The Light That Travels Time

The Light That Travels Time


Chapter Eighty-Three: The Light That Travels Time

The white light blazed beside Aldrich, so bright everyone threw their hands up to shield their eyes.

Then it moved.

Faster than thought…faster than sound. 

It shot across the cavern like a living thing, slashing through Baki's minions…the small rock creatures that had been creeping up behind them…and cut them clean in half. 

They didn't regenerate this time. They crumbled to dust like they were never alive at all.

Merrick's mouth hung open. "WHAT IN THE ACTUAL—"

The light circled back, weaving through the cavern like a blade made of pure starfire. 

Every creature it touched fell. Every shadow it pierced vanished. It moved like it knew exactly where to go, like something was guiding it.

Grants ducked as the light zipped past his head, taking out a creature that had been about to claw his face off. 

He spun around, eyes wide. "Where is this coming from?!"

Nobody answered…Nobody could.

The light shot toward Aldrich then. Not to harm him. To fuse.

It slammed into his sword…the one still carrying the echo of Aiden's fire…and the blade erupted. Golden and white flames intertwined, blazing so bright the whole cavern lit up like noon…like the sun had decided to show up underground.

Aldrich's hand gripped the hilt. His knuckles were white. His arm shook from the force of it.

But he could feel Aiden in it. Aiden's warmth. Aiden's love. Aiden's desperate, stubborn refusal to let them lose. 

It was like Aiden was right there beside him, whispering in his ear, telling him he wasn't alone.

Baki snarled, backing toward his golem. His cracked face twisted with something that looked like fear. "NO! That power is MINE! I STOLE IT! IT BELONGS TO ME!"

"Nothing about him belongs to you," Aldrich growled.

And he charged.

The fight was brutal. Baki threw everything he had…stone spikes, walls of magma, creatures born from the lava itself. 

The cavern shook…the heat was unbearable but Aldrich moved like he never had before. 

The light in his sword guided his strikes, showed him where to cut, when to dodge. 

It was like Aiden was seeing through his eyes, moving his arms, protecting him.

Grants and Prince flanked him, covering his sides. Merrick and Fiona took out the remaining minions, fighting like their lives depended on it. 

They worked as one. As a pack.

Aldrich drove his sword into Baki's chest. Right where the stolen light was stored.

Baki screamed. The light inside him tried to hold on, tried to cling to the power it had stolen. 

It pulsed and fought, desperate to stay but Aldrich's sword burned brighter. Pulled harder. Would not let go.

The cavern shook. Rocks fell from the ceiling. The golem behind them groaned, its one eye flickering like a candle in the wind.

And then…

Baki shattered.

Like glass hit with a hammer. Pieces of him scattered across the cavern floor, some still glowing with stolen light, most already dark and dead. His scream echoed for a moment, then died.

The light that had been inside him burst free, a cloud of silver-gold sparks floating in the air like fireflies. Beautiful. Fleeting.

Grants grabbed the containment crystal Elliot had given him. "Quick! Before it fades!"

They scrambled. Hands reaching, crystals glowing, trying to capture every spark they could. But the sparks were fading fast. 

Evaporating into the cavern air like morning mist under the sun.

When the last spark died, they looked at what they had collected.

A few…barely a handful and nearly enough.

Merrick's face fell. "Is this... is this all?"

Grants stared at the dimly glowing crystal in his hand. 

The light inside was weak, barely visible. "It's not enough. It's not nearly enough to get him back on his feet."

Aldrich didn't say anything. He just looked at the crystal, then at the cavern entrance. And started running.



Back at the mansion, the alarms had stopped.

The silence was worse.

Aiden floated in his glass cylinder, his eyes still open….Blazing white, like twin suns trapped in his skull. The golden liquid around him had calmed, but he hadn't. 

His body was rigid, his hands pressed flat against the glass, his gaze fixed on something none of them could see.

"He hasn't moved," Gabriella whispered. Her voice was hoarse from hours of crying, from screaming at the machines, from praying to gods she wasn't sure existed anymore. "He hasn't blinked. He just... stares."

