CHAPTER 6 — “When the Power Breaks”

The room shook.

Light burst from Aeris,wild, sharp, out of control.

Stone cracked. Walls trembled. Dust fell like rain.

“Aeris!” Killian lunged forward.

A sudden blast threw him back. He hit a pillar hard, gasping for air.

Aeris screamed,a raw, tearing sound that filled the temple like shattered glass.

He floated upward, held by pure power.

“Make it stop!” Aeris’s voice was strange, layered and distorted. “Please!”

Killian pushed to his feet. Blood dripped from a cut on his forehead. “I don’t know how!”

Aeris glowed like sunlight breaking through a storm.

The bond in Killian’s chest tightened, sharp as bone breaking. He gasped and fell to his knees.

He felt the pain too, deep inside.

“Aeris, listen!” Killian crawled closer as stones fell around him. “Fight! Take control!”

“I can’t!” Aeris cried, tears streaming. “It’s tearing me apart!”

The power surged again.

Cracks spread across the floor and walls. The temple was falling.

Killian pushed through the pain and reached out, his hand brushing Aeris’s ankle.

Everything changed.

Images crashed into Killian’s mind,not his or Aeris’s, but someone else’s.

A woman ran through burning village ruins, holding a newborn tight.

“They found him! The scentless child!” someone shouted.

“Kill him! Before the prophecy wakes!”

The woman whispered, “I’ll hide you. Protect you. Even if it costs me.”

The vision shifted.

Years later, the boy,thin, bruised,stood silent before an angry man.

“You killed her. You killed your mother. You should have died.”

The boy learned silence meant safety.

Then the shed,cold, dark. The boy curled on the floor.

“Please,” he whispered. “Let me die. I don’t want to hurt anymore.”

But death never came.

Killian blinked and looked back at Aeris, still floating and glowing.

“You were meant to die,” Killian said softly. “That’s why they hurt you so badly. They knew what you were and tried to kill you slowly.”

Aeris twitched as another wave of power tore through him.

“I can’t hold it! What… what is this inside me?”

“The key. The weapon. The end of everything.” Killian forced himself to stand. “But you’re mine. I’m not letting go.”

He rushed forward and wrapped his arms around Aeris’s waist.

The power burned him, but he held tight.

The bond blazed, bright and wild, shielding them both.

Aeris slumped. The light flickered but softened.

“I can’t control it,” Aeris sobbed. “It will kill us.”

“No.”

“How do you know?”

“Because you’re stronger.” Killian held him tighter. “Stronger than what they told you. You survived your father, your pack, the hunters. You survived everything.”

“That’s different.”

“No, it’s not.” Killian cupped the back of his head. “This power is yours. Not the prophecy’s. Yours. Own it.”

“I don’t know how.”

“Yes, you do.” Killian pressed his forehead to Aeris’s. “Feel the bond. Feel me. Let it anchor you.”

Aeris gasped, grip tightening on Killian’s shirt.

The bond hummed, calm and steady like a heartbeat.

Aeris focused on it, pushing back the chaos inside.

“Mine,” he whispered. “This power is mine.”

The light dimmed.

“That’s it,” Killian urged. “Keep pulling it back.”

Aeris pushed harder.

The power sank back into his body,not gone but waiting beneath the surface.

His glowing eyes faded as he slid to the ground, trembling and exhausted.

“I did it,” he breathed.

“I knew you would.”

Above them, the roof moaned. Cracks spread wider.

“We need to go,” Killian said, trying to lift Aeris.

The power flared again,not wild, but protective.

A glowing shield formed around them, like glass made of light.

A massive stone slab fell, but the shield caught it.

Killian stared. “What…”

Aeris looked at his hands. Light danced across them.

“I didn’t mean to.”

“You made a shield.”

“Omegas can’t do that.”

“You’re not like other omegas.” Killian touched the light. Warm, alive. “You never were.”

More debris fell, but the shield held.

Aeris went pale. His knees gave out.

“It’s draining me,” he gasped. “I can’t hold it long.”

“Let it go. We’ll run.”

“You’ll get crushed.”

“I’m an Alpha. I can take it.”

“No. I won’t let you.”

“Aeris.”

“Just get us out. I’ll hold the shield.”

Killian wanted to argue but had no time.

He lifted Aeris and ran.

The shield moved with them, blocking falling stone.

But Aeris grew weaker. Breathing shallow. Skin pale.

“Almost there,” Killian said. “Stay with me.”

They burst out of the temple into the forest.

The shield shattered.

Behind them, the temple collapsed,centuries of history gone in seconds.

Killian laid Aeris gently by a tree, away from the wreckage.

“You did it. You saved us.”

Aeris didn’t respond. Eyes open but empty.

“Aeris?” Killian’s heart broke. “Look at me.”

Nothing.

Panic hit. Killian held Aeris’s face. “Don’t leave me. Stay.”

The bond tensed, thin like a thread about to break.

“No.” Killian’s voice cracked. “Not now. Not after everything.”

He pressed his palm to Aeris’s chest.

Under the skin, a faint pulse fluttered. Like a moth trapped behind glass.

Then he saw it.

A mark burned into Aeris’s skin, right over his heart.

The symbol from the prophecy. From the temple walls.

It glowed gold, then silver, then black.

A sign. A brand. A promise.

“What did you do to him?” Killian whispered,to the prophecy, to whatever force ruled this fate.

Aeris went limp. His head lolled back.

“Aeris.” Killian shook him gently. “Please, open your eyes.”

No response.

The bond thinned, frayed like an unraveling thread.

“Please.” Killian begged, something no one ever heard from him. “Don’t leave me. I won’t survive it.”

A cold, ancient voice spoke behind him.

“You cannot save him, Alpha. He belongs to the prophecy now.”

Killian turned. A figure stood at the tree line, black in shadow, eyes burning red.

“Who are you?” Killian growled.

“A guardian. A witness.” The figure tilted its head. “The omega has awakened. The first seal is broken. There is no going back.”

“What seal?” Killian demanded.

“The curse that binds all shifters was locked with seven seals. Each holds power dormant.” The figure’s burning eyes fixed on Aeris. “Your mate broke the first. Six remain.”

“And if all seven break?”

“Every shifter loses their wolf. Becomes mortal. Human.”

The figure moved closer. “The prophecy will be complete. The omega who started it will die.”

“No.” Killian hugged Aeris close. “I won’t let that happen.”

“You have no choice. The prophecy moves forward.” The figure vanished, voice lingering. “The Council knows. The Elders know. Soon all will know. They will come for him.”

“Let them try.”

“They will succeed. It is written. The omega will die.”

Silence.

Killian looked down at Aeris,still, bruised, marked.

The bond pulsed faintly,but it was still there.

“I don’t care what’s written,” Killian whispered. “I won’t lose you. Even if I burn the world to keep you safe.”

But Aeris did not move.

The mark on his chest glowed slow and steady,a countdown.

Tick by tick, closer to the end.