathiel said nothing.He simply closed his eyes—and remembered the howl.The last one.The true one.Not a cry for help…but a vow.
When he opened them again,the moon hung at its highest.
"The moon did not bleed for the sky…but for what must come next.""And when the moon cries its final eclipse…the soul shall choose—devour… or awaken."
In some hidden corner of the spiritual plane,the moon eclipsed not only the sun…but hearts.
The Nevri ancestors, the restless souls,and those who had fallen without namesraised their gaze from the shadows.
And for a moment,all the pain in the worldfroze—to witness Sanathiel.
The trial had begun.
The sky, stained a deep red, looked like a wound torn across the city. The lights from the skyscrapers flickered faintly, casting long shadows that moved as if alive. As artificial light faded fast, the moon at its zenith ruled the scene like an inescapable sentence.
From above, the city was hell.Grotesque creatures filled the streets.Werewolves—huge and red-coated—devoured one another in mindless hunger.Beside them, warped vampires, skeletal and hollow-eyed, crept like an unstoppable plague, loyal to nothing but destruction.
In that chaos, Sanathiel—now fully the white wolf—stood as a beacon of defiance. His fur glowed beneath the bleeding moon. And with a deafening roar, he gave the command:
—"Don't let these abominations through! Shield each other! Strike down anything that doesn't belong to this world!"
At his side, Salomon snarled in reply—half rage, half tactics.
—"Sanathiel, they're beyond anything we imagined. Kill one, two more take its place. This isn't a battle. It's an extermination."
Sanathiel, his fangs bared and his white coat bloodstained, answered without pause:
—"Then we'll exterminate every last one."
Aisha pulled her bowstring taut—but her hands trembled.For one breath, fear outweighed rage.Outweighed love.What if this time… we don't make it?
And then, she felt him.Her white wolf.
—"Until the end," she whispered, steadying her shot.And she knew—even in the end—he would choose her.
—"Sanathiel, to your left!" she shouted, firing another arrow that pierced a beast just before it struck him.
He glanced her way.Gratitude in his eyes.And something deeper—unspoken.
—"You never let your guard down, do you?"
Aisha smiled faintly, but her eyes clouded…as if fearing this might be their last fight.The wind carried the echo of a distant howl.
—"Someone's got to keep you alive, white wolf," she murmured, readying the next arrow.
Meanwhile, inside the shelter, Skiller sprinted in desperation. The creatures had breached the walls, and every bite turned humans into monsters. Dimitri, his gun empty, hurled it aside and grabbed his machete—hacking through the infected with his squad. But the tide kept rising.
—"Skiller, damn it, we need to evacuate now!" Dimitri roared, slicing through another beast lunging at him.
Skiller reached him, unleashing his supernatural strength with a roar.He tore through the creatures, but they kept coming.
—"We can't evacuate," Skiller growled. "It's a siege. If we run—they hunt us. If we stay—they eat us."
Suddenly, an explosion lit the space.Nikolai—once a member of the Circle of Thirteen—arrived with a strike force.
—"I'm not letting this damned city become a graveyard!" he shouted, tossing light grenades that vaporized the vampiric monsters.
In another sector, Elliot and Bjorn battled to defend what remained of the Circle. The beasts had turned on their masters, snapping chains and devouring their creators.
—"Elliot, why are we still doing this?" Bjorn yelled, stabbing a monster with a makeshift spear.
Elliot's eyes were clouded with doubt. He remembered the days when he believed in a higher order. That dream now lay in ruins beneath claws and ash.
—"I don't know," he answered. "This isn't what we were promised. Darían has damned us all."
Civilians screamed as they were torn apart. Elliot clenched his fists—then threw his weapon down.
—"No more. If these monsters have no master… then there's no reason to fight for them. Bjorn—it's time we switch sides."
From the shadows, the old Elbanius emerged with survivors from the City of Shadows. Armed with silver rounds and bombs of light, they joined the fight.
—"Open fire!" Elbanius roared. "Don't let them pass! This city is still ours!"
Light bombs exploded, burning through beasts that dared approach.The survivors and Nevri formed an unlikely resistance—desperate, but fierce.
Back with Sanathiel, the white wolf watched his forces fight to their last breath.When fire surrounded them all,he saw, among the flames, a face that shouldn't have been there.
—"Varek…" he whispered.
There were no words.Just a look.One that said:"You are not alone."
And that was enough.
The lunar medallion pulsed brighter, draining him faster.
—"Sanathiel, that's enough," Salomon pleaded. "You're burning out. If you keep this up—there'll be nothing left of you."
Sanathiel ignored him.
—"This world won't fall while I still breathe," he said, looking at Aisha. "I promised to protect you. And I will."
Aisha, her eyes wet, stepped close.—"You don't have to do this alone. We're in this together."
She leaned her forehead to his fur."Until the end," she whispered—like a sacred vow.
The bond between them radiated like a star.And as the battle roared on, the sky darkened further…as if hell itself was answering the challenge.
Sanathiel, with a final howl, charged into the horde—his Nevri behind him.No hesitation.No retreat.
And then it appeared.A creature without name.Without constant form.Only eyes.And hatred.
That day, the world burned.But in the ruins…in the flames…in the shadows…the white wolf still roared.
For even if the world burns…the echo of a wolf does not die.It waits.And that night, high above the moon…someone listened.
And for one moment, between fire and moonlight… he saw him.Varek. Not in form. Not in voice.Just a silhouette that whispered:go on."