14.What the Guardian Saw
1592 Words
No one moved after the vision ended.
The guardian remained kneeling at Aria’s feet, enormous and silent, its silver eyes fixed on her with terrifying loyalty. Blood from the dead warrior still stained its claws, dark against black fur that shimmered faintly beneath the corridor torches.
The fortress had gone unnaturally quiet.
As if Bloodridge itself was holding its breath.
Aria’s pulse still raced violently from the images the guardian forced into her mind.
Fire swallowing kingdoms.
Lucien standing beside the Crown of Night.
Something buried beneath the throne waking in darkness.
Not a king.
Not a weapon.
Something worse.
Darius stepped closer immediately.
“What did you see?”
His voice cut through the panic spiraling inside her.
Aria looked at him, trying to steady her breathing.
The bond between them pulsed strangely now—warmer than before, more aware somehow. Standing this close to him felt dangerous in an entirely different way.
Not because she feared him.
Because part of her no longer did.
“That wasn’t just a crown,” she whispered.
The others slowly approached now that the guardian remained calm.
Cautiously.
Very cautiously.
Cedric kept one massive hand near his axe.
Mara looked ready to stab something if it breathed wrong.
Kael’s eyes never left Aria.
Ronan watched everyone.
Calculating.
Always calculating.
Aria swallowed hard.
“There’s something under Bloodridge.”
Mara blinked.
“I’m starting to miss when our biggest problem was politics.”
“You saw the thing Lucien wants?” Darius asked.
Aria nodded slowly.
“I think the crown is sealing it.”
Selene appeared beside the broken corridor wall, her silver form flickering faintly in the torchlight.
Pain crossed her face.
“She remembers.”
Everyone turned toward her.
Darius’s eyes narrowed.
“What exactly is beneath the throne?”
Selene remained silent too long.
And that silence frightened Aria more than any answer.
Finally, the ancient queen spoke.
“The first king.”
Cold swept through the corridor.
Cedric frowned deeply.
“There were kings before the Alpha councils?”
Selene’s silver eyes darkened.
“There was one.”
The guardian suddenly lowered its head further beside Aria, almost as if reacting to the memory itself.
Kael stepped closer.
“You’re saying the Order is trying to revive someone?”
“No,” Selene whispered.
Her expression became haunted.
“They are trying to free him.”
The fortress groaned around them.
Somewhere deeper below, ancient stone shifted again.
Aria’s stomach tightened painfully.
“Who was he?”
Selene closed her eyes briefly.
“The mate of the first Moon Queen.”
Silence crashed through the corridor.
Even Mara stopped making sarcastic comments.
That was how serious this suddenly became.
Darius crossed his arms tightly.
“What happened to him?”
Selene looked toward the darkness beneath Bloodridge.
“He went mad.”
The words echoed softly through the corridor.
Ronan finally spoke again.
“Power corruption.”
Selene laughed bitterly.
“No. Grief.”
That answer unsettled everyone differently.
Aria stared at the ancient queen.
“What do you mean?”
Selene’s silver gaze found hers.
“The first king loved the Moon Queen beyond reason. When she died during the war against the old territories, he tried to bring her back.”
Cold slid down Aria’s spine.
“The crown was never meant to control wolves,” Selene continued softly. “It was created to amplify lunar magic. But grief twists intention.”
Kael’s expression hardened.
“What did he do?”
Selene’s voice nearly broke.
“He tore open the veil between life and death.”
The corridor lights flickered violently.
The guardian growled low beside Aria.
Not aggression.
Fear.
Real fear.
Aria stared at the creature in shock.
Even this thing feared whatever lay beneath the throne.
Selene continued quietly.
“The first king consumed thousands of wolves trying to resurrect her. Entire bloodlines disappeared. Cities burned. Packs destroyed each other believing the dead would rise again.”
Cedric muttered a curse under his breath.
“That’s not a king.”
“No,” Selene whispered. “It became something else.”
The guardian shifted uneasily.
Its massive body pressed slightly closer to Aria like a living shield.
Darius noticed immediately.
“He’s protecting her.”
Selene nodded.
“The guardians were created for the royal bloodline alone.”
Ronan’s eyes sharpened.
“And now the entire continent knows she exists.”
There it was again.
Not concern.
Strategy.
Aria suddenly felt exhausted.
Everyone looked at her differently now.
Some with fear.
Some with loyalty.
Some with ambition.
The only person who consistently looked at her like herself—
Was Darius.
The realization struck harder than she expected.
Kael noticed her staring at Darius again.
Pain flickered across his face before disappearing beneath guilt.
Darius finally looked toward the others.
“We seal the lower tunnels.”
