Gatekeeper's Burden
1230 Words
The red moons had faded by morning, replaced by thick clouds and winds that smelled of rain and smoke. The forest was uneasy. Even the birds were silent.
Kael stood in the war hall, flanked by his top lieutenants. Maps, scrolls, and relics littered the ancient table.
“She needs protection,” Lena argued. “But she also needs training. She’s not just a girl anymore.”
“She’s not just a weapon either,” Kael countered.
Before they could argue further, Aria stepped into the room.
“I can speak for myself,” she said firmly.
All eyes turned.
She wore the pendant now. Its blue gem pulsed faintly against her skin. Her eyes were sharper. Her stance stronger. And the wild forest magic in her blood had begun to stir.
“I want to know everything,” she said. “About the prophecy. About the war. About what you’re not telling me.”
Kael studied her quietly.
“You were born under a rare celestial event,” he began. “A Blood Eclipse. Only three have occurred in a thousand years. Each time, a child was born with the power to reshape the balance—between packs, and between realms.”
Aria’s heart stuttered.
“You’re not just the last Moonstone,” Kael continued. “You’re the Gatekeeper.”
“To what?” she asked.
His voice dropped low.
“To the realm where gods once walked.”
Aria’s breath caught.
“The realm of the gods?” she repeated. “You’re serious?”
Kael nodded. “It was sealed centuries ago after the Great Fracture. But it’s not just legend. Your bloodline is the key. That’s why the Shadowborn want you. If they break the seal, they’ll unleash a force no pack can resist.”
Lena stepped forward, her voice hushed. “Why didn’t anyone know this?”
“Because the truth was hidden,” Kael said, jaw clenched. “Even I didn’t know. Not until Aria shifted. When she awakened, the prophecy awakened too.”
Aria’s mind spun. “So now I just train? Guard some ancient doorway?”
Kael moved to the map and pointed to a red-marked region near the eastern border. “We’re sending you to Emberwatch. It’s protected. You’ll train there—and learn the old ways.”
She stared at him. “And the prophecy? What does it say—exactly?”
He looked her dead in the eyes. “It says the child of blood and moon will either save the wolves... or destroy them all.”
Silence spread across the war hall.
Aria looked down at her pendant. Her hands trembled slightly—but not her voice.
“Then we make sure I save them.”
Kael gave the signal, and the room emptied, leaving only Lena, Aria, and himself.
The fire in the hearth crackled softly.
“I’ll have scouts prepare your escort to Emberwatch,” he said. “We leave at first light.”
Aria nodded, though a storm churned behind her ribs. She turned to leave.
A voice called from the shadows.
“I wouldn’t go to Emberwatch if I were you.”
She spun.
A tall woman stepped into the light—cloaked in grey, her violet-glowing eyes unreadable. A celestial mark, like a trail of stardust, ran from her temple to her jaw.
Kael tensed. “You weren’t supposed to be here yet.”
“I go where I’m needed,” the woman said coolly. Her gaze shifted to Aria. “And she needs the truth. All of it.”
Aria narrowed her eyes. “Who are you?”
“I am Elyra. Seer of the Wildbloods. Keeper of the Forgotten Flame.”
Lena gasped. “That’s impossible. The Wildbloods vanished centuries ago.”
“We hid,” Elyra replied. “Because we saw what was coming. The prophecy left out a line—one no one wanted to believe.”
She stepped closer, her gaze locking onto Aria’s.
> “The Gatekeeper isn’t meant to save the wolves.
She’s meant to choose who survives.”
---
Aria’s chest tightened. “Choose who survives?”
Elyra nodded solemnly. “The realm of the gods—what the prophecy calls the Eclipsed Plane—isn’t just a doorway. It’s a balance. If it opens fully, both light and darkness will spill into this world. Only one side can survive.”
Lena’s voice shook. “You’re saying the war hasn’t even started yet?”
Elyra’s violet eyes turned grim. “It’s already begun. You just haven’t seen the battlefield.”
Kael paced, anger sharpening his steps. “Why didn’t your kind warn us?”
“We tried,” Elyra said. “The Elders silenced us. They feared the truth more than extinction.”
Aria stepped forward, voice steady. “What do you want from me?”
Elyra drew a shard of black crystal from her cloak—pulsing with violet-blue light. As Aria reached for it, the shard sparked, reacting to her presence.
“This is one of three,” Elyra said. “Keys to the seals left behind by the gods. You must gather them before the Shadowborn do.”
Kael’s jaw tightened. “Where are the others?”
“One lies beneath Emberwatch,” Elyra said. “The second is buried in the Crescent Graveyard, deep in rogue territory.”
Aria’s fingers curled around her pendant. “And the third?”
Elyra’s voice dropped.
> “In the hands of someone who already knows you’re alive—
and wants your power for himself.”
---
The hall exploded into motion.
Plans were scrapped. Escorts reshuffled. Urgency sparked like flint.
Kael stood in the courtyard beneath a pale, returning moon.
“You shouldn’t trust her,” he said without turning.
Aria joined him. “Elyra?”
He nodded. “Wildbloods follow prophecy. Not people.”
“And you?”
Kael’s voice was low. “I follow my pack. Even if it kills me.”
She believed him. That scared her more than if he’d lied.
Lena emerged with riding gear and a dark travel cloak. “We move before dawn. Emberwatch is three days through contested land. We’ll travel light—no howling, no fire.”
Elyra was already mounted, her stallion shimmering faintly with old magic. She raised her hood. “The forest knows me. I’ll guide us through.”
Kael met Aria’s eyes. “Stay close. No matter what.”
---
They rode beneath the cloak of darkness.
The woods swallowed them. Trees thickened. The wind no longer howled—it whispered.
Branches cracked in the distance. Shapes shifted behind trunks. Eyes watched in silence.
Then they heard it.
A howl.
Long. Twisted.
Not wolf.
Elyra halted. “They’ve found us.”
Kael drew his blade. “Shadowborn?”
Elyra’s face paled. “No. Worse. Shadowed wolves—shifters who gave up their will. Servants of the seal.”
Lena swore softly.
Aria felt it then—like fire rising from her spine to her throat. Her magic. Her wolf. The storm inside her blood.
She dismounted, stepping ahead of them, hands glowing faintly.
“I’m not hiding anymore.”
Kael called out, “Aria, wait!”
But she was already shifting—fast, graceful, glowing with silver fire—and lunging into the trees.
Her first trial as Gatekeeper had begun.
---
- Writer
