The first tremor came at dawn.
Soft at first—just a shifting beneath the soil, subtle enough that most thought it nothing more than the land settling after the ritual. But Elira knew better.
She stood at the edge of the high ridge, watching the mist crawl through the trees, her hand unconsciously resting on the rune-ring Theron had given her. Beneath her feet, the pulse came again. Fainter this time, but persistent.
It wasn't over.
Not really.
They had closed the Gate. They had burned the tower. But some echoes refuse to fade.
Behind her, the camp slowly stirred. Morning cookfires sparked to life. The younger wolves began their patrols, their footsteps soft and careful along the warded paths. Selene was already at the eastern edge of the perimeter, her shadow a quiet sentinel among the branches.
And Theron… she could feel him approaching before she heard his steps.
"You felt it too," he said as he came up beside her.
She nodded. "Something's still moving. Beneath us."
He glanced at the trees, then at her. "Residual energy?"
"Maybe. Or something that was already buried, just waiting for the Gate's opening to stir."
He frowned. "We need to go deeper."
Elira turned to face him. "You mean underground?"
"I mean to the Hollow's roots."
She exhaled, the breath fogging in the crisp morning air. "We just came back, Theron."
His expression was steady, but something behind his eyes flickered—a sense of unease he couldn't quite name. "We stopped the invasion. We didn't erase what's underneath. And I'm not willing to let anything slither up beneath your feet."
Elira said nothing, but she reached for his hand.
And when she held it, the thrum beneath the soil stilled—just for a moment.
---
Later that day, Naeria led them to the Ancestor's Pit.
It was an old, sacred place—an ancient crater filled with vines, ash, and centuries of buried knowledge. The spirits that dwelled there were neither living nor dead. They whispered in fragments, breathed memories into the wind, and answered only to blood.
Elira stood at the rim with Naeria while Theron and Selene made preparations behind her.
"You've come far," Naeria said. "Further than even I dreamed. But some truths remain unspoken. Some enemies… hidden too deep for sword or spell."
"I need to know if something is still down there," Elira said.
Naeria reached into a pouch and drew out a shard of black crystal. It shimmered faintly, almost pulsing in her hand.
"The earth remembers everything," Naeria murmured, handing it to her. "This will help you hear."
Elira took the shard. The moment her fingers wrapped around it, a flash of heat surged up her arm, followed by a wash of voices—some too old to understand, others far too recent.
She gasped.
Theron was at her side in an instant. "What did you hear?"
Elira blinked slowly. "A name. I think it was… Laziel."
Naeria stiffened. "That name hasn't been spoken in centuries."
"Who is he?"
"Not who. What."
Naeria stepped closer, her voice grave. "Laziel was the first to fracture the Gate. A starborn made hollow—not consumed like the others, but reborn from his own ruin. He vanished before the first breach ever opened… but we believed he would return with the final one."
Theron's expression darkened. "You think he's still beneath us?"
Naeria turned toward the pit.
"I think he never left."
---
They descended together—Elira, Theron, and Selene—leaving Kael and Rowan to guard the surface with Naeria.
The pit narrowed the deeper they went. Roots twisted overhead like fingers through dark soil. Pale moss glowed faintly along the walls, and the air grew colder with every step. The shard in Elira's pocket hummed louder.
"Do you feel that?" Selene whispered.
Theron nodded. "It's not just magic. It's memory."
When they reached the cavern floor, the stone beneath their boots was smooth, circular—unnaturally so. At the center sat a dome-shaped mound of blackened crystal, partially buried under years of sediment. The air around it shimmered, like heatwaves on frozen ground.
"This is it," Elira whispered.
She stepped forward, placing her hand on the surface.
Everything went still.
Then—
The world erupted.
---
A blast of vision overtook her.
She stood in a time before the Gate, beneath a silver sky where wolves walked on two legs and stars rained blessings. Laziel stood among them—a figure tall and regal, his eyes mirrors of the cosmos.
He was beautiful.
Terrifying.
Alone.
He reached for the stars not to worship them, but to command them.
He split the veil.
He opened the first wound.
And in doing so, shattered himself.
Elira saw him fall—his body tearing, his light dimming, his voice turning to echo. The others tried to contain him, burying his fractured soul deep within the world.
And then darkness.
Her breath caught as she tore herself back to the present.
Theron was gripping her shoulders, shaking her gently. "Elira—Elira, breathe."
She gasped.
Selene was kneeling nearby, arrow drawn, eyes wide and fixed on the now-cracked crystal dome.
"It's waking up," she whispered.
The crystal pulsed once.
Then again.
And then a whisper, thick as tar, coiled into their minds.
> "You found me."
---
They ran.
Not from fear.
From strategy.
The tunnel groaned as the earth trembled again, louder this time. Roots ripped from stone. Dust poured from above. They reached the surface just as the crater behind them shuddered and a black mist bled into the air.
Naeria was waiting, her eyes wild.
"You stirred him?"
"He was already stirring," Elira panted. "We just… helped him notice."
Kael approached, his blade half-drawn. "So what now?"
"We prepare," Theron said.
Rowan cursed. "For another war?"
"No," Elira said, voice sharp. "For something worse."
---
That night, they drew up plans.
Naeria laid out a ritual to keep Laziel bound—but it would require a convergence of powers unlike anything they had attempted. Theron would need to channel both light and shadow simultaneously, a task that could unravel him if misaligned. Elira would serve as the anchor.
"I can handle it," she said.
But in private, she trembled.
Theron found her later, alone again at the ridge.
"You're scared," he said gently.
She nodded. "Not of the ritual. Of what happens after."
He sat beside her. "We've walked through worse."
"This is different."
He waited.
"I think… I'm not just tied to the Gate anymore. I think I'm tied to him."
Theron's jaw clenched. "Laziel?"
She nodded. "He reached into me. Saw me. Like he knew my soul."
Theron was quiet a moment. Then: "If he tries to take you, I will tear the world apart."
Elira looked up at him.
"Don't promise that," she whispered.
"I already have."
---
They stood at the edge of the old crater once more as dawn broke—marks glowing, cloaks billowing, the wind rising in warning.
Laziel's voice echoed faintly beneath the earth.
> "Daughter of starlight… open the door."
And Elira, her hand in Theron's, whispered the only answer he would ever hear:
"No."
---