AshleyThe moment I stepped into the Forbidden Lands, the world changed before my eyes.The shift wasn’t violent. There was no thunder, no dramatic crack in the sky. It was quieter than that. The air grew denser, laced with an energy that prickled across my skin like static. The ground beneath my feet pulsed with something ancient and alive, and the trees: twisted, towering, and strangely luminous, seemed to lean in as if watching me.My instincts told me to stay sharp, to move fast, to not let the beauty of this place lull me into carelessness. But there was another part of me, deeper and quieter, that whispered: Slow down. Breathe. This is sacred ground.I followed both.I walked with caution, but my eyes roamed, taking in the strange, ethereal landscape. Flowers I didn’t recognize bloomed in impossible colors. Vines shimmered with silver threads, slithering up bark like living veins. There was no clear path, no road to follow, but something tugged at me, an invisible thread pulling
JaceI stood by the frosted window of the council chamber, fingers tightening around the edge of the sill. Outside, the barren trees of Moonlit Silver swayed in the evening wind, stark and unyielding—just like the truth he now had to confront. The cursed spirit had vanished, Ashley was gone, and the necklace, our one leverage, had crumbled to dust.I was losing control, teetering on the very edge, and one slight imbalance was bound to make me crash and burn. But I wasn't going down without a fight. Not in the slightest bit.Lucas stood a few paces behind me, arms crossed, his voice low and direct. “The rogues are waiting. You promised them carnage.”I nodded slowly, jaw clenched. “They’ll get it, when the time is right. I've done my part, Lucas, and yours is to keep them in check until everything else is finally in place for our plans. This is why we always need to have contingencies.”But even as I spoke, rage simmered under my skin. That spirit had outplayed me. Ashley had slipped t
AshleyThe wind carried the scent of wild lavender and something darker, earth disturbed by claws, perhaps. I inhaled deeply as I stood at the edge of our territory, where the woods thinned out and gave way to long-forgotten paths that led into the human villages. The air felt clearer here. Lighter. But maybe that was just the absence of curses.Katerina was gone. The Rot had ended. Everyone called it a miracle. I knew better.What happened wasn’t a miracle, it was a surrender. The Cursed Spirit had finally let go, not because she forgave, but because she saw no point in holding on. Her pain had eaten her for so long, and when I told her she could walk away, she did.That haunted me more than I liked to admit.I adjusted the strap of my bag on my shoulder, the quiet sound of the forest wrapping around me like a shawl. I had told no one I was leaving, not even Zane. He would have tried to stop me, and I couldn’t afford hesitation. Katerina’s final words still rang in my ears like a pro
JaceIt had been two days since the cursed spirit had vanished into the void, her eerie smoke flowing long after her form dissolved. Two days since the ancient necklace, once pulsing with ominous power, had crumbled into nothing but fine, black dust in my trembling hands. And two days since my carefully laid plans had begun to collapse, piece by piece, like a dying star devouring itself and becoming a black hole. I'd replayed every moment in my head, every decision that had led to this point, trying to pinpoint where it had all gone wrong, but there were too many cracks, too many secrets left in the dark.The war room was cloaked in shadow, lit only by the dying orange glow of dying embers in the fireplace. Smoke curled upward, clinging to the low carved ceiling. A large map was spread across the oak table at the center of the room, its surface covered with inked borders and faded symbols. Wooden markers, carved by hand and worn smooth from years of use, dotted the map, each one rep
AshleyThree. Full. Days.That’s how long I slept after Katerina vanished and the rot was undone. Three days of dreamless silence. When I woke, my body felt heavier than before, but my spirit, lighter. Like something ancient had been exorcised from within me, and with it gone, my body could finally rest and be weightless.The Tribe celebrated that night. Bonfires roared, drums echoed, and children danced in circles around the square, giving thanks to the old gods that built their land. They called me "The One Who Healed the Tribe," but I didn’t feel like a savior. Because somehow, it had all been tied to me, and it was my own duty to free the land at the end of the day. I was just glad I was successful.Zane never left my side, not even when I needed a little space. It wasn't suffocating, but I would have preferred it if he didn't watch me like he expected me to get stolen. But then again, I couldn't blame him.He sat across the room now, sharpening a blade he didn’t even need when he
AshleyThe cave was quiet. I could hear myself blink and even the slight sound of my clothes moving to accommodate my movement.Katerina’s figure hovered before me, her form less menacing, more… human. Her hair flowed like smoke, and though her eyes still held centuries of grief, I saw something soft behind them. Something fragile and vulnerable.In her eyes, I once again saw through her tragic story, and why it corrupted her to some extent.“I was trapped in that forest for years, searching for him. I hope you never experience such, because up until the point where that necklace was retrieved, I had been roaming the lands as a sceptre, not even knowing what I was searching for until I was approached by that Alpha who was so desperate for power.“I waited,” she whispered, her voice echoing as if carried in the wind. “I waited for him to return. And he never did.”The necklace in my hand pulsed, the curse embedded in its core flickering between life and death. Something had shifted. Ch