Chapter 5 The Queen of Dusk and Dawn

Draumr burned beneath a blood-red sky.

The ruins of Selene's birthplace cracked open like a wound, releasing centuries of forgotten power. Trees groaned as if waking from slumber, roots tearing stone, branches glowing with ghostlight. The forest had come alive.

And at its head the panther, radiant and terrible, leading an army of spectral beasts born from myth and nightmare.

Above them, Selene soared.

Her skin shimmered with moonlight, her wings neither bat nor feather glimmered with stardust. She was no longer a girl, nor a monster. She was something divine.

Below, Kael knelt in chains, bloodied and gasping. Valrick stood over him, his crimson crown gleaming. The vampire lord extended his hand.

"Choose peace," he said. "Power. Rule beside me, and the war ends. One death... for an eternal reign."

Selene descended like a falling star.

She did not answer with words.

She chose chaos.

The sky split open as her scream shattered the veil between realms. Light poured from her-lradiant, unrelenting. Not hatred. Purity. Essence. The truth of what she was.

Valrick burned-dust before dawn.

Kael's body lay still, fading.

Selene knelt beside him, trembling. "Don't go," she whispered.

She kissed him, sharing her blood-her curse, her gift.

The moon wept.

Kael's eyes opened-no longer gold, no longer beast. Something new.

Together, they rose.

Then vanished into mist and moonlight.