Chapter 151: Echoes of the Eclipse

The sky hadn’t returned to normal.

Even with the battle over and the Gateborn driven back, an unnatural stillness hung over the forest. No birds sang. No breeze stirred the ash-covered leaves. The moon, though full, glowed dimmer—as if it, too, had been scarred by what had unfolded beneath it.

Serena stood at the edge of the clearing where the battle had ended, her boots crunching on scorched earth. The smell of burnt magic lingered, bitter and metallic. Her pulse still hadn’t slowed. She could feel the Gate humming faintly in the back of her mind.

Let me in.

No. Not this time.

She clutched the pendant Mira had given her—an obsidian shard threaded with protective runes—and forced herself to breathe.

Behind her, the others were recovering. Mira lay under Kael’s watchful eye, her wounds wrapped in silverbark linen. Elias had refused rest until he’d walked the perimeter three times, and Lyra was sharpening a blade that had already been sharpened five times over.

Serena’s gaze shifted upward.

Something was coming.

Later That Night – Around the Fire

They sat in a tight circle. No one said much. The crackling fire filled the silence.

Mira was propped against Kael’s shoulder, her voice soft but steady. “I’ve never seen them move like that. They weren’t just coordinated—they were commanded.”

“Darian,” Elias said with a clenched jaw.

Lyra glanced at Serena. “You said you felt him again?”

Serena nodded slowly. “Not just felt. He tried to speak to me… during the fight. Through the Gate.”

Elias tensed. “You didn’t answer, did you?”

“No.” Her fingers dug into the fabric of her cloak. “But I can feel him trying. He’s not just coming for me anymore. He’s coming for everything connected to me.”

Theron emerged from the shadows then, holding a crumpled piece of parchment.

“I think we’ve got proof of that.”

He tossed the note onto the ground. Burned at the edges. Marked with three vertical runes—the signature Darian had burned into the sky before.

Kael unfolded it, reading aloud:

“You may run. You may resist. But your power belongs to the Gate. Your people are collateral. Choose soon—before I make the choice for you.”

No signature.

No location.

Just a second message written faintly beneath it, almost invisible:

Tell her Caine remembers.

Serena’s heart dropped.

Flashback – Caine

Caine had once been one of the few people Serena trusted during her early training under the Moon Circle. A gifted fighter, a strategic mind, and her first real friend outside Elias and Mira. But he’d disappeared two years ago during a border mission… presumed dead.

Or worse—claimed by the Gate.

She rose to her feet, the flames reflecting in her eyes. “We have to find him.”

Kael frowned. “You think it’s real? A message from Caine?”

“I know his writing,” she said. “And if Darian’s holding him—he’s not just baiting me. He’s using him.”

Lyra stood. “Then we move. Tonight.”

Elias shook his head. “We can’t rush blind. We’re not ready. Mira’s barely stable, and we still don’t know what that attack meant long-term.”

Serena looked between them all.

The team was divided. Their strength fractured. But her resolve wasn’t.

“Then give me till dawn,” she said. “We leave at first light. Caine might be the only one who knows what Darian’s planning.”

Later – Elias and Serena

As the others slept, Elias found her sitting alone again, fingers tracing the burn along her wrist—a mark from the Gateborn’s blade that refused to fade.

“You okay?” he asked, sitting beside her.

“I keep thinking,” she murmured, “what if I had said yes? In the vision. To Darian. What would’ve happened?”

Elias was quiet for a moment. “You didn’t. That’s what matters.”

She turned to him. “But what if one day… I do?”

He took her hand gently. “Then I’ll remind you who you are. Even if I have to stand between you and that damn Gate myself.”

A pause.

Then she rested her head on his shoulder.

“I’m scared, Elias.”

“I know,” he whispered. “Me too.”

But he didn’t let go.

Final Scene – Somewhere Far Away

Darian stood at the edge of a broken altar deep underground. Caine knelt before him, shackled, bloodied but alive.

“You think she’ll come for you?” Darian asked, crouching beside him.

Caine spat blood and grinned. “You don’t know her at all if you think she won’t.”

Darian leaned closer, his voice like ice. “Oh, I know her better than anyone. I just want her to prove it.”

He stood, shadows twisting around him.

“Bring the boy to the northern tower,” he ordered the Gateborn guard. “Make sure the trail is obvious.”

Behind him, the Gate pulsed faintly in the rock wall.

And far above, Serena stirred in her sleep—heart pounding.