Chapter 14: The Child That Speaks

The moonlight faded behind a cloud, but the river kept glowing. It pulsed softly, alive, as if it was breathing with me. The sound of it filled the silence none of us could break.

Revan stood beside me, his hand still gripping my arm, his eyes searching my face like he didn’t trust what I’d seen. Jordan stood a few steps back, soaked and pale, watching both of us.

“She said I had to choose,” I whispered again, my voice still unsteady.

Revan’s jaw tightened. “Choose what?”

“Which world burns.”

Jordan swore under his breath. “That’s not a choice. That’s a curse.”

Revan looked at him, his voice low and calm. “Everything that has power comes with a curse.”

I wrapped my arms around myself. “She said I’m the balance. The world leaned too far. I was meant to bring it back.”

Jordan moved closer. “The world leaned too far into what?”

“Blood,” I said quietly. “Power. Control. Everything the packs fight for.”

He gave a hollow laugh. “Then it’s been leaning too far for centuries.”

Revan’s gaze shifted toward the river. “And now it’s about to fall.”

The water flickered again, catching the reflection of the moon as it slipped out from behind the clouds. The glow reached higher, crawling up the trees along the bank. The forest came alive with light.

Jordan stepped back, his hand on his sword. “Tell me that’s normal.”

Revan shook his head slowly. “It’s reacting to her.”

“To me?” I said.

He looked at me. “You woke something. The flame in you and the river’s call are connected now. It won’t stay quiet for long.”

I wanted to ask what that meant, but the sound cut me off — faint at first, then sharper. Wolves. Howling. Not far.

Jordan turned fast. “We need to move.”

Revan’s eyes narrowed. “How many?”

“Too many to count.”

The howls grew louder. They weren’t ordinary. They carried that strange echo I’d heard once before — the sound of the Darkborn.

Revan grabbed his pack and threw it over his shoulder. “We head west. Now.”

We ran along the river, the sound of pursuit growing closer. Branches tore at my sleeves, my breath burned, but I didn’t stop. Revan stayed ahead, clearing the way, and Jordan ran behind me, every few seconds glancing back.

The night pulsed with the same rhythm as the river. It felt like the whole world was beating to that one impossible heartbeat inside me.

Then I heard it — not with my ears, but inside my head.

A voice. Small, soft, and familiar in a way that terrified me.

“Don’t run.”

I stumbled. The sound of it was like my own heartbeat speaking.

Revan caught my arm. “What’s wrong?”

I shook my head. “I heard something.”

“What?”

I hesitated. “A voice.”

Jordan turned. “Whose voice?”

I swallowed hard. “The baby.”

They both stopped.

Revan stared at me, his voice rough. “What did it say?”

“It said not to run.”

Jordan cursed quietly. “That thing inside you is talking now?”

“It’s not a thing,” I said sharply. “It’s a child.”

Revan’s tone softened. “It’s both.”

The forest around us trembled. The howls were closer now, so close I could hear the snapping of branches behind them.

Revan grabbed my hand. “We move. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it later.”

But the voice came again.

“They follow the river. The river will betray you.”

I stopped. “Wait.”

Revan turned, angry and confused. “Lora, we don’t have time.”

“The river isn’t helping us,” I said. “It’s leading them to us.”

He looked back toward the glow reflecting on the water. The current had changed direction, moving faster, almost frantic.

Jordan’s eyes widened. “She’s right. Look.”

The glow raced downstream, and with it came shadows. Black shapes moving through the trees, fast and silent.

Revan pulled me away from the water. “We go into the hills.”

The ground sloped upward. The air thinned, colder, harder to breathe. My legs ached, but I pushed on. The voices in the dark grew louder, not words, just noise — laughter, growls, whispers.

When we reached a ridge, Revan stopped and turned, his eyes scanning the dark. “They’ll be here any second.”

Jordan drew his sword. “Then we fight.”

I could barely see them through the smoke and mist, but I felt them — the Darkborn, dozens of them, their eyes glowing red.

Revan moved first, silent and precise, his claws cutting through the nearest one. Jordan followed, fast and sharp, his blade slicing through the air.

I backed away, trembling, the power inside me pushing against my skin. The marks on my arm glowed brighter, spreading to my shoulder, then to my neck.

The voice inside me came again. “They want the flame. Give it to me.”

“No,” I whispered.

