The city had never felt so eerily silent. Even in the darkest hours of the night, the capital was usually alive with flickering lanterns, soft murmurs from inns and taverns, and the distant calls of night traders closing their shops. But tonight, the air carried something else—a weight, an unspoken fear that had settled over the streets like a creeping shadow.
Raviel, Vaelen, and Liora walked side by side, though the space between them felt vast. None of them spoke, their minds occupied by the overwhelming truth they had just been forced to accept. The annihilation of the Tiger and Wolf clans was not a mere attack. It was something far more calculated—far more dangerous.
Liora's sharp gaze flickered toward the other two. The tension between them was suffocating. Raviel, the heir of the Golden Eagle Clan, carried himself with the kind of composure that came from years of political maneuvering. Vaelen, on the other hand, had the stance of a warrior forced into diplomacy—a tiger caged within a world of rules and alliances.
She herself? She was neither. She was a werewolf, a rare warrior among her kind. And she was here because her people had been slaughtered. The scent of blood still lingered in her thoughts, and despite her best efforts, a low growl rumbled in her throat.
She did not trust the queen. She never had.
---
Survival vs. Loyalty
Vaelen suddenly stopped in the middle of the road, fists clenched. His eyes, once filled with his usual warmth, burned with barely restrained fury.
"We need to go back." His voice was sharp, commanding. "Now."
Raviel turned toward him, expression unreadable. "And do what?"
Vaelen's jaw tightened. "What do you mean, 'do what?' My people were slaughtered. The wolf clan is gone. You expect me to sit here and play politics while my homeland is nothing but ash?"
Liora's expression darkened. "You think I don't feel the same way?" she snapped. "You think it doesn't tear me apart knowing that my people—my warriors—were wiped out?"
Her anger crackled like lightning in the air. She had spent years proving herself among the werewolves, training harder, fighting stronger. And yet, in the end, none of it had mattered. Her mother had died when she was young, and now her entire clan had followed.
She took a step closer to Vaelen, voice steady despite the storm inside her. "But you don't see me running back blindly to my death, do you?"
Vaelen's hands twitched at his sides. He wasn't used to being questioned. He was stronger than most warriors, faster, more skilled. But right now, none of that mattered.
Raviel exhaled, rubbing his temples as if trying to keep a headache at bay. "We can't go back. Not yet. This isn't just about us. There's something bigger at play."
Vaelen turned on him. "And what do you suggest, Raviel? That we just sit here and wait for whoever did this to come for us next?"
Raviel met his gaze evenly. "I suggest we figure out why this happened before making a reckless move."
---
The Prophecy's Weight
The silence stretched between them. Then, slowly, Raviel reached for something tucked beneath his tunic. A pendant, gleaming with two stones—one white, one black. It felt heavier than it should, as if the weight of its meaning had only now begun to sink in.
Zareth, his father's most trusted advisor, had given it to him. And with it, a warning.
"The eagle will rise, but the serpent will fall. The tiger will fight, and the wolf will howl for justice. Only when the moon shines with the blood of stars will the path be clear."
The words echoed in Raviel's mind like an unshakable whisper.
Vaelen's gaze flickered to the pendant. "What is that?"
"The reason we're here," Raviel said simply.
Liora's expression hardened. "The queen never spoke of a prophecy."
"No," Raviel admitted. "She didn't."
And that was what unsettled him the most. Zareth had revealed the prophecy to him in secrecy. If the queen knew, why hadn't she spoken of it? Why was she keeping it hidden from them?
Liora crossed her arms. "So you trust her?"
Raviel hesitated. "I trust my father's judgment. But I don't trust what I don't understand."
Vaelen, however, looked troubled for another reason. "Zareth said this… but what does it mean? The tiger will fight, the wolf will howl… is it talking about us?"
"Most likely," Raviel murmured. "And if it is, then this wasn't just an attack. This was something that was always going to happen."
Liora's hands curled into fists. "Then we're nothing but pieces in a game we didn't agree to play."
---
Unseen Forces
The three of them walked in silence toward the queen's chambers. The city was strangely quiet.
Too quiet.
Liora's wolf senses pricked at the stillness. The sound of boots on stone, the distant murmur of voices—it was all too… controlled. It wasn't the normal bustling of a city. It was the kind of silence that came when people were too afraid to speak.
And that was when she felt it.
A shift in the air.
Not wind. Not magic.
Something watching them.
She turned sharply, but there was nothing. Just an empty street lined with flickering lanterns. But she wasn't imagining it.
Vaelen must have felt it too, because his fingers twitched toward the hilt of his blade.
"Did you—?"
"Yes." Liora's voice was low.
Raviel didn't speak, but his golden eyes scanned the darkness like a predator searching for unseen danger.
Then, from above—
A shadow moved.
Fast. Unnatural.
Liora barely had time to react before a whisper of movement cut through the still air. A flicker of something inhuman.
Then it was gone.
Vaelen stepped forward, but Raviel grabbed his arm. "Don't."
"We need to—"
"We need to keep moving," Raviel said firmly. "Not here. Not now."
Liora exhaled slowly. Whatever that was, it wasn't human. And it wasn't just lurking—it was waiting.
Waiting for something.
And that was more terrifying than anything else.
---
Alliance and Betrayal
The queen's chambers loomed ahead, and for the first time, the three of them stood before the entrance together.
Liora's shoulders were tense, her unease growing.
Vaelen's expression was dark, his loyalty to the queen warring with his instincts.
And Raviel? He merely watched, calculating, waiting.
The doors swung open.
A voice rang out from within.
"Come in."
The queen was waiting.
And with her, the truth they weren't ready to face.