Three weeks passed. Hope learned quickly. Experienced much. But understanding was still incomplete. Still fragile. Still uncertain.
Then the first real test came.
A wolf died. Not from violence. Not from an attack. Just from age. Old Marcus, who had been freed from the cursed form and lived peacefully for ten years, simply stopped breathing one morning. His heart gave out. His body surrendered. His existence ended.
Hope felt it happen. Felt the moment consciousness left. Felt the transition from being to nothing. Felt death for the first time.
“No!” Hope’s light exploded outward. Panic. Terror. Denial. “No, this is wrong! This should not happen! He was here. He existed. He mattered. And now he is nothing! He is gone! He is erased! This is what the First Dark wants! This is what I am su
