PROLOGUE – The Blood Moon Pact
The night the blood moon rose, the earth remembered its monsters.
Crimson light spilled across the ruined city of Noctara, staining the shattered towers and forgotten graves. The air was thick with ash and whispers echoes of a time when witches ruled and shadows obeyed their command. But tonight, the dead stirred.
Elara D'Vayne knelt before the altar, her hands trembling as she traced ancient runes with her own blood. The spell was forbidden one that bound life to death, light to darkness. Yet she spoke the words anyway, her voice breaking like glass in the wind.
"By blood I awaken thee… by shadow I claim thee."
The ground shuddered. A voice answered her, deep and hollow, rising from the void beneath the altar.
A hand cold as the grave emerged from the darkness, catching her wrist before she could pull away.
"You should not have called me," it said.
Elara gasped as a figure took shape before herbarmor fractured, eyes glowing like dying stars. The Shadow Knight, Kael of the Fallen Order, long condemned to wander between worlds. His curse met her blood, and the bond sealed itself with a scream that split the night.
When the light faded, the sigil of the moon burned on both their wrists, one in crimson, the other in shadow.
Fate had spoken.
The witch and the warrior were now bound by blood, by darkness, by destiny.
And somewhere in the ruins above, an ancient prophecy stirred awake once more.