Chapter 5 The Awakening

. --- # **Chapter Five**

**The Awakening**

*"The moon does not choose the strongest. She chooses the one who survives the fire."* > -Old Seer's Proverb ---

The moon rose red. Not pink. Not rusted gold like the early autumn nights. But deep, pulsing crimson-like it had bled for hours and only now remembered to shine. I watched it from the edge of the ravine behind Sylren's cottage, barefoot on the cold stone, my cloak pulled tight around me. The wind was sharp tonight, like something slicing open the veil between worlds. I didn't know what I was waiting for. Only that it was coming. --- Inside, Sylren had lit every protective rune in her books. Drawn sigils in salt and soot across the doorframe. She hadn't told me why. But her hands were shaking when she poured the last circle. "They'll be looking for you now," she whispered. "Who?" I asked. Her moon-blind eyes didn't blink. "Everyone." --- I tried to sleep. I really did. But the moment I closed my eyes, I felt her. Not Seraphina. *Her*. My wolf. At least... the ghost of her. Pacing. Clawing. Tugging at the seams of my skin like I wasn't built to contain her anymore. And then I heard it. The first *crack*. Like a bone shifting inside a dream. --- I shot up in bed, breath coming in short, sharp bursts. My chest felt like it was caving in. My limbs trembled with heat and ice and lightning all at once. I stumbled toward the basin, splashing cold water over my face- -and saw her in the reflection. Eyes glowing. Teeth too long. Skin pulled too tight. Me-but *not*. Me-but wild. Me-but free. --- I screamed. And the world shifted. --- I don't remember how I got outside. Only that the night air felt like fire. And the ground-gods, the ground was *singing*. It pulsed with every heartbeat. Every footstep. Like it knew me now. Like it had been waiting for me to step into it fully. My body felt like it didn't belong to me. It ached. It cracked. It *burned.* I fell to my knees, clutching the dirt as the mark on my back lit up with blinding heat. The wolf's head flared-not just warm, not just glowing-but alive. Moving. Changing. It *howled*. --- My skin ripped. Or maybe it didn't. Maybe it only felt like that-like every hidden part of me had been clawing for years, and now the door had finally broken. My bones bent. My breath caught. And then- I shifted. --- It wasn't clean. It wasn't graceful like the stories said. Like the dances the nobles do when they shift beneath silk and song and moonlight. No. Mine was primal. Ugly. Sacred. I screamed so loud it echoed off the mountains. And then I wasn't screaming anymore. Because I didn't have a *voice* anymore. I had a howl. --- My paws hit the ground with a force that startled even me. Every sound was a symphony. Every scent a story. I could hear Sylren whispering inside. I could smell Kael's fading trail in the trees. I could feel the stars humming in my blood. And above it all, the moon called to me-not like a queen. Like a *mother.* I ran. --- I don't know how long I was in the forest. Hours, maybe. Years. I chased wind. Shadows. Memory. And all the while, my wolf ran with wild joy, her golden fur flashing through trees like sunlight. She was strong. She was beautiful. She was *mine*. And she had always been there. Just waiting for me to stop being afraid. --- When I returned at dawn, the cottage was quiet. Sylren sat on the steps, a blanket around her shoulders and a cup of tea in her hands. She looked at me-naked, shivering, scratched and muddy from the run-and smiled. "Welcome home," she said. --- I sank into the ground beside her, my throat raw and my soul humming like a temple bell. "I thought she'd never come," I whispered. "She's been with you all along," Sylren said. "Some wolves are born hidden. It doesn't make them less holy." --- Inside, I wrapped myself in a blanket and stared into the fire. I didn't know who I was anymore. But for the first time in my life, I wasn't afraid of the answer. --- Outside, the blood moon faded. And far away, the first tremors of war began to stir. Seraphina had seen the mark. The court would soon hear the howl. And the girl no one believed in had just become a wolf. ---