Darkness.
Endless darkness.
No sky.
No ground.
No sound.
Nothing.
Riven stood alone.
His breathing echoed through the void.
Cold.
Empty.
Silent.
He slowly turned.
There was nothing.
No stars.
No moon.
No walls.
Just endless black stretching in every direction.
"Hello?"
His voice disappeared into the darkness.
No answer.
He frowned.
"Hello?!"
Nothing.
The silence somehow felt alive.
Watching.
Waiting.
Riven looked down at himself.
His body felt strange.
Light.
Weak.
Human.
His heart skipped a beat.
Human?
Slowly he raised his hands.
No claws.
No aura.
No wolf markings.
No core.
Nothing.
Just human skin.
Just a seventeen-year-old boy.
The same boy who had once lived in a forgotten village.
Before everything changed.
Before the blood.
Before the war.
Before the monsters.
Before the moon.
Before the pain.
A knot formed in his throat.
"Where am I...?"
Then
A light appeared.
Far away.
Small.
Faint.
Yet impossible to ignore.
Riven stared at it.
The light pulsed once.
Then again.
And again.
Calling him.
Slowly...
He began walking.
One step.
Then another.
The closer he moved, the brighter it became.
Warm.
Comforting.
Familiar.
His heartbeat accelerated.
Something about this place felt known.
Felt remembered.
The light consumed everything.
And suddenly
The darkness vanished.
Warm sunlight touched his face.
Birds chirped.
Wind rustled through trees.
Riven froze.
His eyes widened.
"No..."
He knew this place.
Every road.
Every building.
Every stone.
His village.
His home.
The village before it was destroyed.
Before the massacre.
Before the werewolves.
Before Tyrella died.
His breathing became shaky.
Children ran through the streets laughing.
Farmers worked nearby.
Smoke rose peacefully from chimneys.
Everything was alive.
Everything was normal.
Everything was impossible.
Then he saw her.
Standing near a small wooden stall.
Smiling.
Alive.
Tyrella.
His mother.
Riven froze.
The world disappeared.
Nothing existed except her.
She looked exactly as he remembered.
Brown hair.
Gentle eyes.
Warm smile.
Alive.
Alive.
Alive.
His vision blurred instantly.
Tears filled his eyes.
"M-Mum..."
His voice broke.
Tyrella turned around.
Her smile widened.
"Riven?"
That was all it took.
The dam shattered.
Riven ran.
Faster than he had ever run before.
Not as a warrior.
Not as a wolf.
Not as a survivor.
Just as a son.
"MUM!"
He slammed into her.
Wrapping both arms around her.
Holding her tightly.
Desperately.
As if letting go would destroy everything.
Tyrella laughed softly.
Immediately hugging him back.
And Riven broke.
Months.
Years.
Pain.
Loss.
Grief.
Suffering.
Everything exploded outward.
Tears poured from his eyes.
His entire body shook.
"I missed you..."
His voice cracked.
"I missed you so much..."
Tyrella gently stroked his hair.
Just like she used to.
And somehow that hurt even more.
"You have no idea what I've endured, Mum..."
Riven's voice trembled.
"The pain..."
"The torture..."
"The fighting..."
"The war..."
More tears.
"I tried..."
A sob escaped him.
"I tried so hard..."
Tyrella remained silent.
Simply holding him.
Like she always had.
Like she always would.
For a brief moment...
Everything felt okay again.
For one impossible moment...
The pain disappeared.
Then
Something changed.
Tyrella's hand stopped moving.
Riven frowned.
"Mum?"
Silence.
He slowly pulled away.
And froze.
Tyrella smiled sadly.
A smile he had never seen before.
A smile that knew.
A smile that understood.
"Mum...?"
Her body began crumbling.
Ash.
Tiny fragments drifting away.
Riven's eyes widened.
"No."
Tyrella continued smiling.
"No!"
Her face began disappearing.
"MUM!"
Riven grabbed her arms.
Desperately.
Trying to hold her together.
Trying to stop it.
Trying to save her.
But ash slipped through his fingers.
"No no no no!"
His voice broke.
"MUM PLEASE!"
Tyrella's eyes met his one final time.
Then
Gone.
Ash scattered into the wind.
Nothing remained.
Riven stood frozen.
His arms empty.
His heart breaking all over again.
And then
The world shattered.
SCREEEEEECH.
Screams.
Fire.
Blood.
Death.
Riven fell to his knees.
The peaceful village vanished.
Replaced by hell.
The nightmare.
The day everything ended.
Homes burned.
People ran.
Children screamed.
Monsters slaughtered anyone they touched.
Werewolves.
Dozens of them.
Tearing through the village.
Ripping people apart.
Destroying everything.
Riven's breathing accelerated.
"No..."
Not again.
Please not again.
But the memory refused to stop.
A woman screamed as she was dragged away.
A man died defending his family.
Children cried.
Buildings burned.
The smell.
