> "Some tombs are sealed not to protect the dead—but to warn the living."
---
Selene's breath came in sharp, cold bursts.
She stood before an ancient stone archway carved into the side of a cliff. The sky behind her was grey, bleeding into black. No birds sang here. No wind whispered. The trees stood like mourners—silent, tall, and watching.
The Alpha pointed toward the entrance.
"You step through that gate, you walk into your bloodline," he said.
"What's in there?" Selene asked.
The others didn't answer.
One by one, they turned their backs.
Because this trial…
> You don't watch.
You survive it—or you don't.
---
She stepped inside.
The air shifted immediately—dense and cold. The darkness swallowed her. Her boots echoed on stone older than memory.
Symbols flickered on the walls—faintly glowing. She couldn't read them, but she could feel them.
They pulsed with emotion.
> Anger.
Sorrow.
Vengeance.
A hallway of memories… built by blood.
Then came the flame.
---
It wasn't normal fire.
This one glowed blue and silver—Ghostfire.
It burned without heat. It floated like smoke. And it screamed.
Selene stood frozen as the fire circled her, whispering in a hundred voices.
Her name.
Her sins.
Her fears.
She clenched her fists, heart pounding.
Then came the first ghost.
---
He stepped out of the flame, his eyes hollow, his chest split open with old battle wounds.
"Do you remember me?" he rasped.
She shook her head.
"I carried your grandfather's banner in the Blood Siege. I died when they opened the gates and let the silver-tongued ones in. You wear our blood—but can you wear our pain?"
He vanished.
Another appeared—a woman, younger, burning at the edges.
"I was your aunt. They burned me alive for refusing the Devil Alpha's claim. Will you scream as I did—or will you bite?"
Then another.
And another.
And another.
---
Each ghost circled her, judging.
The Ghostfire pulsed harder.
Then it entered her chest.
Selene screamed.
Not from pain.
From memory.
She saw everything—felt every betrayal. Every death. Every time her family, her bloodline, was torn down and forgotten.
And in that agony—
She saw herself.
Not as a girl. Not as a soldier.
But as a leader.
---
She staggered forward.
A final ghost blocked her way.
Her mother.
Hair like hers. Eyes full of sadness and power.
"You were born after the fall," the ghost said softly. "But the moon marked you anyway."
Selene fell to her knees.
Her mother touched her face.
"You can run. Or you can rise."
Selene whispered, "I'm tired of running."
Her mother smiled.
And kissed her forehead.
"You have my fire now."
---
The Ghostfire flared.
Then exploded into her chest.
Selene howled—not in pain, but in rebirth.
Her veins lit up with silver. Her heartbeat synced with the tomb. Her claws extended without shifting.
She stood alone.
But no longer empty.
---
Outside, the Alpha looked up.
The tomb's archway glowed.
He whispered to the wind:
> "She passed. The Hollow Flame lives again."