Chapter 14 The Encounter
Chapter 14
Mila's POV
“Wake up!”
The voice came soft at first, like a song carried by the wind. Then louder.
“Mila, my daughter. Wake up!”
I opened my eyes slowly, but everything around me was spinning , the trees, the air, even the ground. The forest hummed like a thousand bees circling me. The sound grew closer, wrapping around me like a cloak.
My heart thumped fast. I looked down , the mysterious pup that had held my womb earlier was gone. My stomach… sealed. The blood that had been flowing out had vanished, dried up as if it had never been there.
“What is happening?” I whispered, my voice trembling.
The wind slapped the trees, making the leaves hiss. I turned my head left and right, but there was no one. Only shadows dancing between the trees.
Then… silence. A silence so heavy I could hear my own heartbeat echoing in my ears.
A moment of calm washed over me. For a breath, I thought it was over. But then…
“Don’t panic,” the voice came again, gentle but powerful, floating through the air like a soft light. “I am here for you. I am here with you, daughter of the great ones.”
I froze. “Who are you?” My voice cracked. “And where were you when this evil…”
“I am Asheteroth,” the voice interrupted. “Your moon goddess. The ruler of the Third Heavens, my daughter.”
I blinked, my mouth half open. “Daughter?” I let out a nervous laugh. “You must be joking.”
But the voice didn’t fade. Instead, it grew warmer, closer. “Your blood speaks from the ground, Mila. You have been betrayed by blood and by faith.”
My knees grew weak, and I fell to the ground. My palms sank into the wet earth. “Then why?” I shouted into the empty air. “Why do you let them kill me? Why do you allow so much pain, molestation, suffering? Why did David have to die?” My throat tightened. “He was my friend. Innocent. Why?”
The air changed. The wind grew calm again, and the goddess’s voice softened like a mother whispering to her child.
“Because only death can unlock what the living fear,” she said. “The blood of the innocent has awakened the gods. From this day forward, the Stormfang Pack will be judged.”
I felt the earth shift under my knees. “Judged?” I breathed.
“Even for the unborn child in your womb.”
My eyes widened. “I wasn’t pregnant!”
A deep, rolling laugh echoed through the sky, shaking the trees. “You were, my daughter. The moment you touched Jax, the moment your souls met, a spark was born. That spark was divine.”
My lips trembled. “That’s… impossible.” I pressed my hand against my stomach. It felt still, empty, but warm.
“Stormfang,” she continued, “has cut short seven bloodlines promised to Lucien, god of prosperity. Their greed took what was not theirs. Lucien’s wrath grows. His vengeance must come through you.”
The ground glowed faintly beneath me, spreading out like veins of light. “Through me?” I whispered. “Why me?”
“Because you were chosen before you were born,” the goddess replied, her voice deep and echoing. “You will go back, Mila.”
I gasped. “No! I’m not going back to that horrible pack! Never again!”
“You will,” Asheteroth said firmly. “But not empty. I will go with you. The seven pillars of heaven will lead you.”
Before I could speak again, everything shifted. The forest melted away like mist. My feet left the ground. I felt weightless, floating upward.
Suddenly, I was standing in a new realm, bright and blinding. Gold light shimmered everywhere. Before me stood a throne so tall it reached into the heavens. And on that throne… sat her.
She was massive, majestic, radiant. Her skin glowed like silver moonlight. Her eyes blazed like two suns. Her gown sparkled with stars, and on her head rested a crown that shimmered with galaxies.
I felt small, like a grain of sand before an ocean. My voice caught in my throat.
Below her throne sat seven very old men, their faces carved with wisdom and sorrow. Each one glowed with faint colors, blue, red, gold, green, violet, white, and black. They stared down at me in silence.
Then the goddess raised her hand. “Open your mouth,” she commanded.
I didn’t question. My lips parted slowly.
From her hand came a storm, a swarm of golden bees. They buzzed loudly, bright as fire, flying straight toward me. I wanted to scream, to run, but I couldn’t move. The bees rushed into my mouth, thousands of them.
They poured down my throat, hot and alive. I gagged and gasped, clutching my neck. “Stop!” I tried to cry, but no sound came out. My body shook. My veins burned as if liquid fire flowed through me.
Pain and power fused into one. My bones cracked, but it didn’t hurt. It felt… like I was becoming something else. My heart beat so loud it echoed like thunder.
I fell to the ground, panting. My vision blurred. The goddess’s voice thundered again, shaking the realm itself.
“Rise, Mila of the Broken Bloodline!”
The seven elders struck their staff on the ground, one after another, each blow echoing like lightning.
“Rise, Mila of the Lost!”
Another wave of power slammed into me. My skin glowed. My veins shone like molten gold.
“Rise, Mila of the Awakened Moon!”
Her words filled the air like drums of war. I screamed, not in pain, but in power. My hair lifted, glowing white like moonfire. My body rose from the floor. I could feel my heartbeat spreading through the air like ripples in water.
Then silence.
The goddess spoke one last time, her voice shaking the skies and the earth.
“The dead will forever remember your name.”
And just like that, everything vanished.
The light. The throne. The goddess. The power.
Darkness folded over me again.
But this time… I was not the same Mila who had died.
I was something else.
Something the world had never seen.