Once The MAID, Now The LUNA

Long before the supernatural world learned to fear the name of the girl who would one day change its fate, there existed a secret buried beneath centuries of forgotten history. A secret powerful enough to turn allies into enemies, bring ancient kingdoms to their knees, and awaken forces that should have remained undisturbed. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗹. Hidden from the eyes of ordinary creatures, protected by ancient magic and guarded by a promise that had survived generations, the portal was more than a doorway between worlds. Beyond it lay knowledge that had been lost to time, secrets even the oldest witches could not uncover, and something whose true nature few living beings understood. For centuries, people had searched for it. Some wanted the knowledge hidden within its depths, others wanted the power they believed it could grant them and there were those who feared what might happen if the wrong hands ever reached it. The Great Portal was trusted and protected by none other than Eric, an Alpha whose bloodline was older than most supernatural kingdoms. His authority did not come from his title alone. It lived within him, passed down through generations of a rare and ancient lineage. Even among Alphas, his presence commanded respect, and his strength was something other wolves struggled to understand. Yet for all his power, Eric knew there were things strength could not protect. That was why he had hidden the portal. And that was why he had sworn never to reveal its location. His closest friend, Richard Whitemore, knew enough to understand the weight of that promise. He had agreed to protect the secret should anything happen to Eric, never imagining that one day the fate of the supernatural world might rest upon a promise made between two friends. Eric had hoped that day would never come because he had a wife he loved, a home he had built, and a daughter whose laughter could make him forget, if only briefly, the dangers beyond his territory. Sarah was unlike anyone he had ever known. To the outside world, she appeared human. She carried no obvious mark of her supernatural heritage, and she rarely spoke about the strange things that sometimes happened around her. Sarah knew she was different, and also that her daughter inherited something even more powerful than her gift. She simply did not know where that difference began, or what kind of power her daughter inherited. But she and Eric knew it was significant, and they needed to protect her. The first warning arrived beneath a moonless sky. Eric was alone when the stranger appeared at the edge of the forest. Its body shifted like smoke, its shape barely distinguishable from the darkness surrounding it. Where its face should have been, twisted features emerged and disappeared, as though something trapped beneath its shadowy skin was struggling to imitate a living creature. Eric didn't need to think too much to recognized what stood before him. 𝗔 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄 𝗪𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗲𝗿. They were once pure souls known as the 𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘁 𝗪𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀, beings associated with the unseen boundaries between worlds. But something in their ancient history had twisted them into creatures that preyed upon the living, invaded bodies, and consumed souls until little remained of what they had once been. It had been sent to Eric for a proposal. It's kind's are weakening, their influence was fading and their reach are diminishing. Places they had once entered freely were becoming inaccessible, and even pack members and humans had learned to resist their presence. Desperation had driven them to seek a solution and they believed Eric possessed it. “You know why I have come,” the creature said. Its voice seemed to emerge from every direction at once. Eric remained still. “I'm afraid I don't.” "The Portal." It said. Eric snapped his head towards the creature. No one was supposed to know about it, atleast they weren't supposed to know he was safeguarding it. He remained silent, ignoring the Shadow Walker. A low, unnatural sound escaped the creature. It might once have been laughter. “The portal is not yours to keep.” Eric's expression hardened. “It is not yours to claim.” "It is!" It said sharply, it's yellow eyes turning to visible red. “Beyond it lies the knowledge we need! The power we have been denied. You would allow our kind to disappear rather than surrender what you guard?” Eric looked away. “You speak as though your suffering grants you the right to destroy others.” “We are not asking for destruction.” It defended. “You came to my territory demanding access to something I have sworn to protect. Do not insult me by pretending this is a peaceful request.” Eric growled. The darkness around the Shadow Walker rippled. Then the creature stepped closer. "We'll take the portal whether you like it or not. You cannot guard the portal forever, Eric. Your strength will fail and when it does the secret you have hidden will belong to us.” Eric met its hollow gaze without flinching. “Then you will have to kill me first.” The creature's face twisted into something resembling a smile. “Perhaps we shall.” Then it disappeared into the forest. Eric knew the threat was not an empty one. The Shadow Walkers would return, and they would not come alone. He had little time, or maybe till dawn -- The first screams came