Elliot ran another scan, his hands shaking so bad he nearly dropped the tablet. 

"His vitals are stable, but his brain activity is off the charts. It's like he's... somewhere else. Completely somewhere else."

River hadn't left the glass. His small hand was pressed against it, mirroring Aiden's position. 

His face was streaked with tears he kept wiping away with his sleeve. "Come back," he whispered. "Please come back."



Hours later, the front door burst open so hard it bounced off the wall.

Aldrich ran in, still covered in ash and blood, his sword still faintly glowing, the dimly glowing crystal clutched in his hand like it was the only thing keeping him alive. "AIDEN!"

He skidded to a stop at the doorway of the room.

And froze.

Aiden's eyes. The white light…his rigid body. The way he stared at nothing, like he was looking through the glass, through the walls, through time itself.

"No," Aldrich breathed. His voice cracked. "No, no, no…"

The rest of the team piled in behind him, panting and exhausted, but they all stopped when they saw Aiden. 

No one had seen this before. No one knew what to do.

Aldrich turned to the oldest among them…ancient wolves who had seen centuries, who had fought wars, who had watched kingdoms rise and fall. "WHAT IS THIS? WHAT'S HAPPENING TO HIM?"

One of them, a grizzled wolf with silver in his fur and a face carved by time, shook his head slowly. "I have never... I have never seen the Moon Child like this."

The Seer stepped forward, her ancient eyes fixed on Aiden's glowing ones. 

She moved slowly, like she was approaching something sacred and dangerous.

She was quiet for a long moment. So long Aldrich almost screamed at her to speak.

When she finally did, her voice was heavy. Like she was carrying a weight no one else could see.

"He is in a trance. A deep one. The deepest kind." 

She paused. "He went there to help you. To give you the light you needed to defeat Baki. His spirit left his body. And traveled."

Gabriella grabbed her arm. Her nails dug in. "Can he come back? CAN HE COME BACK?"

The Seer's face was grave. Her eyes didn't leave Aiden's glowing form. 

"In his state... so weak, so drained... it may be hard. Very hard. The thread that connects his spirit to his body is thin. Almost gone." 

She looked at Aldrich, and for the first time, there was pity in her ancient eyes. Real pity. "And the place he has gone... it is not close. It is not here. It is... before."

Before.

The word hung in the air like a death sentence.

Aldrich's legs gave out. He fell to his knees beside the glass cylinder, the crystal dropping from his hand and rolling across the floor with a sound that seemed too loud in the silent room.

He pressed his forehead against the cool glass. Right where Aiden's hand pressed from the inside. He could almost feel him. 

"Why," he choked out. His voice was raw, broken. "Why does it always have to be him? Why is he always the one saving us?" 

A sob tore from his chest. "I'm supposed to protect him. I'm supposed to…" He couldn't finish. The words wouldn't come.

Fiona put a hand on his shoulder. Her own eyes were wet, her tough exterior crumbling. 

"He loves you. He loves all of us. That's who he is, Aldrich. That's who he's always been."

Aldrich looked up at Aiden's glowing eyes, at the face he loved more than anything in this world or any other. "Come back to me," he whispered. 

His breath fogged the glass. "Please. I can't do this without you. Our baby can't do this without you. Just... come back."



Aiden opened his eyes.

He was lying on soft grass. Above him, a canopy of ancient trees stretched toward a sky that looked... wrong. 

Too blue, clear…no city smog or distant hum of traffic. Just birds…. wind and the sound of leaves rustling in a way he'd never heard before.

He sat up slowly. His body felt strange. Lighter. Stronger. The weakness that had been crushing him for days, the weight that made every breath a struggle, was gone. 

He looked down at his hands. They weren't pale anymore. The hollows in his cheeks? Gone. 

His stomach…he pressed his palm against it…the small swell that had been there was gone too. 

He was... empty. Hollow in a different way.

Panic flickered in his chest. Where was he? Where was his baby?

He stood, looking around. The forest was beautiful. Flowers he didn't recognize bloomed in patches of sunlight. 

