The Croc-Lune(Moon) pack had never known silence.
Even at night, even in winter, even after death, instincts maintained an invisible rhythm connecting each member.
A collective breath.
That evening, it was broken.
The entire camp vibrated with an unhealthy agitation.
Some lupines paced around for no reason. Others remained motionless, claws planted in the ground, trying to calm uncontrollable tremors.
Arguments broke out and then died down immediately.
The hierarchy no longer held.
The Pack Instinct wavered.
At the center of the territory, the Alpha watched.
Varok Moonfang stood motionless on the raised stone of the Ancient Circle.
His aura was spread out.
Massive.
Dominant.
Normally, that was enough to stabilize hundreds of lupines.
Not tonight.
His pressure spread... then fragmented.
As if something was constantly disturbing it.
A warrior suddenly collapsed in front of him, screaming and clutching his head.
"Make... it... stop... the noise..."
Varok narrowed his eyes.
He sensed no enemy.
No hostile aura.
And yet his instincts roared with alarm.
An elder approached cautiously.
"Alpha... the hunters report multiple instinct collapses."
The word hung in the air.
Instinct collapse.
An almost mythical phenomenon.
"Impossible," Varok replied in a low voice.
But even as he spoke, he knew it was false.
He could feel it.
His own instincts sometimes faltered, for a fraction of a second.
As if encountering a void.
A space that nature refused to acknowledge.
Another warrior came running up, panting.
"We found the impact zone."
Immediate silence.
All eyes turned to him.
"Speak."
"An... unknown creature. Human, according to ancient tales."
Whispers rippled through the assembly.
Humans existed only in ancient myths.
Beings without instinct.
Varok felt his aura waver for a split second.
"Where is it?"
The warrior hesitated.
Bad sign.
"It wasn't alone."
A shiver ran through several elders.
They already knew the answer.
"...the Instinctless."
The name rang out like a curse.
The air grew heavier.
Varok remained silent for a long time.
His memories came flooding back despite himself.
A child standing.
Motionless.
Insensitive to his authority.
A biological impossibility.
At the time, he had believed it to be a minor anomaly.
A birth defect.
But now...
Instincts were collapsing.
The pack was becoming unstable.
And both phenomena had appeared at the same time.
His gaze lifted to the dark forest.
His instinct did not scream hatred.
Nor domination.
It warned.
Existential danger.
For the first time since he had been Alpha...
Varok felt hesitation.
Then he understood.
It wasn't the creature that had fallen from the sky that was disturbing the pack.
It was their interaction.
Two anomalies coming into contact.
He abruptly extended his aura.
The pressure crushed the entire camp.
All the lupines fell to their knees.
This time, order returned.
Fragile.
But present.
His voice echoed, carried by the Pack Instinct.
"Listen to me."
Every mind focused on him.
"The creature must be captured alive."
A worried murmur ran through the ranks.
Then he added, more quietly:
"As for Kael Varen..."
A pause.
Even uttering that name seemed to disturb the air.
"Find him before I do."
The warriors shuddered.
They understood immediately.
This was not an order to protect him.
It was fear in disguise.
Varok slowly raised his eyes to the moon.
His instincts whispered a truth he still refused to accept.
Since the birth of the world...
Instincts had always defined the natural order.
But something had just appeared.
Something that instinct could neither subdue...
nor understand.
And for the first time...
The Alpha of the Moonfangs doubted.