Reign of the Forsaken Moon - Chapter 13: Chapter 13

The wolves moved before the sun.
A silver tide under moonless sky.
Seraphina rode at the front on her midnight-coated steed, blade strapped across her back, armor lined with blackened fur. Auron was to her right, leading his Crimson-born scouts. Darian was at her left, grim and silent, twin axes gleaming with fresh enchantments.
Their destination: Hollowshade Crater.
An ancient battleground-turned-fortress, now under Thorne’s command.
And the place where Seraphina had once given birth to Lyra and Kael.
As they approached the ridgeline, scouts emerged from the trees, bloodied and pale.
“Hollowshade is worse than we imagined,” one gasped. “They’ve hollowed out the crater—dug tunnels, summoned shades, chained wolves as war-thralls.”
“How many?” Darian asked.
“Thousands.”
Seraphina’s gaze didn’t flicker.
“Good,” she said. “Then we won’t have to chase them.”
Inside Hollowshade Crater
Thorne watched the sky from his throne of bone, draped in obsidian and wolf pelts.
At his feet knelt Shael, clad in a cloak of living shadows.
“She comes,” Thorne mused. “Like the storm she was born to be.”
Shael stood. “Shall I kill her?”
Thorne smiled. “No. Break her. Shatter her army. Make her beg.”
Then he handed her a blade—curved, black as sin, thrumming with dark magic.
> “Use her own blood to carve the end.”
The Assault
The first volley of arrows ignited the sky.
Seraphina’s forces moved like clockwork—Ashfang spears at the front, Crimson Vale rogues flanking from both sides. War cries echoed from tree to tree.
She led the charge herself, blade flashing under flickers of firelight.
They crashed into the outer defenses like a tempest.
Wolves howled. Steel clanged. Magic pulsed.
And then… the earth opened.
Explosions of dark energy tore through the ranks. Tunnels erupted. Screaming war-thralls burst forth, eyes glowing, mouths sewn shut with iron thread.
Thorne had turned wolves into mindless beasts.
Seraphina’s heart shattered—but she did not stop.
She cut them down. Clean. Quick. Merciful.
And then she saw her.
Shael stood atop a black spire of stone in the crater’s center, arms raised. A spell circle spun around her, whispering words not meant for mortal ears.
Their eyes locked.
Shael smiled.
And leapt.
The Duel – Round Two
Steel rang against steel.
Seraphina and Shael battled atop the spire, surrounded by screaming wind and clashing armies. Their movements mirrored each other—every strike, block, feint.
But this time, Shael was stronger.
Faster.
Darker.
“You fight like a queen,” Shael hissed. “But I was born to be a goddess.”
She slashed across Seraphina’s shoulder, sending her stumbling.
Shael raised her cursed blade—and it shifted midair, becoming the knife that had killed Kael.
Seraphina froze.
Her knees buckled.
> “You’re weak because you love,” Shael whispered. “But I? I was born of your hate.”
But just as Shael plunged the blade downward, a roar shook the crater.
Auron—bloodied, half-limping—charged across the platform and slammed into Shael with his entire weight.
They tumbled down the spire’s side, disappearing into shadow.
Darian reached Seraphina seconds later.
“You’re bleeding.”
“I’m breathing.”
“Then get up.”
She rose.
And let out a howl that split the sky.
All wolves stopped—hers and Thorne’s alike.
“I am Seraphina Moonclaw,” she shouted. “Daughter of the broken moon. Slayer of kings. Mother of the murdered. If you follow Thorne, you will die. But if you turn now… I will call you pack.”
Dozens of war-thralls blinked.
Hesitated.
And dropped their blades.
Aftermath
The crater burned through the night. Hollowshade was won—but at great cost.
Hundreds of her warriors lay dead.
Auron was missing.
And Shael… had vanished again.
As Seraphina limped through the wreckage, Darian at her side, Mira met them at the edge of the field.
Her face was pale.
“There’s something in the tunnels,” she said. “We found a chamber… and it’s not empty.”
Seraphina raised her chin.
“Then we keep going.”