Reign of the Forsaken Moon - Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Seraphina stood barefoot on the frost-bitten training ring at the edge of Ashfang Hold, her arms outstretched as silver light flickered around her palms. The wind whispered over the stone ridge, but she didn’t feel the cold—not anymore.
Not since the Moonfire Mark had awakened.
“Focus,” Darian said, standing behind her, arms crossed. “Breathe. Don’t let it control you.”
“I’m trying,” she growled.
“Try harder.”
He stepped closer, and without warning, threw a dagger at her chest.
Reflex surged.
The moonlight flared from her skin—an arcing shield of light that deflected the blade midair. It spun to the dirt harmlessly.
Her breath hitched.
Darian nodded. “Better.”
Seraphina turned slowly. “You nearly skewered me.”
“If you’re going to carry divine power, you’d better learn to use it without flinching.”
She scowled. “You’re enjoying this.”
“A little.”
She rolled her eyes and returned to her stance, but her mind wasn’t still. Since the mark had appeared, the Moonfire had pulsed through her veins at random—flaring during sleep, during battle, and once, even when she had been remembering Kael and Lyra.
It wasn’t just power.
It was memory. Emotion. Legacy.
And she was terrified of losing control.
Later that morning, Mira summoned her to the central fire ring of Ashfang. The entire pack had gathered—children, warriors, scouts, and elders. A circle of wolves, their breath rising in the cold air, eyes solemn.
A trial.
Darian stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. “They want to know if they can trust you.”
“Because I carry a mark?”
“No. Because you carry a past.”
Seraphina swallowed hard.
Mira raised her voice. “Our laws are few but sacred. All wolves in Ashfang earn their place. You were once a Luna of a great kingdom. But that kingdom is ash now. So today, you must prove who you are—here.”
Seraphina nodded once.
A young warrior stepped forward—a woman with braided silver hair and a long spear. “Name’s Kaelin. I challenge you for place.”
A fight.
Seraphina stepped into the circle without hesitation.
Kaelin attacked fast—her spear a blur of steel and fury. Seraphina ducked the first swipe, rolled under the second, and caught the haft on the third, snapping it in two.
Kaelin growled and lunged with bare hands.
Seraphina let her instincts take over.
She twisted, struck her in the ribs, then spun to sweep her feet. Kaelin hit the ground, breathless, and before she could rise, Seraphina’s claws were at her throat.
Silence.
Then a slow clap. Darian.
Kaelin smiled faintly and extended her arm. “You fight like a Luna.”
Seraphina pulled her up. “I am a Luna.”
The pack howled in approval.
Her place was earned.
That night, Seraphina sat at the cliff’s edge overlooking the valley. The moon hung high, casting its pale glow across the land like a silent sentinel. Her mark pulsed beneath her skin in rhythm with her heartbeat.
Darian joined her, two mugs in hand.
“Moonberry mead,” he offered.
She raised a brow. “Trying to get me drunk?”
He shrugged. “Maybe I want to see what a Twice-Born Luna looks like tipsy.”
She snorted but took the mug.
They drank in silence for a while.
Then, quietly, he asked, “Do you miss them?”
Her grip on the mug tightened. “Every day.”
“Your children… Kael and Lyra?”
She nodded. “They were my world. My anchor. When I lost them…” She hesitated, swallowing the lump in her throat. “...something inside me shattered.”
Darian was silent for a long moment.
“I lost someone too. Not to death—worse. She betrayed my entire unit during the border war. Sold us to a rival Alpha for power. I was the only survivor.”
Seraphina turned to him.
“That’s why you built Ashfang.”
He nodded. “Every wolf here was cast out or betrayed. We fight for each other, not crowns or bloodlines.”
“I don’t want a crown,” she whispered.
“But you need a throne to burn the ones who wronged you.”
She stared into the distance. “What if I become like him?”
Darian leaned closer. “Then I’ll be the one to stop you.”
Their eyes met, and the air shifted.
The pull between them was subtle, not yet the overwhelming bond she once shared with Thorne—but it was real. A flicker of something new.
Hope.
The wind shifted.
Seraphina stiffened. “Do you smell that?”
Darian was already rising. “Blood. Burnt rosemary. Poisoned steel.”
They sprinted down the ridge as screams broke out across the lower ring of Ashfang.
An assassin had breached the hold.
Seraphina’s heart pounded. They reached the southern huts where a young scout lay bleeding, a black dagger lodged in his side.
Seraphina knelt beside him. “He’s alive—but fading fast.”
Mira appeared from the shadows, kneeling beside her. “Shadow assassin. Thorne’s work. Sent to test the truth of your rebirth.”
A flicker of fury ignited in Seraphina’s chest.
“Where is he?”
“Gone,” Darian growled, returning from the treeline. “But he left a message—carved into the wall of your cabin."
They followed him back.
There, etched in deep claw marks across the wooden door, were three words:
“Prove you live.”
Seraphina’s jaw clenched.
“Oh, I will.”
She turned, Moonfire flickering in her eyes.
“Tell your scouts. Triple the watch. And Mira…”
The Seer looked up.
“Get me everything you know about Shadowborn magic.”