LUNA OF THE LOST MOON

CHAPTER 6: THE TRIAL OF ASH AND BONE

— Let the wolves remember what was buried.

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“Move!”

The order came like a growl in the dark.

Flames burst from the sconces on the stone walls, lighting up the underground chamber where we landed — a circular pit layered in ash, bone, and something thicker. Older. The stink of blood clung to the cracked ground like perfume on rotted silk.

I rose to my feet, heart steady, eyes sharper. Around me, others groaned, some whimpering, clawing ash from their faces. Moon-marked like me. Five of us. Marked by fate, dragged into something ancient and merciless.

Then came the voice.

“Children of the Veil, hear me.”

From the shadows above, a figure stepped out. Robes blacker than shadow. His presence bent the space around him. Eyes like burning frost. Alpha Valen.

Built like a storm, with scars across his face that looked like they were clawed in by fate itself. And yet, his voice was calm. Too calm.

“This is the Trial of Ash and Bone. Those summoned carry the dormant blood of the Moonborne. Your kind once ruled the night... until you betrayed it.”

Someone beside me whimpered. I didn’t flinch.

“You will face three tasks,” Alpha Valen continued. “Fail, and the ground will remember your bones. Succeed… and you may claim the truth of your bloodline.”

He raised a hand. The ash beneath us shifted, groaned, and then—

The ground swallowed one of the boys whole.

“Trial One,” Valen said, voice like thunder, “Survive the Dreadpack.”

From the far end of the chamber, rusted gates creaked open.

The sound of claws. Growls. The scent of unhinged rage.

They didn’t send wolves.

They sent what used to be wolves — rabid, half-dead, eyes glowing white, bones showing beneath blackened fur. Creatures twisted by curses, once warriors, now forgotten legends with teeth.

I turned just in time to see Vanya—the Gamma girl who led me here—rip her jacket off, shift mid-air, and lunge at the first beast with a howl.

Flesh met claw. Blood painted the bone walls. Screams echoed.

I ducked low, my fingers already burning with the shift. My wolf surged, wild and whispering. But something else stirred too. Something deeper than the wolf ,it was older.

"Nyra!" Vanya yelled. "They're feeding off fear!"

Too late.

Another Moonmarked fell, throat torn, the scent of silver smoke rising from his corpse.

I growled, my wolf bursting forward. Limbs stretched. Bones snapped. Fur ripped through skin. My eyes burned golden.

And then—I wasn’t just Nyra Vale. I was the moon’s wrath incarnate.

I slammed into one of the Dreadpack mid-leap, teeth sinking into rotted flesh. The monster screeched, but I didn’t stop. I bit harder. Ripped deeper.

One down.

Two more came. I let instinct take over. My claws tore. My howl rose like thunder breaking glass.

Around me, chaos. Vanya fought like she was born in the storm. The others—less lucky.

When the last beast fell, twitching and twitching into stillness, only three of us remained.

Me. Vanya. And a silent, pale-eyed girl I didn’t recognize.

Alpha Valen’s voice returned, slow and sure. “Interesting.”

The ground shook.

Another gate opened.

"Trial Two," he said, "Blood Memory."

We were yanked backward—literally yanked—as if by invisible chains, and thrown into a dark chamber of mirrors. But these weren’t normal reflections.

They moved before we did.

I watched one step forward — a younger version of me, bloodied, chained, screaming as wolves tore into my family in the woods.

“No,” I whispered.

The room pulsed with power. A voice hissed in my ear, “Relive it… or be consumed by it.”

I clenched my fists. “I don’t bow to memory.”

But then I saw something else.

Behind my younger self… a figure. Hooded. Watching.

And branded on his hand — the same mark behind my neck.

A connection?

A memory I was never supposed to see?

Vanya was screaming in her mirror — something about a pack she couldn’t save. The pale-eyed girl just stood, still as death, her reflection whispering to her.

Crack

One of the mirrors shattered on its own.

Alpha Valen appeared again, his tone amused. “Secrets rise, don’t they?”

We were dragged out again.

This time, into a cold cavern filled with moonlight dripping through a hole in the ceiling. The air buzzed.

Valen raised his hand once more.

“Trial Three,” he said. “Choose.”

