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Chapter Five
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2025-12-11 09:32:21The Moment That Looked Back
Saxa
Dew still clung to the car, beads of silver lining its frame. Morning air curled with a creeping fog, soft and slow, as if the world itself hadn’t quite woken up yet. The distant chirp of birds played like a soft soundtrack as I unloaded the last of our luggage and hauled it towards the porch.
I wasn’t ready to face another day—especially not with these new panic attacks crashing into me like rogue waves. Anxiety and stress had never held much sway over me before. But lately, something has shifted. Everything around me just felt off. Like I was walking through a dream that I couldn’t quite shake,
I set the final bag down and paused, a deep breath. The air was cold and damp, the fog pressing in around my skin. The eerie stillness of the morning settled over me like a second coat. You’ve made it through worse Saxa, just breathe. Push through.
I turned towards the front door just as Gran stepped out.
“Saxa,” she called, “the moving company called… apparently, they’ve lost our things.”
I blinked. “What? how? how do you just lose a whole shipment?!”
“It happens sometimes honey,” she said with a tired shrug. “That’s why I insured everything and kept a catalog. They’re going to do an investigation and then reimburse us, so we’ll go out today and buy the necessities. No use in crying over it.”
“Gran,” I snapped. “How in the hell are you so calm right now? That was everything we owned.”
Her face softened, “I know sweetheart. But we brought the most important things with us. Everything else is just… stuff. It’s replaceable. But, could you run back to the car and grab my last bag from the boot?”
I grumbled under my breath and made my way back to the car. The trunk was like a black hole—I had to practically crawl inside just to reach the last bag.
“Need a hand?”
I jumped so hard I smacked my head on the trunk. “Jesus Christ."
When I turned, a dark-haired girl stood behind me, smiling awkwardly.
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you. I just saw you struggling and thought I’d ask. I’m Ingri, I was just coming to visit my brother—he lives next door.”
I blinked, still reeling from smacking my head. “Oh, uh, I’m Saxa.”
“I made some co—oh!” gran’s voice floated down the driveway. “Who’s this?”
“Gran, this is Ingrid. Her brother lives next door.”
“My parents live a few blocks over too,” Ingrid added.
“Well, it’s lovely to meet you,” gran said warmly. “Would you like some coffee? Hot chocolate? Tea?”
“Oh no I’m okay,” Ingrid said with a giggle. “I was just asking if Saxa needed a hand.”
“Okay girls, I’ll be inside.” Gran yelled, disappearing back into the house.
“I think I've got it,” I said, trying to smile.
“I really don’t mind,” she shrugged. “Besides, my parents have about a bazillion people over and I’d rather avoid an interrogation.”
I laughed despite myself, “ah. Classic.”
“You know—old people. Nosy and relentless.” she grinned, then reached into the trunk and effortlessly pulled out the bag I’d nearly climbed inside of the car to retrieve.
Okay, maybe I did need help.
As we walked up the drive, a cluster of voices drifted from the porch next door. I turned—and stopped dead.
Five men spilled out of the house, mid-conversation.
But one of them..
As soon as our eyes met, the world around me fell silent. The air left my lungs, my bag slipped from my fingers and crashing to the pavement. A searing heat bloomed across my skin—electric, sharp—locking my voice in my throat. My chest tightened. I couldn’t move, couldn’t blink, couldn’t breathe.
Only when his gaze finally shifted away did my lungs remember their job.
My hands began to shake violently.
Trembling, I dropped to my knees to gather what had spilled out of the bag. A framed photo of me and gran when I was a baby had slipped out—its glass shattered into jagged lines like spiderwebs. I stared at it, frozen. Each shard seemed to cut deeper into my heart, fractured and unreachable.
As I gathered the pieces with trembling hands, a pair of leather boots appeared in front of me.
“Eirik, Ingrid hissed from behind me.
I looked up, the gasp leaving my mouth before I could stop it.
