The light from the altar had faded, but it left something behind—a heat in Caleb's chest, pulsing like a second heartbeat. He felt different. Not stronger, exactly. But like something ancient had stirred inside him, and it was awake now. Watching. Waiting.
He leaned against a tree, gasping. Lena knelt beside him, wide-eyed. "What did she do to you?"
Caleb shook his head. "It wasn't her. It was… something in me. Something old."
Ronan stepped forward, tense. "She unlocked part of your lineage. Blood memory. It's dangerous. If you go too far into it, you might not come back."
Caleb's hands trembled. He looked down—his fingertips were slowly shifting, bones cracking, nails blackening into claws. Not fully. Just enough to remind him what he was becoming.
"Am I even still human?" he whispered.
Ronan didn't answer.
Sylas was already gone—melted back into the shadows, leaving only silence and tension in her wake.
Back in town, things were unraveling.
Sheriff Dawson stood over a new crime scene. Another body—this time in the town square, left out in the open like a message.
No claw marks.
No blood.
Just eyes wide open in terror, mouth stretched in a silent scream. And carved into their chest: "HE'S AWAKENING."
Dawson growled under his breath. "They're taunting us now."
Behind him, a woman in a worn leather coat appeared, holding a crossbow slung over her shoulder.
"I told you they were getting bolder," she said. "And you didn't listen."
He stiffened. "Mira. I thought you left town."
"Not when they're dragging Bloodborn into it," she replied. "You know what has to be done."
Dawson narrowed his eyes. "He's still a kid."
Mira smirked coldly. "No. He's a trigger. And when he breaks, so will everything."
Caleb stumbled through the woods, skin burning, mind flickering between memories that weren't his. Wolves chained in stone chambers. Screams in ancient tongues. A throne made of bone and ash.
Lena grabbed his shoulders. "You're losing it. Snap out of it!"
"I can't," he growled, voice half-wolf. "It's in my head—it's not stopping. I feel like I'm splitting apart."
Ronan appeared beside them, his voice hard. "You're at the edge, Caleb. This is the point of no return. You can either fight it… or let it consume you."
Caleb looked at them both. Sweat dripped from his brow. His muscles twitched beneath his skin.
Then he screamed—
—and his body shifted.
Not fully wolf. Not fully man. Something in between.
Something terrifying. Powerful. Ancient.
And as his howl ripped through the trees, every creature in Misty Pines heard it.
The message was clear:
The Bloodborn had awakened.
And nothing would ever be the same again.