"The Eclipse may hide her face, but the tide still remembers her pull." – Silver-maned Beast Being Proverb
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As the eclipse crept across the face of the full moon, shadows thickened within the chamber like a closing jaw. Sniffia's body strained against the silver chains, her breath growing louder—ragged, trembling, and defiant. Then, without warning, a white cloth materialized over her mouth, wrapping itself tight like a living spell.
Everyone turned, startled.
Sniffia's golden eyes glinted above the cloth—confused, wary… and glowing brighter with every passing second.
Then the eclipse fully swallowed the moon, casting the chamber into a surreal half-light.
At that exact moment, a ruckus echoed down the corridor—boot steps, laughter, and something heavy being dragged. Peirce and Node burst in, flushed, hauling a monstrous beast by its neck.
"We finally got it!" Peirce announced, grinning with mud-smeared pride.
"You made us late just because you couldn't control your strength," Node muttered, rubbing his shoulder. "Overpowered tree trunk."
Peirce huffed. "It was for training—Sniffia's mom told me so!"
"Boys?!" Sniffia's mother growled, her venomous yellow eyes flaring in the moonlight. For a brief moment, the resemblance between her and her daughter became terrifyingly clear.
"What are you waiting for? Toss the creature to her. Let's see if she can control her instincts… or should I toss you in instead?!"
They blinked in unison.
"Yes, ma'am!"
Shuffling toward Sniffia with awkward reverence, they gently laid the unconscious beast before her.
"Sorry, Sniffia," Peirce murmured.
"It's alright," she rasped, her voice strained—barely human.
Her eyes met theirs—wild, pained, clinging to the last thread of herself. The veins beneath her skin glowed faintly with moonlight. The cloth over her mouth trembled with each breath.
"Move out of the way, sons-in-law," her mother ordered. "She's not giving birth—she's having her first full turn."
"Yes, Mother!" they chorused, scrambling back with comic urgency.
Lazarus blinked, genuinely baffled. What in the hell had happened while they were away?
He leaned toward Sniffia's mother, his voice low. "You should know… Those Humanes, didn't just come for sightseeing."
"I know," she said curtly. "I sealed them in the inner chamber myself before coming here. First, I see my daughter through this. Then we'll talk politics."
A shard of moonlight pierced through a crack in the ceiling, striking Sniffia like a spotlight.
Her body jerked—then stiffened.
Her pupils stretched into slits. Her hair shimmered into a luminous silver waterfall. Her muscles twitched violently, and the chains holding her began to tremble.
"Will it hold?" Peirce whispered.
"It should," Sniffia's mother replied.
"Should?" Node echoed, alarm rising.
With a metallic scream, one of the chains snapped.
Then another.
"Yeah... right..." Node sighed.
Even though the chains were designed to break during transformation, it wasn't supposed to happen this fast.
Sniffia's mother turned slowly to Lazarus, voice cool and accusing. "What have you been feeding my daughter… or what in hell did you give her?"
Lazarus raised his hands. "Don't look at me. I haven't spent the most time with her. Look at those two geniuses over there!"
The boys both winced.
Before another word could fly, Sniffia blurred.
In a flash, Dante slid between Sniffia and Node, hands in his pocket. Behind him, Lazarus flared his aura—the reaper-like shadow from his wrist elongating into a coiled whip of midnight.
Chains still hanging like jagged bracelets. Node noticed Sniffia was about lunging straight for him before both Dante and Lazarus rushed to his defense.
"WOAH—" he shouted—but didn't finish.
Sniffia skidded to a stop—twitching, trembling, snarling. Her fangs bared behind the cloth. Saliva dripped like acid.
"Kiddo," Lazarus said, voice calm, fatherly. "Are you still with us?"
Her answer wasn't in words.
It came in the way her claws clenched… then released.
In the fact that she didn't bite.
Dante glanced at the shadow weapon and let out a low chuckle. "So this is the legendary Shadow Inhumane? You're quicker than I expected—for an old man."
Lazarus grunted. "Age sharpens what youth wastes. And I'm not old, you caffeinated twig with trust issues."
Then—another blur.
Sniffia was gone from their midst.
"She's getting faster…" Dante muttered, eyes darting.
"She's still thinking like herself," Lazarus added. "But I don't know how long that'll last."
The moon's light flared brighter, burning through the last sliver of eclipse.
And somewhere deep inside her, the beast howled.
The ground trembled. Silver mist stormed around her like coiling breath, pulsing from her limbs. When Luna charged in, Sniffia spun and caught her mid-air, slamming her into the stone with an echoing quake.
Her two sisters moved, but Luna—groaning—raised a hand. "Don't… she's not aiming to kill."
The Aurorae hesitated.
"She's—! She's not even breathing hard…" Luna muttered, dazed.
The Kirin snarled, golden lightning crackling along its mane. Pamela, gripping the reins, frowned.
"Something inside her is waking… but it is not whole."
"Should we stop her?" Peirce asked, voice tight, mud streaking his arms.
Dante stood beside him, arms tensed. "You want to try? Not unless you plan to kill her."
Just then, the monster they'd dragged in—a hulking, wart-covered beast with stone-plated arms—stood frozen just yards away. It growled lowly.
Sniffia turned.
Everyone held their breath.
She stared…
Then walked right past it.
The monster whimpered and crouched low, too confused—or afraid—to move.
"Why… didn't she kill it?" Node asked.
Dante frowned. "She's not fighting them. She's fighting herself."
Suddenly, Sniffia stumbled.
She clutched her skull, a scream locked behind her cloth. A shockwave of grey energy burst out, sending everyone flying backward.
And then—
The memories came.
The fire.
The smoke.
Her brother's trembling hands.
"Dad said… we never know how strong we are… until being strong is our only choice..."
His smile.
His blood.
The killer's laugh.
Her eyes snapped wide.
And then—Jared.
The man who'd carried her out, eyes bleeding from a head wound.
He was there.
He was one of them.
The armor.
The insignia.
The betrayal.
"You… were one of them!" she screamed into the heavens. Her voice cracked the sky.
She turned and attacked the Aurorae sisters. Her punches formed sonic rings of grey energy. They barely dodged. The Kirin shrieked. Pamela pulled back. Luna rolled to her feet, bruised, shaken.
"She's going feral," Lazarus warned. "She'll burn herself out."
But then—
A shift.
A fragile thread—memories of mud and laughter.
Peirce, smiling in the mud. "Lotus. See? They bloom, even in this."
Node, teasing. "Still foxy, huh?"
Sniffia's body locked mid-strike.
Her fists trembled.
The grey mist wavered.
Her knees hit the ground, hard.
"Peirce…" she whispered. "Node…"
Tears spilled where venom once glowed.
"I'm still here…"
She didn't collapse.
She knelt.
Her rage didn't vanish—it transformed.
It folded, reformed… into something older. Something deeper than vengeance.
Something Silver-Maned Beast Being.
The moon was now full, eclipsed and watching. Her transformation had only just begun.