Chapter 2 The Pact Beneath

Chapter Two: The Pact Beneath

The rain never stopped in Noctis Vale.

It fell like whispers from the sky, soaking the city's bones, hiding the sins that echoed in its corners. Down in the catacombs beneath the surface, where the air was thick with mildew and secrets, Elian and Lyra stood across from each other, surrounded by the ghosts of the past.

They had no choice now; the truth had rooted itself in their blood, and with every breath, it grew stronger.

The air between them pulsed.

"We shouldn't be here," Elian said.

"I know," Lyra replied, "but we can't leave either. Not now."

The candlelight flickered. Dust danced in the dark. Their hands, once hesitant, reached for each other-steady now, strong. They were changing, and not just in body. There was something deeper, something ancient, clawing up from their bloodlines.

"I saw things last night," Lyra whispered. "In my dreams."

"Me too," Elian said. "Flashes. Teeth. Fire. A voice calling my name in a language I don't know."

They exchanged looks. This wasn't coincidence.

It was a message.

Elian took out a torn parchment. "I found this in the old wing of the Vortigan archives. It's a record from centuries ago. It talks about... us."

Lyra leaned closer. Her breath caught as she read the first line aloud.

> When blood and howl mix in love, the Heir will rise...

"The Forbidden Heir," she whispered.

"Our child," Elian added quietly, almost like he didn't believe it.

"We're only fifteen."

"That doesn't matter. They've known for centuries what we'd become."

She looked away, her pulse rising.

"It's why our families are at war," she said bitterly. "They don't hate each other. They fear what we could create."

For a long moment, there was silence.

Then Lyra stepped closer. "I'm not afraid."

Elian nodded. "Neither am I."

Lightning cracked above ground, shaking the stone ceiling. They didn't flinch. They'd already been shaken. What came next was war-or worse.

"We have to be smarter," Lyra said. "They want us to fight each other. We'll pretend to play their game."

Elian handed her another slip of paper. A hand-drawn map. "This leads to an abandoned crypt beneath the Lunar estate. I think... I think the original pact was signed there."

Lyra frowned. "The Blood-Howl Accord?"

"That's what they called it before it was destroyed. Before our ancestors turned on each other."

She tucked the map into her jacket.

"Then we go together."

Elian nodded.

But as they turned to leave the catacombs, a deep growl echoed from the shadows.

They stopped.

Lyra's eyes shifted, glowing faintly. "Did you hear that?"

Elian's fangs extended slightly. "We're not alone."

From the darkness emerged a shadow-no, not a shadow-a person. Tall. Cloaked. Eyes glowing gold and crimson at once.

"Who are you?" Elian demanded.

The figure didn't answer. Instead, it dropped something between them: an old amulet, broken and cracked, but pulsing with energy.

Lyra gasped. "That's the Lunar Crest."

Elian narrowed his eyes. "And that's half of the Vortigan Sigil. It's fused."

The figure spoke at last, voice layered with centuries.

"You cannot stop what has already begun. The blood moon rises soon, and when it does, you must choose: your families... or the world."

Then the figure vanished into smoke.

Elian reached for the amulet but recoiled. "It burned me."

Lyra picked it up. It glowed in her hand.

"They're testing us," she said.

"They're warning us."

"No," Lyra said. "They're telling us we're already too late."

Above ground, in the Vortigan Tower, Thorne Vortigan stood at a rain-covered window, watching the sky shift.

He held a vial of black liquid.

"She's changing him," he muttered. "I won't allow it."

Behind him, Cassian Vortigan spoke to the family council. "Begin preparation. If the bond is forming, we need to intercept it. Elian will lead us to the heart of the Lunar estate."

Thorne gritted his teeth. And when he does, I'll make sure he never comes back out.

Miles away, in the Lunar Court, Lyra's father paced before a great iron door.

"It's waking," he told the council.

"The Forbidden Heir?"

"No," he said darkly. "The other one. The one that was banished when the Accord was broken."

A cold silence filled the chamber.

"The creature born of betrayal."

Back in the catacombs, Elian and Lyra walked hand in hand through the narrow tunnel, their path lit only by flickering flame and their shared resolve.

"What do we do next?" Elian asked.

Lyra didn't hesitate.

"We find the crypt. We find the truth. And we make the choice our families never could."

He smiled faintly. "Together?"

"Always."

They didn't see the sigils glowing behind them, or the silent watchers perched in the rafters. The city of Noctis Vale had seen centuries of darkness. But the storm that was coming...

Would rewrite the bloodlines of the world.