Chapter 156 Hundred and fifty nine
Chapter 156 Hundred and fifty nine
“Ryder, get up,” Sienna whispered urgently, her breath warm against his ear as she pulled him to his feet. “We have to move. Now.”
“I can’t…” he muttered, but he tried anyway, forcing his legs to obey even as his body flickered like a dying flame. “Sienna, I’m not, ”
“You’re not fading here,” she said, gripping him tighter. “I won’t let this forest be the last thing you see.”
He gave a broken laugh against her shoulder. “That’s the problem. You keep trying to save me from the thing I already am.”
She refused to answer that. Because if she did, she’d start crying again, and she needed strength more than grief.
Leaves crackled under their feet as she dragged him through the darkness, her eyes darting toward every shifting shadow. Lunaris’ presence had vanished, but her words lingered like poison, and Sienna could feel the curse grinding inside Ryder, pulling at him, unraveling tiny threads of him every minute.
“Lean on me,” she said. “Put all your weight on my right side.”
“I already am,” he murmured, and despite everything, she felt the faintest smile in his voice.
The forest thinned just enough for moonlight to spill across a path. Sienna quickened her pace, clutching Ryder’s hand so tightly her fingers shook. “Keep your eyes open. Talk to me.”
He tried. “Where… are you taking me?”
“To the only place she won’t follow.”
He exhaled a shaky breath. “Sienna, Lunaris is everywhere, ”
“Not in the ruins,” she cut in. “Not since the temple fell. She hates that place. Her power doesn’t reach the stone anymore.”
Ryder frowned, but his steps dragged forward. “It’s dead land.”
“It’s safe,” she said, voice thinning with urgency. “And safe is enough right now.”
His legs buckled again. She caught him under the arms, pushing his weight upward as if he weighed nothing. But he wasn’t nothing. He was slipping, little pieces of him dulling, dimming, fading like stars pushed out at dawn.
“Ryder,” she whispered, brushing hair from his forehead, “don’t vanish on me.”
“I’m trying,” he breathed, “but everything feels… thin. Like the ground isn’t real. Like I’m walking through water.”
Another warning. Another inch closer to losing him.
“Stay with me,” she murmured.
They walked in silence for another strained minute before he spoke again. “Why are you doing this? You should be running from me, not dragging me with you.”
“Don’t say that.”
“You have to,” he insisted softly. “My presence is killing you. Lunaris marked you, ”
“And I chose it. Stop pretending I didn’t.”
He shut his mouth, jaw tightening with something between anger and sorrow.
Wind howled suddenly. The trees to their right bent backward, their leaves turning silver as if touched by divine frost. Sienna froze, pulling Ryder closer. “She’s still searching.”
Ryder lifted his head, eyes glowing faintly. “She’s not close. That was a warning, not a strike.”
“How do you know?”
He hesitated. “I can feel her. Not like before. This is different. She left a piece of her inside the mark.”
Sienna swallowed hard. “Then we need to move faster.”
It took everything in her to get him through the last stretch of forest. His weight grew heavier, not physically but spiritually, like his existence was slipping between her fingers and she had to keep gripping tighter to anchor him.
When the first glimpse of the Moon Temple ruins appeared through the trees, broken pillars, fractured arches, and shattered moonstone scattered across the ground, Sienna exhaled in relief.
“There,” she whispered. “We made it.”
Ryder looked up slowly. “I remember this place.”
“So do I,” Sienna murmured. “We were children when they brought us here. Before you ever knew who you were. Before destiny became a chain.”
His steps faltered again. She guided him past collapsed columns and cracked floors, their footsteps echoing softly against the hollow chambers. Moonlight filtered through gaps in the ruined ceiling in thin, sharp beams, dust drifting in the air like falling stars.
Ryder’s voice broke the silence. “Why here?”
“Because the stone remembers the goddess’ fall,” she said. “And anything that remembers her pain rejects her presence.”
“You’re sure?”