Selene immediately shook her head.
“You cannot.”
“Watch me.”
“The mountain is already waking.”
The fortress trembled again violently.
This time louder.
A distant roar echoed from beneath the stone.
Not the guardian.
Something deeper.
Something enormous.
Several warriors visibly flinched.
Aria felt the sound inside her bones.
Hungry.
Ancient.
Wrong.
Mara looked deeply disturbed.
“I officially hate this mountain.”
Cedric pointed toward the guardian.
“So what do we do with the giant murder wolf?”
The guardian lifted its head slowly at that.
Cedric immediately raised his axe.
“Right. Touchy subject.”
Aria hesitated before placing one hand carefully against the guardian’s fur.
Warm.
Surprisingly soft beneath the thick black coat.
The creature instantly calmed.
Everyone noticed.
Especially Darius.
Especially Kael.
The bond between guardian and queen.
Another symbol of power.
Another thing making Aria less human in everyone’s eyes.
She hated how much that thought hurt.
Then suddenly—
The guardian showed her another memory.
Aria gasped sharply.
A little girl.
Dark hair.
Silver eyes.
Running through moonlit gardens.
Her mother.
Aria knew it instantly somehow.
The woman turned.
Smiling.
Alive.
Then blood covered the vision.
Screaming.
Chains.
A silver crescent burned into stone walls.
Aria staggered backward violently.
Darius caught her before she fell.
“Aria.”
Her breathing turned uneven.
“My mother.”
The room stilled instantly.
Selene looked horrified.
“What did you see?”
Aria gripped Darius’s arm tightly.
“She didn’t run.”
Selene froze.
Aria looked directly at her.
“She was taken.”
Shock crossed the ancient queen’s face.
“No…”
Ronan stepped closer.
“What are you talking about?”
Aria looked toward him sharply.
“The Order captured her.”
Kael went still.
Selene’s silver form flickered violently.
“That’s impossible. We searched for decades.”
“Then you searched wrong.”
The words escaped harsher than intended.
But no one denied them.
Aria’s chest tightened painfully.
Her entire life she believed her mother abandoned her.
Or died.
Now—
Neither might be true.
Darius looked at her carefully.
“What else did you see?”
Aria swallowed hard.
“A symbol.”
She closed her eyes briefly.
Trying to remember.
Then she froze.
The room beneath chains and blood.
The crescent moon split by a sword.
The Order.
And beneath it—
Another symbol.
A wolf crown surrounded by thorns.
Selene’s expression shattered the moment Aria described it.
“No.”
Everyone looked toward her.
Selene stared at Aria in horror.
“That place should not exist anymore.”
Darius’s voice sharpened.
“What place?”
Selene whispered the answer.
“The Hollow Sanctuary.”
The guardian growled again.
Louder this time.
As if recognizing the name.
Cedric frowned deeply.
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“That’s because it was erased,” Selene said quietly. “The sanctuary was where the Order conducted blood rituals during the war.”
Aria’s stomach twisted.
“My mother was there.”
Not a question.
Selene looked devastated.
“If the Order kept her alive…”
She didn’t finish the sentence.
She didn’t need to.
Aria suddenly understood something horrifying.
The Order did not suddenly discover her.
They had been waiting for her birth.
Waiting for the bloodline to mature.
Waiting for the crown to awaken.
Her entire life had been part of someone else’s plan.
Rage burned hot beneath her ribs.
The guardian felt it instantly.
The corridor lights flared silver.
Power surged through her again.
Darius grabbed both her shoulders immediately.
“Aria.”
His voice grounded her instantly.
She focused on him.
Storm-gray eyes.
Warm hands.
Steady breathing.
Real.
The power settled slightly.
Darius leaned closer carefully.
“Don’t let anger control it.”
The closeness made her pulse jump painfully.
Kael watched the interaction silently.
And this time, the jealousy in his eyes was impossible to hide.
Ronan noticed that too.
His expression darkened.
Then suddenly—
A horn sounded above the fortress.
One long blast.
Then another.
Mara cursed softly.
“That’s the outer gate.”
A warrior sprinted into the corridor breathlessly.
“Alpha!”
Darius turned instantly.
“What happened?”
“The eastern wall—”
The warrior looked pale.
“Someone opened the gates from inside.”
The corridor exploded into motion.
“Traitor,” Cedric growled.
Darius’s face became murderous.
“The Order.”
Kael stepped forward immediately.
“They’re already in the fortress.”
Then the lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the corridor completely.
Several warriors shouted.
Steel hissed from sheaths.
And from somewhere inside the blackness—
A familiar voice whispered softly:
“Found you.”
- Writer
