All Chapters of The Luna's Second Fate: Chapter 11 - Chapter 18

The curse on Zane lasted exactly seventy-two hours, but each one felt like an eternity.He lay in our chambers, his body trapped between forms, healing and tearing itself apart in an endless cycle. I barely left his side, my hands moving constantly, trying to ease the pain, trying to find some angle where my healing could touch the curse.It never worked.Elder Morgana brought books, researched, consulted with other magical experts through her communication stones. There was nothing. No magic in our world could break a Primordial binding curse."Unless you go to them," she said quietly on the second day. "If you surrendered the children to them as payment, they might lift the curse.""I'm not surrendering my children.""I know. But you should know what your options are."By the third evening, as the curse began to lift on its own timeline, I was running on no sleep and pure desperation.Aurora and Atlas had stopped asking why their father was suffering. They'd simply joined me, placin

The eastern pass was chaos.The Primordials had forced their way through the protective wards, shredding them like paper. They moved with terrifying coordination, their dark forms flickering between solidity and shadow.But they weren't the worst part.The worst part was seeing the pack members they'd possessed, watching them fight against the creatures wearing their own bodies."Brace your positions!" Zane roared, his Alpha command carrying across the battlefield. He'd begun transforming into his massive wolf form, but I stopped him."No," I said. "Stay human. I need your strategic mind."He nodded immediately, understanding. We'd trained for this—each of us using our strengths while the other covered our weaknesses.I raised my hands, and power flowed from me. Not just golden healing light, but something else. Threads of pure moonlight that wove through the Primordials like silver bindings.The creatures shrieked as the magic touched them. It didn't hurt, exactly, but it contained t

Over the next week, I didn't tell anyone about the accelerated aging, but they figured it out anyway.Zane first, he noticed when I sighed as if exhausted from power that should have been simple to maintain. Then Aurora and Atlas, whose perceptiveness was unsettling."Why does Mama smell older?" Atlas asked.I didn't lie. I learned that from dealing with Primordials, lies only complicated things."Because I used magic from the Primordial Prison, and it cost me time.""How much time?" Aurora demanded."I don't know exactly. But less than I'd like.""Then we need to beat them fast," Atlas said matter-of-factly. "Before you run out of time."If only it were that simple.The attacks continued, but they had changed in nature. Instead of probing assaults, the Primordials were now being openly aggressive. Large forces, coordinated attacks, clear intent to break through our defenses permanently.And they were winning.By the end of the second week, we'd lost three outer settlements. By the en

The Primordials' forms shifted and twisted around me, circling like predators. I could see every face now, every person I'd ever known who'd died, being worn like masks by these ancient entities."You walked right into it," one of them said, using Marcus's voice. "We've been planning this since the day you healed me from the silver poisoning. We've been patient. We've been careful. And it's all paid off.""The children," I gasped. "Even if you take me, the children will fight you. They'll find another way""The children will join us," a new voice said, and I turned to see myself. A perfect duplicate, but with eyes filled with ancient darkness. "We don't need them to fight. We need them to surrender. And they will, because they'll know you failed. Because they'll understand that resistance is futile.""That's not true""Isn't it? You're going to scream, little Moon Healer. You're going to beg for mercy. And when they feel that through the bond you share, they'll despair. And despair is