Kael realized he was born defective the day he felt no fear in the presence of the Alpha.
The night wind slipped between the standing stones of the Ancient Circle, carrying with it the scent of blood, wet earth, and the gathered pack.
Everyone was there.
The Moonfangs formed a perfect arc around the rocky altar. Bodies tense. Shoulders low. Eyes downcast.
Even the veteran warriors trembled.
For the Alpha was coming.
Even before he appeared, the pressure fell.
Invisible.
Overwhelming.
An ancient weight, engraved in flesh and soul, fell upon the entire pack.
Knees hit the ground.
Breaths broke.
Some groaned despite themselves.
The pack Instinct was awakening.
It did not ask for obedience.
It demanded it.
Kael looked around him.
His comrades bent like grass in a storm. Their pupils trembled, their claws dug into the earth to resist a force none of them could fight.
Then he realized something.
He felt nothing.
No pressure.
No fear.
Not even the instinctive urge to lower his head.
Only the cold wind on his skin.
A frown crossed his childish face.
Why is everyone... acting like this?
A footstep echoed.
The Alpha entered the circle.
Immense.
His presence almost distorted the air itself. Every movement exuded a primal authority, an absolute certainty: here stood the one whom no one could defy.
The pressure increased.
Several lupines collapsed completely.
Kael remained standing.
Silence slowly descended.
An evil silence.
A watching silence.
Eyes rose.
One by one.
And fixed on him.
Standing.
Upright.
Motionless.
The Alpha stopped.
His golden eyes rested on the child.
The pressure changed.
It concentrated.
Like an entire mountain deciding to fall on a single existence.
The ground cracked beneath Kael's feet.
His tunic fluttered under the invisible wave.
But nothing happened.
His heart beat normally.
His breathing was calm.
He tilted his head slightly, confused.
"...Why are you all looking at me?"
A murmur of horror ran through the pack.
It wasn't courage.
Nor was it defiance.
It was worse.
An absence.
The Alpha moved forward slowly.
Instinct roared.
Pure, overwhelming domination, destined to break all will.
The stones vibrated.
Several wolves howled under the pressure.
Kael blinked.
Was that... all?
The Alpha's pupils contracted.
For the first time, a foreign emotion flashed across his gaze.
Uncertainty.
Then something darker.
Fear.
An elder stepped back abruptly.
"...He's not bending."
Another whispered, his voice trembling:
"It's not possible..."
The word fell like a condemnation.
"Aberration."
The circle broke.
The looks changed.
No one saw a child anymore.
They saw a threat.
Something that instinct did not recognize.
Something that nature had rejected.
And that evening, Kael Varen received his first name.
The Instinctless.
Years passed.
The wind still blew cold on the cliffs of exile.
Kael now lived far from the pack.
Neither hunted.
Nor accepted.
Simply... forgotten.
It was easier that way.
The instincts of others became agitated around him. Conversations died. Eyes averted.
So he stopped trying.
The night was calm.
Until the sky tore apart.
An impossible sound rippled through the world.
Like a cosmic string suddenly snapped.
Kael looked up.
The clouds swirled.
A white light split the darkness.
Then the pressure came.
But it wasn't instinct.
It was... something else.
Across the valley, howls erupted.
The wolves panicked.
Some fled without understanding why.
Others trembled, seized by a terror without source.
Something was falling from the sky.
A silhouette.
An invisible wave swept across the land.
And for the first time in his life...
Kael felt something.
His heart skipped a beat.
Warm.
Alive.
Foreign.
As if an ancient void had just been touched.
In the distance, the impact echoed.
And without knowing why...
Kael began to run.
PS: Sorry about the cover, it's temporary.