Chapter 4 The Hollow Pact

The sky was bruised purple by the time Luca led Aria through a narrow deer path deeper into Black Hollow Forest. The trees here were different-taller, older, their trunks twisted like they had witnessed too many secrets. Moonlight filtered through the canopy in slivers, falling in patterns that seemed almost intentional.

Aria's heart drummed in her chest, the mark on her shoulder pulsing with heat as if sensing what lay ahead. She said nothing, but her senses had sharpened. Every rustle of a leaf, every snap of a twig underfoot echoed like a warning. She was no longer walking blind. Something inside her was waking-and it was watching.

"They're waiting," Luca said quietly.

"Who?" Aria asked, though she already knew.

"The Council."

They emerged into a clearing walled by thick pines and stone monoliths carved with runes that shimmered faintly in the moonlight. Seven cloaked figures stood in a crescent around a circular pit of embers. Their faces were shadowed, but their presence weighed heavy on the air, like thunder just before it breaks.

Aria felt her legs falter.

One of the figures stepped forward, pulling back their hood. A woman-tall, silver-haired, her skin marked with tattoos like roots and stars.

"She carries the mark," the woman said. Her voice was neither warm nor cold, but ancient. "And the blood sings."

Aria's throat tightened. "Who are you?"

"We are the Hollow Pact," said another voice, male this time. His hood remained drawn. "Guardians of the Old Ways. Binders of the Blood. We have waited for your awakening."

Luca moved to stand beside her. "She's only just beginning to remember."

"Then we must help her," said the silver-haired woman. She stepped closer, eyes fixed on Aria's. "Do you know what you are, child?"

"No."

"You are Moonblood. One of the last. Born of two worlds-human and wild. You are the heir to the legacy we swore to protect."

Aria shook her head. "I'm just a girl. I don't know anything about any of this. I didn't ask for it."

"The blood doesn't ask. It chooses."

The woman reached into the folds of her cloak and pulled out a small bowl carved from obsidian. She dipped her finger into the ember pit and let a single drop of glowing ash fall into it. Then, from her sleeve, she withdrew a blade-curved and silver, gleaming with runes.

Aria tensed. "What is that?"

"The Pact must be sealed with blood."

"No. I-I don't want-"

Luca caught her hand. "They're not going to hurt you. It's symbolic. A rite of recognition. You can refuse. But if you do... they'll send you away. And the change will come without guidance. Without protection."

Aria looked around. The Council was silent, waiting. The forest itself held its breath.

"What happens if I say yes?"

"You become one of us," the woman said. "You join the Pact. And we teach you what your blood already knows."

Aria stared at the blade, then at her own shaking hands.

Finally, she stepped forward.

The woman nodded solemnly. She pricked Aria's palm with the blade-just a scratch-and let the blood drip into the obsidian bowl. Then she did the same on her own.

When the drops mingled, the runes on the bowl flared with silver fire.

The Council began to chant.

The ground trembled beneath her feet.

The mark on her shoulder seared with light.

And in that moment, something deep and ancient unlocked within her.

Not pain. Not fear.

Power.

---

After the rite, they gave her a cloak the color of twilight. The silver-haired woman-Eira, she said her name was-walked with her as the others dispersed into the trees.

"There are others like you," Eira said. "Scattered. Hidden. Some awakened. Some are still asleep. You are not alone."

Aria asked, "Why now? Why me?"

"Because the Veil is thinning. The wild is stirring. And the enemy stirs with it. We need the Moonblood."

"Enemy?"

Eira looked eastward. "Those who hunt our kind. Those who would tear the old pacts apart. The Burned Ones."

Aria's heart tightened. She remembered the body in the woods. The way it had been torn-not by claws. By something worse.

"Was that them? The one who died?"

Eira nodded. "A warning."

Aria pulled her cloak tighter. The night had grown colder.

She was no longer just Aria Hale.

She was Moonblood.

And the war had already begun.

Copyright @ Ositadimma Mmesoma Perpetual. All rights reserved.