Author's Pov
The full moon hung heavily above Altheris Academy like a bloated, malevolent eye, enormous and unnaturally pale against the ink-black sky. Its silver light spilled across the ancient spires, stone courtyards, and dense forests, bathing everything in an ethereal yet cursed glow that made shadows stretch longer and secrets feel closer to the surface.
Everyone knew the truth: full moons never arrived quietly. They always brought something darker with them, bloodshed, madness, or outright catastrophe. And tonight, the air itself felt thick with foreboding, charged with an invisible storm waiting to break.
A cold, biting wind swept through the academy grounds, rattling the towering black trees surrounding the exclusive Arbiters' quarters. The night felt wrong, tense in a way people couldn't quite name, as though the darkness itself was holding its breath, anticipating violence.
