Lucian’s POV
The soft crackle of the fireplace was the only sound in the room, but it did nothing to ease the storm raging in my head. I paced back and forth, each step a futile attempt to shake off the tension coiling tighter in my chest.
"What the hell were we thinking?" I muttered under my breath, running a hand through my hair. My boots scuffed against the wooden floor as I turned sharply, my eyes darting to the unconscious girl lying on the bed.
Soren sat beside her, his chin resting on his hand, studying her face like she was some rare artifact. Meanwhile, Ewen leaned against the far wall, his arms crossed and his expression as unreadable as ever. The man could remain calm in the middle of a damn hurricane, and it drove me crazy.
"Lucian," Ewen said, his voice steady and deliberate, "if you don’t stop pacing, I swear to the gods, I’ll tie you to that chair."
I glared at him, my fists clenching at my sides. "How the hell are you so calm right now? We don’t even know if she’s the one. What if we just kidnapped some random woman?"
Ewen shrugged, his cool gaze flicking to the girl. "Panicking won’t change anything. We’ll know soon enough."
I let out a frustrated growl and turned away, my hands gripping the back of a chair so hard the wood creaked. "This was a mistake. Look at her. She’s… frail. There’s no way she could be the one from the prophecy. We should've… "
"Wait," Soren interrupted, his voice sharp enough to cut through my rant. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her, and his expression was a mix of curiosity and something else I couldn’t quite place. "We just have to wait for her to wake up. Once she does, we’ll perform the test and find out for sure."
"And what if she’s not?" I shot back. "What if we dragged her out of her life for nothing?"
Ewen straightened, his calm demeanor unwavering. "Then we deal with it. But until then, you need to get a grip, Lucian. You’re not helping anyone by losing your shit."
I opened my mouth to argue, but before I could, the girl stirred.
Her eyelids fluttered, her breathing quickening as she began to wake. All three of us froze, the tension in the room thick enough to choke on.
When her eyes finally opened, they darted around the room in wild panic before landing on us. She sat up abruptly, her face pale and her chest heaving.
"Where am I?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Who are you? Why am I here? Please, don’t hurt me. Please."
Her words hit like a punch to the gut, and for a moment, guilt clawed at me. She looked so small, so terrified, and for the briefest second, I doubted everything we were doing.
Soren leaned forward, his voice soft but firm. "We’re not going to hurt you."
"Bullshit," she snapped, her fear giving way to a spark of defiance. Her hands clenched the blanket tightly, her knuckles white. "You dragged me here against my will. Who the hell does that if they don’t plan to hurt someone?"
Ewen sighed from his corner, his gaze never leaving her. "She’s got a point."
"Not helping, Ewen," I muttered before stepping toward the drawer by the bed. I didn’t say a word as I opened it, my hand trembling slightly as I pulled out the ancient symbol the seer had given us.
The moment I turned back to her, her eyes locked on the object in my hand. Her body stiffened, and something unspoken passed through the air, electric and heavy.
"What’s that?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"You’ll see," I said, my tone sharper than I intended. I placed the symbol on the bed in front of her, stepping back quickly as if it might bite.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then her eyes widened, and a strangled cry escaped her lips as her body convulsed.
The sound of breaking bones filled the room, a grotesque symphony that made my stomach churn. Her limbs twisted and shifted, her form caught between human and wolf. Fur sprouted in patches before retracting, her screams piercing and raw.
"What the fuck?" I whispered, my feet rooted to the floor.
Soren leaned forward, his eyes alight with a mixture of fascination and concern. "It’s happening," he murmured, more to himself than anyone else.
Ewen moved closer, his calm veneer slipping just slightly. "We need to help her."
"How?" I snapped, my voice rising with the chaos. "You want to stop whatever the hell this is?"
Her screams grew louder, her body writhing on the bed as the transformation continued. She was half-wolf, half-human, her face contorted in agony.
"Soren!" I barked.
But he didn’t move. His eyes were locked on her, his expression unreadable.
"Do something!" I shouted.
Finally, Soren stood and grabbed the symbol, yanking it away from her sight. The moment it was gone, her body stilled, collapsing onto the bed like a puppet with its strings cut.
Her chest heaved as she gasped for air, her skin slick with sweat. She looked up at us with wide, glassy eyes, her body trembling violently.
"What the hell just happened to me?" she whispered, her voice raw and broken.
Soren exhaled, his calm tone returning. "You’re the chosen one."
Her brow furrowed, and she shook her head, as if trying to clear the fog from her mind. "The… what?"
And just like that, the room fell into silence, her question hanging in the air like a loaded gun.
