Semua Bab THE SILVER LINING: Bab 11 - Bab 20

He stepped forward, his voice breaking. “Can you please forget them? Let it go. Let them go. Start a new life. Somewhere distant. Somewhere peaceful. Where no one calls you witch.”Krishna looked away, eyes focused on the moon now nearly full — the same moon that had hung above her the night she was betrayed.“They didn’t just burn me,” she said quietly. “They erased me. My name. My truth. They replaced me with a lie wrapped in silk and poison. Perfera’s lie.”Ignatius shook his head, his voice growing sharper. “That lie saved you. That lie gave you a second chance.”“No,” Krishna snapped, her voice cutting like winter wind. “It gave her the throne. The Alpha. My place.” Her hands curled into fists. “She twisted the truth. Turned Vosvak into a martyr. Claimed she walked the ruins to earn power — but she walks them because she was born from them. His blood flows through her, and it carries the darkness.”She stepped closer to Ignatius, her gaze fierce now. “If I leave, she wins. If I s

“I’ll need answers,” he growled.Perfera stepped closer, her voice firm but gentle. “Miyal… this is a new phase of the curse. We need strategy. Ritual wards. Moon-iron. You can’t fight this with swords alone.”His eyes darkened. “Then give me what I need. Or move aside.”Elder Cael raised a hand. “We send a unit. A swift strike force. Find the boy. Contain the infected. Burn what must be burned.”“Burn…” Miyal echoed bitterly, the memory of Krishna’s pyre flickering behind his eyes.Perfera looked at him, something unreadable behind her eyes. “This is your moment, Alpha. Lead them.”He turned for the door.Perfera’s voice followed him like a shadow. “Don’t let your ghosts ride with you, Miyal. This time… don’t hesitate.”He paused — just for a moment.Her tone was cold. Calculated. Yet something beneath it cracked, ever so faintly. She stood a few paces behind him, her dark robes shimmering with protective runes, wind whipping her hair around her face like a storm-bound crown.Miyal d

“I rose from it,” she whispered. “I didn’t die.”“No,” Ignatius said. “You transformed.”He stood and gestured to the stone altar nearby. “Come. There’s more.”Krishna followed, muscles aching but eyes sharp. The altar was carved with ancient symbols — not of the Moon, but of the Flame. A creed lost when the Silver Crescent devoured the old cults.Ignatius rolled out a map. “These are the Seven Ember Trials. Each one a piece of the flame you lost.”Krishna studied the parchment. “You want me to complete all seven?”“You must,” he said. “Each one unlocks not just magic — but memory, will, and soul. You don’t need power alone, Krishna. You need clarity.”Her fingers brushed the first mark — The Hollow Heart.“And what happens after I complete them?”Ignatius stared at the rising sun through the trees.“Then… you’ll be unstoppable.”Days Passed. Then Weeks.Each day Krishna awoke before dawn, her breath steaming in the cold, her limbs aching from the day before.She fought phantoms — con

Ignatius remained behind her, arms folded, cloak sweeping across the earth. He didn't say anything. He knew better than to break the battle inside her.Eventually, she barely breathed, "Do you recall the vow that we took in front of the Pillar of Flame?"He walked beside her. "I remember every single word."Her voice was whispery. "I pledged to guard our people. Even if that meant losing myself."You haven't lost yourself," Ignatius told her. "You've only just started to remember who you are."She smiled wryly. "Who I was died on the day Miyal chose her. Perfera. My husband didn't betray me, he eliminated me. In his mind, I became the bad guy. The threat. And she—" Her jaw snapped shut. "She used innocence like perfume, poisoning everything."Ignatius kept silence. The hurt in her voice had no need of echo."I can still see them," Krishna said, "in the garden. Her hands on his face. His lips on her skin. The way she looked back at me—triumphant. And he didn't flinch. Didn't explain. J

MeanwhileCrescent Citadel – War-Torn Capital of the Crescent Moon PackThe sky above the Crescent Citadel was a sickly orange.Smoke curled around shattered towers. The cries of the dying rose through the decaying streets, drowned between the howls of beasts and the ring of desperate steel.Miyal stood at the center of it all — his sword slippery with blood, his face smudged with soot and sadness. His formerly shiny armor was shattered, his left arm bleeding through bandages, and his eyes, the eyes of an Alpha, glazed from sleepless nights.At his back, the west barricade fell."Fall back!" he bellowed. "Establish a second line at the stone bridge! Keep them from breaching the inner sanctum!"His soldiers hastened behind him, terror in their hearts but loyalty aflame.Another wave stepped forward from the darkness — deformed bodies, no longer man nor beast. Towering, sightless monstrosities, covered with black tar, their bones jutting at distorted angles. The accursed — once family,