Triple Moon Rising: An Omega's Destiny

Chapter 33: Underground Resistance

Brock Silver POV

I barely dodged the rock that flew at my head as I reached the nursery building. A small voice yelled from somewhere in the darkness.

"Stay back! We won’t let you take any more of us!"

"Wait!" I called out, raising my hands. "I’m not managed! It’s me, Brock!"

A tiny figure emerged from behind an overturned table - little Emma, only six years old, carrying another rock ready to throw.

"Prove it," she asked with the fierceness of someone much older.

"Emma, remember when you broke your arm last month? I carried you to the doctor because your mom was working. You cried on my shoulder the whole way."

Her tough expression collapsed. "Brock? Is it really you?"

"It’s really me." I knelt down to her level. "Are there others hiding here?"

"Lots of us," Emma whispered. "The glowing-eyed people tried to catch us, but Elder Iris showed us the secret place."

My heart leaped. If Elder Iris was here and free, she might have answers we badly needed.

"Can you take me to her?"

Emma grabbed my hand and led me to what looked like a normal storage room. But when she pushed on a certain board, a hidden door swung open to show stairs going down into darkness.

"We’ve been hiding here since yesterday," Emma explained as we climbed down. "The bad people can’t find us because the old magic protects this place."

The underground room was bigger than I’d expected. Root cellars linked by narrow tunnels stretched under several buildings. Soft candlelight showed me faces I’d feared were lost - at least twenty children and a handful of senior pack members, all looking scared but determined.

"Brock!" Elder Iris stepped forward, moving better than I’d seen her move in years. "Thank the moon you’re safe."

"Elder Iris, how did you know to hide down here?"

Her old eyes held secrets. "Because I’ve been waiting for this day for seventy years, child. Come, we have much to talk and little time."

She led me deeper into the tunnels while Emma stayed with the other children. We reached a small chamber where Elder Iris had set up what looked like a command center - old books, maps, and strange things I didn’t recognize.

"You knew this would happen?" I asked.

"Not exactly, but I knew something like it would." She opened one of the old books. "The Shadow Wolves have tried to take Silver Peak before. Three times in the last two centuries."

My blood ran cold. "Three times? Why didn’t anyone tell us?"

"Because each time, they used mind control to make the survivors forget. Only a few records remain, hidden in places like this." She pointed to marks drawn on the tunnel walls. "Protection symbols, carved by those who remembered."

"How do you remember if everyone forgets?"

Elder Iris smiled sadly. "Because I was a child during the last attack, eighty years ago. Children’s thoughts work differently - the control doesn’t stick as well. Neither does the memory wiping."

That explained why the children down here seemed more aware and less influenced than the adults.

"What happened during the other attacks?" I asked.

"The Shadow Wolves would take control of most of the pack, then use them to attack nearby territories. Each time, they were finally stopped, but not before causing tremendous damage." Her voice grew grim. "This time feels different, though. Stronger."

"Because of Lily," I realized. "They want her Triple Moon power."

"Partly. But there’s something else." Elder Iris pulled out a very old notebook. "During each previous attack, the Shadow Wolves were led by a different king. This time, all the past alphas have joined together under one leader."

The consequences hit me like a punch to the gut. "How many Shadow Wolf alphas are we talking about?"

"At least five, maybe more. And their new leader..." She paused. "The children have heard whispers. They call him the First Shadow."

"Who’s the First Shadow?"

"Legend says he was the first wolf to be corrupted by shadow magic, ages ago. If he’s real and if he’s leading this attack, then we’re facing something far more dangerous than a normal Shadow Wolf pack."

A small voice stopped us. "Elder Iris, someone’s coming!"

Tommy Chen ran into the room, his eyes wide with fear. "I was watching through the crack upstairs. There’s controlled pack members searching the nursery!"

"How many?" I asked, my protective reflexes kicking in.

"Six, maybe seven. And they’re not looking randomly - they know we’re here somewhere."

Elder Iris swore under her breath. "Someone must have told them about the tunnels."

"Or they forced it out of someone," I said grimly. "We need to move the children."

"Where?" Elder Iris asked. "These tunnels are the only safe place we know."

Heavy footsteps sounded from somewhere above us. Then we heard a voice - robotic and lifeless like all the controlled pack members.

"We know you’re down there. Come out now and we won’t hurt the children."

I recognized the voice. It was Beta Morrison, Luna’s father.

"He’s lying," Tommy whispered. "I saw what they did to Mrs. Peterson when she tried to protect her baby."

My hands clenched into fists. The idea of these things threatening children made my protective impulses rage. But I couldn’t fight six controlled adults while keeping twenty kids safe.

"Is there another way out?" I asked Elder Iris.

"One path leads to the old well behind the meeting hall. But it’s been stopped for years." noveldrama

"I can clear it," I said. "Get the children ready to move."

Elder Iris grabbed my arm. "Brock, there’s something else you need to know. The children have been having dreams."

"Dreams?"

"The same dream, all of them. They see Lily at a place with three stone pillars, surrounded by shadows. And something old is coming to help her."

Before I could ask what that meant, the footsteps above got louder. They’d found the secret entry.

"Go," Elder Iris pushed. "Take the girls to the well. I’ll delay them here."

"I’m not leaving you."

"You have to. These children are our future. Without them, even if we win, we’ll have lost everything that counts."

The sound of splintering wood rang through the tunnels. They were breaking through the secret door.

I gathered the children quickly, trying to stay calm so I wouldn’t scare them more. Emma grabbed my hand again.

"Brock, will Elder Iris be okay?"

I looked back at the old woman preparing to face the controlled pack members alone. She held something in her hand that glowed with soft silver light - something I’d never seen before.

"She’s tougher than she looks," I told Emma, hoping it was true.

We made it to the blocked tunnel just as I heard Elder Iris’s words echoing behind us: "You want to know where the children are? Come and find out, you shadow-cursed fools!"

I started pulling away rocks and debris from the tunnel mouth, working as fast as I could. Behind us, weird sounds echoed through the tunnels - sounds like Elder Iris was fighting, but also like she was casting some kind of spell.

The children helped me clear the way, their small hands surprisingly strong. We were almost through when Tommy suddenly grabbed my arm.

"Brock, look!"

I turned to see a soft silver light filling the passage behind us. But it wasn’t coming from Elder Iris’s direction - it was coming from the children themselves.

Every single child was shining with the same silver light, their eyes bright but not controlled. They looked at me with looks far too old and wise for their ages.

"The ancient magic is awakening," little Emma said in a voice that didn’t sound like hers. "The First Shadow has made a terrible mistake."

"What mistake?" I asked, chills running down my spine.

All the children spoke at once, their voices forming an eerie harmony: "He thinks he can control the Silver Peak Pack. But he doesn’t know what we really are."

The silver light grew brighter, and I realized with shock that these weren’t just regular pack children.

They were something much more powerful than anyone had ever thought.

And whatever they were becoming, I had the feeling it was going to change everything.