The air smelled like earth and something else. Something wild and ancient. Something that made his wolf stir in a way it hadn't in weeks.

Then he heard it. Hoofbeats. Voices. Many of them.

He turned.

A group of riders emerged from the trees. They were dressed in leather and steel, swords at their hips, faces weathered and sharp. 

Men and women, all of them carrying the same cautious tension in their shoulders. The same suspicion in their eyes.

At their head was a man with dark hair and sharp, intelligent eyes. 

He wore finer armor than the others, a sword with a wolf-head pommel at his hip. 

He pulled his horse to a stop and drew his blade, pointing it at Aiden's chest.

"Your name," the man demanded. His accent was old, formal. 

The kind Aiden had only heard in old recordings, in stories passed down through generations. "Speak it now."

Aiden raised his hands slowly. "Aiden. My name is Aiden."

The man's eyebrows rose. "Aiden... what a strange name." 

He tilted his head, studying Aiden like he was a puzzle. "Aiden what? You do not look like anyone from these lands. Your scent..."

He sniffed the air. His wolf senses were obviously strong. Strong enough to catch what Aiden was.

"It is strange. Not human. Not quite wolf either. What are you?"

Aiden's mind raced. He couldn't tell this man the truth. Not the whole truth. 

"I'm a werewolf," he said carefully. "From a pack."

The man's sword didn't lower. His eyes narrowed. "A spy, then. Sent by the northern clans to infiltrate the King's lands."

"I'm not a spy," Aiden said, his voice firmer now. He straightened his back. "I don't even know where I am. I lost my memories." 

The lie came easier than it should have. "I woke up here. That's all I know."

The man exchanged a glance with one of his companions. "What year is this?" he repeated, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Yes," Aiden said. "What year is it?"

The man studied him for a long moment. His eyes were sharp, searching for deception. 

Finally, he spoke. "It is the year of our Lord, 1839."

Aiden's blood ran cold.

Almost two hundred years in the past. Before cars. Before phones. Before everything he knew. Everything he loved.

He was alone. In a time that wasn't his. Without Aldrich…without his baby…without anyone who knew his face.

The man lowered his sword, just slightly. His eyes drifted down to Aiden's stomach, then back up. 

"You were with child," he said. It wasn't a question.

Aiden's hand instinctively pressed against his flat stomach. "Yes. I... I was."

The man's expression shifted. Not softer, exactly, but curious, like Aiden had become more interesting. "You are far from any territory I know. Far from safety." 

He sheathed his sword slowly. "The woods are dangerous at night. There are things that hunt here. Things that would find a lone wolf... interesting." 

He extended a hand. "Come with us. We will take you to the estate. You can rest there. And perhaps your memories will return."

Aiden hesitated. Every instinct told him to run. But where would he go? He didn't know this place. Didn't know this time. He had nothing. No one.

He took the man's hand and climbed onto the horse.

As they rode, the man glanced back at him. "I am Regnok," he said. "Captain of the King's personal guard."

Aiden's breath caught in his throat.

Regnok.

The name was familiar. Why was it familiar?

He had heard it before. In old pack histories. In stories Aldrich had told him, late at night, when the past felt far away. 

Stories about a king who lost everything. A betrayal that destroyed a kingdom. A right hand who turned on his own blood.

Regnok. The trusted friend. The one who—

Aiden's heart pounded. He couldn't remember the rest. 

The memory was there, just out of reach, teasing him. But the name sat in his chest like a stone.

He looked up at the sky. At the wrong, clear, ancient sky.

Aldrich, he thought. I'm coming back. I just need to figure out how.

Aiden gripped the horse's mane, his white-glowing eyes finally dimming to their normal soft brown. He was here…In the past. In 1839.

Riding behind a man whose name he recognized. Whose name was tangled with Aldrich's history in ways he couldn't quite remember.

And somewhere in his chest, a thread pulled. Thin, but strong. Connecting him to something far away.

Hold on, my love, he whispered into the void. I'll find my way back to you.