Dawn broke over the renewed plain with cautious light, as though the world itself feared moving too quickly after what had been undone.
Where corruption once clung to the soil, green shoots pushed through ash, fragile yet stubborn life insisting on its return.
Maria stood at the edge of the valley, the Moon's lingering presence wrapped around her like a silent crown.
Though unseen, its weight pressed steadily against her shoulders. She could feel it now not as power, but as responsibility.
Kael joined her, gaze sweeping the ridges. "Scouts are reporting movement," he said quietly. "Not attacks. Observers."
"They felt it," Maria replied. "All of them."
By midmorning, wolves began appearing along the high ground small groups at first, then entire packs. Some approached openly, others lingered in the shadows, watching, measuring.
The air hummed with tension and curiosity.
Maria stepped forward, alone.
She did not raise her voice. She did not summon the Moon.
"I did not end the Ashen King to take his throne," she said, her words carrying effortlessly across the valley. "I ended him because he poisoned our world."
A murmur rippled through the watchers.
"I will not rule through fear," she continued. "But understand this if darkness rises again, I will stand against it. With anyone who chooses to stand beside me."
Silence followed.
Then an Alpha from the eastern ridges stepped forward and lowered his head not kneeling, not submitting. Acknowledging.
Others followed. Some turned away, eyes calculating, already planning futures that did not include her.
Kael moved to her side, his presence steady. "Not all of them will accept you."
Maria nodded. "They don't have to. The Moon didn't choose me to be liked."
As the gathering slowly dispersed, howls echoed from distant forests questions, challenges, recognition.
The world was awake now, fully aware that something had changed.
High above, the Moon lingered pale against the daylight sky.
Watching.
Waiting.
Because the fall of a king was only the beginning.