Chapter 56 The collapse of time
"Absolutely not!"
Conrad's voice, full of anger and authority, echoes through the library.
"Conrad..." I'm interrupted once more.
"Your name is still written on that floor!" His eyes are golden; my two companions spoke together. "And you want to go in that direction?"
"I don't want to go," I reply firmly, even feeling the weight of Conrad's gaze on me. "But they want me to go. And you know it."
The silence that follows is dense. The library seems smaller, the tall shelves closing in around us like silent witnesses to that impossible decision.
"They marked you, Maya," Kael says finally, his voice lower, cautious. "This isn't an invitation. It's a warning."
Conrad runs a hand through his hair, pacing back and forth like a caged wolf. "Warning or provocation?" He stops in front of me. “The erasers want to lure you in. They want to test how far you’ll go… or how far I’ll let you go.”
“It’s not about permission,” I say, lifting my chin. “It’s about responsibility.”
His golden eyes darken. “Responsibility doesn’t mean sacrifice.”
“Sometimes it does,” I whisper back.
The moon rises through the high library window, pouring its silvery light over the three of us. I feel the symbol beneath my skin pulsing again, stronger, more urgent. It wasn’t pain. It was direction.
“If I don’t go,” I continue, “they’ll choose another. And then another. Until there’s no one left.”
Conrad clenches his fists. I can feel the fury, the fear, and something even more dangerous mixed in his bond with me.
“Then don’t go alone,” he says finally. “If you cross that chasm, Maya… I’ll cross with you.”
The air seemed to shift after Conrad’s words. Kael was the first to react. “This changes everything,” he said seriously. “If an Alpha King crosses the rift, it won’t be seen as a rescue. It will be seen as a declaration.”
“Then let them see,” Conrad replied without hesitation. “We’re already at war, even if some still insist on closing their eyes.”
I feel the bond tighten, warm, alive. “The rift isn’t ordinary territory,” I say carefully. “It reacts to essence. To fears. To secrets.”
“And to the erasers,” Kael added. “They didn’t choose just anyone that night. They chose someone who maintained balance. A sage.”
The name doesn’t need to be said. It weighs between us like a shadow.
“They’re weakening the structure,” I murmured. “First the council. Then the packs. Finally… Luna.”
Conrad approached and held my face firmly, but carefully. “They won’t have you,” he said in a low voice. “Neither its light. Nor its life.”
A distant thunderclap echoes beyond the castle walls, even under a clear sky.
Kael turns to the central table in the library, where ancient maps still rest. “Then we need to act before the next Full Moon,” he states. “Because when it rises fully in the sky…”
I feel the symbol burn for the first time.
“…The rift will open again.”
The silence that followed was heavy, almost suffocating.
Conrad was the first to move. He released my face, but didn't move away. His body remained between me and the world, as if already preparing for a battle that hadn't yet begun. “Then there's no more time,” he said firmly. “If the rift opens on the Full Moon, we need to be ready before then.”
Kael ran a hand through his hair, thoughtful. “The leaders won't accept this easily,” he said. “After what happened at the council, many are afraid. Others are already looking for someone to blame.” “And that guilty party is me,” I replied, feeling the weight of the truth. “Or what I represent.”
Conrad growled softly, restrained. “No one will touch you.”
“They already are,” I said. “With rumors. With distrust. With silence.”
I walked to the library table and stared at the old maps. The markings around the Dead Moon Rift seemed darker than before, as if the parchment itself knew what was coming. “The erasers don’t just attack bodies,” I continued. “They corrode structures. Laws. Beliefs.”
Kael approaches. “Then we need to unite what remains.”
“No.” I say firmly, turning to them. “We need to choose who to trust.”
The symbol on my skin throbs again, hot, urgent.
And, deep in my chest, something whispers a terrifying certainty:
Their next choice… would not be made in silence.
“How do you destroy something that has always existed?” I ask myself alone, staring intently at the uncertain maps. “How do you destroy a place where everything has collapsed? There is no time, no space, no life. But still, there are creatures that move and promote judgment among the species. How will I be able to stop them?”
I had no idea why I had been chosen. What power could I have against these creatures?
The silence doesn't answer my questions. It only stretches, heavy, as if the library itself were waiting for something I didn't yet understand.
“You weren't chosen by chance.” Kael's voice comes from behind me. “The rift reacts to you. It always has.”
“That doesn’t mean I know how to destroy it,” I reply without taking my eyes off the maps. “It just means it recognizes me.”
Conrad approaches slowly. His presence is firm, warm, a stark contrast to the cold that spreads through my chest. “Maybe you don’t need to destroy it,” he says. “Maybe you need to shut it down.”
I turn to him. “Shut down something that existed before the packs?” I ask. “Before the pacts? Before the Moon?”
“Before us,” Kael finishes.
The symbol under my skin throbs again, stronger, taking my breath away for a second. I instinctively bring my hand to my arm. “They feed on collapse,” I say. “On fear. On the breaking of boundaries. If the rift is absolute chaos… then they are its harbingers.”
Conrad clenches his fists. “So what are you saying?”
I take a deep breath. “That maybe I wasn’t chosen to fight against them.” I look up, feeling the truth forming even before it’s spoken. “But to impose a limit where there never was one.”
Kael’s gaze narrows. “To create a boundary in the void?”
“Or pay the price for doing so.” I reply.
I still didn’t know. There were countless possibilities. But I knew that this was something outside of our reality. Something that cannot be consumed by time, could it be consumed by some magic?