The moon that night did not rise silver.
It bled across the sky like a wound—red and furious—casting the forests and ruins of Eldoria in a cruel, living glow.
Prince Kael stood alone on a cliff overlooking the kingdom, his breath shallow, his body trembling. The beast inside him stirred violently, clawing at his chest, whispering to be let free.
> "You cannot fight the moon," it growled. "It is your crown."
Kael pressed his hand to the hilt of his sword. "I am no king of shadows."
The voice laughed—a deep, echoing snarl that rolled through his mind.
> "Then watch your kingdom burn without you."
And below the cliff, fires erupted.
---
1. The Rise of the Beasts
From every dark corner of Eldoria, creatures began to emerge—half-human, half-animal, bound by the same ancient curse that had once plagued his family. Wolves with human eyes. Serpents with faces that whispered prayers. Crows that spoke in broken tongues.
Kael's knees buckled. The curse hadn't vanished—it had spread.
The sorceress's words echoed faintly in his head, like a memory not his own:
> "When the moon bleeds, the beast will rise again—not as punishment, but as inheritance."
It was no longer about breaking the curse. It was about choosing how to bear it.
---
2. The Queen's Last Breath
In the palace, Queen Selara lay dying.
The last remnants of her serpent form shimmered faintly beneath her skin as her daughter, Lyra, wept beside her.
> "Mother, hold on—Kael is coming. He will save you."
Selara smiled weakly. "No, my dove. The curse doesn't kill… it calls. He is the moon's heir now. And when it claims him, he will either save us—or end us."
Her final words slipped from her lips like a prayer:
> "Tell him… to embrace it."
The queen's body went still. Her eyes—once emerald green—turned to silver dust.
Lyra screamed, the sound echoing through the palace towers and into the crimson night.
---
3. The Sorceress Appears
Kael rode through the burning forest until a figure emerged from the flames—the old sorceress, her eyes gleaming white, her cloak untouched by fire.
> "You knew this would happen," Kael snarled. "You cursed my family!"
She chuckled softly. "I gave your mother what she asked for. Eternal beauty. What she never understood is that beauty is not skin—it's will. The beast is not your curse, boy. It's your birthright."
Kael drew his sword, but the blade melted in his hand like wax. The sorceress raised her finger and pointed to his chest.
> "You are the bridge between light and dark. The last heir of both man and monster. When the moon bleeds again, Eldoria will have no king… unless you accept what you are."
Her form faded into ash before he could reply.
---
4. The Transformation
The wind howled. Kael fell to his knees as pain ripped through him—bones twisting, claws tearing through his skin, his roar echoing into the red sky. But this time, something was different. The transformation didn't steal his mind—it sharpened it.
He looked at his reflection in the river below. The beast stared back—but its golden eyes were calm. Controlled.
> "You are not my cage," Kael whispered to it. "You are my crown."
And when he raised his head, the beasts across Eldoria fell silent. They bowed. Every creature, every cursed soul, knelt to the red moon's light.
The curse was no longer consuming him—it was obeying him.
---
5. The Dawn of a New King
Lyra arrived the next morning to find the land eerily quiet. Smoke rose from the forests, but the fires had stopped. She climbed the cliff and saw her brother—half man, half beast—standing before the sunrise.
> "Kael…" she whispered.
He turned, eyes soft and human once more. "The curse is not gone, sister. It lives within us all. But now… it has a master."
Lyra stepped closer. "Then what will you do?"
Kael looked toward the distant palace, where the banners still burned.
> "I will rebuild Eldoria. Not as a kingdom of men… but as a kingdom where beasts no longer hide from the moon."
And as the blood-red sun rose over the land, the age of Cursed Royalty ended—
and the reign of the Moonborn King began.