chapter 15: The howl beneath the mountain

, distance between herself and the two men who seemed to know far more about her life than she ever did. Kael—the father she never knew. Vael—the boy she once trusted, now something else entirely.

Eryn had been the one constant.

And now she was gone.

"She shouldn't have had to," Seraphina muttered aloud, mostly to herself.

"She knew what she was doing," Vael said gently behind her. "She chose it."

"She didn't say goodbye," Seraphina whispered. "She didn't even… look back."

"She didn't have to," Kael's voice cut in, quiet but firm. "That's what real loyalty looks like."

Seraphina stopped walking.

She turned to face him, eyes glassy with fury. "I never asked for her loyalty. I never asked to be some chosen freak. I just wanted a normal life. Friends. Answers. A family that didn't live in shadows or legends."

Kael looked at her for a long time. "I know."

"No, you don't!" Her voice cracked. "You weren't there. When the marks burned. When I shifted alone in the woods, thinking I was dying. When I had to lie every single day just to survive."

She trembled. "Eryn was the only one who stayed. She was the only one who saw me and didn't flinch."

The silence that followed was heavy.

Then Kael stepped forward. "Then honor her sacrifice. Live. Grow. Fight. That's what she would've wanted."

Seraphina didn't answer. She just turned and kept walking.

They arrived at the threshold of Ilyara by twilight.

The cliffs shimmered with an otherworldly glow, veins of moonstone pulsing with soft light. Vines curled around jagged rock like veins, and a narrow path carved by ancient hands led toward a hollow in the mountain—a hidden entrance, half-buried in moss and time.

Kael halted.

"This is it."

Seraphina stepped forward slowly, the air thick with some unseen presence. Her skin prickled. Her mark burned, faintly.

She looked up. The mountain did not just rise—it watched.

Vael drew his blade instinctively. "Something's awake in there."

Kael nodded. "The sanctuary isn't empty. It never was. Only the blood of the marked can open its heart."

"What do you mean—its heart?" Seraphina asked.

Kael didn't answer.

Instead, he turned to the stone door. "Put your hand here."

Seraphina stepped closer. A small indentation pulsed at the center—shaped like her palm, etched with crescent moons and fangs.

She placed her hand on it.

The mountain groaned.

Rocks shifted.

A cold wind rushed through them, and the stone began to split, not just with sound—but with memory.

In Crimsaria…

Queen Morwenna stood before a blazing map carved in living crystal.

"The gateway has opened," a scout whispered.

"Good," she replied. "Kael did exactly as I predicted."

"But… the girl—"

"Is walking into her destiny. I want eyes inside that mountain. Now."

Caldrik stepped forward. "Even our magic cannot pierce Ilyara's heart. It is warded by ancient blood."

"Then send something older," she murmured. "Something that remembers her kind. That remembers Kael."

A silence fell.

Then Varos bowed. "It will be done."

Morwenna turned to her enchanted mirror. For a moment, her reflection flickered—not a queen, but a woman haunted by prophecy.

She whispered to herself, "Let the mountain test her. Let it tear her apart. And when she breaks, I'll be there to remake her."

Back in Ilyara…

The cave opened like a throat swallowing them whole.

Inside, glowing veins of crystal lit their path. The air tasted metallic. Ancient.

As they moved deeper, strange symbols appeared on the walls—wolf glyphs merged with vampire sigils. Seraphina's breath caught.

"What is this place?" she asked.

Kael looked solemn. "The birthplace of the first hybrid."

Seraphina froze.

"You mean—there was another like me?"

Kael looked away. "Not like you. Never like you."

Something echoed then.

Not sound.

Not language.

But memory.

Seraphina stumbled, gasping. Visions flashed—fire, blood, chains. A woman screaming with two marks on her back. Then a voice:

"You are the end and the beginning."

She collapsed to her knees.

Vael rushed to her side. "Seraphina!"

"I'm fine," she whispered, shaking. "It just… pulled me in."

Kael's face was pale. "The mountain has begun the Trial."

"What trial?"

But he didn't answer.

Because the walls were moving.

A beast of light and bone emerged from the shadows—twenty feet tall, crowned with horns and eyes like dying stars.

It spoke in a language older than death.

Kael unsheathed his blade. "Stay behind me!"

But the beast looked past him… and bowed before Seraphina.

Her mark burned.

Her body lit from within.

And the voice returned.

"Daughter of Night and Fang. Your blood remembers. Your fate is sealed. The mountain will show you who you truly are—or destroy you trying."