Chapter 3 Ashes and Echoes

The forest had never felt so silent.

Even as Aria and Luca returned to Hollowshade, the sounds of their pack howls, rustles, and soft growls seemed muffled under a blanket of dread.

Word of the White Flame's appearance had spread like wildfire. Some wolves looked at Aria with awe, Others with fear.

She couldn't sleep that night. Not after hearing the woman's voice again in her dreams.

"You are the lock and the key. One path will bring rebirth, The other, ruin."

She sat up in her cave chamber, sweat-drenched, heart pounding.

Aria knew one thing: she needed answers Now. Before the first light touched the horizon, she found herself in Maera's private study. The Luna was already awake, gazing into a bowl of black water that shimmered with starlight.

"You've seen her again," Maera said without turning.

Aria nodded. "She knew my name. Said I had a choice to make." Maera's eyes didn't leave the water.

"Prophecies are dangerous. They don't bind-they tempt. What you saw... may be truth. Or manipulation." Aria clenched her fists.

"Then help me understand. Who was she?" Maera finally turned.

"A former Luna of the Obsidian Fang. Banishéd for practicing forbidden magic. She called herself Nyra."

"And she killed my father?" Maera's silence was answer enough. Luca met her in the training circle later that morning. He was sharper now, harder. The brief softness from the night before had vanished.

"You chased the White Flame alone."

"You would've done the same," she snapped. "Yeah. But I've been trained for this my whole life. You haven't." She growled.

"Then stop holding back and train me properly." Luca's grin was wicked.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." He lunged-and the real training began. The days blurred. Aria learned to shift faster, to fight stronger, to listen with her wolf's instincts. She sparred with Luca, hunted with the scouts, even tracked through illusions conjured by Maera herself. Her body transformed. So did her mind. But the more she learned, the more her dreams grew darker. Each night, the white wolf appeared-watching from a distance, never speaking, eyes filled with regret.

On the fifth night, she finally asked: "Why are you haunting me?" The wolf's mouth didn't move. But Aria heard the answer. Because I chose wrong. And now you must choose better.

One week after the attack, the Council summoned Hollowshade. A silver hawk delivered the message-etched in bone and sealed with black wax. Luca read it aloud:

"By order of the Moon Council, Aria Moonstone is to appear before the Eclipse Tribunal. Refusal will be seen as a declaration of rebellion."

The room exploded in snarls and protests. "She's barely shifted twice!" someone yelled. "They'll tear her apart," another growled. Maera raised her hand. Silence fell.

"She will go," the Luna said. "But not alone." Luca stepped forward.

"I'll take her." Maera nodded.

"Then prepare. You leave by dusk." Aria felt her heart plummet. Whatever the Tribunal was, she knew one thing-it wasn't going to be justice.

It was going to be a test. And maybe a trap. The road to the Eclipse Tribunal passed through the Emberpine Thickets-a haunted forest known to devour travelers with illusions and rage-borne beasts. Luca and Aria moved swiftly but cautiously, never straying from the moonstone path.

"Stay focused," Luca murmured. "They say the Thickets feed off your worst fears."

She nodded, gripping the dagger Maera had gifted her-a relic etched with silver runes that pulsed with calming energy. Around them, whispers crawled through the trees. Shadows took on familiar forms. A boy with her father's voice. A woman in flames.

"None of it's real," she told herself, over and over. But the forest listened. And it hated being ignored. Halfway through the Thickets, a chill wind tore through the trees. It carried the scent of rot-and magic.

A shape emerged from the mist. Not quite wolf. Not quite human. Something twisted in-between.

A Wraithshifter.

"Back," Luca growled, stepping in front of her. The creature tilted its head. Its eyes-empty voids-fixed on Aria. "Blood of flame... child of oath," it hissed. "The dead remember.

The flame lives." It lunged. Aria reacted purely on instinct, shifting mid-leap and slashing across its side. The Wraithshifter screamed-an unholy sound that made the forest tremble-and vanished into smoke. Aria's breath came in ragged gasps. Her body shook, not with fear, but fury.

"What did it mean?" she asked. Luca didn't answer right away.

"It means Nyra's magic isn't done with you yet." They reached the Tribunal on the eve of the Blood Moon. A stone fortress carved into the cliffside, it overlooked the Abyss of Echoes-a canyon where traitors were cast to their deaths.

The guards didn't speak. Only opened the gates. Inside, the Council waited. Five elders. One from each founding pack. All dressed in robes of black and silver. Aria stood tall as Maera had taught her, though every part of her wanted to run. Elder Rhys of the Iron Fang spoke first. "Aria Moonstone.

You stand accused of violating the Sacred Veil, trespassing into forbidden lands, and awakening a legacy sealed by blood pact.

How do you plead?" She met his eyes. "I plead truth. I didn't choose any of this. But I'm not running from it either." Murmurs rippled through the chamber. Another elder rose Eira of the Glass Claw. Her voice was cold.

"Then face the Trial of Echoes. Let the spirits of your bloodline judge you."

A door opened behind the Council.

Beyond it: darkness, and the echoes of wolves long dead. Aria took a breath. And stepped through. The door slammed shut behind her. She was alone. Or so she thought. Then the torches lit revealing dozens of painted faces Not real, Not alive, Visions.

Her father: Younger, stronger.

"You were never meant to carry this burden," he said. Then her mother, holding a baby. Her. "Run, Aria. Hide from it." She fell to her knees. "I can't. I won't." The flames around her rose.

In their center stood Nyra, smiling with sorrow. "You are the last piece, child.

The last Moonstone." Suddenly, her body convulsed. Something ancient and powerful surged within her-fire and moonlight twisting together. Her eyes turned silver. And she screamed.

The Trial had only just begun.