I couldn't sleep.
Even after Clora returned with water and left again without a word, and even after Luthor stayed silently near the cracked wall, I lay awake with every nerve trembling. The fire had been put out, but something in me still burned. The pulse. The voices. The sensation of my body no longer belonging to me.
I was scared.
More than scared. Terrified.
Because whatever had happened today it wasn't over. Something had begun. Something that refused to be caged again.
When morning came, Luthor didn't speak much. He gave me a plain robe, helped me wrap my burned hands, and guided me through stone corridors to a sealed chamber deep beneath the Keep. The air was cold, but thick with old power. I could taste it in my teeth.
The chamber had runes etched into every surface glowing faintly, like the heartbeat of something ancient slumbering beneath the stone.
"This place is shielded," Luthor said. "No eyes. No ears. No judgment. Just the truth."
I stood in the center, heart hammering. "Why does it feel like I'm walking into a cage?"
"Because you are," he said gently. "But it's not to trap you. It's to free you."
I turned slowly to face him.
"I don't understand what's happening to me."
"You're becoming," he replied. "Your body, your soul, it's answering to what you are. To what's written in the bloodline you carry. But the first time… it's always the worst."
The room darkened slightly as he closed the door behind us. Magic sealed it. My stomach churned.
"Luthor…"
He stepped into the opposite side of the chamber. "You asked to learn control. There's only one way to start."
A pressure built in my head.
Like the air had changed.
Then….
Pain.
It struck suddenly, like fire bursting through my spine. I screamed and dropped to my knees, clutching my ribs.
"It's too early," I gasped. "I'm not ready…."
"You're never ready, Elira," he said. "That's why you must face it now."
My body spasmed violently. My nails blackened, thickened. My mouth filled with the taste of metal, my own blood.
The voices inside me rose again, chanting, screaming, singing.
Let go. Let go. Let go.
"Luthor, help me," I sobbed. "It hurts….it hurts so much."
I heard bones crack.
It wasn't just pain. It was breaking.
My legs twisted, elongating. My skin rippled, pulsing as if something beneath it tried to crawl out.
I clawed at the ground. My breath came in snarls.
My screams became howls.
And then the world shattered.
Muscle split. Tendons snapped. My spine arched and lengthened, contorting into a new shape. My jaw stretched outward. Hair! no, fur exploded from my skin like flames catching wind.
I wasn't human anymore.
I was a wolf.
A monstrous, enormous creature. Fur as dark as ash and silver fire radiating from my paws. My eyes burned golden—no longer with light, but with raw power.
And yet—I had no control.
The wolf moved, and I moved with it. But it wasn't me.
Not yet.
I growled no, roared.A deafening sound that shook the walls of the chamber. I lunged forward on four legs, eyes wild, mouth open with feral rage.
Luthor didn't flinch.
Instead, in one blur of motion, he dropped his cloak. His body shuddered.
And then he changed.
I watched in horror and awe as his human form melted away, replaced by a creature of massive stature. A silver wolf with eyes like frost and claws like polished steel.
Luthor was like me.
No, he was more.
He stood taller, broader, but there was grace in his form. Control. He didn't snarl. He watched.
Waiting.
The wolf in me charged.
I couldn't stop it.
I launched myself across the chamber, jaws wide, claws ready to rip. He dodged and slammed his shoulder into mine, sending me sprawling, but I twisted mid-air and landed with supernatural precision.
The rage boiled over.
I pounced again. biting, scratching, howling.
But he met me every time.
Faster than light, he matched me move for move.
Until he pinned me.
His body slammed me into the ground, a dominant snarl rumbling from his throat. My legs kicked, my jaw snapped near his throat, but his weight kept me still.
And then, I saw him.
Not as an opponent.
As a mirror.
My chest heaved.
Inside, I screamed.
Let me go. Please. This isn't me.
But the wolf growled back.
It is you. This is what you were born to be. You are Alpha. You are blood reborn. You are power incarnate. Accept it.
I thrashed again, but Luthor didn't strike.
He pressed his forehead against mine "wolf to wolf" and breathed.
His voice, through some bond of spirit or magic, echoed in my head.
Elira. Find yourself in this. Don't fight the wolf. Talk to it. Listen. Or it will take you.
I wanted to answer.
But the fear had risen again.
The memories of Clora. Of her terrified eyes.
Of my own hands choking someone I loved.
I whimpered.
The beast in me hesitated.
And then, for the briefest second, I surfaced.
I saw through the fury.
I saw my reflection no, our reflection across the mirror of Luthor's gaze.
The wolf in me snarled low.
You're scared. Good. That means you care. That means you're still Elira.
And suddenly… I wasn't fighting anymore.
I wasn't resisting.
I was.
The two parts of me.
human and wolf merged, painlessly this time.
We rose together.
Luthor stepped back.
I stood in my full wolf form but this time, I was in control.
My breathing slowed. My claws withdrew slightly. I didn't feel rage anymore.
I felt power.
Raw. Ancient. Mine.
I turned to him slowly. My voice came as a growl layered with speech.
"…Is this me now?"
He nodded. "This is the truth of your bloodline."
"But I wasn't born a wolf."
"You were born with it. Dormant. Buried. Until it woke."
I glanced down at my paws. I could feel the world through them. Every vibration in the earth. Every heartbeat. Even his.
My voice trembled. "I thought I'd die."
"You did," he said. "A version of you died the moment you stopped resisting. This new you "the Alpha" you were meant to rise."
But even as he spoke, something shifted.
The chamber darkened again.
The walls trembled.
I looked up.
A crack split the ceiling above us.
And then I heard it.
A howl.
But it wasn't from me.
Or from him.
It was something else.
Far off.
Deep.
Older than time.
I turned toward the sound, fur bristling.
Luthor's face tightened. "No… it's too soon."
"What is that?" I growled.
He didn't answer.
The runes along the walls flickered violently. The air turned cold. The ground trembled under my paws.
Then another howl joined the first.
Then another.
Dozens.
A chorus of wolves.
No not wolves.
Monsters.
"Luthor?" I asked again, panic rising.
He shifted back into his human form, staggering slightly.
His voice was grim.
"They heard you awaken."
I took a step back. "Who?"
"The Others," he whispered. "The ones we were meant to hide you from. They're coming."
The runes on the door burst into flame. Smoke filled the air. Something was trying to break through.
Something massive.
"I'm not ready!" I shouted.
He turned to me, eyes hard.
"Then you'll have to become ready in battle."
A massive crack split the door in two.
And from beyond, a shadow loomed.
Not human.
Not wolves.
But something far worse.
Luthor raised a hand, summoning flame.
I shifted back into my wolf form, teeth bared.
Our eyes met.
And then the door exploded.
And it began..