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CHAPTER 1

Chapter 1

The sword never reached its target.

A vampire commander swung with everything he had, aiming straight for the werewolf king's heart. Before the blade could touch him, it stopped in mid-air as if someone had grabbed it with an invisible hand.

The commander frowned.

He tried to move.

Nothing happened.

Around him, thousands of soldiers suddenly froze. Horses refused to move. Arrows hung in the air. Even the flames burning across the battlefield became perfectly still.

Silence spread across the valley.

The only thing still moving...

Was the moon.

It slowly climbed higher into the night sky until it was directly above the battlefield. Then, without warning, its silver light covered the entire valley.

Every vampire looked up.

Every werewolf did the same.

No one understood what was happening.

A young werewolf soldier was the first to speak.

"Why can't I move?"

His voice shook.

No one answered.

The silver light grew brighter until a figure appeared beneath the moon. She wasn't standing on the ground. She stood above the battlefield, her long silver robes flowing in the wind as though the sky itself carried her.

She looked no older than twenty-five.

Yet the moment every eye met hers...

They knew exactly who she was.

The Moon Goddess.

For centuries, people had prayed to her.

Built temples for her.

Written songs about her.

But no one had ever seen her.

Until now.

She looked across the battlefield without saying a word.

Broken weapons covered the ground.

Bodies lay everywhere.

Smoke rose from burning forests.

The river that separated both kingdoms had turned dark with blood.

She closed her eyes.

When she opened them again...

There was disappointment in them.

"So this is what my children have become."

Her voice wasn't loud.

Still...

Every person heard it clearly.

The Vampire King lowered his head.

The Werewolf King did the same.

Neither dared speak.

The Moon Goddess slowly looked from one army to the other.

"I gave you different gifts because the world needed both of you."

She looked at the vampires.

"I gave you wisdom."

Then she turned to the werewolves.

"I gave you strength."

Her eyes slowly swept across the battlefield.

"I never asked you to become enemies."

A cold wind blew through the valley.

The smell of smoke filled the air.

Then, somewhere in the silence...

A child cried.

The sound was small.

Almost impossible to hear.

The Moon Goddess followed it.

Near the edge of the battlefield, a little vampire girl was trying to wake her mother. She shook her gently again and again, but the woman didn't move.

A few steps away, a young werewolf boy sat beside his older brother, crying so hard he could barely breathe.

Neither child looked at the other with hate.

They were simply afraid.

The Moon Goddess watched them for a long moment.

Then she looked back at the armies.

"Look at them."

No one moved.

"LOOK AT THEM."

This time, her voice shook the mountains.

The kings raised their heads.

So did every soldier.

The little vampire girl noticed the crying werewolf boy. She hesitated for a moment before slowly walking over to him.

She held out her hand.

The boy stared at it.

After a few seconds...

He took it.

The Moon Goddess smiled sadly.

"The children remember what all of you have forgotten."

No one spoke.

No one even breathed.

"You taught them hatred."

"You taught them revenge."

"You taught them that blood is worth more than peace."

She looked toward the moon.

"And now..."

"...I have no choice."

The ground began to shake.

Cracks spread across the battlefield.

The moon glowed brighter than anyone had ever seen.

Some soldiers screamed.

Others fell to their knees.

The kings tried to move.

They couldn't.

"I gave you a world to protect."

"You turned it into a graveyard."

Her voice became colder.

"If you refuse to live together by choice..."

"...then you will live together by my command."

The silver light rushed across the battlefield.

Every vampire clutched their chest.

Every werewolf felt the same sharp pain.

It felt as though invisible chains had wrapped themselves around their hearts.

From that day forward, your lives shall be one."

"If vampires suffer..."

"Werewolves shall suffer."

"If werewolves fall..."

"Vampires shall fall."

"If either race tries to destroy the other..."

"Both shall disappear beneath my moon."

The pain became unbearable.

Some soldiers cried out.

Others collapsed.

The kings looked at each other for the first time in years.

Not with anger.

With fear.

The Moon Goddess lowered her hand.

"This is not a blessing."

"It is your punishment."

The silver light disappeared.

The chains around their hearts remained.

"You will rebuild this world together."

"You will raise your children together."

"You will learn what you refused to learn through peace."

She turned away.

"And if you fail..."

Her final words echoed through the valley.