He was right there. His eyes—such a deep green and unblinking—locking with mine. For a moment, nothing else existed. The driveway, the fog, the broken frame—all faded. Time didn’t pass, it hung.
His presence was magnetic, overwhelming. I felt like I’d seen him before, and yet..
Somewhere, deep inside me, a part of me stirred.
Recognizing him, fearing him.
Ingrid’s voice sounded like she was under water, barely audible under the thrumming of my heart.
Neither of us moved. We were suspened—held in place by something unseen, ancient, unspoken. I wanted nothing more than to wrap my fingers around each strand of his dark hair.
Gran’s voice pierced through all of it like thunder, “Saxa, what on earth is going on here?”
The moment shattered. I blinked and realized I was still on my knees, the contents of Gran's bag scattered at his feet. I scrambled to pick them up, my fingers unsteady.
Eirik—if that was his name—hand’t moved, but i could still feel his gaze burning into the top of my skull.
Gran stepped forward, scooping the last items from my arms and guiding me towards the house. Her voice was gentle but firm, “come inside dear. We’ll take care of everything later. Ingrid, you’re more than welcome to join us.”
I followed her, but my whole body was willing me to go back out fron—still caught in the ghost of Eirik’s eyes. The weight of his stare lingered on my back like a mark.
And though I couldn’t bring myself to turn around, I knew he was still watching.
Pinakabagong kabanata
The Binding Chapter 104
The Heart's CommandSaxaSaxaThe pull becomes unbearable.Not immediately.Not violently.It builds.Like a tide dragging everything in the valley slowly toward the same point.The mountain.The threads tighten beneath the snow, glowing lines stretching toward the ridge like veins leading back to a single beating heart.Elias stumbles beside me.“Okay—yeah—definitely feeling that now.”His voice is strained but steadier than it was earlier.The glyph beneath his shirt burns bright silver.Not tearing him apart anymore.Guiding him.Gran notices immediately.“That’s wrong.”Kaia’s gaze flicks toward Elias.“No.”Her voice is quiet.“It’s functioning.”Gran turns on her sharply.“Functioning?”Kaia gestures toward the ridge where the light continues to pour from the split seam in the mountain.“The system is completing its alignment.”The threads pulse again.Harder.The pull inside my chest sharpens.My breath catches.Because now I can feel direction inside it.Not random.Not chaoti
The Binding Chapter 103
The Pull of the HeartSaxaThe mountain stops roaring.That is somehow worse.The sudden silence spreads across the valley like a held breath, the kind that comes just before something breaks.The threads beneath the snow tighten.All of them.Not violently.Not chaotically.Deliberately.Like something enormous just wrapped its fingers around every line of power running through the valley.Elias inhales sharply beside me.“…that’s new.”The glyph beneath his shirt pulses again, brighter than before but steadier than it had been when the system was tearing him apart.This time the light doesn’t flare outward.It pulls.The threads react instantly.Every glowing strand shifts direction.Toward the mountain.The creatures standing in the clearing feel it too.The seven that turned toward me stiffen, their silver eyes snapping toward the ridge as the pull tightens through the system.The others—those already walking toward the mountain—don’t hesitate.They begin moving faster.Not runnin
The Binding Chapter 102
The First VoiceSaxaThe mountain does not like what I just did. It lands in my chest a heartbeat before the sound follows. The roar that rolls down the ridge this time isn’t the deep mechanical pulse we’ve been feeling all night. It’s sharper. Angrier. Like the mountain itself has just realized someone grabbed the wrong lever inside its machinery. Snow slides from the trees along the slope. The threads beneath the valley flare so bright they cast silver shadows across the clearing.Half the creatures remain pointed toward the mountain. Half now face me.Waiting, Listening. The line has broken.Kasper sees it instantly. “You have no idea what you’re interfering with,” he says. His voice is quieter now.Not calm.Measured. The kind of tone someone uses when they’re trying very hard not to panic.I tilt my head slightly. “You mean your plan?”His jaw tightens. “This is not a game.”“No,” I agree softly. “It’s not.”The threads hum beneath my palms again, the sensation crawling up my arms