from the eastern border, followed by the sound of breaking wood and the frantic howls of wolves answering their pack's alarm. Eric was already moving when the bells began to ring. Shadow Walkers poured between the trees, their unnatural forms twisting through the morning mist. Witches followed, their magic tearing through the protective barriers surrounding the territory. Behind them came feral werewolves, their eyes wild and their movements driven by a violence that left little room for reason. Eric's warriors rushed to defend their home. Orders echoed across the clearing as the pack struggled to hold the line. The Alpha fought among them, his strength meeting the advancing darkness, but every enemy that fell seemed to be replaced by another. The warriors focused on the feral wolves and witches because they couldn't defeat the Shadow Walkers alone. The Allied Spirit Walkers were not in the territory, and without them, the pack was at terrible disadvantage. The Shadows had come prepared. Their dark bodies slipped through attacks that would have struck down ordinary creatures. Some of Eric's warriors tried to fight them directly, only to find their blows passing through shifting darkness. Other staggered when the creatures drew near, their strength draining as the shadows reached towards them. Eric understood the danger. A Shadow Walker did not need to overpower a wolf physically to destroy it. It could invade a living body, attract the soul within and leave the victim helpless against a creature that did not fight by ordinary rules. But he refused to retreat In the chaos his gaze kept searching for his wife, Sarah, and his daughter. Somewhere along the chaos Sarah clutched her little girl close, trying to reach the safety of the inner grounds. One of the warrior was with them, trying to take his Luna and her child to a save place. The child, who was only nine could hear the battle, could see the fear on the faces of people who had always seemed invincible. She did not understand why their home was burning and why the shadows moved like living things. She only knew that something terrible was happening, and the people she loved were in danger. Then she saw her father who stood beyond the clearing, surrounded by creatures that seemed to swallow the light around them. One of the Shadow Walkers had reached him, its dark form spreading across the ground like spilled ink. The little girl slipped from her mother's grasp. "No don't!” Sarah cried, reaching for her. But the child was already running. She did not know where she was going or what she was doing. Fear had taken hold of her so completely that the world around her seemed distant and unreal. All she wanted was for them to stop and then something answered her. The air trembled. A strange pressure swept across the clearing, forcing several creatures to stumble. The feral wolves froze mid-stride, their ears flattening as though an unfamiliar command had entered their minds. Even the Shadow Walkers faltered. One of the witches turned sharply. “What was that?” The little girl stood in the middle of the clearing, trembling, tears running down her face. She had no idea what she had done. She only knew that, for one impossible moment, the creatures surrounding her father had stopped moving. The air around her felt heavy, almost as though the entire clearing were holding it's breath. For a brief instant, the feral wolves seemed to lose their will to advance. Their instincts screamed at, them to stop and they obeyed a command they could neither see nor understand The witches exchange uneasy glances. Whatever had reached them was not an ordinary spell. It had not even spoken,drawn or deliberately cast. It has simply appeared, as though the child herself had become the source of an authority that even wild creatures could not ignore. But the strange pressure almost as quickly as it came. The fighting resumed She watched as one of the witches stabbed her father with an arrow marked in things she didn't understand. Sarah's breath hitched behind her. The little girl turned to see another witch pinning her mother down. She had no idea what was happening. The warriors were all down. The Nightfall pack was down, they were little to no survivors. "Stop!" The little girl cried as she watched them hurt her parents. Two witches tried to seize her, but the moment their hands reached towards her, they stopped. something about the child made them hesitate. A faint blue glow had appeared in her hair. Strands that had been their ordinary colour only moment earlier were changing before their eyes, the blue spreaded until it became impossible to mistake. The colour deepened as the pressure in the clearing returned, stronger than before. The witches stared in disbelief. “No." one whispered. The Shadow Walker turned, its distorted face fixed upon the child, and for the first time since the battle began, it seemed uncertain. “That girl…” The witch couldn't complete it. The words faded into a terrible silence. The Shadows Walkers had come for the portal, but they had never expected to find something like this. They had spent centuries searching for ancient knowledge, pursuing rumours of powers that could place even the strongest alpha beneath another's authority. Now that power stood before them in the form of a frightened nine year old. But before they could act, the Shadow Walkers turned their attention back to Eric. Their dark forms gathered him. The Alpha fought to remain standing but the strange attack had left him weakened. The