There are wounds deeper than blades.
Wounds that leave no scars.
Wounds that remain hidden for years before revealing themselves.
For Tiza, one of those wounds was a simple thing.
A name. Or rather....The absence of one.
Long before he became the Shadow Wolf, Long before chains and ships.Long before secret societies and Moon-Callers.
He had dreamed of becoming a father.
Not a soldier.Not a weapon.Not a monster.
A father.
He had imagined holding his children.
Teaching them.Watching them grow.Giving them names.Simple dreams.Human dreams.But life had taken those things from him.
When his first child was born, he had been trapped inside the body of a beast.
Unable to speak.Unable to smile.Unable to tell her what she meant to him.And when his second child entered the world, he had already become a prisoner.
A captive aboard a ship sailing toward an uncertain future.
Present for both.
Yet truly there for neither.
The right to name them had been taken from him.
Split between his enemy and his wife.
A cruel irony he would carry for years.
Campbell understood the importance of names.
Perhaps better than most.
A name was more than a word.
It was an expectation.
A direction.
A command disguised as an identity.
That was why he chose carefully.
The child in his care was extraordinary.
Perhaps the most important child he would ever encounter.
A Moon-Caller.
A living key to powers older than kingdoms.
He wanted her to grow believing she was destined for greatness.
Destined for purpose.
Destined to become something more than ordinary.
And so he named her.
"Mira."
Peace.Wonder.
Something beautiful.Something worth protecting.Something worth following.
Campbell found himself strangely satisfied with the choice.
The name carried the future he envisioned for her.
A future shaped by his guidance.A future under his control.
Days later, he made an unexpected visit.
The lower decks were quiet.
The smell of salt and iron filled the air.
Tiza remained confined within his reinforced cage, silent as always.
Campbell approached slowly.
The guards remained behind.
Neither man spoke at first.
Then Campbell rested one hand against the iron bars.
"I gave her a name."
The Shadow Wolf's eyes shifted toward him.
For a moment, nothing moved.
"Mira."
Campbell smiled faintly.
"It suits her."
No response came. Only silence.
Yet Campbell could see it.
The pain hidden behind those eyes.
Some would call the visit cruel.
Others might call it respectful.
The truth was that nobody ever truly understood Campbell.
Not his enemies. Not his allies. Sometimes not even himself. Without another word, he turned and left. Leaving Tiza alone with the knowledge.
And the hurt. But Campbell did not know everything.
There was another name.
A name spoken long before the ship ever sailed.
Long before the chains. Long before the cage.Back in the cave by the river. Back when the world had briefly stood still.
Lara had held him close.
She had whispered many things into his ear that day.
Secrets.
Truths.Promises.And among them...
The name she had chosen for their child.
"Kira."
Light.Hope.
The thing that guides people through darkness.
The thing she believed Tiza had always been searching for.
Though he could barely understand everything in that moment, the name remained with him.
Buried deep within his memory.
Waiting.
Years would pass before he truly allowed himself to think about it.
Years before he would hear both names side by side.
Mira.Kira.
Peace And Light.
When the realization finally came, it struck him harder than he expected.
Because together, those names represented everything he had tried to build in the valley.
Everything he had fought for.
Everything he had lost.
Not power.Not glory.Not victory.Peace. And light.A home.A family.A future.
For a brief moment, despite the chains surrounding him and the ocean carrying him farther away from the people he loved, Tiza closed his eyes.
And remembered the valley.
The laughter.The lake.
Lara's voice. The life they had almost been allowed to keep.
The names hurt. But they also healed.
Because even in separation...Even in loss...A part of his dream still lived on.
Peace And light