From the Lorekeepers of the First Blood
Translated by Bryanna Thorvold, Archivist of the Forsaken
She feeds in a frenzy.
No connection. No warmth. Just hunger seeking solace, needing balance.
The vessel—a southerner, young and eager—lies sated in her bed. She dresses in silence, lacing her leathers with practiced hands. She will leave before he wakes. She always does. She HAS to.
In the hall, she hears the Wolf's anguish through the stone walls. He has tried again. Failed again. His rage at his own body's betrayal echoes through the bond—raw, desperate and utterly terrified.
Thorne sleeps restlessly, his dreams thick with smoke and screaming. Even in sleep, his grief pulses through the bond like a second heartbeat.
Lucian sits alone in his chamber, thinking. Always thinking. Runes. Patterns. The cost of what they've become. His guilt is a quiet, relentless thing, and Arless feels it like frost creeping beneath her skin.
She is the only one who feeds without struggle.
The only one who takes what is offered and moves on.
The others think this makes her strong.
They do not understand: she is simply too tired to break. And she can no longer fight what she has become.
Her father's face flashes in her mind—unbidden, unwelcome. Then, Lucian's betrayal immediately follows, stiffening her spine.
She has not forgiven him. She's uncertains he ever can.
Arless descends the stairs. The Keep is quiet. Dawn is hours away. The bond hums with the others' pain, and she carries it like she carries everything else—alone, steady, unbreaking.
Somehow, deep down she knows: the Wolf will find his solace. Thorne and Lucian will find their purpose.
And her?
Arless will remain the backbone.
Strong, steady, and alone.
______
These are only fragments. The full chronicle—their bonds, their hungers, their impossible choices—will be revealed when the Darkborn saga begins.
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The hunger is only beginning.
