ログインAella POV The hall remained silent after Order and Chaos revealed the truth about the bloodlines. No one moved. No one dared interrupt. Then, from the back of the crowd, an elderly wolf shifter slowly rose to his feet. His silver hair framed a weathered face marked by countless years. He leaned heavily on a carved wooden cane. "My family," he began quietly, "has passed down stories for generations." Everyone turned toward him. "My grandfather always said that, once upon a time, every shifter could choose the animal they wished to become." He looked directly at Order. "Was that only a legend?" Order smiled sadly. "No." "It was history." A murmur spread through the assembled shifters. Order stepped forward, his calm voice carrying effortlessly across the hall. "Long ago, before kingdoms existed, every shifter was born with a core affinity." He waved his hand, and shimmering images appeared above the crowd. "They were free to choose the form that best suited that affi
Aella POVHunter was the first to wake.Queen Silveira had barely finished checking his pulse when his eyes opened, immediately searching the room."Molly.""I'm here."Molly's voice came from the bed beside him.She looked pale, exhausted, but awake.The relief that spread through the infirmary was almost tangible.Sol let out a breath beside me.Hunter slowly sat up, wincing."How long?""Twenty days," I answered gently.His eyes widened."...Twenty?"I nodded."You've been gone twenty days."He looked toward Molly.She simply sighed."I told you we'd worried everyone."Hunter rubbed his face before looking back at us."We did it."The room became silent."What happened?" Sol asked.Hunter took a deep breath."The portal.""We found it.""It wasn't connected to the tree itself.""It was anchored from inside the ley lines."He explained everything.The endless tunnels.The countless portals leading to other worlds.The trials.The crystals surrounding Elias's laboratory.The anchor.
Aella POVHunter and Molly slept peacefully in the Sanctuary's infirmary.Queen Silveira assured us they would recover. They were exhausted, malnourished, and their bodies had clearly endured far more than twenty days should have allowed. Whatever had happened to them had taken its toll.For now...All we could do was wait.I gently pulled the blanket higher over Molly's shoulders before stepping into the hallway with Sol.He was unusually quiet.Finally, he looked at me."When did you give Molly access to the Sanctuary?"I frowned."I didn't."Sol stopped walking."What?"I leaned against the stone wall, thinking back."I was going to.""I even arranged to meet with her after the Academy expansion plans were finished."I smiled sadly."The timing was never right.""Then she disappeared."Silence stretched between us.Neither of us had granted Molly permission to enter the Sanctuary.Neither had Chaos.Nor Order.Yet she had arrived safely through Xander's portal.Slowly...A realizat
Hunter POVElias snapped.For the first time since I had met him, the man who always seemed to have ten plans prepared completely lost control."No!"He slammed the binding book shut and stretched both hands toward the laboratory's portal."Open!"Nothing happened.Again."OPEN!"The laboratory trembled.His magic surged wildly through the room.Still...No portal appeared.The silver cracks spreading across the gateway only widened.The connection to the ley lines had been severed.The anchor was gone.Molly had done it.Elias staggered backward, breathing heavily.His expression twisted from disbelief into pure rage."You..."He looked directly at us."...what have you done?"I smiled despite the shadows still binding my arms."What you never thought possible."His eyes became bloodshot."You ruined everything!"He threw both hands forward.Shadows exploded across the laboratory.They rushed toward us like a tidal wave.Only...They weren't obeying him completely anymore.The severe
Hunter POVMolly's fingers trembled against my arm.To anyone watching, it looked as though she was simply clutching her hands together in fear.Only I knew the truth.Hidden between her palms...Was the final anchor crystal.It had become so small that even I could barely see it.She was absorbing it.Slowly.Painfully.Far too slowly.I tightened my arms around her as Elias's shadows forced us to our knees.If he noticed...Everything we had endured inside the ley lines would have been for nothing.Around us, the mutants formed a perfect circle.Dozens of them.Some growled.Others watched silently with lifeless eyes.None dared move without Elias's command.The laboratory was unnaturally quiet.Only the soft hum of machinery and the distant breathing of the creatures filled the room.I kept Molly behind me as much as the shadows allowed.She understood immediately.Without looking at me, she pressed the crystal harder into her palm.Keep going.Just a little longer.Elias laughed.
Hunter POVWe waited.One hour.An entire hour without daring to move.Molly and I remained hidden inside the cave, barely breathing as Elias walked through his laboratory.He moved with unsettling calm, stopping at different cages, writing notes, occasionally injecting one of the mutants with another glowing serum.Not once did he look toward the portal.Not once did he suspect we were only a few meters away.I counted every second.Molly counted the mutants.Neither of us spoke.Finally...Elias closed his notebook.He gave a few quiet orders to the creatures nearest him before disappearing through another steel door.We waited another five minutes.Just in case.Only then did I nod."Go."Molly didn't hesitate.She summoned thin streams of water that wrapped around the final crystal still anchoring the portal.Slowly...Carefully...The crystal loosened.It lifted from the stone.She caught it before it could fall.We both looked toward the portal.Nothing.The shimmering gateway r