“Absolutely.”
Ryder leaned against a broken pillar, panting. The mark on his chest pulsed faintly, shadows crawling beneath his skin like ink stirred by an unseen hand. He wiped at his brow, hand trembling.
“She said I’ll fade with the full moon,” he whispered. “That’s not long.”
“We’ll find a way before then.”
“Sienna, ”
“No.” She pressed her fingers against his lips, silencing him. “You don’t get to give up. Not now. Not ever.”
He closed his eyes, leaning into her touch. “I’m not giving up. I’m just… trying to understand how I’m supposed to fight something I can’t even touch.”
“You’ve fought gods before.”
“And look how that turned out.”
She dropped her hand, but only to slide her fingers through his hair. “We’re not dead yet.”
“Not yet,” he echoed softly.
A distant rumble echoed through the ruins. Not divine. Mortal. Soldiers, pursuers loyal to Zane and Renna. Sienna stiffened immediately, eyes narrowing.
“They’re close,” she whispered.
Ryder’s expression hardened. “Let them come.”
“You can barely stand.”
“I can still kill.”
She grabbed his chin, forcing his eyes to meet hers. “Not until we understand what Lunaris did to you. Your powers aren’t stable. You could tear yourself apart.”
He swallowed, frustration twisting across his features. “I hate this. I hate not being able to protect you.”
“You protect me by staying alive.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think that’s true anymore. My existence is the danger. My presence is the threat.”
“And you think leaving me to face this alone is better?” she demanded, her voice rising for the first time. “You think losing you will make me stronger?”
He looked away. He couldn’t answer.
Sienna stepped closer, grabbing his jaw gently but firmly. “Look at me.”
He did.
“I’d burn down every kingdom before I let you fade.”
His breath hitched. “Sienna…”
She took his hand and pressed it against her marked wrist. “We’re bound now. If you fade, I fade too.”
He flinched as if she’d struck him. “Why would you do that to yourself?”
“Because loving you was never a mistake.”
Ryder closed his eyes again, shuddering. “I’m scared,” he whispered, voice raw. “I’m not afraid of dying. I’m afraid of disappearing. Of being erased from every memory, every shadow. If Lunaris takes me back… I won’t exist anymore.”
Sienna pressed her forehead to his. “Then I’ll hold on to you so tightly she won’t be able to take you.”
His hands slid around her waist weakly, his grip desperate. “I don’t have long.”
“I know,” she whispered. “But you’re still here.”
His voice cracked. “For now.”
They stayed like that, breath against breath, hearts pounding unevenly. The ruins felt alive around them, vibrating with an ancient pulse that hummed beneath the stone, the same pulse Sienna had felt the moment they stepped in.
Ryder noticed her shift. “What is it?”
“Do you feel that?” she murmured.
He frowned. “No. What, ”
“The ground,” she whispered, placing her palm against the cracked floor.
A low tremor answered her touch, rhythmic, steady, unmistakably alive.
Ryder stiffened. “Sienna… that’s not the earth.”
“No,” she whispered. “It’s a heartbeat.”
He stared at her, breath catching. “Whose?”
She didn’t know. She didn’t have an answer. The temple had been abandoned for centuries, drained of all divine presence. No goddess, no magic, no spirits should have remained here.
Yet,
The pulse grew stronger.
A deep thud.
Another.
And another.
Ryder stepped back, but his body flickered so violently he nearly fell. Sienna caught him again, pulling him close.
“What is happening?” he whispered.
“I think the temple is waking up.”
“Why?”
Her eyes darkened. “Because it feels what Lunaris did to us.”
A third tremor shook the ground, dust drifting from the cracked ceiling in soft waves. Ryder clung to her arm, jaw clenched as the shadow mark burned brighter.
“Sienna…” he whispered hoarsely. “Something’s coming.”
She tightened her hold, her voice steady despite the fear threading through it.
“I know. And whatever it is, it’s waking for us.”