Light Before the War
The world we returned to wasn’t the same.
The moon hung low, tinted faintly red even before its time. The forests were quieter, the rivers slower, as though the land itself waited for something terrible.
I could feel her everywhere — Mona’s power humming through the earth like a warning.
Lucien walked beside me in silence, his shadows curling around us like a second skin. Behind us trailed the few who had survived Derrick’s collapse — wolves who had chosen resistance over corruption. Their loyalty was unsteady, but their fear of Mona was greater.
We had reached the edge of the old temple ruins — a place where the veil between realms still shimmered. Here, Lucien could anchor his power without destroying the mortal soil.
He stopped, glancing at me. “This is where
