Chapter 140 HIDDEN BLOOD TRUTH

Chapter 140 HIDDEN BLOOD TRUTH
AMBER’S POV
The dream always began with light. Not the kind that hurt the eyes, not the kind that came from the sun. This light felt alive. It moved like soft mist in the air, glowing in slow waves. I stood in a place that did not feel like earth. The ground beneath my bare feet was smooth and warm, like stone that had held heat for years, yet it was not stone. It shimmered when I stepped on it, as if it knew I was there.
The sky above me had no stars. It had no moon. It stretched wide and endless, deep and dark, but the darkness was not empty. It felt full, like it was watching me.
Then I saw the tree. It stood far ahead at first, but in dreams distance means nothing. One blink and I was closer and another blink and I stood right before it.
The tree was taller than any mountain I had ever seen. Its trunk was wide enough to swallow a house whole. Silver veins ran through its bark, glowing softly, pulsing like a heartbeat. The branches reached out like arms, and instead of leaves, light grew from them. Every leaf shone like thin glass lit from inside. When they moved, they made no sound, yet I could feel a hum in my chest. A deep, steady hum that matched the glow in the bark.
The air smelled sweet, not like flowers. Not like rain but something older, something clean.
I walked closer without meaning to. My body moved on its own, slow and careful. The closer I got, the stronger the hum became. It wrapped around me, warm and heavy. My chest tightened, but not from fear. From something else, something I did not have a name for.
At the base of the tree, the roots spread out wide like a throne made of twisted silver wood. The light there was brighter. It almost hurt, but I could not look away.
That was when I saw it beneath the tree, resting between the roots, laying a figure.
It was not human, not fully. Not a wolf either, its body looked made of light and mist woven together. Long limbs stretched out, calm and still. Hair like thin threads of white fire spilled over its shoulders. Its skin glowed faintly, the same silver as the tree veins. It looked as if it had been sleeping for a hundred years or longer.
Its chest rose and fell slowly. Each breath made the tree glow brighter for a second. The hum in the air grew deeper, stronger, like a song too low for ears but loud in the soul.
I wanted to step closer, I did not know why.
My heart beat fast. My hands trembled at my sides. I felt small in that place. Small and seen. Like the tree knew every thought I had ever hidden. Like the sleeping being knew my name.
The ground shifted under my feet, soft as sand. A faint whisper brushed my ears. I could not make out words. It was not a voice I knew. It felt like wind moving through bone.
“Come closer.”
I did not hear it, yet I understood it.
My feet moved again. One step, then another.
The light around the figure brightened as I approached. The air grew thick, almost hard to breathe. My chest burned, but I did not stop.
I reached out a hand just before my fingers touched the edge of its glowing hair, its eyes opened.
They were not like any eyes I had ever seen. They held no color I could name, they were deep and endless, like looking into water with no bottom. In them I saw stars, I saw fire. I saw something that made my knees weak.
The hum turned into a sharp ringing sound inside my head. The roots beneath the being began to move, slow and careful, like snakes waking from sleep. The tree’s light flared, so bright I had to shield my face and then everything shattered like glass. I woke up with a gasp.
My room was dark. My sheets were twisted around my legs, my skin was damp with sweat. My heart pounded so hard I thought it would break my ribs. It took me a few seconds to remember where I was. My room, my bed, the real world but the hum… I could still feel it in my chest.
I sat up slowly, pressing my palm over my heart. It would not slow down.
“It’s just a dream,” I whispered to myself.
But it did not feel like one, this was not the first time I had seen the tree.
Not the first time I had seen the sleeping figure. The dreams had started faint, blurred at the edges. Shapes I could barely remember in the morning. But now… now everything is sharp and clear and very real, every leaf and every breath.
I swung my legs off the bed and stood. My knees felt weak as the air in my room felt different, thicker. I lifted my hand slowly and focused. For days now, something inside me has been changing, growing.
At first it was small things. A candle lighting without a match, a cup shifted slightly on the table when I was angry. The air moved when there were no windows open.
I told myself it was stressful, fear. Anything but the truth but tonight, after that dream, the truth felt impossible to ignore. I held my breath and concentrated on the small lamp across the room.
The days that followed felt strange. Everything looked the same on the outside. The pack still moved through their routines. Wolves still trained in the yard and voices still filled the halls. Life did not stop but inside me, nothing felt normal. The dreams came every night now.
Each time, the path to the glowing tree was shorter. Each time, the air felt heavier, the hum louder. I noticed new things with every visit. Symbols carved into the bark that I had not seen before. Faint light flowing from the tree roots into the ground like veins spreading outward and the being beneath it. It no longer looked distant, it looked closer. Not in space but in feeling.
The last time I dreamed, I stood only a few steps away when its eyes opened. I did not reach out this time. I simply stood there, staring back.
There was no anger in its gaze, no kindness either, just knowing. When I woke up that morning, my pillow was damp from tears, I did not remember crying. During the day, my powers grew stronger.
I did not need to try as hard anymore. The air responded to me like it recognized my thoughts. Once, when I felt a rush of fear, every window in the hallway slammed shut at the same time. The sound echoed like thunder, the wolves stared at me.
I laughed it off but my hands were shaking.
I started practicing alone in the forest, far from watching eyes. I would stand among the trees and close my eyes, breathing in slowly. I imagined the glowing tree from my dreams and I imagined the hum.
The ground would tremble faintly beneath my feet, small plants would bend toward me.
Once, a thin crack split open in the dirt, silver light flashing from within before sealing shut again.
I stepped back in fear as the dream was no longer staying in my sleep. It was leaking into my world.
One afternoon, I pressed my palm against a tree trunk and focused. I felt something answer from deep below the soil. Not words and not thoughts, just presence.
When I reached the glowing tree, the sky was darker than before. The air felt heavy, almost sad. The being still lay beneath the roots, but its light flickered weaker.
I felt panic rise in my chest and without thinking, I rushed forward. The hum stuttered, uneven now.
The tree’s leaves dimmed one by one, like stars fading at dawn.
“No,” I whispered.
I did not know why I cared, I did not know what it was but I felt connected.
I dropped to my knees beside it. The roots did not move this time, they stayed still, as if waiting.
The being’s eyes opened slowly. Closer now, I could see faint cracks in its glowing skin. Lines of shadow spreading through the light.
Its gaze locked onto mine and this time, I heard a word. Not with my ears but with my mind.
“Awaken.”
The ground shook violently. The tree flared with blinding light. The sky above split open with a deep, echoing sound like thunder tearing through stone.
Pain shot through my chest. Real pain, sharp and burning.
I screamed… and woke up screaming.
I stumbled out of bed, breathing hard as the floor beneath my feet glowed faintly silver.
My heart pounded against my ribs so hard I thought it would break free and outside my door, I heard footsteps running, voices calling my name.
I looked down at my hands and they were glowing. Not bright but enough.
The same silver light from the tree ran along my veins, thin and alive.
The hum filled the room, louder than ever before. I was not just dreaming, I was being called and somewhere, beneath a tree that should not exist, something ancient was no longer sleeping.
The door handle began to turn and the
light beneath my skin flared.

WHISPERS BENEATH LIGHT