Ashes of the Covenant

The howls started at midnight.

Not wolves.

Hunters.

Former allies. Now executioners.

Varek and Selene moved silently through the black woods of the Ebonreach, guided only by the flickering shadows of the blood moon overhead. Each tree seemed to lean toward them, branches clawing, whispering. The forest itself rejected them.

Selene stumbled.

Varek caught her, arm around her waist, pulling her close. "You're still burning."

"The Well... it doesn't fade." Her voice cracked, her eyes glowing faintly even in darkness. "It wants more."

He pressed his lips to her temple. "We'll find a way to control it. Together."

She looked up at him, sweat on her brow, her breath shaky. "What if I can't be controlled?"

Varek's gaze hardened. "Then I'll burn with you."

They camped in a cave, miles from the nearest road.

Selene sat by the fire, stripped to her shift, skin glistening with sweat, trembling as the effects of the blood magic surged again. Her veins pulsed red. Her heartbeat throbbed in the air. She was a beacon of power—and madness.

Varek watched from the shadows, jaw tight.

She looked at him, something wild behind her eyes. "Touch me. Please."

"You're burning."

"I need you to touch me."

He came to her slowly, his fingertips brushing her thigh.

She gasped—then lunged.

They fell together, mouths clashing, her legs wrapping around his waist. She kissed him like hunger, clawed at his clothes, moaned as he entered her. He grunted, slow at first, trying to be gentle—but her teeth scraped his throat.

"Harder," she hissed.

He obliged.

She rode him like war.

Screaming into the cave walls as power exploded from her skin—shaking rock, scattering embers, splitting stone.

And still, he didn't stop.

Because she was fire.

And he was the only one who could hold it.

Later, lying in the ashes, she whispered, "I saw her. In the dream. Eriseth."

He stiffened.

"She was feeding. From me."

"You're not hers."

"She thinks I am."

He kissed her collarbone. "She'll never take you."

"I'm not sure I'm mine anymore."

Three days passed.

The hunt did not slow.

Kael's wolves swept through the lowlands. Vampires summoned blood shades to scour the skies. Bounties were placed on both their heads.

Varek slit the throat of a bounty hunter one morning.

Selene drained another to the bone that night—crying as she did.

"I didn't mean to," she whispered. "I just... lost control."

He held her. She shook in his arms.

"I'm a monster."

"No," he said fiercely. "You're becoming what this world needs."

"I don't want to be needed."

"I want you to live."

On the seventh night, they reached the Forsaken Path.

It was not a road, but a scar—burned into the land after the last Eclipse War. Nothing grew. No stars shone above it. The very air tasted of forgotten blood.

At its end stood a gate.

Made of bone. Of ash. Of sorrow.

And beyond it: Sanctuary.

Or so Vaelira's map had promised.

Selene leaned against Varek, dizzy.

He brushed the hair from her face. "This place feels... wrong."

She nodded. "But right, too."

He touched the gate.

It opened, moaning.

Inside was a valley of shadows.

Silent. Cold. Dead.

They walked together, hand in hand, into the heart of it.

There, at the center, stood a woman.

Or what once had been.

She wore tattered priest robes, her face veiled in chains, her hands stitched shut.

But her voice echoed like thunder.

"You walk the path of the betrayed. You seek refuge—but bring ruin."

Varek stepped forward. "We only seek peace."

"Then die. And be still."

Selene stepped between them. "No. I carry the Well."

The priestess stopped. Her chains rattled. Her stitched hands trembled.

"Then you carry the curse of Eriseth."

"She tried to take me," Selene whispered. "But I refused her."

The priestess paused.

"Then you are worthy."

They were led deeper underground.

To a ruined cathedral carved into the bones of a dead god.

Inside were others—shadows of those hunted. Witches, changelings, hybrid mistakes. All broken. All hiding.

A woman with no eyes offered them bloodwater. A man with antlers hissed songs in forgotten tongues. The walls wept silently.

Here, they were safe.

But only for a time.

That night, Selene and Varek stood atop the cathedral, overlooking the black valley.

The moon was gone.

Selene held her glaive tight. "This isn't enough."

"What do you mean?"

"We can't hide."

"You need rest. Time to recover."

She turned to him. "She's feeding off me, Varek. I feel her growing stronger because of me."

He said nothing.

"We have to find her. And end her."

His jaw clenched. "You're not ready."

"You'll fight me?"

"I'll protect you."

"That's not the same thing."

Silence.

Then—softly—

"If I lose you," he said, "there is no point to this war."

She touched his chest. "Then fight beside me. Not ahead. Not behind."

His hand closed over hers.

"I will."

Far across the land, Kael stood in a blood-drenched field.

Dozens of dead hybrids surrounded him.

At his side, a new companion.

Alaric.

Reborn.

Eyes black. Skin pale. Mouth split with hunger.

"She's close," Alaric whispered.

Kael said nothing.

He lifted his axe.

And followed the scent.

Farther still, Eriseth walked naked through a garden of ash, her belly distended slightly.

She touched her skin and smiled.

"She's ripening."

Behind her, a chorus of ghost-wolves howled.