The Binding Chapter 101
The Heart BeneathSaxaThe mountain moves again. Not like an avalanche, not like stone breaking free and crashing down the slope. This is slower. Worse.The kind of movement that belongs to something enormous waking up beneath skin that was never meant to stretch this far. Every thread in the valley pulls taut at once.The glowing lines beneath the snow sharpen, brightening until the whole clearing looks webbed in veins of buried lightning. The creatures nearest the tear stiffen simultaneously, their heads tilting toward the ridge as if they’re hearing the same voice from very far away.My wolf presses hard against my ribs. Not panic.The ground under my boots trembles again, deeper now, more deliberate—less like shaking and more like a pulse. A heartbeat. One that does not belong to any living thing I understand.“Oh, hell no,” Ingrid whispers.No one corrects her. No one can. Because the mountain is still moving.Anja lifts her face toward it, silver light catching along the edge of
The Binding Chapter One Hundred
The Old ArchitectureSaxaNo one speaks for several long seconds. The valley feels… different. Not calmer, not safer. But steadier, like something enormous just shifted into place beneath the ground and the rest of the world is still catching up.The threads beneath the snow glow brighter than they ever have before. Not thrashing like they were when Kasper and I were pulling against each other. Not pouring toward the tear in the forest.Flowing. Slow.Deliberate.Every line bending toward the mountain where Anja stands.Elias exhales beside me. “That… explains a lot.”I don’t answer, because my eyes are locked on her.Anja.The name echoes in my skull like something pulled from an old memory that doesn’t belong to me. She stands on the ridge above us, silver light curling faintly around her body like a mist.Not threatening.Not triumphant, watching, studying. Like she’s deciding what to do with us.Gran is the first to break the silence. “You were dead..” her voice cracks. “I saw yo
The Binding Chapter Ninety Nine
What Wakes BeneathSaxaThe mountain doesn’t roar again, it breathes. But somehow that’s worse.The whole valley feels it—that low, impossible inhale rolling up through the snow and stone like the earth itself has suddenly remembered it has lungs. The threads beneath my skin tighten in answer, every glowing line in the clearing pulling downward, not toward the tear in the forest anymore, not toward Kasper, not even toward the creatures standing silently in the snow.My fingers tighten around Elias’ hand hard enough to hurt, but he doesn’t complain. He’s staring at the ridge with that same drawn, hollow look he gets when the system pushes too much into him all at once.“It’s under the lock,” he whispers. His voice sounds small against the scale of what’s happening.Gran’s face has gone bloodless. “No,” she says, but there’s no force behind it. “No, the lock was the deepest point. It had to be.”Kaia doesn’t look away from the mountain. “It never is.”Another pulse begins to tear throu
The Binding Chapter Fifty Nine
The Hunt BeginsSaxaThe forest doesn’t settle after a scream.It holds the barren sounds in its bones, lets it echo until even the birds forget how to sing properly again. The wards around the house hum low and tight, stretched thin like sinew pulled too far, and every few seconds I can feel the gl
The Binding Chapter Fifty Eight
The Wolf at the DoorSaxaThe first thing I do is check my hand.I’m still in Eirik’s bed. The ceiling beams are exactly where they were, the blankets still heavy over my legs, the air still thick with the ghost of strom and smoke.But my heart is going feral in my chest, the glyph in my palm is qui
The Binding Chapter Fifty Seven
The Dream That Wasn’tSaxaThe house is quiet.The kind that feels aware.Like the walls are listening, like the wards are holding their breath around me.Eirik left mere moments ago.I hear the front door slam, hear the muffled voices of two wolves outside falling into formation around the porch.P
The Binding Chapter Fifty Six
The Weight of What We WokeSaxaEirik leaves before the sun even clears the tree line.I feel it before I hear it—the shift in the house, the subtle quiet that settles when his presence pulls away from the bond just enough to keep me from panicking while he does whatever he does.He kisses my forehe
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