VOID PRIME, Eclipse Of The Lunaris Pack

The Grand Hall of the Lunaris Pack blazed with the light of a thousand whale-fat candles. The amber glow reflected off the polished white marble, creating an atmosphere that was as sacred as it was suffocating. In the center of the hall, under the piercing gaze of thousands of clan members, a young man stood before the Holy Altar. 

His name was Aroan.

"Tonight, the pure blood of the Lunaris shall awaken the Guardian Beast from the legendary Obsidian Egg!" 

The voice of Alpha Kaelor, Aroan’s father, thundered across the hall. The sheer weight of his aura pressed down on the shoulders of everyone present. The Alpha’s eyes locked onto Aroan with a glimmer of pride—a pride Aroan knew all too well was incredibly fragile.

Aroan took a deep, trembling breath, desperately trying to steady his racing heart. Three years. For three excruciating years, he had been mocked. His physical strength and mana reserves were stagnant at a pathetic Rank-F. He had trained in the freezing woods until he coughed up blood, all for this very moment: The Awakening Day. 

In the front row of the VIPs stood his fiancée, Elina. She looked at him with a soft, encouraging smile—the only remedy to his exhaustion. That smile gave Aroan hope. 

'Just one more step,' Aroan thought. He placed his trembling hand on the cold, dark surface of the Obsidian Egg.

Instantly, a deafening rumble split the sky above Silver Peak. The bright, full moon outside was suddenly swallowed by pitch-black clouds, as if the heavens themselves refused to witness what was about to unfold. The Grand Hall trembled violently. On his throne, Alpha Kaelor clenched his fists, his eyes burning with ambition.

CRAAAACK!

The shell fractured. The sound was so sharp it killed all the murmurs in the hall. Thick black smoke billowed from the fissures, swallowing the altar in a dense fog... before slowly dissipating.

A suffocating silence hijacked the room. 

There was no roar of a mystic dragon. No earth-shattering howl of a giant wolf. 

Resting atop the shattered shell was a wolf pup no larger than a human palm. Its matted fur was coated in foul, black slime. One of its eyes was covered by a milky-white cataract, clearly blind. Its hind legs were bent at a grotesque angle, like snapped, dry twigs. The creature couldn’t even stand. It merely let out a pathetic, weak whimper—sounding more like a dying rat than an apex predator.

One second. Two seconds.

"Pfft—BWAHAHAHAHA!" 

The laughter of Elder Jaxon, one of the Beta Elders, shattered the silence. "By the Moon Goddess! A crippled rat! So, this is the legendary inheritance of our future Alpha? The world itself weeps at the sight of such trash being born in our holy halls!"

That single insult unleashed a tsunami of mocking laughter across the hall. Alpha Kaelor’s radiant face drained of all color, turning into a mask of pure, humiliated rage. The veins on his neck bulged as he gripped his throne.

"A trash heir!"

"A curse upon the Lunaris Pack!"

"Throw that deformed abomination off the altar!"

Arrows of insult rained down on him, yet Aroan ignored them all. His eyes were glued to the tiny, shivering pup on the altar. With trembling hands, he gently picked the creature up, pressing it against his chest to share his body heat. 

Nyx, he named it in his heart. This creature was just like him—rejected by the world, deemed unworthy of drawing breath.

Suddenly, the crowd parted. Valerius—Aroan’s half-brother—stepped forward with a disgustingly arrogant strut. His golden robes fluttered as his contracted beast, a Rank-A Great Gold Wolf, growled menacingly. Its fangs alone were larger than Nyx’s entire body.

"Father," Valerius called out, his voice commanding the room. "The presence of this trash defiles our clan’s honor. Allow me to cleanse it."

Without waiting for permission, Valerius snapped his fingers. The massive golden wolf lunged, its jaws unhinged, ready to rip Aroan and Nyx to shreds.

"Valerius, don't you dare—" 

Aroan desperately tried to summon the dregs of his mana, but his stepmother, Morana, suddenly rushed forward with a flawlessly faked expression of panic. 

"Gods, Aroan, get out of the way!" 

Her hands dug into Aroan’s shoulders under the guise of saving him. But with a swift, calculated motion, her razor-sharp nails hooked onto his sleeve and violently ripped it open, exposing his right shoulder.

There, etched deeply into Aroan’s pale skin, was a pulsing mark. It was pitch-black, twisting violently into the shape of a lunar eclipse, emitting a sickening, blood-red glow.

"That... that is impossible!" 

The ancient Oracle of the clan bolted upright, his milky eyes wide with sheer terror. "That is the Black Moon Eclipse! The Curse of the Void!"

The entire hall froze. The Lunaris knights instinctively took a step back, their hands trembling as they gripped their sword hilts. 