The voice turned colder. “You can’t protect it forever.”

I pressed my hands to my stomach. “I’m not giving you anything.”

A Darkborn lunged at me. Revan was too far. I didn’t think, I just screamed. The sound came out like light.

Fire exploded from my body, golden and wild, throwing the creature backward into the trees. The others froze for a second. Then they turned toward me, hungry.

Revan shouted my name. “Lora, stop.”

“I can’t.”

The fire spread, swirling around me like a storm. The marks on my skin burned. I could feel something ancient moving through me, something not mine.

Revan ran through the flames, grabbed my face in his hands. “Look at me.”

I tried, but everything was shaking.

“Breathe,” he said. “You’re stronger than it.”

The fire flickered.

“Listen to me, Lora,” he said, his voice steady even through the chaos. “It’s your power. Not its.”

Jordan’s voice cut in from somewhere behind him. “Revan, move. More are coming.”

“Hold them off,” Revan said without turning.

Jordan cursed but did it, meeting the Darkborn again.

Revan’s eyes stayed on mine. “You control it, not the other way around. You choose.”

The word choose echoed in my head. The Moon Goddess’s voice. The same warning.

I closed my eyes and pulled the fire back, forcing it down, breath by breath. It fought me, burning, clawing, but finally, it dimmed. The air went quiet.

Revan’s hands dropped, his voice soft. “You did it.”

I opened my eyes. The glow had faded from my skin. The Darkborn that hadn’t burned had fled into the trees. The smell of ash filled the air again.

Jordan returned, blood on his arm, but alive. “They’re gone. For now.”

Revan nodded. “We keep moving.”

I shook my head. “No. Not yet.”

Revan frowned. “We can’t stay here.”

“The voice said the river would betray us,” I said. “It was right. What if it knows what comes next?”

Jordan looked uneasy. “You’re trusting a voice inside your head?”

“It’s not just a voice,” I said. “It’s a part of me. If I don’t listen, it might kill me. If I do, it might save us.”

Revan hesitated. “Then what is it telling you now?”

I closed my eyes. The silence stretched long enough for the wind to change. Then I heard it again, faint but clear.

“Go where the sun dies. There the truth sleeps.”

I opened my eyes. “West.”

Revan nodded slowly. “The temple might be west.”

Jordan wiped blood from his hand. “And what if it’s a trap?”

Revan looked at him. “Everything’s a trap.”

We started moving again, through the burned trees and into the shadows beyond them. The fire from before had left the ground black, the air thick with smoke.

I walked between them, too tired to speak. Every step hurt, but I didn’t stop. The voice was quiet now, as if waiting.

Hours passed. The moon was sinking low when we reached a ridge overlooking the valley. Below us stretched ruins — stone pillars, half buried, glowing faintly under the light.

“The temple,” Revan said softly.

Jordan frowned. “It doesn’t look like a temple. It looks like a grave.”

Revan’s voice dropped lower. “Maybe it’s both.”

We climbed down carefully, the ground uneven and slick. When we reached the center, I saw carvings on the largest stone. They matched the marks on my arm.

Revan touched the stone. “It’s reacting to you.”

I stepped forward, my fingers trembling as I reached out. The moment I touched it, the air shuddered. The ruins began to hum.

Jordan stepped back. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything,” I said. “It’s doing it on its own.”

Light broke from the cracks in the stone, rising into the air. The carvings shifted, forming a symbol — a circle split in half, one side flame, one side moon.

Revan stared at it. “That’s the mark of the first covenant.”

“What covenant?” I asked.

“The one that created the packs,” he said. “And the one that destroyed them.”

The light grew brighter. The ground beneath us trembled again.

Jordan grabbed my arm. “Lora, step back.”

But I couldn’t move. The stone was pulling me closer. The voice inside me whispered again, louder this time.

“The truth sleeps beneath. Wake it, and you will see what must end.”

Revan tried to reach me, but the light flared, throwing him back. Jordan went with him.

I stood alone in the center of the ruins as the ground split open beneath my feet.

A column of light shot upward, swallowing the night sky.

And through it, I saw her again — the Moon Goddess — but this time she wasn’t alone.

Another figure stood beside her, cloaked in flame.

Both looked down at me.

The goddess spoke first. “The balance begins.”

The one beside her smiled. “And ends.”

The ground cracked wider, the light burning brighter.

Then everything fell away.