arrow had wounded him, and the Shadow Walker's presence has begun to spread across his body. Eric looked towards his daughter, for a moment their eyes met. He tried to move towards her but the shadows closed around him. The Shadow Walker's had come for more than his death. They came for his soul. A strange light began to emerge from Eric, faint at first, then brighter as the shadows tightened around him. It rose from his body like a pale flame, struggling against the darkness that was pulling it away. Eric's physical form grew still. The light disappeared into thin air before the shadows could take it. The little girl's hand's trembled violently. They had taken her father from her. "I SAID STOP!" Her voice tore through the clearing. Her eyes turned completely blue, matching the unnatural colour that now covered her hair. The ground quaked violently beneath the force of her cry Then the air around her erupted in blue light. A vast shield burst outward from the little girl, expanding across the clearing in a single, powerful wave. For a moment, the world seemed to turn blue. The light curved around her parents, forming a protective barrier that separated them from the creatures attacking them. The shield struck the nearest feral wolves and sent them stumbling backwards. Witches were thrown off their feets, their spells breaking apart before they could reach the child. The Shadow Walker closest to Eric was forced away from the bodies it had been surrounding. All of the witches eyes widened in shock. They didn't fully recognized what that was but they knew that whatever had awakened in the child was not ordinary magic. It was not a spell designed to destroy. It was a barrier. A desperate, instinctive command to keep the things hurting her parents away from them. The little girl floated several feet above the ground, her small body surrounded by a glow that pulsed with every frightened breath. She was not controlling the shield. She did not even seem to understand that she had created it. She was simply trying to protect the only family she had ever known. The creature's expression changed. “Take her!” the command tore through the clearing. But it was too late. A distant sound rose from beyond the forest. It began as a faint, almost musical vibration, like a thousand voices humming from somewhere beyond the reach of the living world. The Shadow Walkers knew that sound. The Spirit Walkers had returned. Earlier, when the first warning of the attack reached the allied Spirit Walkers, they had immediately sensed the unnatural disturbance spreading through the territory. The Spirit Walkers had been out of the territory but they had not beyond reach of the ancient connection that links their kinds to the boundaries between worlds. The moment the disturbance reached them, they turned back. Pale forms emerged between the trees, their appearances almost indistinct beneath the light surrounding them. Unlike the Shadow Walkers, they carried no twisted faces or consuming darkness. Their presence was quiet, luminous, and strangely peaceful. But they were not powerless. The Spirit Walkers moved into the battlefield, and the air changed around them. The darkness that had spread across the territory began to withdraw from their presence. Shadow Walkers that had been advancing without fear hesitated, their forms rippling as though the light itself had become unbearable. The Spirit Walkers did not need to overpower them with brute strength. Their connection to the unseen boundaries between worlds allowed them to confront the corrupted beings on a level ordinary wolves and witches could not reach. The battle began again but the girl wasn't hearing any of it. The strange shield vanished and she fell to the ground, unconscious, as the battle raged around her. Anna, a Spirit Walker and a good friend to Sarah reached her first, dropping beside the child and gathering her into trembling arms. She was talking to Sarah before she realized the little child was about to fall. Sarah had made her last wish clear. "Protect my daughter...please." And Anna had promised to. "Clara” she whispered, pressing the child against her chest. “Please, wake up.” But the little girl did not move. Anna knew this was terrible. They had found out about the child Eric and Sarah had spent years protecting. Years later, the world would know very little about the attack that destroyed an Alpha's home. Some would remember Eric as a powerful leader who vanished during a war no one fully understood. Others would speak of the strange creatures that descended upon his territory and the survivors who escaped into the forests beyond it. The Great Portal would remain hidden, guarded by a promise that refused to die until the chosen one comes to get it. The Shadow Walkers and the witches would continue searching. The little girl would grow up without the memories that might have explained why her childhood had ended in darkness. She would know nothing of the ancient bloodline she carried, the strange power that had awakened when she tried to protect her family, or the creatures that had seen her as something worth hunting. She would grow into a young woman who believed she's ordinary. A young woman who worked quietly in another person's home, keeping her head down and her questions to herself. Who had no idea that the supernatural world had once trembled at the sight of her. Her name is 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗮. And she has no idea her life's about to take a supernatural turn.