ng estate, the blood-red moon pulsed, a diseased heart casting fractured light across scorched stone walls. His empire-a brutal mosaic of steel and slaughter-reeled as

edator's edge. A snarl tore from his throat, raw and unbidden, a call to the werewolves his father had gifted him at birth-beasts of his bloodline, now a vast pack multiplied in secret, waiting in the wilds.

ss-a curse that could summon death-had broken their nerve. Beyond the walls, the forest burned, trees reduced to skeletal pyres, nearby villages razed to ash, their people slaug

Magnus's bones, his head snapping toward the blazing treeline, amber eyes blazing like embers. The curse flared,

e, a longsword trembling in blood-slick hands. A gash wept crimson across his brow, fresh and angry. "The scouts-Gavrin's back. S

eth too sharp, his rage

as they descended to the lower levels. Stone walls loomed, scarred by fire, like a crypt's jaws. In a dim chamber, a lone candle sputtered, its flame shrinking from the dark. Gavrin,

e was a growl, his anger a bla

hings-fast, fanged, eyes red as blood. Drank Toren's life, left him a husk. Led by a woman-human one moment, charming, then... fangs, silver eyes. She

ling at "her," the image of her shi

scaped. He curled into himself, trembling,

ing to the werewolves waiting in the wilds, their powe

"Magnus... she's tearing everything apart. Human

of his people stoking his rage. Answers lurked in his father's study, a vault sealed since Darius

s cracked like brittle flesh, some singed by stray embers. A massive oak desk loomed, its surface scarred by his father's fury. Magnus lit a lantern, its flame ca

nd heavy with secrets. He seized one, his fath

ngers for it. Pale drinkers, led by their silver-eyed queen, seek the Key of Destruction, a relic to unmake the world. She shifts

ht, now a vast pack, hidden but ready. A scream tore through the night, joined by a chilling hiss and the crash of falling stone, so

gash on his arm. "Magnus-they're inside! Pale fanged things, led