The Lunar Crest Academy: Marked by The Lycans
Chapter 133: Convergence...

Chapter 133: Chapter 133: Convergence...

******

The scent of blood hung thick in the underground interrogation chamber. Silver dust lingered in the air like poison, and Alistair Ashthorne slumped against the pole he was chained to, his breathing shallow, his skin blistered and raw from repeated sprays of wolfsbane. The pain etched into his face seemed endless, but beneath it, his eyes held a quiet, unreadable calm.

Astrid Voss stood silently, her arms crossed as she studied the wreck of the boy before her.

Magnus Thorn leaned on the table nearby, flicking dried blood from his gloves as he grunted, "So... what do you think we should do now?"

Astrid’s gaze didn’t waver. "Something’s off."

Magnus raised a brow, glancing between her and the chained Alistair. "Off how? He admitted he’s Crimson Hunt. That makes things simple. We dispose of him. Case closed."

"No," Astrid said slowly, almost absently. "It’s too simple. He claims to be part of the Crimson Hunt.... but he knows nothing about them. Every time we press for names or operations, he gives us silence or shallow answers. He’s either hiding something very well...."

"....Or he’s not hiding anything at all because he doesn’t know," Magnus finished, scowling. "You think he’s bluffing?"

"I think he’s being used," Astrid said, eyes narrowing. "Someone else is pulling the strings, and he volunteered, or was forced, to play the fall guy."

Magnus’s jaw ticked. "But why the hell would Alistair Ashthorne, of all people, agree to be a decoy for the Crimson Hunt?"

Before Astrid could answer, a sharp wail pierced the walls, a blaring, shrieking siren that shook the air around them.

Both Astrid and Magnus snapped their heads upward, their expressions hardening.

"That’s the emergency assembly siren," Magnus growled, pushing off the table.

Astrid’s eyes darkened. "Only you and I have clearance to activate it. No student, no regular staff has access to that control board."

The realization settled over them like a bucket of ice water.

Magnus clenched his fists. "Someone just hijacked our emergency system."

Astrid turned on her heel, her black coat swirling behind her. "I need to find out who the hell just declared war inside my school."

Magnus followed without another word, their boots echoing loudly as they exited the torture chamber, leaving Alistair Ashthorne behind, half-conscious as the siren continued to scream above them.

******

The hallway outside the academy’s medical wing was silent except for the soft creak of gurney wheels against the tiled floor. Nurses stepped back awkwardly, their faces expressionlesd as they wheeled in the broken, lifeless body of Elise.

Her limbs bent at unnatural angles, her pale face frozen in eternal torment. Her blood-matted hair covered one eye, and her lips were parted slightly, as if she’d died trying to speak the words her tongue had long been robbed of. The scent of dried blood and death filled the corridor.

And Felix?

Felix was gone, not physically.

But mentally... emotionally

He sat on the floor, back hunched, eyes empty, lips dry and trembling. His face looked carved from ash, like someone had pulled his soul out and left a shell behind. He’d cried so much he couldn’t feel the tears anymore. There were none left.

He looked at Elise’s hand as he reached for it, cold, stiff, unmoving. He remembered how she used to laugh about how awful the academy food was no matter how well they tried to cook it. He remebered how she had once told him she had a nightmare where a ghost was chasing her with a spoon. He remembered how lovely, calm, innocent and amazing she was.

"This is unfair..." he whispered hoarsely, brushing her knuckles with his thumb. "Just this year alone, Callum, most of the ferals and now... Elise." He choked. "They’re all dead."

He laughed bitterly, voice cracking like broken glass. "I’m tired. I’m so, so tired."

He looked up, eyes bloodshot, locking with Varya’s as she stood nearby, arms folded and expression unreadable.

"Only me and Lorraine left. Only two ferals out of like thirty. What’s the point?" Felix’s voice was low, ragged. "The strong always trample the weak. We were born weak, Varya. That’s just what we are. Born to be trampled."

And then he said it.

"Please... just end it. Help me end it, you are a lycan, you have no emotions, just rip out my heart or I’ll jump out the window too. Either way, I just want to die. I don’t want this anymore."

