{ "Until we learn to love the real and protect it, we can't survive."}
"It's time. "We all listened as Ralph spoke.
He stepped forward toward the water, toward Regal. I didn't understand what I was seeing. At first, I thought he was just moving to flank the line, maybe support the beasts with his usual feral bravado. But then he stopped at the shoreline, dropped to one knee, and pressed his palm into the flame-lit surf.
And everything changed as his body shuddered. A low, rumbling growl crawled up his throat. Bones cracked not with the brutal noise of a normal shift, but something deeper, older. It was like the very earth recognized him, the way the fire bent and shimmered around his form. Fur spread over his arms like ink in water. His spine lengthened, shoulders broadening until his body towered over us. Horns curled from his temples, not like a demon, but like a crown curved and proud. His eyes, when they opened again, glowed brighter than the fire itself.
