Chapter 30: Lost in Power

Aria's POV

The man with kind eyes was moving toward me.

I didn't know who he was, but something about him felt dangerous. Wrong. Like a threat that needed to be removed.

Silver light gathered in my palms without me even thinking about it. Pure destruction, ready to erase this stranger from existence.

"Aria, it's me," the man said softly. "It's Papa."

Papa? The word meant nothing to me. Just sounds in the air.

"Stay back," I warned him, my voice echoing with power that made the ground shake. "I don't know what you want, but you won't get it."

The man's face crumpled like I'd hit him. "Sweetheart, please. You know me. I'm your father. I raised you. I read you bedtime stories and taught you to ride a bike."

Images flashed through my mind. A little girl with dark hair laughing on a swing. Someone pushing her higher and higher while she squealed with joy. But the images felt distant, like watching someone else's movie.

"I don't have a father," I said coldly. "I don't have anyone."

That was wrong, though. Deep inside, a tiny voice whispered that I was missing something important. Someone important.

But the voice was so small compared to the roaring power in my head.

The man took another step closer. Big mistake.

"I said stay back!" I screamed.

Silver light shot from my hands like a spear. The man dove sideways, barely avoiding getting burned to ash. The blast hit a huge pine tree behind him, turning it to dust in seconds.

More people were shouting now. Running around like scared rabbits. Good. They should be scared.

I was dangerous. I could feel it in every cell of my body. All this magic, all this strength - it was mine now. I could do anything. Destroy anything.

"Someone stop her!" a voice yelled.

Stop me? I almost laughed. Nobody could stop me. I was beyond their reach now. Beyond everything.

Another stranger appeared in front of me. This one was different - bigger, stronger, with silver in his hair. He held his hands up like he wanted to surrender, but his eyes were calculating.

"You killed my pack," he said quietly.

Had I? I couldn't remember. The memories in my head were all mixed up, like puzzle pieces from different boxes.

"Maybe I did," I replied. "Maybe you deserved it."

"Maybe we both deserve what's coming," the man said. "But those people behind you don't."

I turned to look. More strangers huddled together in the snow. Some were crying. Others looked ready to run. All of them stared at me like I was a monster.

Maybe I was a monster now. The thought didn't bother me as much as it should have.

"They're not important," I said, turning back to the silver-haired man.

"They are to you," he insisted. "Or they used to be. Before the power took over your mind."

"My mind is fine," I snapped. "Better than fine. I can see everything clearly now. You're all just weak little creatures scurrying around like bugs."

"Including him?" the man pointed behind me.

I spun around and saw someone lying in the snow. A young man with dark hair and pale skin. He wasn't moving much, just breathing slowly like he was very tired.

Something about him made my chest hurt. Not physically, but deeper than that. Like an ache in my soul.

"Who is he?" I demanded.

"You tell me," the silver-haired man said. "Look at him with your heart, not your power."

I stared at the still figure. His face was peaceful, almost like he was sleeping. But there were tear tracks on his cheeks, and his lips were moving slightly.

Without thinking, I knelt beside him. Up close, I could hear what he was whispering.

"Come back to me, Aria. Please come back."

Aria. That name again. Why did everyone keep saying it?

"Come back to me," the man repeated. "I need you. I love you."

The words hit me like a physical blow. Love. Such a strange concept when you had unlimited power. What was love compared to being able to reshape reality itself?

But looking at this man's face, I felt something crack inside my chest. A tiny fissure in the wall of cold power surrounding my heart.

"Who are you?" I whispered.

His eyes opened slowly. Golden eyes, like sunlight through honey.

"I'm Kael," he said weakly. "And you're the woman who saved my life. Twice now."

More images floashed through my mind. Running through snow. Fighting side by side. Gentle hands tending wounds. A kiss that tasted like promises.

"I don't remember," I said, but my voice was shaking now.

"You gave up everything to save me," Kael continued. "Your power, your safety, your... your humanity. All for me."

"Why would I do that?"

Kael smiled, and for a second the golden light in his eyes reminded me of warmth. Of home. Of something I'd lost.

"Because that's who you are," he said simply. "You save people. Even when it costs you everything."

The crack in my chest spread wider. Through it, I caught glimpses of who I used to be. A girl who felt guilty about killing spiders. Someone who cried over sad movies. A person who would rather hurt herself than hurt someone else.

"But I almost killed that man," I said, looking back at the stranger with kind eyes. "I wanted to kill him."

"The power wants to kill him," Kael corrected. "You don't. The real you would die before hurting your own father."

Father. The word clicked into place like a key in a lock. Memories flooded back so fast they made me dizzy.

Papa reading me stories. Teaching me to be brave. Giving me his own magic to save Kael. Looking at me with such love and pride.

"Papa," I gasped, spinning toward the man I'd almost murdered.

But before I could take a step, something grabbed my ankle.

I looked down to see a hand made of shadow reaching up from the ground. More shadow-hands erupted from the snow around me, grabbing my wrists, my waist, my throat.

"Did you think it would be that easy?" a familiar voice laughed.

The creature I'd destroyed was reforming, pulling itself together from wisps of darkness scattered across the battlefield. Not dead after all. Just... scattered.

"I am eternal," it hissed as its face took shape. "You cannot kill me. You can only delay me."

"But I destroyed you!" I shouted, struggling against the shadow-hands.

"You destroyed my borrowed body," the creature corrected. "But I am more than flesh and bone. I am pure hunger. Pure need. And now, thanks to you, I know exactly how to control all that lovely power you've absorbed."

The shadow-hands began draining my magic, but not in a way that weakened me. Instead, they were redirecting it, shaping it, turning my own strength against everyone I cared about.

"No!" I screamed as silver light began building around me again. But this time, I couldn't control where it went.

The light shot toward Papa. Toward the wolves. Toward Kael.

I tried to stop it, but the shadow-hands held me tight. All I could do was watch as my own power prepared to destroy everyone I loved.

That's when she appeared.

A woman stepped out of thin air right between me and my family. She wore simple clothes and had gray streaks in her brown hair, but power radiated from her like heat from a fire.

"Luna?" someone gasped.

The woman - Luna - raised both hands and caught my runaway magic like it was a baseball. The silver light wrapped around her arms but didn't hurt her.

"Fascinating," she said calmly. "You've absorbed enough power to level a small city."

"Help me," I begged. "I can't control it."

Luna studied my face with sharp green eyes. "The power is consuming you from the inside out. Every second you hold onto it, you lose more of who you really are."

"Then take it away!"

"I can't," Luna said sadly. "You're the only one strong enough to contain it. But if you don't learn control soon..." She looked around at everyone gathered in the snow. "You'll destroy everyone in a hundred-mile radius."

The shadow-hands tightened their grip, and I felt the creature's laughter echoing in my mind.

"Tell them, witch," the creature whispered. "Tell them how long she has."

Luna's face went pale. "Hours. Maybe less."