Strange Dreams

Strange Dreams
"One of you must die."
The shadow creature's words hung in the air like poison. Elias stared at his father's face, twisted by the darkness inside him.
"He's lying," Kael gasped, fighting against the black chains that held him. "Don't listen to him, Elias."
The shadow laughed. "Am I lying? Ask your dear Guardian. He knows the truth."
Elias looked at Kael, searching his odd eyes for answers. But before either could speak, a bright light filled the Temple. It poured from the stones around them, so bright that even the shadow thing shrank back.
"Now!" Seraphina yelled, appearing at the edge of the circle. She had used some kind of magic to make the light. "Complete the binding while it's weak!"
Elias ran to the platform in the center of the building. He grabbed Kael's hand, breaking the shadow's chains, and pulled him toward the carved handprints.
"Together," Elias said, putting his hand on the smaller print.
Kael paused for just a second before placing his hand on the larger one.
The world burst in light and sound. Elias felt himself falling, falling, falling...

Elias opened his eyes to find himself floating in a strange place. It wasn't quite water, it wasn't quite air. Everything around him glowed with soft blue light.
"Where am I?" he wondered aloud.
"You are between," a musical voice answered.
Elias turned to see a woman unlike any he had ever seen before. Her hair flowed around her like live water, changing colors from white to silver to blue. Her eyes changed colors too, never settling on one shade. Her skin glowed with its own light.
"Between what?" Elias asked.
"Between worlds. Between awake and asleep. Between what was and what will be." The woman smiled. "My name is Aelara."
The name rang in Elias's mind like a bell. "You're in the book," he realized. "The Nightshade Grimoire mentioned you."
Aelara nodded. "I have been waiting for you, Elias Nightshade. For a very long time."
"Me? Why me?"
"Because you are the Bridge," she said simply. "Just as Kael is the Guardian."
Elias looked around. "Where is Kael? Is he here too?"
"He dreams his own dream," Aelara said. "But your paths will cross again soon."
She waved her hand, and the blue light around them changed. Images formed in the air – wolves with glowing marks like Kael's, strong magic flowing from their hands, Alphas and Omegas working together.
"Once, long ago, there was balance," Aelara stated. "Alphas and Omegas were not different. They were one people with different skills. But fear and pride drove them apart."
The images changed, showing fighting, blood, wolves with red eyes facing wolves with blue eyes.
"The war nearly destroyed everything," Aelara continued. "Until two brothers – one Alpha, one Omega – joined their powers to end it."
Elias watched as two wolves stood back to back, their hands raised against a rising darkness.
"What happened to them?" he asked.
"They sacrificed themselves to seal away the darkness," Aelara said sadly. "The same darkness that now wears your father's skin."
"The shadow creature," Elias whispered.
Aelara nodded. "It feeds on hate and fear. It has been waiting, getting stronger as Alphas and Omegas grew further apart."
"But why did it want Darius? And Marcus? And my father?"
"It needs a body," Aelara stated. "And not just any body. It needs someone with power, with link to the bloodlines. It tried Darius first, but he wasn't strong enough. Marcus was stronger, but still not what it truly wanted."
"My father," Elias realized with fear.
"Half Alpha, half Omega – like his sons," Aelara confirmed. "A perfect vessel."
Elias's head was spinning. "Wait – does that mean my father and Kael's mother...?"
"Yes. They loved each other deeply, but the laws barred their union. Your father stayed with his pack and raised you and Seraphina. Kael's mother returned to her pack to raise him alone."
"But the shadow said one of us must die to complete the binding," Elias said, remembering the creature's terrible words. "Was that true?"
Aelara's eyes grew sad. "There is always a price for great power, Elias. The founding brothers gave their lives to seal the darkness. But perhaps... there is another way."
"What way?" Elias asked desperately.
"The prophecy speaks of it: 'When shadow and light unite in love's embrace, ancient chains shall shatter time and space.'"
"That's the same prophecy I heard in the forest," Elias said. "But what does it mean?"
Aelara touched his forehead softly. "You already know. Look deeper."
Suddenly, Elias saw himself and Kael standing in the Temple of Light. Their hands were joined, their marks shining together. A third eye opened on each of their foreheads – golden light shining from them.
"The third eye of truth," Aelara stated. "It can only be opened when two hearts beat as one."
"But Kael and I are brothers," Elias said, confused.
"Half-brothers," Aelara amended. "And more importantly, fated mates. Your souls were bound long before your bodies were born."
Elias felt his face grow hot. "Fated mates? But..."
"Love takes many forms," Aelara said softly. "The link between you is more than blood, more than pack. It spans all of that."
Before Elias could ask more questions, the blue light around them began to fade.
"Our time grows short," Aelara said urgently. "The shadow gets stronger with each passing moment. You must find Kael and finish the binding before the blood moon rises again."
"But how?" Elias asked. "We were already at the Temple when—"
"That was only the beginning," Aelara interrupted. "The true binding must be done willingly, with full knowledge of the cost."
"What cost?" Elias asked. "Please, tell me!"
Aelara's form was fading now, her voice getting fainter. "Find Kael... open the third eye... break the cycle..."
"Wait!" Elias called. "Don't go yet!"
But Aelara was gone, and the blue light with her. Darkness closed in around Elias. He felt himself falling again, down, down, down...

Elias woke with a start. He was lying on a bed of soft moss in a small cave. Seraphina sat close, watching him with worried eyes.
"You're awake," she said with relief. "You've been asleep for hours."
Elias sat up quickly, wincing at the pain in his head. "Where's Kael?"
Seraphina's face darkened. "Gone. The shadow creature took him."
"What?" Elias jumped to his feet. "How? When?"
"After you both touched the handprints in the Temple, there was an explosion of light," Seraphina explained. "You were knocked asleep. Kael was still awake, but weaker. The shadow—the thing wearing Father's body—grabbed him and disappeared before I could stop it."
Elias felt sick. "We have to find him!"
"How? We don't even know where to look."
But Elias did know. In his thoughts, he could see a mountain peak, higher than the rest, with a circle of black stones at its top – the opposite of the Temple of Light.
"The Temple of Shadow," he whispered.
"What?" Seraphina asked. "There's no such place."
"Yes, there is," Elias insisted. "I saw it in my dreams. And Kael is there – I can feel it through our bond mark." He looked down at his hand, where the mark still glowed dimly.
"Elias, it was just a dream," Seraphina said gently.
"No, it wasn't just a dream. I spoke with Aelara."
Seraphina froze. "Aelara? The goddess from the old stories?"
"She told me everything – about Father, about Kael, about the shadow monster. And she told me how to stop it."
"How?"
"We need to complete the true binding," Elias said. "But we have to hurry. The shadow creature wants to use Kael for something terrible."
"What?" Seraphina asked.
Elias's face was grim as he remembered the last picture from his dream – Kael lying on a black altar, the shadow creature standing over him with a knife made of darkness, ready to cut out his heart.
"It's going to sacrifice him at moonrise," Elias said. "To gain his power."
Seraphina grabbed her tools. "Then we'd better hurry."
As they ran from the cave, Elias felt the binding mark on his hand burn with sudden pain. In his mind, he heard Kael's voice, weak but clear: "Elias... help me... it knows..."
"Knows what?" Elias tried to ask through their link.
Kael's answer made his blood run cold: "It knows you're pregnant with my child."