The sounds.
The horror.
Everything returned.
Exactly as it happened.
Then he saw her.
Tyrella.
Lying motionless on the ground.
Blood everywhere.
Lifeless.
Broken.
Dead.
Riven's heart stopped.
"Mum..."
His voice was barely a whisper.
He ran.
Falling beside her body.
Lifting her into his arms.
"No..."
Tears streamed down his face.
Not again.
Please.
Not again.
He held her tightly.
As though somehow he could protect her now.
As though somehow he could change what happened.
But the body remained cold.
Still.
Gone.
And the pain returned.
Stronger than ever.
Raw.
Fresh.
Unhealed.
The same pain he had carried for years.
The same pain that had shaped his entire life.
The same pain that led him to Aurelion.
Led him to war.
Led him to become a monster himself.
Then
A blade caught his eye.
Lying nearby.
Forgotten.
Abandoned.
Riven slowly picked it up.
His hands trembled.
His tears stopped.
His grief became rage.
Pure rage.
Then he saw him.
Standing amongst the burning village.
Watching.
Aurelion.
The First Progenitor.
The man responsible.
The monster who had destroyed everything.
Riven's vision turned red.
"YOU!"
He charged.
Screaming.
Crying.
Broken.
The blade raised high.
Aurelion didn't move.
Didn't react.
Didn't care.
Then
FLASH.
Pain.
Unimaginable pain.
A claw ripped across Riven's throat.
Blood exploded outward.
His attack stopped instantly.
The blade fell from his fingers.
Riven collapsed.
Both hands clutching his neck.
Choking.
Drowning.
Blood poured between his fingers.
His lungs burned.
His vision darkened.
Aurelion approached.
Calmly.
Slowly.
Like a predator approaching dying prey.
Riven tried to crawl away.
Couldn't.
Tried to speak.
Couldn't.
Blood filled his mouth.
Then Aurelion knelt beside him.
Their eyes met.
The same eyes.
The same monster.
The same nightmare.
And suddenly
Aurelion bit him.
Fangs pierced flesh.
Agony erupted.
The transformation.
Again.
He relived it.
Every second.
Every scream.
Every broken bone.
Every horrifying moment.
His body twisted.
Changed.
Mutated.
The same nightmare all over again.
And just like before
Nobody came.
Nobody saved him.
Nobody helped him.
Only pain remained.
Then darkness consumed everything.
Riven was falling.
Again.
The village disappeared.
The fire disappeared.
The screams disappeared.
Only darkness remained.
Cold.
Endless.
Empty.
Down.
Down.
Down.
He kept sinking.
Deeper.
And deeper.
And deeper.
Until suddenly
Something moved.
Far below.
A shape.
Massive.
Ancient.
Wrong.
Riven froze.
Two eyes opened.
Burning crimson.
The darkness itself seemed afraid.
Then it emerged.
A giant wolf.
No.
Not a wolf.
Something far older.
Far more terrifying.
Its body was made of living shadow.
Its fur moved like smoke.
Its claws looked capable of tearing apart reality itself.
Its eyes burned with ancient fury.
Ancient hatred.
Ancient hunger.
The Dark Shadow.
Its true form.
Its astral embodiment.
Riven couldn't breathe.
Fear rooted him in place.
Every instinct screamed.
Run.
Run.
Run.
But he couldn't move.
The giant wolf stared at him.
Then lowered its massive head.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Studying him.
The pressure alone threatened to crush his soul.
Riven tried stepping backward.
Nothing happened.
His body refused to obey.
Then the wolf opened its mouth.
Darkness poured out.
Not words.
Not sound.
Pure darkness.
Living darkness.
The entity surged forward.
Riven's eyes widened.
"No"
The shadow struck him.
Entering through his mouth.
His nose.
His eyes.
Everywhere.
Riven screamed.
Or tried to.
Dark energy flooded his body.
Invading.
Consuming.
Overwhelming.
He couldn't breathe.
Couldn't think.
Couldn't move.
The darkness filled him completely.
The wolf disappeared.
Becoming one with him.
And suddenly
His eyes snapped open.
GASP!!
Riven bolted upright.
Air exploded into his lungs.
His entire body jerked violently.
Sweat covered him.
Cold.
Freezing.
His heart hammered against his ribs.
His breathing came in desperate gasps.
For a moment he didn't know where he was.
The village.
The fire.
The darkness.
The wolf.
Everything blurred together.
Then reality slowly returned.
A room.
Soft candlelight.
A bed.
Bandages wrapped around his body.
Silence.
Riven stared at his trembling hands.
Alive.
He was alive.
A small movement nearby caught his attention.
He turned slowly.
And froze.
Nyss.
Curled up beside his bed.
Asleep.
Her head resting on folded arms.
Still there.
After everything.
Still there.
Watching over him.
Waiting.
Riven stared at her.
And for the first time in six months
A faint smile appeared on his face.
He had finally awakened.