"...my curse will finish what your hatred began."

Then she was gone.

For a long time...

No one spoke.

The war was over.

Not because anyone had won.

Because everyone had lost.

...

Two hundred years later, the sun rose over Lunarcrest Academy.

The old stone walls glowed beneath the morning light as hundreds of students poured through the front gates, laughing, talking and dragging heavy suitcases behind them. Expensive cars lined the driveway while school staff hurried from one building to another, making sure everything was ready before the opening ceremony.

From a distance, the academy looked peaceful.

Beautiful gardens surrounded the main building. A crystal lake reflected the tall towers standing proudly in the centre of the campus. Students crossed wide stone paths that led to classrooms, dormitories, libraries and training grounds.

It looked like a place where anyone would want to study.

Until you noticed one simple thing.

The vampires entered through the east gate.

The werewolves entered through the west.

No rule told them to do that.

No teacher asked them to.

They had simply been doing it for so many years that no one questioned it anymore.

They shared the same school.

They lived under the same roof.

But even after two hundred years...

An invisible line still separated them.

The valley remained silent long after the Moon Goddess disappeared. No one picked up a sword. No one dared to speak. The kings looked at one another across the battlefield, but for the first time in centuries, there was no anger in their eyes. There was only fear.

The Vampire King was the first to break the silence.

"What have you done to us?"

His voice echoed across the empty valley, but there was no answer.

Instead, the moon above them glowed once more. A soft silver light spread across the battlefield, and the Moon Goddess's voice returned one final time.

"My curse cannot be broken by magic, strength or time. As long as the moon watches over this world, vampires and werewolves shall share one fate. Remember this well... if one race chooses hatred again, both races will pay the price."

The light slowly faded.

The pain in their chests remained.

That was how they knew the curse was real.

The days that followed were unlike anything the world had ever seen. The war was over, but peace did not come easily. Every kingdom returned home carrying its wounded and burying its dead. The castles were rebuilt. The villages rose again. New rulers took the place of those who had fallen.

But nothing felt the same.

Whenever vampires attacked a werewolf village, strange sickness spread through vampire lands. Whenever werewolves struck first, their own people grew weaker beneath the next full moon. It did not matter who started the fight. The curse punished both sides equally.

Years passed before anyone finally accepted the truth.

The Moon Goddess had not ended the war.

She had made another war impossible.

With no other choice, the rulers of both races met beneath the same moon that had cursed them. The meeting lasted for twelve days. Old enemies sat at the same table, argued over every decision, and nearly walked away more than once.

Then, on the final night, an elderly vampire scholar stood and asked a single question.

"If our children inherit our hatred, what will stop history from repeating itself?"

The room fell silent.

An old werewolf Alpha answered him.

"Then we must raise them differently."

For the first time since the curse, both sides agreed on something.

Months later, workers from both kingdoms began building a school on the land that belonged to neither vampires nor werewolves. Every stone was placed by hands from both races. Vampire architects designed its great halls while werewolf builders raised its towers. It was the first thing they had ever created together instead of destroying.

When it was finished, the Moon Goddess appeared one last time.

She stood before the gates as kings, queens, Alphas and nobles gathered around her.

"This place shall be called Lunarcrest Academy," she said. "Here, the children of both races will learn beneath one roof. They will study together, train together and grow together. They may choose friendship or rivalry, but they will never again grow up as strangers."

She looked at every ruler before speaking her final warning.

"Do not mistake my mercy for forgiveness. The curse still lives. If you teach your children to hate, they will inherit more than your anger. They will inherit your punishment."

With those words, she vanished beneath the moonlight.

She was never seen again.

The first years were difficult. Fights broke out almost every week. Students refused to sit together in class. The dining hall became divided without anyone making a rule. Vampires claimed the east side. Werewolves claimed the west. Teachers handed out punishments almost daily, but little by little, the fighting became less violent. Rivalries remained, yet so did the peace.

Generations passed.

Lunarcrest Academy became the most respected school in the world. Every future Alpha, every vampire heir, every commander and every noble child studied there before returning home to lead their people.

The academy became proof that peace could exist.

Even if it was fragile.

No one knew that this school year would be different from every one before it.

Because for the first time since the curse was cast, fate had chosen two students whose lives would decide whether the Moon Goddess's punishment would finally come to an end... or begin all over again.