Elixir’s POVThe sound of the horn didn’t fade—it expandedIt rolled through the forest like thunder in slow motion, bending branches and silencing even the insects. My fire flared to life before I called for it, reacting instinctively. The sigil on my wrist pulsed in time with the deep, rhythmic echo.Lucian stood in front of me, blade drawn, his body a wall of tense readiness.Soren shifted his stance beside him, one hand lifted with runes already alive across his knuckles.Ewen narrowed his eyes, calmly calculating, already turning toward the direction the horn had come from.“They found us,” I said.“No,” Ewen replied. “They called us.”Soren looked at me. “They’re summoning you.”The sigil on my wrist flared in response.The Order had marked me—and now they’d come to collect.We didn’t runLucian wanted to. I could see it in the tight way he gripped his sword, the way his eyes kept scanning for exit routes, for ambushes.But we didn’t runWe stood at the center of the Cradle of B
Elixir’s POVI didn’t speak for a long timeThe burned body swung above the clearing like a pendulum of fate, its charred fingers pointing to nothing and everything at once. The scent of scorched blood clung to the air, thicker than smoke, heavier than silenceEwen finally cut the rope and lowered the corpse with a sharp blade of ice. His expression didn’t shift. Not when the Order’s symbol ignited across the man’s chest. Not even when the sigil twisted in real time—matching the mark still burned into my wrist“They’re not waiting for you to make a choice anymore,” Ewen said. “They’re making it for you.”I stared at the mark spiraling around my skin. It pulsed to the rhythm of my heart now. Not hers. Not theirs. Mine.Lucian kicked dirt over the corpse, eyes narrowed at the trees. “We move now. No more hesitation. We find their stronghold and we burn it to ash.”“No,” Soren said, his voice quiet but firm. “If she walks in with the goddess inside her, they’ll let her through every door
Elixir’s POVI didn’t know if it was her magic or mine anymoreThe flame twisted around my fingers, humming with memory—hers or mine, I couldn’t tell. It pulsed like it wanted in, like it belonged in me. And maybe it did. Maybe it always had.The First Flame’s voice coiled through my mind, soft and steady.“You ache for purpose. You ache for truth. This is both.”I looked into her hollow eyes—twin voids inside a skull suspended by light—and felt the weight of centuries pressing into my chest. Her soul was scattered, yes, but part of it pulsed inside me already. I hadn’t just been chosen by fate. I had inherited it.Her fingers twitched, bone scraping against golden thread as if straining to touch me. I stood only a few feet away, but it felt like the distance between stars.“Merge with me,” she said. “Reclaim what was broken.”“No,” I whispered.The flame flared brighter.Her laughter, light and sad, echoed around the vault. “You think this fire answers to your fear? It was born from
Elixir’s POVI had seen monsters.I had seen gods.But nothing prepared me for the sight of myself—many times over.They stepped from the shadows in silence.Each version of me had something different in their eyes.One wore a crown of bone.One carried a staff wreathed in smoke.One had no mouth—her silence screaming louder than any voice.They circled the temple’s entrance like sentinels of a truth I hadn’t asked to face.Lucian’s growl was low, protective, and rising. “What is this?”Soren moved to my right, his presence calm but alert. “Are they illusions?”Ewen reached for a blade he rarely used. “They’re something worse. They’re possibilities.”I stepped forward before any of them could act.The fire inside me responded—too fast, too eagerly.It pulsed in my palms, wrapping my fingers in divine heat, ready to defend or destroy.The version of me with the bone crown smiled softly, almost motherly.“You found the flame,” she said. “But you haven’t asked the question that matters m
Elixir’s POVI didn’t breathe when she smiledAsh-Elixir tilted her head in that same way I’d caught myself doing before a lie left my mouth She walked with my gait paused like I did when I was trying to listen to more than soundShe wasn’t pretending to be meShe was meIf I’d brokenLucian growled low beside me but didn’t step forward Soren moved closer like he meant to shield me but I raised a hand“Don’t”They frozeBecause they could feel it tooShe wasn’t here to fightNot yetShe moved closer a shadow wrapped in flesh but somehow more solid than the wind I whispered to“You touched the flame” she said nodding to my hand where the golden fire danced along my skin like a serpent “But it hasn’t touched you yet Not really”I clenched my fists “What do you want”“To help you” she said simply “Before it consumes you the way it did me”“I’m not you”“Not yet”Her voice wasn’t cruelIt was worseIt was pityingBehind me I felt the bond fray and hum the three threads of connection pulle
Elixir’s POVEvery instinct said to run but I stepped forwardThe creature didn’t attack It simply waited as if expecting a command a signal a word I hadn’t yet rememberedLucian’s voice roared behind me “Don’t engage it Elixir”But I had already movedSomething about the way it mirrored my breath the way its eyes glowed gold and black made me certain This wasn’t a beast It was a messageNot one meant for allOnly for meIts mouth moved again but this time the words didn’t reach the air They entered straight into my mind and twisted like smoke around my thoughtsYou are unfinishedFind the flameBurn or be forgottenAnd then it vanished into the riftGoneLeaving only silenceAnd fearI turned to the alphas shaken but not broken “I need to leave”Lucian blinked “What?”“Alone” I addedSoren stepped forward “That’s not happening”“I saw something,” I said “A place—no a temple made of stone and shadow buried beneath what they call the Ashen Teeth It’s hidden from both wolves and men Tha