Chapter 5 The crimson reckoning

The night erupted into a fury of movement. Nyra turned, her cloak billowing as she sprinted toward the battlements.

Aria followed, the moonstone blade hot in her grip. Cries from the outer wall pierced the air-shouts of alarm, guttural snarls, the unmistakable sound of bone cracking under claw. When they reached the ridge overlooking Hollowshade's outer ring, what they saw stole their breath.

The Bone Maw berserkers had breached the sacred perimeter. But these were no ordinary wolves.

They towered over men, sinew stretched over exposed ribs and mangled fur, eyes glowing a sickly green.

They moved not as a pack, but as a storm of rage. Feral. Lost to bloodlust. Aria's stomach turned.

"What happened to them?"

Nyra's voice was bitter. "Twisted by Voidroot.

A black alchemy practiced only in exile. They were once kin." Aria swallowed hard. "Can they be saved?"

A long silence.

"No."

A roar echoed through the vale as the lead berserker smashed through the ironwood gate, sending splinters of sacred timber into the sky. Council guards rushed forward, forming a line with silver-tipped spears and elemental talismans.

Elder Rhys appeared behind them, staff glowing with pure moonfire.

"Fall back to the Heart Circle!"

he barked.

"Defend the Moon Tree at all costs!"

Aria looked to Nyra.

"You brought them here. You help stop them."

"I plan to."

They leapt into the fray. The battle was chaos incarnate. Aria moved like a flame, the moonstone blade carving arcs of light through the dark.

Where it struck, corruption hissed and recoiled. She dodged a swipe from a berserker's claw, rolling beneath its bulk and slashing at its legs. It howled, convulsed, and dropped.

Nyra danced through shadows, her power pulsing with every motion. Purple sigils lit the ground as she summoned ancestral wolves-phantoms of ancient warriors-to hold the line. They tore into the berserkers with silent fury. For every fallen beast, three more rose. Aria spotted Fenric's statue, cracked and glowing.

A berserker had begun tearing at its base. "No!"

she screamed, surging forward.

She jumped, blade raised, slamming it into the monster's spine. It shrieked and exploded into ash. The statue's light pulsed then dimmed. She fell to her knees beside it, panting.

"The Moon Tree is next," Nyra said, landing beside her. As if on cue, the ground shook. The Moon Tree's great branches flickered. The silver leaves began to dull. From its base, a crack had formed bleeding sap as black as tar. Aria stared in horror.

"They're not just trying to kill us. They're trying to unmake us."

Nyra's voice trembled.

"They want to erase the line entirely."

Aria gripped her blade.

"Not tonight."

Suddenly, from the western ridge, a howl rose. Deep. Resonant. Unfamiliar.

The fighting paused. Even the berserkers hesitated. Shapes emerged through the smoke. Wolves. Dozens of them. Not Hollowshade. Not Bone Maw.

Their fur shimmered in hues of blue and silver, their eyes blazing with starlight. Nyra gasped. "No. It can't be..."

Aria stepped forward.

"Who are they?"

One figure strode ahead a tall woman with braids woven with feathers and moonstones.

"I am Vessa, Alpha of the Forgotten Sky."

Rhys spat.

"Impossible. That bloodline was lost!"

"Not lost," Vessa said.

"Hidden. Waiting. For her."

She looked directly at Aria. A moment of stillness passed. Then Vessa raised her hand. "Shield the Moon Tree!" Her wolves moved as one, forming a protective barrier of magic and fang. They pushed the berserkers back with fierce precision. The tide turned. Within moments, the berserkers began to fall-purified by starlight and silver flame.

Aria collapsed to her knees, tears in her eyes. They had survived. But not without cost. The Heart Circle was scorched. Dozens were dead. The Moon Tree-cracked, bleeding. And Nyra... She stood at the edge of the ruins, staring up at the stars.

"We won tonight," she said, not turning. "But the real war is coming.

The Crimson Reckoning was just the beginning." She turned to Aria.

"Are you ready to become what you were born to be?" Aria rose, the moonstone blade shining. "Yes."

Later that night, Hollowshade lay in wounded silence. Fires smoldered in shallow pits where healing spells had scorched away the blood. Healers moved quietly between the fallen, offering aid to the dying and comfort to the grieving.

Aria stood before the fractured Moon Tree, her reflection dim in the pool of silvery sap at its base. Her fingers brushed the bark as if she could will it whole again.

Vessa approached from the shadows, the stars in her cloak flickering like real constellations.

"You carry its weight well," she said softly.

"I don't feel strong," Aria admitted.

"I feel... hollow." "That hollowness is space for what must come next," Vessa replied. "Strength is not in denying pain. It's in surviving it." Behind them, Nyra and Elder Rhys argued in hushed but sharp tones.

"You should've told us!" Rhys hissed.

"The Forgotten Sky? The prophecy? You led her blind into this war!" Nyra's tone was cold. "Would you have trained her with truth? Or fear?"

"She was unprepared!"

"She was chosen!" Their voices rose until Vessa stepped between them.

"Enough. The tree bleeds and your legacy crumbles, yet you bicker like pups.

We have no time for this." She turned to Aria. "You must come with me."

Aria's brows knit. "Now?"

"The Crimson Reckoning won't wait. The Bone Maw were only the first wave. The true enemy lurks beyond the Veil, and it knows your name." Rhys stepped forward.

"She stays. She's of Hollowshade." Vessa met his gaze. "She is of all our kind. And she needs to learn what you refused to teach."

Nyra nodded slowly. "Let her go, Rhys. Let her become more than a pawn in your council games."

The elder hesitated... then bowed his head. Aria looked to the moon, now veiled in clouds.

"I'll go.

But I will return. Stronger.

Ready." Vessa smiled.

"Then the blood moon rises with you."

They turned toward the dark horizon, where stars blinked and a storm brewed.

Aria's journey had only just begun.