The moon hung low, blood-red and pulsing like a wounded heart. Every wolf in the clearing could feel it, its ancient pull, the ritual magic whispering through their bones.
Torches lit the stone-ringed clearing, casting jagged shadows on cloaked figures and furred forms. The air smelled of ash, fur, and iron—but beneath it, something else lurked.
They burned with sacred oils, amber and wolfsbane, the same blend used when the first Crimson Fang Alpha swore fealty to the Moon Goddess under this very blood moon.
A tension, thick as the scent of ozone before a storm. The forest beyond the clearing stood too still, the trees like silent sentinels watching with unseen eyes.
Lyra stood at the center of the circle, bare feet on sacred earth, trembling.
The stones beneath her feet were carved with ancient runes, remnants of the Luna Wars where the Goddess drowned an entire pack in silver for betrayal.
Lyra's long dark hair clung to her damp skin, and her heart thudded in sync with the drumming echo of the elders' chant.
This was supposed to be her night. The Moon Ritual. The sacred moment where the fated bond was revealed and recognized.
Where she, the outcast omega, would finally be chosen.
Her mate was Kael.
She had known since she was ten years old. She'd seen him in dreams, felt the pull every full moon. And tonight, under the Crimson Moon, that bond was to be declared before the whole pack.
Before the elders. Before the Goddess.
Kael stood across from her, tall and powerful. His silver-streaked black hair caught the moonlight. The Alpha of the Crimson Fang Pack. His eyes, once familiar, now gleamed cold as steel.
The Elder's voice boomed. "Alpha Kael of the Crimson Fang Pack, do you recognize the bond set by the Moon Goddess?"
Silence.
Lyra's heart skipped.
Then Kael took a step forward. Looked at Lyra with a promising smile that stretched wide across his face.
"I reject her."
Gasps rippled through the crowd. The wind itself seemed to pause.
Kael's voice was colder than winter. "She is not my mate. She is nothing. A mistake. I will not bind myself to weakness."
The words sliced through her like a blade. Lyra staggered, as if physically struck. Her wolf howled within, twisting in agony.
The pain wasn't just emotional, it was supernatural, a ripping of soul from soul.
"But..." she whispered, eyes wide with confusion. "I felt it. The bond... Kael, please…"
Kael didn't flinch. His smile never wavered, like her pain was a joke.
"You felt wrong," he snapped. "My true Luna is Selena, daughter of the High Alpha. This" he gestured to her "…was never real."
Selena stepped forward, silver dress shimmering. Her smile was sharp. She slid her arm around Kael's.
Lyra stared at them, unable to breathe. Her world collapsed inward, everything shattering. The crowd watched silently – some pitied her, others sneered. No one moved.
Then something deep inside her snapped.
She turned and ran.
The crowd's gasps weren't just shock, they were fear. No one rejected a bond under the Crimson Moon and lived. Not since the Riven Pack's massacre three generations ago.
Lyra fled, but the echo of Selena's laughter chased her, sharp as a knife between the ribs.
Through the gasps, through the firelight, through the forest. Branches clawed at her skin like skeletal fingers, the undergrowth whispering secrets she couldn't understand.
The trees seemed to lean closer, their gnarled roots twisting as if to trip her. The red moon bled through the canopy, staining the world in hues of violence.
She collapsed beside the Moonfall Cliff, gasping. Sobs tore out of her.
"Why? Why me?"
The wind answered with silence.
Maybe the Goddess had abandoned her too.
And then –
Ding.
A glowing blue screen blinked into existence before her eyes.
[System Initialization Complete]
Welcome, Lyra. You have been chosen by the Moon System.
New Trait Acquired: Pain = Power
Quest Unlocked: Survive the Night.
Reward: Luna's First Blessing
Far behind her, Kael and Selena's mocking laughter slithered through the trees, a venomous echo of her shattered bond.
With no respect for the Elder's or the entire clan, they kissed, tongues tangling, heedless of the pack's stares.
"It's good you rejected her in plain sight…" Selena sighed. But her eyes still gazed at the direction Lyra took.
"Pathetic. An omega like her should've been culled at birth." Selena's laugh slithered through the crowd.
Back in the woods, Lyra's sob caught in her throat.
"What the hell...?"
Then the forest screamed.
A pack of rogue wolves broke through the trees, eyes glowing, teeth bared.
Their snarls weren't natural; too guttural, too wrong. The air around them warped, shadows clinging to their fur like living smoke.
Lyra scrambled back, her pulse a frantic drum against her ribs. The system's interface flickered, lines of text scrolling too fast to read:
Warning: Corruption Detected.
Hostile Entities: 6.
Survival Probability: 17%.
The lead wolf lunged.
Instinct flared; not hers, not her wolf's, but something new. A heat ignited in her veins, searing through the rejection's agony.
Her vision sharpened, the world slowing as the system's voice echoed in her skull:
"Adapt or die."
She rolled, the wolf's jaws snapping where her throat had been.
Her fingers dug into the earth, and for the first time, she felt it; the power beneath her skin, raw and untamed.
The girl who was nothing stood, pain burning behind her eyes, a new strength waking in her blood.
She would survive.
She would rise.
The world slowed.
Pain hummed like static under Lyra's skin, a living current of agony, but beneath it, something new writhed.
A warmth like molten silver flooded her veins, and the night itself seemed to hold its breath.
The trees loomed taller, their branches clawing at the crimson moon as shadows pooled too thickly, too hungrily, around her.
The air tasted of copper and charged ozone, like the moment before lightning strikes.
Then—light.
Glowing blue script seared across her vision, harsh and clinical against the primal dark:
[Moon System Active]
Host: Lyra Rain
Class: Unawakened Luna
Status: Injured – 32% HP
Buff Activated: Pain = Power (+10% Strength per 10% HP lost)
The first rogue wolf lunged.
She dodged, not with grace, but with a feral desperation that surprised even her.
Her body moved before her mind could follow, muscles singing with borrowed strength.
Another wolf came from the left, jaws snapping where her throat had been a heartbeat before.
Her vision blurred as she groped for a weapon. Then she grabbed a fallen branch, swung.
Crack!
The wood splintered, and the wolf yelped, skidding back with a whimper.
+50 XP
Lyra panted, staring at the shimmering notification. "What is this?"
The system's voice slithered into her skull, toneless and inevitable:
"You gain strength as you suffer. Each wound is a path. Each pain a teacher. Survive. Adapt. Rise."
A snarl ripped through the dark.
Too late.
Slash!
Bright silver like claw raked her back.
It carved her skin with an imagined scar.
White-hot fire scorched down her spine as she screamed.
-12% HP
Buff Increased: +10% Strength
Skill Unlocked: Adrenaline Surge (Passive)
and suddenly, the night sharpened.
Her pulse became a war drum. Her vision tinted blue at the edges, every shadow crisp, every rustle of leaves deafening.
Everything seemed to move under her gaze. The wind's rhythm slowed to a crawl under her heightened senses.
The wolf recoiled, but she was faster now.