Chapter 3 The Beast Beneath Altar
The ground exploded beneath the Moon Altar Stone shattered across the arena as a massive black claw burst from the crack in the earth Screams erupted instantly People scrambled over each other trying to escape.
“What the hell is that?!”
“Run!”
The silver barrier surrounding the arena flickered violently as dark energy flooded the air.Elias stared at the enormous claw emerging from below His chest tightened painfully. The presence beneath the altar felt familiar, Too familiar Like the thing inside him was reacting to it The voice in his head growled softly.
One of my jailers.
Another claw ripped through the stone Then slowly a gigantic creature pulled itself out from beneath the arena floor It looked like a wolf But wrong Its body was twisted with black chains embedded into its flesh Silver eyes glowed from its enormous skull like face Ancient runes burned across its body The moment it appeared every werewolf in the arena felt overwhelming terror Even Alphas struggled to breathe An elder collapsed in horror.
“A Guardian Beast…”
“No,” another whispered shakily.
“That thing was supposed to be sealed centuries ago.”
The creature’s glowing eyes slowly turned toward Elias Then it bowed its head The entire arena froze again Elias’s breathing stopped The beast recognized him.
No…
it recognized the thing inside him The voice laughed darkly.
Even monsters remember their king. Alpha Cedric Silvercrest stepped forward immediately.
“Activate the execution formation!”
Bright silver symbols lit up around the arena walls Power surged through the air Dozens of elite warriors surrounded Elias instantly Weapons drawn, Fear in their eyes Vivienne moved closer to Elias.
“You need to leave.”
Elias looked at her in disbelief.
“They’re trying to kill me.”
“They’re afraid,” she corrected quietly.
“That doesn’t make this right.”
Another violent pulse shook Elias’s body The dark markings had fully reached his neck now His silver eyes flickered unnaturally He could hear everything Every heartbeat,Every frightened whisper, Every weapon being unwrapped It was overwhelming The voice inside him sounded pleased.
Your body is finally waking up Elias grabbed his head painfully.
“Get out of my head!”
Suddenly the Guardian Beast roared The sound shook the entire territory The silver execution formation shattered instantly.
BOOM.
Warriors were thrown backward violently Several crashed into the arena walls, The beast stepped forward protectively toward Elias Like a loyal servant guarding its master Fear spread rapidly among the nobles.
“This is bad…”
“He’s controlling it!”
“No,” one elder whispered shakily. “The beast is obeying him willingly.”
That terrified them even more At the highest platform, Darius Ashford finally stood, His expression was grim For the first time that night, he looked directly at Elias Not with shame With fear.
“Elias,” he said heavily, “what have you become?”
The question hit harder than any blade Elias stared at his father silently What had he become? He didn’t know anymore The arena suddenly trembled again But this time the pressure came from above Everyone looked toward the sky The clouds were turning black A giant silver moon slowly emerged behind them despite it not being midnight yet The moment the moon appeared the dark markings on Elias’s body burned painfully He screamed and dropped to one knee The voice inside him roared violently.
THE SEAL IS BREAKING.
A massive wave of power exploded from Elias Every window around the arena shattered instantly The Guardian Beast howled toward the sky And then Elias saw them Flashes, Memories, Not his own An ancient battlefield drowned in blood Thousands of dead wolves A man standing alone beneath a black moon Silver chains piercing through his body while dozens of Alphas watched in fear And standing among them was a woman crying A woman who looked exactly like Vivienne Silvercrest, Elias’s eyes widened.
“No way…”
The memory vanished instantly He looked toward Vivienne in shock She stared back at him, equally confused As if she had seen something too Then the voice whispered softly inside Elias’s mind
You found her again.
Before Elias could react a loud horn echoed across the territory One of the guards screamed from the arena wall.
“Enemies approaching!”
Everyone turned sharply Dozens of black-cloaked figures stood outside the barrier surrounding the territory Watching,Waiting, One of them stepped forward slowly Then smiled directly at Elias.
“We finally found you… Your Majesty.”
