Chapter 419: Howleroot

Igma;

I’ve known Rhydian for almost my entire life.

I’ve watched him laugh until he couldn’t breathe; I’ve watched him fight men twice his size...I’ve watched him stand before kings without lowering his head, and watched him carry responsibilities that would have crushed people much older.

But...I’ve never seen him like this. Never.

His wolf isn’t angry, like I’m used to seeing. He’s grieving...crying.

Seeing him like this causes an ache in my heart that I can not quite process. And staring at him now...at the state he’s in, I get to realise, more than ever, that grief can be contagious.

I take a step toward him, yet he doesn’t acknowledge me. He simply lifts his head and releases another broken howl toward the night sky.

The sound sends a chill crawling across my skin, because in this moment, it dawns on me that something terribly wrong has happened. I can feel it.

This...inexplicable sense of...loss...grief deep inside. So deep I can not seem to reach, ignore...or soothe.

My wolf stirs inside me, and I swallow.

What’s happening?

My wolf stirs again, and I close my eyes. Searching... Listening. Trying to feel beyond the forest around us.

Jagged Valley is close now. Too close.

Ever since we entered these mountains, the air itself has felt... wrong.

Magic lingers everywhere here. Old magic. Twisted magic.

The kind that bends directions and swallows intuition. Even scents behave strangely.

Sometimes they disappear, sometimes they travel in impossible directions, and sometimes, they just...stop.

Could this valley—these mountains be interfering with whatever Rhydian and I are feeling?

It makes no sense to feel so...torn inside and not know exactly what’s been ripped away. It’s unlike our kind. We ought to know. We always know.

A strange heaviness suddenly settles over me. Like rain clouds gathering inside my chest.

I place a hand over my heart as my body begins to tremble lightly in response.

"...What is this?"

This feeling...It’s almost like standing beside someone who has just begun crying.

Even if you don’t know why. eventually...Your own heart begins aching too.

I look back at Rhydian. He’s still staring at the moon. Still crying. Still howling.

And somehow...Without understanding why...My own eyes begin to sting.

A tear slides down my cheek, and I quickly wipe it away.

Yet, I can’t shake off the feeling.

My wolf begins pacing restlessly beneath my skin. She doesn’t understand what’s happening either.

This is less about grieving and more about answering...Answering another wolf’s pain.

I stare at my cousin...my brother through blurred vision as his sorrow clings to me like wet cloth. I have never experienced anything like this before.

He hasn’t stopped howling. Not once. His voice has become hoarse. Yet he keeps calling into the night.

Calling... For who? For what?

...Maybe he doesn’t either. But I can feel it too. And he needs me.

Without any more resistance, I give in to my wolf’s demand.

I release control, and the shift comes with far more ease than I expected.

Blue fur replaces my skin, and the world around me immediately fills with sharper scents... and grief.

Almost like an instinct. Something my wolf understands without explanation.

I slowly move toward him. He doesn’t look at me. His entire being remains fixed on the moon above.

Another howl leaves him.

This one is quieter. Almost exhausted.

I stop beside him. Then...Without waiting for an explanation, I lift my own head toward the night sky. And howl.

Not because I understand...But because I know I should. Because I can feel that I should.

I howl because no wolf should have to mourn alone.

The sound leaves me softer than his. Gentler.

It weaves around his broken cries instead of overpowering them.

For several long moments... The two voices rise together beneath the moon. One carrying unbearable grief, and the other carrying quiet companionship.

Neither of us knows what waits beyond these mountains. Neither of us knows what happened hundreds of miles behind us.

Neither of us knows what this feeling is. But it’s real... and raw. Maybe that’s what makes it so scary.

*******Blue Bird;

Far away from Jagged Valley... Far away from the two wolves mourning beneath an unfamiliar moon...

One kingdom stopped breathing. One kingdom has frozen right in its tracks as a collective loss runs through every single member of the pack.

Howleroot.

Just minutes ago, the kingdom seemed to be basking in its newly found peace...and freedom.

Lanterns burned from different porches, guards patrolled the streets in routine, pups slept soundly against their mothers’ chests, and old wolves rested beside quietly crackling fireplaces.

It was a night no different from the newly introduced ones.

The night was a breath of air. Cool, soft...easy.

Until it happened. Until the realisation hit.

An elderly woman carrying a basket of harvest back home suddenly stopped walking. The basket slipped from her hands, with apples rolling across the road. Her hand slowly rose to her chest as horror colored her face.

"...Goddess..."

Not too far off, a young hunter froze in the middle of sharpening his spear. The whetstone fell from his hand, and his eyes widened as his wolf whimpered somewhere deep inside him.

And just like that, the same dread rippled through the entire kingdom.

One wolf stopped. Then another, and another... Across every corner of Howleroot, something invisible swept through the kingdom.

It wasn’t the wind. Neither was it magic. It was something far more destructive in its silence.

Absence.

The sudden, shocking realisation that someone who had always been there...No longer was...and would never again be.

Within moments, conversations died. Houses fell silent, soldiers lowered their weapons...Children looked toward the moon without understanding why horror suddenly filled their mothers’ eyes.

The kingdom had not yet received a messenger. No one had announced anything. Neither had any raven arrived. And yet...Every wolf knew.

Not with words, or certainty...But with instinct.

Their Luna...was gone.

*****

Deep within the Royal castle of Howleroot, the Council of Elders had gathered to discuss patrol routes along the border.

One elder was speaking...till he stopped.

"...the eastern packs have requested additional—"

Mid-sentence, the words simply...Vanished.

Every elder in the chamber looked up at the exact same moment, and silence swallowed the room.

The eldest among them stood slowly, with his back bent from years of labour and experience.

Tonight, his aged back seemed to bend further. One trembling hand pressed against his chest, as his eyes closed slowly.

"...The Luna..."

Another elder stood, trembling."...It can’t be."

The colour drained from their faces, and for a long while... Nobody spoke. Nobody needed to.

Because every wolf in that room felt it. The oldest Alpha bond in the kingdom...Had broken.

Finally...

The eldest elder whispered the words none of them wanted to say.

"...Alpha Liandria..." His voice cracked. "...has fallen."

The room remained perfectly still. One elder quietly removed the ceremonial chain from around his neck.

And the others hung their head as they did the same.

All eyes turned to the acting leader. To the man who just lost his sister as well as Alpha.

There was nothing on his face. Nothing that could be read, at least.

Outside, a howl rose.

Long, broken, and worldlessly understood.

Every elder looked toward the open windows, and just like that, more howls rose to the moon, until the night itself became a song of mourning.

A song sung by thousands of wolves.

Young, old, warriors, children, mothers, fathers... All now a herd without a shepherd.

Every corner of Howleroot answered the same invisible call.

Some remained in human form, while others shifted without meaning to. Instinct took over where words failed.

Their voices merged into one endless cry beneath the moon. A farewell...A prayer.

The eldest elder slowly walked toward the open balcony overlooking the kingdom. His old eyes swept across the rooftops below.

Across the wolves lifting their heads toward the heavens, and the kingdom Liandria had protected...and nearly destroyed, for decades.

"...May the Moon Mother guide you home..." He spoke with his voice barely above a whisper.

Behind him, another elder finally found the strength to speak.

"The kingdom has lost its Alpha."

He drew one slow breath.

"...Summon the council."