PROLOGUE:The night the moon wept
The moon had never bled before.
Yet tonight, crimson light spilled across the heavens like fresh blood poured over silver silk, staining every mountain, forest, and river in Elarion. Wolves across the seven kingdoms raised their heads toward the sky, their howls filled not with triumph, but with terror.
Something ancient had awakened.
The battlefield beneath Blackstone Peak had become a graveyard.
Thousands of warriors lay where they had fallen. Torn banners fluttered in the icy wind. Broken swords disappeared beneath pools of blood, and the smell of ash and death clung to the air like a curse.
At the center of the destruction stood one man.
He was taller than any wolf alive, his black armor cracked and dripping with blood that wasn't entirely his own. His silver eyes glowed brighter than the blood moon overhead, and the earth trembled beneath each slow breath he took.
The Hollow King.
The first werewolf.
The first Alpha.
The first monster.
Around him, the seven Alpha Kings formed a circle, each representing one of the Moon Goddess's sacred packs. Their bodies were battered, their wolves exhausted, yet none dared lower their weapons.
They knew one truth.
If the Hollow King survived tonight...
There would never be another sunrise.
"You cannot kill me," the Hollow King said, his voice calm despite the chaos around him. "You borrowed your strength from the Moon Goddess."
A cruel smile crossed his lips.
"I stole mine."
The oldest Alpha stepped forward, his silver cloak whipping in the wind.
"Your reign ends here."
"No," the Hollow King replied softly.
"It begins again."
Without warning, darkness exploded from his body.
The ground split open.
Jagged pillars of black stone erupted from the earth, crushing soldiers beneath their weight. Wolves were thrown through the air like leaves caught in a hurricane. Even the mountains groaned as if the world itself feared the creature standing before them.
One Alpha shifted into his enormous wolf form and lunged.
The Hollow King caught the beast by the throat.
With a single hand.
A sickening c***k echoed across the battlefield.
The Alpha's lifeless body collapsed into the mud.
Silence followed.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Fear spread through the remaining warriors.
They were losing.
The Moon Goddess had promised victory.
Instead...
They were witnessing extinction.
Then...
The clouds parted.
Moonlight poured from the heavens in seven brilliant beams, each carrying a different color.
Silver.
Blue.
Gold.
Crimson.
White.
Violet.
Black.
The light descended upon the remaining Alpha Kings.
Ancient markings burned across their skin.
Their wolves roared as divine power flowed through their veins.
The Hollow King's smile vanished for the first time.
"So..."
He looked toward the heavens.
"You finally came."
A woman's voice echoed through every corner of the battlefield.
Gentle.
Powerful.
Timeless.
"The balance has been broken."
Every warrior fell to one knee.
Even the wind became still.
Only the Hollow King remained standing.
"You speak of balance," he laughed. "Yet you created me."
A long silence answered him.
Then the voice returned.
"And now I must correct my greatest mistake."
The seven Alpha Kings raised their hands together.
Chains of pure moonlight burst from the sky.
The Hollow King fought like a force of nature itself.
Mountains shattered.
Rivers changed course.
The moon flickered.
For a terrifying moment...
It looked as though even the Moon Goddess could not stop him.
But the chains tightened.
One by one.
Around his wrists.
His ankles.
His chest.
His throat.
The earth beneath him split apart, revealing an endless abyss glowing with silver fire.
The prison.
As the chains dragged him toward the darkness, the Hollow King stopped struggling.
Instead...
He laughed.
Not the laugh of a defeated man.
The laugh of someone who had already won.
He looked directly at the seven Alpha Kings.
Then toward the moon itself.
His silver eyes burned with terrifying certainty.
"You believe you've imprisoned me."
His voice rolled like thunder.
"You have merely imprisoned time."
The chains pulled harder.
His body disappeared inch by inch into the glowing abyss.
Still...
He smiled.
"When the moon crowns a wolf..."
His voice echoed across the world.
"...with a heart born of silence..."
The mountains trembled.
"...my chains..."
The sky cracked like glass.
"...shall become dust."
The abyss sealed shut.
The crimson moon returned to silver.
The battlefield fell silent.
The Hollow King was gone.
The surviving Alpha Kings believed the nightmare had ended.
None of them noticed one final thing.
A single strand of black mist escaped the prison before it closed.
It drifted into the night...
Waiting.
Watching.
Patient.
Because prophecies do not die.
They wait for the right soul to awaken them.
And one thousand years later...
The Moon Goddess would make a choice that no one believed was possible.
One that would either save Elarion...
Or doom it forever.
