ELDER IRIS POV
I dropped my teacup when the image hit .
The hot liquid splashed across my kitchen table, soaking into the old papers I’d been reading. But I barely noticed. My mind was sowhere else entirely, seeing things that hadn’t happened yet.
Luna standing at an intersection, tears streaming down her face. Lily trapped in a cage made of silver and stars. Caleb yelling my na as darkness swallowed our pack whole.
"No," I whispered, holding the edge of my table. "Not like this. Not when we’re so close."
The vision faded, leaving gasping in my small cell. My old heart hamred against my ribs like a caught bird. I’d been having these views of the future for seventy years, but never one this clear. Never one this bad.
I looked at the ss I’d made. Tea had ruined weeks of careful study, the ink running on pages I’d spent months translating from the old language. But maybe that didn’t matter anymore.
Maybe I was running out of ti.
I stood up too quickly and my knees buckled. Pain shot through my old bones as I caught myself against the wall. When had I gotten so frail? When had walking across my own house beco such a struggle?
But I had work to finish. Important work.
I grabbed my walking stick and made my way to the wooden chest in the corner of my house. Inside were all my most precious things - books written by oga wolves from centuries ago, detailed maps of spiritual energy lines that ran under Silver Peak, and most importantly, my study notes about the Triple Moon prophecy.
The prophecy that was still playing, even now.
My hands shook as I pulled out a leather notebook filled with my own handwriting. Fifty years of careful observations about the energy trends in our pack. Fifty years of waiting for the right oga to be born. Fifty years of planning for what was coming.
I’d thought Lily’s transformation was the end of the prophesy. The mont when balance returned to our pack and my life’s work was complete. But the vision I’d just seen told a different story.
The real test was still coming.
I opened the book and began to write, my old fingers cramping around the pen. There were things Lily needed to know. Things I should have told her months ago but hadn’t because I thought we had more ti.
The Triple Moon carrier is not just a healer, I wrote. She is a bridge between places. When the big darkness cos, she will have to choose between saving her pack and saving herself. But there is a third choice, hidden in the oldest texts.
I paused, rembering sothing my own master had told decades ago. Elder Sarah had been the oga keeper of secrets before , and her grandma before her. A line of oga won going back to the very beginning of our pack, all of us guarding the sa terrible knowledge.
The void creatures are not our enemies, I kept writing. They are our lost family. Wolves who chose emptiness over pain so long ago that they forgot how to feel. The Triple Moon bearer can bring them ho, but only if she knows the cost.
My hand was getting tired, but I forced myself to keep writing. There was so much to explain and so little ti.
Outside my cabin, I could hear the pack moving around in fear. Shouted directions, running feet, the sound of weapons being prepared. They knew trouble was coming but not what kind. They were preparing to fight, not knowing that fighting might be exactly the wrong thing to do.
I wrote faster, my handwriting getting ssy as I rushed to get everything down.
The people who have co are not the true threat. They are being controlled by sothing older and hungry. Sothing that feeds on fear and gets stronger with every act of violence. Lily must not let the pack fight. She must choose another way.
A sharp pain stabbed through my chest, making gasp. I dropped my pen and pressed my hand against my heart. It felt like soone was squeezing it with icy fingers.
Not yet, I thought desperately. Just a little more ti.
But my body had other plans. The pain spread through my chest and down my left arm. My vision started to blur around the edges, and I could taste copper in my mouth.
With my last bit of power, I reached for a small silver bell on my table. It was attached to a rope that ran to Lily’s cabin - an old oga ergency system that hadn’t been used in years.
I rang the bell three tis, the signal for "urgent help needed." Then I collapsed back in my chair, the book falling from my lap onto the floor.
I could hear footsteps running toward my house. Voices calling my na. But they sounded far away, like they were coming from the bottom of a deep well.
The world was getting darker around the edges, but I wasn’t scared. I’d done what I could. The information was written down. The signs were clear.
Now it was up to Lily and the others to save our pack.
My cell door burst open and Lily rushed in, her face full of worry. Behind her ca Caleb, Aiden, and even Luna, all of them crowded around my chair.
"Elder Iris!" Lily knelt beside , taking my cold hands in her warm ones. "What happened? Are you hurt?"
I tried to speak but could barely whisper. "Journal," I managed to say, pointing at the falling book. "Read it. All of it. The real forecast... not finished yet."
"Don’t talk," Lily said, tears starting in her eyes. "Save your strength. We’ll get you help."
I shook my head slightly. There was no help for this. My ti had co, just like I’d always known it would. But I had one more thing to tell her.
"The void entity," I whispered, using the last of my strength. "It’s not her brother."
Lily leaned closer. "What do you an?"
With my final breath, I looked into her puzzled eyes and spoke the truth that would change everything.
"It’s her son."
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