The Forgotten Hollow was not a place.
It was a silence.
Elara descended into it alone, her feet bare, her cloak discarded, her soul stripped bare by the choice she had made. The path was not marked by stone or light, but by memories—each step forward forcing her to relive a moment she wished she could forget.
Aiden's first kiss, fevered and desperate under the storm-ridden skies of Blackmoon Ridge.
Kaelen's betrayal, silent and sharp as a dagger, as she bled defending a child he walked away from.
Her mother's voice, dying and soft, whispering, "You were born of a promise. Keep it."
And now—here she was. Walking into the realm of those lost to time to bring back the one she'd let fall.
Back on the surface, Kaelen stood at the edge of the Veil. The mirrors around him whispered.
"You lied to her."
"You lied to yourself."
"You were never the Betrayer. You were the Coward."
"She gave up her mate for a ghost."
He growled, shattering one of the mirrored stones. It bled silver light.
He turned to leave—but a figure blocked his path.
Her.
Selene.
But she was not the soft goddess of the stories. She wore armor now—moonforged and cruel. Her eyes gleamed with fury.
"You were not meant to survive the Veil," she said coldly.
"I did," Kaelen replied. "Because I had to."
"No," she said, stepping closer. "Because you stole something that was not yours."
Kaelen clenched his fists.
"I only took the pain she couldn't carry."
"That pain was her strength," Selene hissed. "You broke her when you tried to save her."
Kaelen faltered.
And Selene struck.
In the Hollow, Elara pressed on. The silence thickened until even her breath sounded like blasphemy.
And then—she found it.
A chamber of bones and ash, with a throne made of broken Oaths.
Upon it sat a wolf.
Golden-eyed.
Aiden.
But not as she remembered.
He had no heartbeat. No breath. But his eyes—burned with awareness.
"Aiden?" she whispered.
He did not respond.
Elara stepped closer, reaching out with her soul.
And then she saw it.
Around his neck—an Oath chain. Forged from her own promise. The Veil had bound him as collateral for her choice.
She'd saved him only by damning him to this eternal place.
"You can't take him," said a voice.
She turned.
Dark Elara stood once more, but now dressed in bone-white robes, her hair braided with thorn.
"You made your choice," she said. "This is the cost."
"I didn't know," Elara said.
"Does that change it?"
Elara's hands trembled.
"I won't leave him here."
"You already did."
Dark Elara raised her hand.
The Hollow responded.
Back on the surface, Kaelen and Selene fought beneath the shattered moon.
She was divine. He was desperate.
But desperation made monsters of men.
Kaelen unlocked the forbidden blood magic—his last secret. The one he swore he'd never use again.
He became the wolf of flame and sorrow.
Selene cried out as his claws raked across her divine form. Blood as dark as space bled from her wounds.
"You dare defy the Moon herself?" she screamed.
"I dare love what you left broken," he snarled.
And then—
He disappeared.
Into the Hollow.
Elara was losing.
Dark Elara's power surged with every word of doubt Elara had ever whispered, every fear she had buried.
"You were never meant to be Luna," she said. "You were just a prophecy placeholder."
"I am the prophecy," Elara roared.
But her power flickered.
Until—Kaelen arrived.
He landed hard, smoke curling from his body.
"Elara," he gasped. "I'm here."
She turned in shock. "Why—why did you come?"
"To finish what I started," he said, rising.
Dark Elara smiled. "How touching."
She raised her hands—and a second Aiden stepped from the shadows.
But this one was wrong.
Eyes black as pitch. Lips curled in fury.
"Aiden?" Elara whispered.
"No," Dark Elara said. "This is the version you could have had if you chose vengeance."
He attacked.
Kaelen fought him.
Wolf against wolf.
Soul against shadow.
And Elara, torn between them, tried to reach the real Aiden still bound to the throne.
"Come back," she whispered. "Please. I chose you."
But the chain didn't break.
Not with words.
Only with blood.
She looked back.
Kaelen and the dark Aiden were locked in a deathmatch, both bleeding, both crumbling.
Dark Elara watched with calm detachment.
"You want to save him?" she asked.
Elara turned. "Yes."
"Then you must give up something of equal worth."
Elara knew what she meant.
She turned her head one last time, saw Kaelen look back at her with the softest smile.
He knew.
"I'm ready," he whispered.