Crises Arises

I couldn't get any air.

 The 2nd vessel’s death was meant to bring peace, make Nyra weaker, and shut the door to the Void. Instead, it had opened something else inside me.

 I stumbled through the ruins of the courtyard. The whole place darkened, the silver light from my palms flickering, fading. 

"Elira," I said, choking, "something's not right." A wave of darkness spread through my body. My bones hurt. My vision blurred. "Elira!" I yelled.

 In a flash, she was next to me, holding my shoulders. “It's the bond, it’s affecting me too,” she said, her voice shaking. “Nyra is dying... but part of her chose you.”

"What does that mean?" I asked.

 Elira's hand was hovering over my chest. Her eyes got bigger. "She isn't just tied to you, she’s inside you, May." My veins lit up, but not silver; they were violet. I dropped to my knees.

 The sky broke apart like glass. Nyra's father stood on the far edge of the stone altar with his arms crossed, as if he were watching a show he had been waiting for, for hundreds of years. He said, 

"You thought killing my daughter's vessel would stop me?" "You've only given me her power." 

Elira tried to raise a shield, but her light broke before it could take shape.

 “She's overwriting you,” she whispered to me. I held my head. 

There was a whispering voice from Nyra. Laughing. Crying.

“We were supposed to fight together for the same purpose, but you made me your enemy; we were always the same.”  

Just when I thought I was going to lose all control— A loud howl rang out in the sky. Wolves came out of the woods, they looked big and mean, and ran around the courtyard in a blur of silver and fur. 

Then from their midst he stepped forward. 

Alpha Andrew! 

Dark-skinned, with a broad chest and half-torn clothing. He had a scar on his cheek like he had just come from a battle. The last time I saw him was when he came to discuss pack matters with Aether, months ago. 

What changed? I mumbled. He looked different, bolder, and more courageous. Besides, what is he and his wolves doing here? 

He didn't flinch as he walked past the wolves, past the fear, and right up to Nyra's father. 

With a cold voice, he said, “I knew I'd find you here.” 

Nyra’s father raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you! The puppy who saw his father bleed to death on the battlefield. You dare show your face here? Do you want me to kill you just as I killed your father? 

Andrew didn't say anything. He pulled out a twin-blade with glowing Moon runes on it, his jaw tightened as he growled, 

"That day, I promised you that when I was ready I would never let you walk this earth again.” 

Andrew didn't wait for an answer. He lunged at him with full speed, fierce and precise. He persistently fought with Nyra's father, and sparks flew as steel hit his supernatural skin. 

The ground trembled, the winds screamed. But Andrew kept going. He slashed, flipped, and drove his blade again and again toward the thing that killed his father. His wolves surrounded the courtyard, keeping the dark away. 

The blasts got louder, and Elira pulled me back. 

“I don't like him, he’s furious,” she remarked. And it was true. Alpha Andrew fought like he had nothing to lose and everything to prove. If I hadn’t met him before I would’ve thought that’s how he has always been, but no he was distinct with rage. 

Immediately Nyra’s father snarled and caught Andrew’s sword with two fingers, and smashed it.

"You have got your father's anger, but not his power” he sneered and with dark magic hit Andrew across the courtyard, slamming him into the wall. 

Immediately my wolf protruded, and I screamed as the energy inside me broke free. My body flared up, with light and shadow mixing, and my aura fluctuated from silver to violet. 

Nyra's voice echoed in my head. "Please let me in... or die with me.” 

“Get out!” I yelled, but she held tight onto me. My mind, my soul.

 All of a sudden my skin shone and my heart was pounding. I liked the power I felt, as I got up it was different.

 I was no longer just May. I was more than that.

Nyra's father walked toward me with bright eyes. “Do you feel it now?” he asked. “The truth the Moon has kept from you?”

“What truth?”

 He smiled slowly. “You were never meant to hurt her." He pointed at my chest. “You were supposed to take her place.”

 Elira gasped. “That can't be true.” The Moon picked May. 

 “And the Moon knew exactly what she was doing,” Nyra's father said. “The goddess didn't choose May to kill the darkness, she chose her to get it.”

 I stepped back, my breath catching. Was that why I felt so alive when the shadow took over? Was this really who I was? 

 A voice broke through before I could spiral any further.

 “Maybel!” Andrew yelled. 

He was hurt, limping, and bleeding, but he wasn't down. He threw something at me—a knife. Thin and Silver, full of energy. 

“Use It! “He commanded. “It is made from the bones of the Hollowed!”

I caught it in the air, and as soon as my hand wrapped around the hilt, Nyra's voice screamed in my head. 

“No… no!! You can’t use that” Like it was forbidden, like I’m never supposed to touch it. 

I turned to Nyra's dad, who was staring at me with eyes that insisted I drop the knife. Lips moving like he was reciting charmed words, and obviously he was, because for a moment I lost control of my actions. 

I turned the knife to my stomach, almost puncturing myself, but instantly the knife turned and I stabbed it right into his heart. He twinged loudly, blood oozing out of his mouth as he dissipated into black smoke and Nyra immediately left me

 I regained myself, I didn’t know how and what turned the direction of the knife, I almost thought I had thrust myself. 

“That’s good!” Andrew screamed with instant joy startling me. 

“What have you done?” Elira asked, her eyes looking pale. 

“I don’t know, I can’t tell how I stabbed him.” 

“This means war! I don’t think he’s dead yet, he will surely come back.” She breathed heavily. 

I heard a voice from behind me and turned slowly… it was Melina crouched down close to the ruins. There was someone in the shadows she was talking to.

“She'll soon be too far gone to fight back, then we hit.” 

Elira's face turned white. “She isn't with us,” she said softly. 

I stepped towards Melina, the blade in my hand glowing and shaking with rage. “Who are you talking to?" I asked. 

Melina just smiled. And behind her, I saw Castillo. It was impossible to read his eyes. And he wasn't the only one there.