Chapter 36: Born of Light, Bound by Shadows

The silence was deafening.

Ivy’s eyes—no longer the hazel Killian had memorized but glowing gold—met his, and in that moment, something ancient passed between them. Not hatred. Not love. Something deeper.

Something… eternal.

“Killian?” she whispered.

It wasn’t just her voice.

It was layered.

Like two souls speaking from the same vessel.

One—his Ivy.

The other—Isolde.

He stepped back.

Mira’s protection circle cracked as the energy in the room surged. The lights flickered. The wind howled even though all the windows were closed. The baby had gone still again.

Mira grabbed a crystal dagger from her satchel, her voice low. “We’re running out of time. If Isolde binds herself to the child before birth, it’ll be irreversible. She’ll be immortal.”

Killian’s mind raced.

Ivy stood calmly in the chaos, her hand on her belly. Her glowing eyes flickered between gold and hazel.

“She’s trying to speak to me,” Ivy said. “Not just through me. To me.”

Inside Ivy’s mind, two forces clashed.

She stood in a dreamlike field, winds roaring around her. Opposite her was Isolde, no longer cloaked in shadows but in pure, blinding light that distorted her form.

“I gave you back your memories,” Isolde said calmly. “I’ve kept my promise. Now, I take what’s mine.”

“My baby is not yours.”

Isolde smiled. “That child carries my essence. When you let me in, you bound me to her. You just didn’t read the fine print.”

Ivy’s fists clenched. “Then I’ll unbind you.”

“You’re not strong enough.”

“Try me.”

The wind roared louder. Ivy took a step forward—then two—and suddenly the dream shattered. She gasped, waking in Killian’s arms.

But something had changed.

Her body was glowing—not just gold now, but silver, too. Dual auras circled her—light and shadow.

Mira stared, stunned. “She’s evolving… she’s fighting from the inside.”

But it wasn’t just a fight.

It was a merge.

Days passed. Ivy remained mostly conscious, but her strength flickered.

Sometimes she’d speak like herself. Other times, her voice would deepen, and words she never learned would spill from her lips—spells, prophecies, names long forgotten.

The baby grew rapidly, faster than any normal pregnancy. Mira warned them:

“She’ll be born in the eclipse. That’s when Isolde will strike.”

“But she won’t win,” Killian said firmly. “Not if we’re ready.”

“Are you?” Mira asked him gently. “Even if it means letting Ivy die to stop Isolde?”

He couldn’t answer.

Mira revealed a forbidden tool—the Mirror of Severance—a shard from the original mirror Isolde had used centuries ago to trap souls.

“It can separate entities. If we use it during the birth, we can force Isolde out,” she explained. “But if Ivy resists… it will kill both her and the child.”

Killian clenched his jaw. “There must be another way.”

“There isn’t.”

Ivy, listening from the stairs, said nothing.

But her thoughts spun wildly.

She would never let her child die.

She needed a third option.

And only one person might know how: her sister, Isla.

Ivy reached out through a mirror portal and summoned Isla back from hiding. When Isla arrived, her presence was colder than Ivy remembered.

“You should’ve stayed hidden,” Ivy said.

“You should’ve never trusted a ghost,” Isla replied.

There was a pause. Then Isla added, “You called me here for help. Say it.”

“I need your blood,” Ivy said. “You’re my twin. You share the line. If anyone can draw Isolde out without killing me, it’s you.”

Isla raised an eyebrow. “And why would I help you?”

“Because if she wins, none of us survive.”

Reluctantly, Isla agreed.

But she had a condition:

“I want the child raised under my guardianship if you don’t survive.”

Killian objected immediately, but Ivy said nothing.

She just nodded.

And somewhere deep inside her mind, Isolde laughed.

The sky darkened.

A rare lunar eclipse had begun—an alignment of forces not seen in centuries. The house trembled as otherworldly energy built in the walls.

Ivy’s water broke.

The time had come.

Mira and Isla prepared the Mirror of Severance. Killian stood at Ivy’s side, holding her hand as contractions ripped through her.

Each scream wasn’t just pain—it was power.

Ivy’s body shone with alternating pulses of gold and silver.

“She’s breaking through,” Mira whispered. “She’s fighting the possession.”

Isolde’s voice came louder now, through Ivy’s mouth:

“You can’t stop destiny, Killian. She was always meant to be mine.”

But then Ivy screamed, louder than before, and a pulse of silver light knocked everyone back.

The baby was coming.

The air in the room changed.

As the child crowned, an eerie, melodic hum echoed through the walls. Everyone paused, breathless.

Then—just as Ivy pushed—

A voice, soft and clear, echoed from the baby herself:

“You do not belong here.”

It wasn’t Ivy.

It wasn’t Isolde.

It was… her.

The baby.

The newborn opened her eyes—

And they were blue, glowing like stardust.

She looked directly at the mirror shard and shattered it with a single cry.

Mira screamed. “That’s not possible! She—she's not supposed to have power yet!”

The Mirror of Severance exploded into dust.

Isolde’s plan was in ruins.

But it wasn’t over.

Not yet.

The baby let out a piercing wail. Ivy collapsed into Killian’s arms, exhausted but alive. The child—radiating warmth and celestial light—stared up at them with knowing eyes.

Then her tiny hand touched Ivy’s cheek.

“I remember everything,” Ivy gasped. “She… she’s not just ours. She’s the end and the beginning.”

Mira rushed over, wide-eyed. “This child… she rewrote the prophecy. She wasn’t just born of light or darkness. She is the balance.”

Suddenly, the room dimmed. The light vanished.

And a shadow appeared in the doorway.

It was Aiden.

But his eyes—his expression—

It wasn’t him.

“Miss me?” the figure whispered, stepping forward.

Isolde had found a new host.

And this time… it was personal.