And then—before us—two paths formed. One into fire. One into darkness.

“No one may choose alone,” Valen said. “You may speak once. Only once. Choose wrong, and you all fall.”

Vanya turned to me. “Darkness leads to the truth. Fire… to power.”

The pale girl spoke: “Fire burns lies. Only truth survives it.”

I hesitated.

But then I heard it — the whisper I’d heard back in the Archive Hall. “You are not the only one hunting.”

And something clicked.

“I’ve already walked in darkness,” I said. “Let it be fire this time.”

The others nodded.

We stepped into the fire.

And it didn’t burn.

It revealed.

A vision burst open like a wound. Wolves in chains. Blood sealing contracts. My name — carved into an ancient oath.

And then I saw him.

The one who started it all.

Alpha Valen… standing in the past, signing the first Blood Pact.

My voice caught in my throat.

He wasn’t just the judge.

He was part of the curse.

The fire snapped shut.

We were back in the arena.

Alpha Valen watched us, expression unreadable. “Interesting indeed,” he said.

He turned away.

“You are dismissed.”

But I knew better.

This wasn’t over.

---

The moment Alpha Valen vanished into the smoke, the chamber didn’t empty.

It shifted.

The marble beneath our feet pulsed faintly—once, like a heartbeat.

Vanya tensed beside me. “That’s… not supposed to happen.”

“You’re saying that like anything about this place has been normal,” I muttered.

A low groan rumbled through the ash pit. The walls shimmered. Stone became mist. And then, without warning, we were no longer in the pit.

We were in the past.

At least, that’s what it felt like.

I stood at the center of what looked like an ancient coliseum—wolves circling above in ghost-like forms, howling silently. Runes flickered across the stone, forming the crest I’d seen sealed behind the academy’s archive chamber.

My mark.

“Only a Moon-Bound can trigger a blood echo,” Vanya whispered, stepping beside me. “That was a memory—buried magic.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You don’t have to. It’s already in you.”

A searing pain shot through my spine. I fell to my knees, gripping the dirt as the air shimmered again.

Voices—echoing from the stone itself.

“One will return with the mark of dusk…”

“The blood of the first Alpha flows again…”

“…and with her, the breaking.”

Then silence.

I opened my eyes. We were back in the ash pit. But something had changed.

Vanya stared at me like I’d grown fangs. “Nyra… your eyes.”

“What?”

“They’re not just glowing. They’re… bleeding gold.”

Before I could respond, a new scent hit the air—like frost and fire.

Another figure emerged at the rim of the pit. Cloaked. Hooded.

This one was leaner. Quieter. But just as commanding.

And when he removed his hood, the entire chamber froze.

He looked exactly like me.

Or… like someone who could be my twin. Same eyes. Same nose. Same mark scorched into the side of his neck.

“What the hell—” Vanya whispered.

The stranger smiled, cold and calm. “Found you.”

“Who are you?” I demanded, pushing to my feet.

“I’m the other half of the prophecy,” he said. “And you? You’re late.”

---

Vanya stepped between us. “She’s not going anywhere.”

He raised a brow. “Vanya, Gamma-ranked, third class, expelled twice for blood-rage. Still overestimating your rank, I see.”

“How do you know—”

“I know everything about you. All of you. This isn’t a trial. This is a calling.”

He looked straight at me. “And you, Nyra Vale, are the Luna of the Lost Moon. But you’re not the only one hunting anymore.”

Suddenly, runes blazed beneath our feet again.

A storm of shadow wolves erupted from the ground, snarling, snapping. Ghost-wolves. Half-real, half-memory. One lunged straight for Vanya. I tackled her out of the way.

The stranger didn’t flinch. “This is only the beginning. Alpha Valen won’t protect you from what comes next.”

“And you will?” I growled, my claws flickering out.

He didn’t answer. Just turned and walked into the smoke.

---

We made it out of the pit, barely. And when we returned to the academy, Bloodhaven had changed.

The seal of the Moon-Bound was now carved above the gates.

Students whispered. Teachers stared too long. And the headmistress summoned me with a message carved in old runes:

The relic has awakened. You are summoned to the Obsidian Wing. Midnight sharp. Come alone.

And that was how I knew—

The hunt was only just beginning.

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