Chapter Sixty-Two

Child of the Rift

Smoke drifted low over the ruined clearing. The last flames had died beneath Selene’s power, yet the scent of ash clung to everything. Kaen prowled the perimeter, nostrils flaring, tracing the faint trail of golden dust the stranger had left behind.

Selene knelt and touched the ground where it had stood. Warm. Not the warmth of fire, but of life.

She felt the echo of a heartbeat—fast, uncertain, searching.

“Mother,” the word replayed in her mind, soft as breath.

Kaen whined.

“I heard it too,” she said. “Whatever it was… it came from us.”

The forest around them murmured. Leaves turned their faces toward her like listeners. The moon above flickered between silver and gold, uncertain which color it should wear.

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They followed the trail east. Each step carried them through shifting fragments of the two worlds. One moment, mist from the Shadowlands veiled the trees; the next, moonlight poured through leaves as real as any mortal forest. The rift between realms had no edge anymore—it bled, merging piece by piece.

At the riverbank, the trail vanished into the water. Selene crouched, watching ripples shimmer in alternating hues of black and white.

Kaen sniffed the air and barked once.

“I know,” she whispered. “It’s close.”

The surface of the river stilled. Then the reflection changed. Her own face stared back, but younger—barely sixteen, eyes bright with wonder. The reflection smiled and raised a hand.

Selene’s pulse stuttered. “Who are you?”

The reflection’s voice was her own, but softer. “The part you left behind when you crossed the veil. The child the balance kept to grow.”

The water rippled again, and from its depths rose a figure—the same luminous being from before, now solid. Its form shimmered between genders, between human and something vast. When it stepped onto the shore, the air bent around it like a bowstring.

Kaen’s fur bristled.

Selene forced herself to speak calmly. “You called me Mother.”

The being nodded. “You birthed me when you merged the Heart. Every choice you made, every memory of those who came before—you wove them together. I am what balance became.”

Selene’s throat tightened. “If you are balance, why burn the forest?”

“I didn’t,” it said simply. “I woke, and the world shifted to make space for me. The fire was the cost.”

She studied it—its eyes flickering silver, then gold, then black. “You’re unstable.”

“Evolving,” it corrected. “I am everything you refused to be.”

Kaen stepped forward with a warning growl. Shadows rippled off his body like smoke.

Selene raised a hand. “Easy.” Then to the being: “If you carry all that I am, then you carry restraint too. You don’t have to destroy to exist.”

The being tilted its head. “Don’t I? Creation and ruin share a breath. You taught me that when you opened the Heart.”

A tremor passed through the ground. The river darkened. Above them, the moon pulsed faster, light bleeding red at its edges.

Selene’s mark flared, answering. “Stop! You’ll tear the worlds apart.”

The being’s smile was small, almost kind. “Then teach me how not to.”

It reached forward, touching her chest where the Heart lived. Pain exploded through her veins—light and shadow clashing. Kaen lunged, knocking the being backward, but a surge of energy flung him into the trees.

“Kaen!”

The wolf hit the ground, dazed but alive. Selene faced the being again, heart hammering.

“You can’t touch the Heart,” she gasped. “You’re made of it.”

“I’m made of you,” it whispered. “And you’re not finished.”

Before she could respond, it dissolved into mist—gold and black threads rising into the sky and vanishing through the trembling moon.

Selene stood shaking, her hands still glowing. The air tasted of lightning.

Kaen limped back to her side.

She knelt, burying her fingers in his fur. “It’s not evil,” she said slowly. “It’s a beginning. But beginnings can destroy as easily as they create.”

Kaen pressed his head against her shoulder.

Selene looked up at the moon. “It called me Mother. Maybe that’s true. Maybe I brought it into being. But if it carries the power of both realms…”

The Heart inside her pulsed in warning. Then it must learn to choose, it murmured.

Selene rose, determination steadying her voice. “Then I’ll find it again—and I’ll teach it before the world burns for its birth.”

Kaen barked once, sharp and sure.

She smiled faintly. “Come on, old friend. The child of the rift won’t wait.”

Together they turned toward the path of golden dust leading deeper into the merging woods—

toward the next dawn,

and the first breath of a god still learning how to be human.

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