The howl came at dawn.
It rolled across the valley low and broken, not a call for help, not a challenge just sound torn loose from a throat that no longer cared who heard it.
Maria froze mid-step.
Kael felt it too. The bond snapped tight between them, sharp as a blade dragged across nerve. That howl belonged to Bloodstone Ridge.
"It's wrong," Kael said quietly.
Maria nodded. "They don't howl like that unless something has already gone very wrong."
The council had barely dispersed when the message reached them. A scout, half-shifted and bleeding, collapsed at the edge of the camp, breath ragged, eyes wide with terror.
"Bloodstone…" he choked. "It's not a rebellion. It's a slaughter."
Maria knelt instantly, silver light spilling from her palms as she steadied him. "Who attacked you?"
The scout swallowed hard. "No banners. No packs. They came from the ground. From the shadows between trees." His eyes locked onto hers. "They weren't wolves anymore."
A chill ran through the camp.
Kael's jaw tightened. "Remnants."
Maria rose slowly. "No," she said. "Not remnants."
She could feel it now faint, distant, like a pressure behind the Moon's glow. Whatever had stirred after the Ashen King's fall was not trying to rule.
It was trying to feed.
"They answered no one," the scout whispered. "Not even the Moon."
That did it.
Maria turned toward the ridge, the wind pulling at her cloak. "Prepare the fastest riders. I want healers and warriors only those who can fight without losing themselves."
Kael stepped to her side. "This isn't random."
"No," Maria agreed. "It's a test."
The Moon hung pale in the sky, dimmer than it should have been at dawn. Maria felt its presence watching her not warning, not guiding.
Waiting.
As they crossed into Bloodstone territory, the land changed.
Trees leaned inward, bark split by black veins. The air tasted metallic, heavy with old magic. The closer they got, the quieter it became no birds, no insects.
Just silence.
Then they saw it.
Bloodstone Ridge burned not with fire, but with ash-gray light. Bodies lay scattered across the ground, some half-shifted, some frozen mid-transformation. Their expressions were twisted in confusion, not fear.
Kael clenched his fists. "They didn't even know what hit them."
Maria stepped forward and stopped.
At the center of the ridge, something moved.
Not a wolf.
Not a man.
A figure pulled itself upright from the ash, bones rearranging, skin stretched too thin, eyes glowing with a hollow silver that mocked the Moon's light.
It tilted its head.
And smiled.
"You broke the crown," it said in a voice made of many. "Now we rise."
Maria felt the Moon surge inside her, cold and bright.
"Then fall again," she said.
And the silence shattered.