Chapter 5 The beast awakens

The Hollow Heart shook with power. The ground cracked under Queen Amira's feet. The black wind blew around them, howling like wolves, but colder, like death.

Nyra's hands pressed against Draven's chest. His body trembled, eyes rolling back as dark energy rushed through him. She whispered spell after spell, sweat pouring down her face.

"Hold on, Draven," she begged. "Don't let it take you."

Kael stood between them and Elder Varek, sword raised. His eyes glowed gold, the wolf inside him growling to be let out.

"You did this," Kael shouted. "You're trying to rip the gods from their prison. You'll destroy the land."

Varek stepped closer, holding the obsidian shard. "I'm not destroying it. I'm setting it free. This land has suffered under false gods and weak rulers. My blood will reshape it."

Amira's voice echoed through the chamber. "Your blood is cursed, Varek. Just like mine. But mine seeks peace. Yours only feeds chaos."

Varek's face twisted with hate. "That's where you're wrong, sister. My blood is pure. Our father made me first. I should've been king."

"You were banished for a reason," Kael growled. "He saw the darkness in you."

Varek laughed. "He saw his own darkness and ran from it. But I embraced it."

The obsidian shard glowed brighter. A pulse of energy surged from the altar. The shadows on the walls moved. Shapes formed in the air, ancient spirits, faces twisted by pain and rage.

"The gods," Nyra whispered. "They're here."

But something was wrong.

They didn't look divine. They looked broken. Scarred. Hollow.

Amira gasped. "They're not waking. They're screaming."

Draven's body lifted from the ground. His eyes opened wide, glowing silver and black. His mouth opened, but it wasn't his voice that spoke.

**"You have broken the seal,"** the voice said. It was deep, layered, echoing from beyond time. **"The bloodline has failed."**

"Draven!" Nyra cried, grabbing his hand.

He looked down at her, and for a moment, the glow faded. "Nyra... help me..."

Then his body twisted in pain. His bones cracked. Fur started growing along his arms. Fangs burst from his mouth. His body grew larger, his wolf form, but darker, more monstrous.

Kael stepped back, horror on his face.

"No..."

Nyra screamed. "He's becoming something else!"

Amira ran forward, placing her hand on Draven's chest. Her eyes closed.

"Let me in," she whispered. "Let me see the truth."

Magic surged between them. Her mind connected to Draven's.

She fell into his memories.

Darkness screams the night of the blood oath. Draven, still a baby, crying in her arms.

But she wasn't alone that night.

She saw it now, Varek, in the shadows. Chanting with her. His hand cutting his own palm, letting his blood mix with hers on the roots of the black tree.

"By shadow and light... by blood and beast... awaken the power within..."

She gasped.

"He changed the oath. He tied his blood to my children."

Varek had planted his curse deep inside them, especially Draven.

Draven wasn't just a cursed child.

He was a vessel.

Amira opened her eyes, gasping. "He's trying to make Draven a god."

Kael's eyes widened. "What?"

"He used Draven as the door. And now the gods are pouring through him."

Draven roared, fully transformed. His fur was black as coal. His claws like blades. But his eyes still had a flicker of humanity.

Kael stepped forward. "Draven. It's me. Kael. You're stronger than this. Don't let him win."

Draven growled, but it was weaker this time. He looked at Kael, trembling.

"I can't... stop it..."

Varek laughed. "Let it happen, boy! You are evolution. You are what the gods feared!"

He raised the shard again.

But before he could speak, Nyra screamed and sent a bolt of raw energy flying into Varek's chest. He flew backward, slamming into the altar.

"You will not take my brother," she cried. Her eyes burned violet. Her aura pulsed like fire.

Draven fell to his knees. The beast inside him began to shrink.

Kael rushed forward and caught him.

"Easy... I've got you."

Amira walked slowly to the obsidian shard, now lying cracked on the floor. She picked it up carefully.

"This is what holds them, isn't it?" she asked. "This stone is a piece of their cage."

Varek groaned, standing. "Destroy it, and they die. But so does everything tied to them, including your children."

Amira looked at Kael, Nyra, and Draven.

She turned to Varek. "You're lying. You always lie."

He smiled, blood on his lips. "Then take the risk. Break it. See what happens."

Nyra touched Amira's arm.

"There's another way," she said. "I saw it. In my visions."

Amira frowned. "What did you see?"

Nyra closed her eyes. "A gate. Beneath the ruins of the First Temple. It's hidden. Buried in the bones of the earth. It holds the final seal."

Kael stood. "Then that's where we go next."

Varek's laugh echoed in the chamber.

"You think I'll let you leave?"

"You won't stop us," Amira said.

But suddenly, Varek's body began to change. His skin turned gray. His fingers lengthened into claws. Horns grew from his head.

He wasn't just a cursed man anymore.

He was becoming something else.

"A gift... from the gods," he whispered. "For freeing them."

He lunged forward.

Kael met him in midair, sword clashing with claw.

The cavern exploded into chaos.

The fight raged.

Nyra held Draven, protecting him with a barrier of light.

Kael and Varek battled across the chamber. Sword against shadow, fire against ice.

Amira whispered the words of an old spell, one buried deep in the bloodline. A binding curse.

She sliced her palm again and touched the ground.

"By earth and blood, I seal this path."

A circle of light burst from her feet, spreading through the room.

Varek screamed.

"No!"

Kael kicked him back toward the altar. "You're done, Varek!"

Varek howled and disappeared into the shadows, trapped for now, but not destroyed.

The ground shook again.

The gods were restless.

The altar began to crumble.

"Out!" Amira shouted. "Now!"

They ran, Kael carrying Draven, Nyra behind him, Amira last.

The cavern began to collapse.

Stones fell. Dust filled the air.

They burst from the entrance of the Grove just as it caved in behind them.

There was silence.

Only the sound of the blowing wind in the trees was heard.

Later that night, they sat in the Queen's private chamber.

Draven slept beside the fire, his face pale but peaceful.

Nyra sat with a book in her lap, one taken from the Queen's secret library. It held the story of the First Temple.

Kael paced.

"We were lucky this time. But Varek is changing. Becoming something we've never seen before."

Amira looked at the shard in her hand. The obsidian still pulsed with weak light.

"He's not just after power. He wants to replace the gods."

Nyra nodded. "And we're the only ones who can stop him."

"But we need to understand what we are," Kael said. "What we were meant to be."

Nyra looked at him. "You're right. We were born of a blood oath. But that doesn't mean we're cursed. It means we were chosen."

Amira's voice was soft. "I once believed I doomed you all. But now I see... you are the land's last hope."

They looked at each other. Worn and hurt,but alive.

For now.

And somewhere, deep beneath the earth, Varek's voice echoed in the darkness.

**"Soon... they will all bow to me."**