Chapter 6
938 Words
The forest held its breath.
No birds.
No wind.
No rustle of leaves.
Just silence…
and the four heirs standing shoulder-to-shoulder, staring into the trees as something unseen pressed against the very edges of reality.
Aurora’s skin prickled as Solara rose inside her, golden light flickering just beneath the surface.
It watches without form… but with intention.
Ember felt Vespera coil like a serpent in her chest.
It is old, little flame. Older than any wolf.
Kaiden’s jaw clenched as Rhydderch growled low, storm-deep.
I know this feeling. Born of hunger. Born of void.
Lyra swallowed hard, fingers trembling as Astaera whispered,
Not darkness… not entirely. Something twisted. Something looking for us.
Crystal stepped forward first, maternal instinct blazing even stronger than her Celestial heritage.
“Aurora. Ember. What do your wolves sense?”
Aurora answered slowly, eyes glowing faintly gold. “It’s not a creature.”
Ember added, “It’s a presence.”
Kaiden nodded. “And it’s aware of us.”
Lyra hugged her arms to her chest. “It doesn’t feel like the daemon… but it feels close.”
That chilled the adults far more than any full-blown threat.
Dustin’s expression hardened. “Everyone shift back. We move as a unit.”
Aurora shook her head. “No. It’s already gone.”
And it had.
The pressure vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, slipping away like a tide retreating into deeper, darker waters.
Leaving no scent.
No magical residue.
Nothing but fear humming through the ground.
Bane slowly exhaled. “All right. Everyone inside. We report this to the council. Now.”
But when the group turned toward the packhouse, Ember stopped dead in her tracks.
Her breath hitched.
“Em?” Aurora asked gently.
Ember stared at the edge of the forest, eyes narrowing. “It left something.”
Lizzy’s heart jumped. “Where?”
Ember stepped forward, bending to pick up a small object half-buried in the grass. She brushed dirt off the surface—and froze.
A stone.
Smooth.
Perfectly circular.
Deep black… yet shot through with glowing, violet cracks.
Aurora stepped back. “That’s voidstone.”
Kaiden swore. “We destroyed all of it during the war.”
Lyra whispered, “Then where did this come from?”
Solara pushed forward in Aurora’s mind.
Not where… who.
Dustin moved to take the stone, but Ember jerked her hand back so fast it startled everyone.
“Don’t touch it.”
Vespera hissed inside her.
It will taste your light.
Crystal’s expression sharpened. “If even your wolf refuses contact, that’s enough warning.”
They formed a loose circle around Ember as she placed the voidstone on the ground.
Astaera hummed nervously.
It is a message. A mark. A seed.
Lyra hugged herself. “A seed of what?”
Aurora’s voice was low and certain.
“…of something waking up.”
Back at the packhouse, chaos rippled through the leadership floors.
A council was called immediately.
The alphas.
The betas.
The gamma.
Elders from the allied species.
Even two fae emissaries who had not visited in years.
The heirs stood together against the back wall of the war room, watching their parents circle the voidstone placed in a magically sealed glass case.
Crystal’s fingers trembled. “It feels… wrong. Like something unfinished.”
Lizzy nodded. “Like the daemon’s magic—but not the daemon.”
Dustin crossed his arms. “We all saw that rift close. The entity was forced back.”
Bane added, “And there’s been no resurgence of corrupted creatures. No rise in rogue numbers. Nothing.”
“But this,” Serena murmured, “is not nothing.”
The room fell silent.
Until the fae emissary, Liora, approached the stone and paled visibly.
“This is not daemon magic.”
Everyone stiffened.
“It’s worse,” Liora whispered. “Older. Wilder. From before the daemons. Before the first wolves. Before the fae.”
Crystal’s stomach dropped. “Pre-origin magic?”
Liora nodded. “And if the heirs felt it… that means it was searching for them specifically.”
Aurora felt Solara stir, warm but uneasy.
We were chosen. Marked. Seen.
Ember crossed her arms tightly, Vespera curling protectively around her thoughts.
It wants us. For what purpose… I cannot read.
Kaiden stepped forward. “So what do we do?”
Lyra stepped beside him. “Because it’s coming again. I can feel that much.”
Liora turned, her expression solemn.
“You train harder. You prepare for war. Because whatever this presence is… it is not finished.”
Crystal stiffened. “My children just turned eighteen.”
Dustin placed a hand on her shoulder. “And they’re stronger than we ever were.”
Aurora felt heat build behind her ribs. Ember’s fingers twitched with contained fire. Kaiden and Lyra straightened in quiet unity.
But before anyone could speak—
The voidstone cracked.
The room jolted.
A thin line of purple light snaked across the surface of the stone, pulsing like a heartbeat.
Aurora whispered, “It’s… waking up.”
“No,” Ember breathed. “It’s answering.”
Lyra’s eyes widened. “Answering what?”
Kaiden’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“A call.”
The stone pulsed again—
once,
twice,
three times.
The same number of pulses each of the heirs had felt in the forest.
Crystal’s breath caught.
“It marked you.”
The heirs said nothing.
Because they already knew.
Whatever had watched them that morning…
whatever ancient force had whispered through the forest…
whatever left this black, breathing stone…
It wasn’t coming.
It was already here.
And it had just claimed them.
- Writer
