The peace after the battle did not last long. We had barely finished burying our dead and bandaging our wounded when the next threat emerged. A meeting was called with the pack elders, their faces grim and their voices heavy with ancient knowledge. They gathered in the great hall, their eyes filled with a fear I had not seen before. The air was thick with tension as the eldest among them began to speak.
A new larger threat was revealed during that meeting. An ancient organization called the Eternal Order had been hunting Gift carriers for centuries. They were older and more dangerous than the Vipers or the immortal faction we had faced. The Vipers had been a symptom, a splinter group that had broken off from the Order's influence. The immortal faction had been a tool, used by the Order to
