Rise of the Forsaken Luna

Chapter Three

The wind howled like a mourning wolf as Aria stood at the edge of the Nightfall Fortress, her cloak billowing behind her. The mountains loomed high and jagged, snowflakes clinging to her lashes. She was leaving for now. It was the first time in years she’d been outside of either a cage or a prison-like Pack House and this time, she wasn’t living in chains. She was being sent on a mission. Kael stood beside her, dressed in full black armor, a sword strapped to his back. Rafe adjusted the straps of his leather vest, flashing her a grin.

“Are you ready, moonlight?” Aria said nothing. Her fingers curled into fists at her side. Her wolf stirred uneasily, excited… and afraid. Lucien’s voice echoed in her mind: “True power is not just strength. It’s choosing who you will be when the world gives you no mercy.”

Their destination was a nearby neutral village named Elmbrook, nestled in the valley between the Hollow Mountains and the Borderlands. Elmbrook had no Alpha. It was meant to be a place of peace, a haven for rogues, abandoned pups, healers, and those rejected by pack law, but three days ago, Elmbrook sent out a call for help.

The message was brief and terrifying. There were dozens of Rogues, attacking at night. Their pups kept disappearing, and there were Fires. Kael volunteered for Aria to go even when Lucien protested. “She’s not ready.”

“She has to be,” Kael had said. “War won’t wait.” They traveled for hours in silence. The forest changed from snow-covered slopes to charred trees and broken ground. Rafe scouted ahead, leaping between shadows. Kael rode silently, his presence like a blade drawn but not yet used. Aria tried to stop the chaos inside her. She couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened in training and how her power had exploded out of her like a living force. She hadn’t even shifted yet. What would happen if she did? And more haunting than that….what was she becoming?

Her thoughts turned inward to the past. She had never known her real parents. She was found at the border of the Crimson Fang territory as a toddler, bloodied and nearly frozen. They said she was a rogue’s pup who was wild and unwanted. The only thing she had was a silver pendant around her neck, etched with a symbol none could read. The Crimson Fang Alpha took her in reluctantly, making her a servant. She scrubbed floors, cooked meals, and was beaten for breathing too loudly, until she stopped crying, until she stopped hoping and until Kael and the others found her. That girl…the broken one…. was still inside her, but she was buried now beneath fire and fury.

Elmbrook came into view as the sun dipped low behind the trees. The village had been torched. Half the huts were still smoldering. Blood painted the snow. Aria could smell the copper tang of it from a distance. Scorch marks ran along the ground in strange, clawed patterns. Something feral had been here. Kael drew his sword and Rafe vanished into the treeline, his nose twitching. Aria followed Kael silently, every sense on edge.

They stepped into the ruins of the central square. A handful of villagers emerged, eyes wide with fear. There was a woman holding a limp child in her arms and a blind elder trembling behind a wooden staff. Kael approached. “We received your message.” The woman looked up at him. “You’re from Nightfall?” Kael nodded. “Tell me what happened.” The woman’s voice cracked. “They come at night and they are not just rogues. They… don’t shift but they burn. Their eyes glow red and they…..they…. took the children.”

Aria’s blood ran cold immediately. Rafe reappeared, his face grim. “I saw tracks on the East side. There were six or more. They are not hiding Kael.” Kael turned to Aria. “You’re going to track them.” She blinked. “Me?”

“Find the trail and their pattern. This is your test moonlight.” Aria swallowed the lump in her throat. She knelt near the edge of the burned village and touched the earth. Her wolf stirred immediately. She saw faint traces and claw marks. There was a strange scorch mark. Something smelled… wrong. It was like decay mixed with lightning. She followed the scent into the trees, Kael and Rafe at her back. They found the first body within minutes.

It was a rogue with throat torn out and eyes wide in terror. His chest was burned with a symbol….a crescent moon inverted and split. Kael hissed. “The Scorched Ones.” Aria looked at him. “You know them?”

“They’re not natural. They were made. They are experiments from the war. They are rogue wolves injected with dark magic and they burn their souls for power.” Rafe added, “They were thought to be extinct. If they’re back…” Kael finished the sentence silently, eyes hard.

They moved deeper into the forest and suddenly, Aria froze. A sharp pulse rang in her chest. Her mark was blazing. She spun around, eyes glowing. “We’re being watched.”

From the shadows, a dozen wolves emerged, but they weren’t normal. Their fur was blackened and matted with ash. Their eyes glowed a demonic red. Fire licked at their paws as they growled, foam dripping from their jaws. Rafe drew both blades. “Twelve and more behind them.” Kael stepped forward. “Aria, do not engage…”

He was too late. The first rogue lunged at her and something inside her broke free. Aria spun, her eyes glowing white-blue, her hands flaring with silver energy. She raised one hand and the air crackled. A blast of force shot from her palm, hitting the wolf mid-air and disintegrating it in a flash of silver fire. The others howled and charged.Kael shouted, but Aria didn’t hear him. Her wolf surged forward and she was half-shifted. Her limbs grew longer with her claws sharper and hair billowing in the wind, but she did not fully transform. She was stuck between glowing, deadly and divine. She moved like lightning, striking one rogue down, then another. Her energy carved burning lines into the trees and the ground quaked beneath her.

Rafe and Kael fought by her side, but they could barely keep up. In minutes, it was over. The clearing was filled with bodies who were burnt and broken. Aria stood at the center, trembling, eyes wild, her chest heaving. Kael approached her slowly, “Moonlight…” She spun toward him, still glowing.

“Aria,” he said again, more firmly. Her mark flickered, then she dropped to her knees, gasping. “I couldn’t stop it,” she said. “It took over.” Kael crouched beside her, gripping her shoulders. “You controlled it, moonlight. You didn’t let it destroy you.”

“I almost did,” she whispered.

From the trees, someone watched them. A man dressed in robes darker than night, his eyes silver and hollow. Around his neck was the same pendant Aria once wore as a child. He smiled and said, “She’s awakening…..Just as the prophecy said.” Then he vanished into the shadows.

They returned to Elmbrook with the bodies of the slain rogues. The villagers wept. One mother collapsed into Aria’s arms, thanking her but Aria didn’t feel like a savior, she felt like a storm waiting to lose control. That night, as the others slept, she stood outside under the moonlight. Kael joined her again, silent as always. She turned to him. “There’s something dark inside me.” Kael didn’t look away. “There’s something powerful inside you.”

“I’m scared.”

“So is everyone worth fearing.”

She took a deep breath. “What if I hurt someone? Someone I care about?” Kael’s gaze softened, just a little. “Then we’ll teach you how to control it. I will teach you.” She looked up at the moon. It was whole and glowing.

“I’m not that weak omega anymore,” she said.

“No,” Kael agreed. “You’re not.”