Varya stared at him silently for a moment

Then a loud crack as Varya’s fist slammed across his jaw, knocking him sideways.

Felix groaned, holding his face in shock.

"You selfish, pathetic bastard," Varya hissed.

He blinked up at her, dazed. "Wh... What the hell, Varya?"

"You’re not the only one who’s lost people!" she snapped, her voice shaking with rage. "You think I liked Elise? I didn’t. You think I admired Lorraine? Hell no. But I respected you all." She jabbed a finger at him. "You ferals, Elise, Callum, Lorraine, you made everyone look at you guys and notice you existed. You were weak, but you fought anyway. You didn’t cower. You didn’t run. You endured. That’s what the rest of us couldn’t stop watching. And now you’re going to spit on all of that and throw yourself out the damn window? That’s the legacy you want to leave?"

Felix tried to speak, but Varya overrode him.

"I don’t give a damn how sad you feel, Felix. Grieve later. You’re still breathing, which means you still have a job. Lorraine is alive. She’s broken, hurting, and fighting alone. You think Elise would want you to give up on her?"

Felix lowered his head. "You don’t understand. Everyone I loved is dead. What kind of legacy lives at the cost of everyone’s lives?"

Varya bent down, grabbed the collar of his shirt, and yanked him closer.

"And what kind of friend leaves the only one left to suffer alone?"

Felix’s breath hitched. His hand slowly let go of Elise’s.

She let him go, stepping back and crossing her arms. "The emergency siren’s going off. That means everyone’s headed to the auditorium. Let’s go."

Felix didn’t move at first. But then, slowly, he stood. His knees buckled a a bit, but he forced himself upright. He looked back at Elise once more, whispering, "I’ll live. I’ll live for both of us."

Then he turned to Varya.

"Let’s go."

Lorraine’s POV

We sat together in the ruins.

The wall that collapsed behind us lay in jagged stones and fine dust, half burying Kieran’s legs. I was curled beside him, my hand now laced tightly with his, he didn’t let go, and I didn’t want him to. For a while, we didn’t speak. Just breathed. Just stayed.

Then, finally, he spoke.

"My father..." Kieran’s voice was quiet. Hoarse. "He was the most powerful man I ever knew."

I turned toward him, watching the way his eyes stared out over the ruins like he was seeing through time itself.

"Since I was a kid," he continued, "he trained me himself. Brutally. He pushed me past my limits. I thought he hated me. Some days, I hated him back. My bones ached so bad I’d cry at night, but not loud enough for him to hear. I didn’t want to give him that satisfaction, I didnt want to look weak to him"

His grip on my hand tightened.

"But now I know.... he wasn’t trying to break me. He was trying to build me. Mold me into something that could survive the kind of world he lived in."

I didn’t say anything. I could feel it, his pain, radiating like a wound too deep for stitches.

"That man," Kieran said, his jaw clenching, "he carried everything by himself. Always. The decisions he made.... they were monstrous sometimes, and I hated him for them. But now, I understand. He did it all for us. For the people. For the kingdom. For his family. He never cared about his own well-being. He never asked for help. Never showed weakness." _{free\we,bnovel.c o(m)}

He looked down at the rubble, voice trembling.

"I looked up to him, even when I claimed I didn’t. I’ve always wanted to tell him.... that I don’t hate him anymore. That I understand. That I admire him. But now...."

His eyes welled with something primal, grief, fury, regret.

"Adrian robbed me of that chance," Kieran growled. "And I swear.... I don’t care if it kills me, I will rip his heart out and make his death a gory spectacle for all to witness."

I swallowed hard, my chest tight. There was nothing I could say to erase his pain, but I could hold him through it. So I did.

He exhaled slowly, and we stayed there for a moment longer, shoulders touching, our breaths slowing into quiet understanding.

Then we heard it

The high-pitched wail of the emergency siren pierced through the stillness like a scream. The sound rattled through the air, sharp and demanding, echoing off the academy walls.

We both turned instinctively.

I looked at him. "Do you want to go?"

He didn’t answer immediately. His gaze narrowed toward the horizon where the sound had come from. His expression sharpened again into something colder, controlled, calculating.

Finally, he nodded.