Elixir’s POVThe moment I stepped into the circle of the Order’s magic, the world fell away.No sound. No light. No breath.Just memory—so ancient, it didn’t belong to me.And yet it fit like a second skin.I stood in a vision of a temple long forgotten. Golden spires reached into a sky that bled fire and stars. There were no wolves here. No humans. Only beings of light and shadow arguing before a throne carved into the bones of time.At the center of them sat a woman.Not a goddess.Not yet.She had my eyes.“She was the prototype,” a voice whispered beside me.The cloaked figure from the Order stood with me now, but his presence was faint like a shadow projected through centuries.“She was not born. She was built. Her soul carved from divine flame, her flesh molded from prophecy. The Moon Goddess didn’t create her. We did.”I turned, horror blooming in my chest.“You’re saying I’m her?”“No,” he said softly. “You are her second attempt.”The air fractured.Images struck like lightni
Elixir’s POVThe moment I stepped into the circle of the Order’s magic, the world fell away.No sound. No light. No breath.Just memory—so ancient, it didn’t belong to me.And yet it fit like a second skin.I stood in a vision of a temple long forgotten. Golden spires reached into a sky that bled fire and stars. There were no wolves here. No humans. Only beings of light and shadow arguing before a throne carved into the bones of time.At the center of them sat a woman.Not a goddess.Not yet.She had my eyes.“She was the prototype,” a voice whispered beside me.The cloaked figure from the Order stood with me now, but his presence was faint like a shadow projected through centuries.“She was not born. She was built. Her soul carved from divine flame, her flesh molded from prophecy. The Moon Goddess didn’t create her. We did.”I turned, horror blooming in my chest.“You’re saying I’m her?”“No,” he said softly. “You are her second attempt.”The air fractured.Images struck like lightni
Elixir’s POVThe dream realm didn’t feel like a dreamIt felt like a graveyardEach step I took echoed louder than the last across a field of shattered bones under a sky that bled silver ash The stars pulsed like open wounds and the moon was missing swallowed by something darker than nightI knew this wasn’t realBut my heart still racedAhead stood three pillars formed of obsidian and ash On each one was carved a nameLucianSorenEwenTheir bodies were draped across them bloodied unmoving“No” I whispered stepping closer the scream in my throat refusing to come outA voice answered from the fog“You see now what your silence sows”I turnedThe figure stepped through the mist wearing my face again only this time her eyes were hollow sockets burning with faint gold“You let them sever the bond but didn’t tell them what you lost” she hissed “You didn’t say the truth out loud You let love fall silent and called it sacrifice”“I did it to protect them”“You did it to protect yourself fro
Lucian’s POVShe didn’t look back when she left the fireElixir had walked into the trees like the night belonged to her like it would bend before her or break if it didn’tAnd I let her goBecause I was afraid I wouldn’t recognize the girl who came backThe severing didn’t break cleanEveryone said the bond had been cut but they didn’t feel what I feltIt wasn’t goneIt was frayedA thread snagged between ribs tugging when she hurt pulsing when she doubted echoing in me even as I pretended to stand wholeSoren had grown quiet since her dream woke the camp two nights agoHe was trying to hide the way it haunted him but I knew that look too wellHe was reliving itJust like I wasIn her dream I’d killed himIn mineI watched her dieAnd did nothingEwen claimed he was fine said the severance helped him see clearly but I’d seen the way he kept rubbing his chest as if his own heartbeat had gone cold and unfamiliarWe weren’t okayNone of us wereThe Order of the Unmade hadn’t just crept
Elixir’s POVThe dream didn’t end when I wokeIt lingered like smoke in my lungs staining every breath with fear that I couldn’t shakeLucian didn’t speak that morningHe trained alone his sword slicing through the mist with vicious precision like he needed to punish the air just to feel realSoren tried to hide it but his eyes flickered gold every time he looked at me as if he was waiting for the moment I’d disappear againAnd EwenHe just watchedNot with blameBut with a stillness that scared me more than angerThey didn’t ask what I’d seen in the dreamThey didn’t need toBecause I hadn’t just seen them kill each otherI’d felt itEvery crack of bone every scream every bond unraveling like silk on fireAnd the worst partIn the dream I didn’t try to stop themI watchedSilentFrozenLike part of me believed it had to happenLike part of me wanted itI sat near the fire arms wrapped around my knees while the forest whispered and the wind carried fragments of the voice I couldn’t fo
Elixir’s POVTheir silence said everythingThe next morning none of the Alphas spoke of the dream I knew we all hadWe sat by the fire with stale bread and bitter water and no one looked each other in the eye I felt the void between us stretching like a wound we couldn’t bandageI’d dreamed of their deaths againOnly this time I didn’t scream when I wokeI didn’t need toThe screams had already settled in my chestEwen broke the silence first “They’ll come back today”Lucian nodded once “They’re not done They want her marked”Soren added nothing but I saw the faint glow beneath his wrist—his bond mark still there faint barely alive like mine“I’m not going to them,” I said even though the truth itched behind my teethBecause part of me wanted toNot because I believed themBut because I wanted to believe I wasn’t wrong to feel what I felt“You don’t have to go to them,” Soren said quietly “They’ll bring the choice to you”He was rightThey didn’t need to pull me into the veil againTh