Back in Eldoria, the air felt thick with unease as Caitlyn, Raymond, Kane, Bree, and Selene studied the corrupted Alpha they had dragged from the tunnels. He lay still now, his body pale, eyes vacant yet flickering with the remnants of something alive, something malevolent. His voice came in broken fragments, as though the words were struggling to make sense, each one carrying the weight of a prophecy long forgotten.

“She is the echo,” the Alpha muttered, his voice cracked and uneven. “He is the beginning. You cannot kill the root with petals.”

His words made little sense, but they felt like pieces of a puzzle that Caitlyn didn’t want...