Chapter 73: The Voices Within

Chapter 73: The Voices Within

The morning sky bled pale gray over the ravaged horizon when I woke again. Dew clung to my lashes, cold and heavy, and the forest around me hummed with an uneasy stillness. It took me a moment to remember where I was or even who I was.

My palms were streaked with soil. My fingers trembled. I’d been clawing at the earth in my sleep again.

The whisper came first soft, coaxing, almost tender.
Scarlett... breathe.

John’s voice. I could have sworn it was his. Deep, familiar, threaded with that same rough command that used to make my pulse skip.

But before I could respond, another voice cut through him. Lower, smoother Kael.
Don’t listen to him. He’s feeding off your weakness.

I gasped, sitting up so abruptly that pain shot through my spine. “Enough!” I shouted into the emptiness, the sound echoing back like a curse.

The forest didn’t answer. Only the wind stirred the leaves, whispering secrets between the branches.

It had been days since the battle of the beacon or weeks, maybe. Time was a blur. Every time I tried to count the hours, I lost track of my thoughts, like sand slipping through my fingers. And every time I closed my eyes, I felt John's fire inside me, Kael’s shadow pulling me in opposite directions until I thought I’d tear apart.

My reflection in the shallow stream beside me didn’t even look human anymore. The veins beneath my skin shimmered faintly, not blue or red but a strange silvery gold. My irises carried traces of both their colors, John's stormy blue bleeding into Kael’s molten amber. I was becoming something else, something that didn’t belong to any pack or prophecy.

And yet… I could still feel their hearts beating somewhere far away, each pulse a tether that tugged at my soul.

I rose shakily to my feet, brushing dirt from my tattered clothes. The air smelled faintly of smoke. Somewhere in the distance, the packs were burning again. Chaos hadn’t ended with the beacon it had only begun.

As I started walking, the voices returned.

You shouldn’t have run, John’s tone dripped with warning. You were meant to rule beside me. The world was ours, Scarlett.

Kael’s reply came sharp, like steel scraping stone. Rule? You mean destroy. You broke her once you’ll do it again if she lets you in.

“Stop it!” I hissed, clutching my head. The two presences collided inside me, a clash of flame and shadow that made my vision flash white. “You’re both dead, stop haunting me!”

But deep down, I knew that wasn’t true. Neither of them was entirely gone. Their souls had been caught in that blinding surge when the beacon burst drawn into me, bound through the bond that none of us could ever fully break.

I was their Luna, their link, their curse.

And now, they live inside me.

By nightfall, I reached the edge of a ruined settlement. The scent of ash and blood made me gag, but I pushed forward, stepping over broken beams and charred stone. There were no bodies, only remnants of a life that had once thrived under the Moon’s light.

A child’s toy lay half-buried in the dirt, a carved wooden wolf with one ear missing. I picked it up, brushing it clean with trembling fingers. The moment my skin touched it, a flicker of memory not my own flashed before my eyes John laughing, a rare, unguarded sound as he lifted a young pup into the air.

Then another image followed Kael, standing at the edge of the same village, watching it burn.

I dropped the toy, gasping. “No… no, that’s not me…”

The voices blurred again. They weren’t just memories anymore. They were bleeding into my mind, fusing with my own thoughts until I couldn’t tell where I ended and they began.

Scarlett, Kael murmured. You can end this. Find the Seer. She knows how to separate us.

He’s lying, John countered instantly. The Seer serves the Goddess. She’ll use you like a vessel. You’re not meant to be saved, you're meant to ascend.

I sank to my knees, pressing my hands over my ears as if I could drown them out. “I don’t want to be anyone’s vessel!”

The ground trembled faintly beneath me. The Moon half-shattered and ghostly above seemed to flicker in response, its pale glow dimming for a heartbeat. I realized, with a hollow dread, that even the skies were starting to respond to my emotions.

My power wasn’t dormant anymore, it was alive.

And if I lost control, the world would burn for it.

Later that night, I found refuge inside the hollow shell of an old chapel. The cracked walls were overgrown with vines, and the scent of rain lingered in the air. I sank into a corner, clutching a tattered cloak around me, and tried to breathe past the weight in my chest.

For a few minutes, silence. Blessed silence.

Then a whisper gentle this time, almost human.
Scarlett…

I froze. The voice wasn’t John’s or Kael’s. It was softer, melodic, filled with a strange warmth that made my heart ache.

“Who’s there?” I whispered.

A faint light bloomed at the center of the chapel, swirling like mist before taking the shape of a silhouette of a woman cloaked in silver light. Her eyes glowed like twin moons.

“Daughter of blood and shadow,” she said, her voice echoing like a thousand songs. “The balance breaks, and the world calls your name.”

My heart stuttered. “The Moon Goddess…”

She smiled faintly. “Or what remains of her.” Her gaze drifted over me, sorrow touching her perfect face. “You carry too many souls, Scarlett Hilary. Too much love, too much hate. It will consume you unless you choose.”

“Choose?” I repeated, my throat tight. “Between what?”

She stepped closer, her light flickering against the walls. “Between them,” she whispered. “Between what you were and what you’re becoming. You cannot keep both inside you. One will destroy the other and the world with it.”

I shook my head. “No… I can't. They're both part of me!”

Her eyes softened. “Then you will die with them. And when you fall, the Moon will shatter completely.”

Before I could respond, the light around her began to fade. I reached out desperately, but she was already dissolving into mist. Her final words echoed faintly:

The Seer of Ashvale waits beneath the crimson river. Find her… before it’s too late.

Then she was gone.

I sat there in the darkness long after her light vanished, trembling. My mind spun with the weight of her warning. I’d thought I could save them both, bring balance, and end the chaos. But what if balance demanded a sacrifice?

If I let one of them go… which one would it be?

Kael’s voice brushed against my thoughts again, quieter now. Don’t listen to her. You don’t need to choose.

Then John’s low, commanding, but broken at the edges. He’ll never love you like I did. He’ll use you to keep his curse alive.

Tears slipped down my cheeks. “And what about you?” I whispered. “You loved me, but you destroyed me.”

No answer. Only silence, heavy and infinite.

As dawn broke, I rose again, the decision burning in my chest like a secret flame. I would find the Seer of Ashvale. I would find the crimson river.

And maybe just maybe I would finally learn whether love could survive the gods’ cruel game.

But as I stepped outside the ruined chapel, I froze.

A shadow moved between the trees ahead tall, broad-shouldered, and achingly familiar.

For one impossible heartbeat, I thought I was dreaming.

Then he turned his head, and those eyes half fire, half frost met mine.

“Scarlett,” John said softly, his voice no longer human. “You’ve been running long enough.”