The plains outside Shadowveil lay quiet in the aftermath of the turning-point battle, but the silence carried the heavy weight of loss. Pyres burned through the night—funeral flames for fallen allies from the Wolfclaws, Iron Wardens, and Veilwalkers. Forty-three souls lost in the fracturing chaos before Liora’s lunar-curse banishment turned the tide. Families wept. Warriors who had nearly turned on each other now stood shoulder to shoulder in shared grief, but the scars remained.
In the central war council, the moral dilemmas surfaced like open wounds.
“We cannot keep relying on half-measures,” argued Captain Garrick of the Iron Wardens, voice rough with exhaustion. “Riven’s demonic power and Liora’s curse have saved us repeatedly. If we must embrace darker methods—full blood rites, deep
