Lycan Unity Academy

The Lunaris Vision

Christine's point of view.

"The chosen one hides among the servants." Silence. Real silence. The kind that made breathing feel too loud. Then, all the servants were summoned into the grand hall.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. No one moved. Not the servants. Not the guards. Not even the alphas. We all stood there, waiting to find out whose life was about to change. Water splashed. Loud. Startling. No one dared talk. They stood frozen in disbelief that the moon goddess had chosen someone from among the servants.

Those considered the lowest ranked omegas of the pack. Those who had always been invisible until this moment. I flinched involuntarily.

"On a straight line, servants. Stay on a straight line." A guard's boot scraped the floor sharply in warning, the noise cutting through the tension like a blade. "Keep moving." The servant who had dropped a bucket scrambled to kneel, her hands visibly trembling as she pressed her forehead against the cold stone, fear radiating from her hunched shoulders. The lunar seer stepped forward. He raised his staff. Silver light burst from the runes. "My vision approaches," he said. The moon goddess opens her sight. Silver runes etched along its length flickered, once, twice, before igniting fully with an otherworldly glow.

"Moon goddess! Moon goddess!" he chanted. "Reveal to me." A murmur rippled through the hall, electric and anxious, through us like a current, mostly among the servants, whose faces betrayed a mixture of fear and longing. For once, a servant whispered beside me, "The moon goddess remembers us." Another shook her head. "Don't hope too much. Hope is dangerous down here."

Then suddenly, moonlight poured through the circular aperture in the ceiling, brighter than I had ever witnessed during any ceremony observed from the shadows. It wasn't gentle or comforting. It was heavy, pressing down on us all. It slid across the marble floor like a searching hand, fingers of light stretching toward the gathered crowd. I retreated a step, my heart slamming violently against my ribs.

"She sees us. She sees us." A voice whispered, trembling with raw emotion. "Truly, oh hail the moon goddess," another servant murmured, her eyes glistening with tears that refused to fall. "After countless years washing away the blood of elite wolves from these very floors, after being discarded like worthless..." "Hush. Don't say that too loud. The alpha might hear you," an older woman hissed, gripping the girl's wrist with fingers gnarled from decades of service. A guard was listening, his posture rigid with authority. I felt his gaze burn into my back, sharp and suspicious, as though he already knew I didn't belong here. Even among servants, I was an outsider. The moonlight crept closer across the stone floor, caressing each tile with silvery fingers, not hastily or randomly, deliberate, like a predator stalking its prey, as if it were deciding, weighing our worth with wisdom.

"The moon goddess must be rewarding loyalty," a maid whispered reverently, her eyes wide with hope. "Hard work. Devotion," she cooed. Devotion. Devotion? Seriously? My hands curled into fists, nails biting into my palms. If devotion was all it took, then why had my parents... No. Don't go there, I said to myself.

The lunar seer's eyes suddenly rolled back, the whites glowing silver like twin moons. His body jerked once, sharply, as if struck by lightning from an invisible storm. Gasps erupted throughout the hall, a chorus of awe and fear. "He is entering the trance with the goddess," someone breathed behind me. His staff struck the floor. Boom. The impact sent a ripple through the hall. The stone beneath my feet shuddered violently. Servants cried out as knees buckled, bodies colliding in confusion. I grabbed the pillar beside me, its cold surface anchoring me as I struggled to remain upright.

"What if it's one of us?" A girl laughed nervously, her voice high with tension. "Imagine that. Imagine I could be chosen. Think of what one servant could wish for." "Don't joke about such matters," someone snapped, fear making their voice harsh.

The goddess despises mockery of her sacred selection. It was always about what the moon goddess liked or hated. Just then, the moonlight reached my feet. I stepped back. It followed. My throat tightened.

"No," I whispered. Not me. I sucked in a sharp breath, my chest tightening with unexpected dread. A servant laughed. "Relax. The moon goddess isn't choosing you." Another smirked. "You wish. She'd need to give you a wolf first."

But the moon ignored our exchange, its light stubbornly clinging to my feet like an unwanted admirer. My heart pounded so violently. This contradicted everything I knew, everything I'd been taught since childhood. The moon goddess chose strong wolves, gifted wolves, alphas, betas, wolves with wolves, those born with power and purpose. Not servants relegated to the shadows and margins of pack life. And certainly not me, without a wolf, broken and incomplete by their standards.

"What is happening?" I muttered under my breath, pressing myself against the cold stone wall, as though it might offer me escape from this unwanted attention. The light pooled at my feet, shimmering with an almost sentient awareness. Someone noticed, their eyes widening in disbelief.

"Hey," a servant whispered sharply, nudging those nearby. "Hey, look. Why is the light on the wolfless kid?" "No, no, it's just passing by," I snapped, too hastily, my fingers digging into my palms.

Something felt distinctly different today. I sensed it in the air, in the way my skin tingled beneath the moon's gaze. That familiar ache bloomed in my chest, the same strange pull I'd felt since turning six, since the blood moon, since screaming, since fire and death and... No. I couldn't let those memories surface now. Not here. I folded my arms tightly around myself, a futile shield against celestial attention. "You ignored me my whole life," I whispered. "Don't choose me now. I don't need you," I spat angrily, my voice trembling with years of accumulated hurt.

The moonlight pulsed, brightening then dimming in rhythmic waves, almost offended, as if my rejection had wounded it. "Are you okay, wolfless?" a servant scoffed softly, eyeing me with contempt. I staggered back. "Careful now, don't break anything. We all know how fragile you are." I shot her a glare, heat rising to my cheeks as I struggled to maintain composure. "I'm sorry," I said stiffly, forcing the words out. Just then, the whispers shifted. They weren't external anymore. They invaded my head, sharp, piercing. Wolfless, a voice whispered in my ears. I looked beside me. There was no one. She's cursed. The voice came again, and I panicked.

"Who's talking?" I asked to literally no one, as my throat closed. Silence, a guard barked sharply, cutting through the murmurs in my head. I noticed the Luna gaze shifted to the spot I stood. She creased her eyebrows.

"Why did you let that girl in here?" Luna Aerys lips moved as she spoke to another guard, and I caught the words immediately. I stumbled back because I knew what was coming next. The dungeon. Then the guard began to move towards me slowly...