Chapter 5 BENEATH THE MOONGRAVE

The entrance to the Moongrave was silent and overgrown, cloaked in layers of fog and ivy. No bloodfang dared to go near it, and for good reason-most who entered never returned.

Raven stood at the threshold, her boots sinking into the wet moss, her breath forming clouds in the chill air. The grave's magic stirred like something long buried, whispering through her bones.

"This place is cursed," Darius muttered behind her, his hand resting on the hilt of his silver-edged blade.

Raven didn't look back. "So am I."

---

The air grew colder the deeper they went.

What began as a narrow forest path quickly gave way to a tunnel of jagged rock and ancient stone carvings. The torchlight flickered against walls marked with lunar sigils, and in the silence, Raven could hear them breathe. Not just her companions-the walls. The grave itself.

She paused at a wide stone door half-buried under roots. There were markings on it-old, older than any werewolf clan she knew. At the center was a symbol: a crescent moon bisected by a blade.

Darius stepped closer. "That's the mark of the Eclipse Pact. The first Hollow."

Raven touched the carving, and the stone groaned open.

---

Inside, the grave opened into a chamber the size of a cathedral.

Moonlight poured in from slits in the ceiling high above, casting the room in silvery glow. At the center stood a pedestal of bone-white stone, surrounded by crumbled statues and ancient weapons. And above it all, the sigils of the Hollow shimmered faintly on the walls, like echoes of another time.

Raven stepped forward slowly, drawn to the pedestal.

Tavi, ever cautious, muttered, "I don't like this. Why would a place this sacred be abandoned?"

"It wasn't," Darius said grimly. "It was sealed."

---

When Raven placed her hand on the stone, the chamber responded.

A pulse of magic shot through her, knocking her back. Her head cracked the stone floor, but she barely felt it-because her mind wasn't in her body anymore.

She was standing in another life.

The Hollow's first life.

---

She stood in the center of a battlefield soaked in moonlight and blood.

Around her, wolves fought and died beneath a broken sky. The ground was split, the air thick with magic and war cries. Across from her stood a man cloaked in silver-a king of wolves, eyes filled with betrayal.

"You swore loyalty to the Council," he said.

"I swore to protect the pack," Raven-no, the Hollow-replied.

He raised his blade.

And the war began.

---

Raven collapsed back into herself with a scream.

The pedestal now glowed, and something inside it stirred. A shard of bone, etched in silver, pulsed with Hollow energy. The Fang of Ashra.

She reached for it, and the moment her fingers closed around it, a voice echoed through the chamber.

"You are not the first. You will not be the last."

A shape stepped from the darkness.

Not alive. Not dead.

A Hollow Guardian-taller than any wolf, cloaked in ghostlight, its eyes like frozen moons. It snarled, but not with rage-with recognition.

"You carry her name," it said.

"I carry her fight," Raven replied.

---

The Guardian lunged.

Darius shouted, blade raised. Tavi fired a bolt of spiritlight.

But Raven didn't move.

She let Ashra rise.

The Hollow inside her met the Guardian's strike with equal force, their claws clashing in sparks and smoke. Magic seared the air. Dust exploded.

But Raven didn't fall.

She embraced the Hollow, let it shape her form-not fully shifting, but fusing into something stronger.

And when her claws finally sank into the Guardian's heart, it didn't scream.

It whispered, "Free us."

---

The chamber fell silent once more.

The Guardian dissolved into mist, and the symbols on the walls dimmed.

In Raven's hand, the Fang of Ashra pulsed.

Darius stepped beside her, breathing heavily. "That thing... it didn't want to kill you."

"No," Raven said, standing tall. "It wanted to see if I was worthy."

Tavi blinked. "Worthy of what?"

She looked toward the light breaking through the ceiling.

"To finish what the first Hollow started."

---

Above ground, far from the grave, Maedra watched from her scrying mirror.

"She has entered the Moongrave," the Seer said.

The Alpha Lord scowled. "Then the Hollow truly awakens."

Maedra's lips curved into a cold smile.

"Let her rise," she whispered. "The higher she climbs, the harder she'll fall."