"The curse... whoever bears it is a vessel for the darkness that will annihilate our entire pack!" the Oracle screamed hysterically. "Aroan is no heir; he is a calamity! If he is not purged, the Lunaris Pack will burn to ashes by tomorrow!"

Alpha Kaelor stood up slowly. The scepter of power in his hand was shaking. His previously prideful face was now a twisted portrait of fear and disgust. The crowd erupted into a frenzy, chanting for justice, demanding the 'calamity' be eradicated. 

"Aroan... you..." Kaelor muttered, his voice cold as ice.

Valerius stepped forward, a venomous smirk playing on his lips. "Father, do not let sentimentality doom our people. He is a walking plague."

Morana instantly clung to Kaelor’s arm, crocodile tears streaming down her flawless face. "My husband, I know this breaks your heart. But for the sake of our people... I beg of you. Cast Aroan into the exile grounds so the pack may remain pure."

Aroan looked at his father, his eyes pleading for just a single ounce of defense. But Alpha Kaelor—the man Aroan had idolized his entire life—simply turned his face away. Cold. Untouchable. 

"Strip him of his titles. Take him away," Kaelor decreed, his voice echoing with brutal finality. "From this day forth, Aroan is banished to the Velmora Abyss. Let the laws of the clan dictate his fate. Valerius... you are now the Alpha Heir."

It felt as though a thousand spears had just pierced Aroan’s chest. But before he could even process the agony, Valerius’s smile widened.

"Thank you, Father. But a true Alpha requires a Luna by his side." Valerius turned toward the VIP seats, extending a graceful hand. "Come to me, my Luna."

A figure in a silver silk dress stood up. Her blonde hair cascaded elegantly down her back as she glided forward, taking Valerius’s hand without a moment of hesitation.

Aroan’s world shattered into a million pieces. His eyes widened in absolute disbelief.

It was Elina. His fiancée. The woman who, just last night, whispered she would stay by his side whether he became a king or a beggar.

Elina didn't even glance in his direction. She leaned affectionately against Valerius’s chest, smiling brightly at the crowd that was now cheering for the perfect couple.

"Why...?" Aroan’s voice was hoarse, his throat feeling like it was stuffed with glass. "Elina... why?"

Elina finally turned her head. The eyes that were once so full of warmth now looked at him as if he were a pile of dung on the bottom of her shoe. 

"I am sorry, Aroan," she said, her voice laced with chilling indifference. "I was destined to stand beside a mighty Alpha. Not nurse a crippled dog in the mud."

Aroan laughed. 

It was a hollow, broken, and utterly despairing sound. He hugged the whimpering Nyx tightly to his chest. So this is the world? The moment you fall, even the light betrays you.

The guards didn't give him a chance to speak. He was dragged violently out of the hall, thrown straight into the raging blizzard outside. 

***

The Edge of the Velmora Abyss — 15 Minutes Later

The storm raged at the summit of Silver Peak. Aroan was forced to his knees in the freezing mud, his hands bound tightly behind his back. Before him lay a bottomless canyon shrouded in eternal fog—the Velmora Abyss. The graveyard of the damned. No living soul had ever returned from it.

Valerius stood behind him, casually twirling a silver dagger that glinted maliciously in the moonlight.

"Don't worry, brother. I’ll make sure to take very good care of Elina every single night. Oh, and... consider this a parting gift from our dear father," Valerius whispered directly into Aroan’s ear.

SLASH! SLASH!

"ARRRGGGH!" 

Aroan bit his lip until it bled, refusing to give Valerius the satisfaction of a louder scream as the silver blade violently severed the Achilles tendons in both of his ankles. The snap of the tissues was sickening. His legs instantly went numb. He was officially, completely crippled.

"You aren't just trash, Aroan," Valerius sneered, wiping the blood off his dagger. "You are the stepping stone that will make me a legend."

Without another word, Valerius kicked Aroan squarely in the spine. 

Aroan’s body tipped over the jagged edge, plummeting straight into the suffocating embrace of the Velmora Abyss.

The freezing wind slapped his face as he fell into the endless dark. The roaring of the storm was deafening. Yet, there was no fear in Aroan’s eyes. There was only a cold, raging inferno of hatred. He held the crippled pup tightly against his chest, burning the faces of his father, Morana, Valerius, and Elina into the deepest recesses of his soul.

If I die, so be it. But if I survive this hell... I swear upon the heavens and the earth, I will extinguish every last shred of your light!

Just as his consciousness began to fade from blood loss, and the absolute darkness of the abyss swallowed him whole, a mechanical, emotionless voice echoed directly inside his skull.

[Processing Extreme Despair Energy...]

[Darkness Resonance: 100%]

[Host Locked. Initiating Assimilation...]

[DING!]

[The 'Void Prime System' has been successfully activated.]

[Welcome to the Abyss, Sovereign of Shadows.]