Chapter 81 – Echoes of the Bond
Chapter 81 – Echoes of the Bond
John’s POV
The world feels wrong when I open my eyes.
The air tastes like ash, thick with the rot of burned wood and broken vows. I’m standing in what used to be a village , the place where I was once worshipped, feared, obeyed. Now it’s nothing but ghosts and silence.
The Goddess’s voice murmurs like silk against my ear.
> Do you remember this place, my choice?
I flinch, swallowing hard. “I remember everything,” I whisper. “You made sure of that.”
> Good. Memory breeds obedience.
Her laughter drips through my skull, a sound both tender and venomous. I press my palms to my head, trying to quiet her, but the bond inside me pulses a heartbeat that isn’t mine.
Scarlett.
She’s near.
The scent hits me first lavender and steel, the smell of her defiance. It slices through the ruin like light through smoke, awakening something deep inside that the darkness hasn’t managed to kill yet. For a moment, it’s almost peaceful, the kind of peace that hurts.
Then the Goddess’s whisper curdles.
> Bring her to me, John. Before dawn. Or I’ll burn what’s left of you.
I move. I don’t even realize my legs are carrying me until the charred gates of the village rise before me, their timbers twisted like bones. My steps echo through the hollow streets. Every sound feels alive, breathing with the memory of laughter that once filled these alleys my people’s laughter. My pack. My failures.
And somewhere between those ruins, she’s waiting.
A flicker of movement catches my eye near the collapsed church. Moonlight filters through what’s left of the roof, glinting off something pale, a figure crouched among the stones.
Scarlett.
Her back is turned, cloak tattered, hair wild from running. She’s holding something small in her hand: a charm, maybe, or a knife. My body goes rigid. The Goddess pushes against my spine, whispering for me to move, to finish this, but Kael’s voice surfaces like a dying ember:
> Don’t.
For the first time in days, that single word makes my muscles tremble.
> She isn’t your enemy.
I close my eyes, jaw tight, fighting the pull of two opposing forces: the Goddess’s command and Kael’s plea.
When I open them again, Scarlett is gone.
No. Not gone. Moved.
A rustle behind me is too light to be a threat, too sharp to be an accident. I spin just in time to see her emerging from the shadows, crossbow drawn, her expression carved in fury and heartbreak.
“Don’t move,” she warns.
Her voice. Goddess help me, I’d forgotten how alive it sounds.
“Scarlett,” I breathe, the name breaking in my throat.
“Stay where you are,” she snaps again, though her hands tremble around the weapon. “I mean it, John. Don’t come closer.”
The Goddess snarls inside me.
> She dares raise her weapon at you?
> Silence, Kael hisses from the depths of my mind. Let me speak to her.
But I can’t tell which of them is truly in control anymore or if either of them is me.
I take a step forward.
She flinches, the arrow tightening against its string.
“Scarlett… I need you to listen.”
Her eyes flash with pain. “Why should I? You burned the river. You enslaved the packs. You nearly killed me.”
“I didn’t mean to.” The words sound weak, pathetic even to my own ears. “It wasn’t me.”
“Then who was it?” she spits. “The man you became? Or the Goddess whispering in your ear?”
Her voice shakes, but her stance doesn’t falter. She’s terrified and she’s still here. That alone tears at me more than any blade could.
> She will not listen, the Goddess hisses. Kill her before she kills you.
Kael’s voice cuts through the chaos like lightning.
> John remembered her smile. Remember who she is.
The memory slams into me Scarlett laughing in the snow, sunlight catching her hair, that small tilt of her head when she tried to hide a blush. The world blurs for a heartbeat, and the darkness inside me recoils.
I lower my hands slowly, palms open. “Scarlett… please. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Something flickers across her face of doubt, sorrow, something close to hope. “Then why are you here?”
“I don’t know anymore.” My throat tightens. “I think I came to warn you.”
“Warn me?” she whispers.
“The Goddess wants you.” The words leave me like poison. “She says you’re her vessel. That she’ll burn everything until you’re hers.”
Scarlett’s lips part in disbelief. “Her vessel?”
“She lied to both of us,” I say quietly. “You were never supposed to be my enemy, Scarlett. You were the answer she feared.”
For a moment, the tension cracks. Her crossbow lowers slightly, and the air between us feels fragile like one wrong breath could shatter it.
That’s when the ground trembles.
The air thickens with black mist, rising from the ashes of the village. I stagger backward as the Goddess’s power floods through me, wrenching control from my limbs. My vision darkens. My fingers curl into claws I don’t command.
> Enough.
Her voice is thunder. My body moves without my consent. I lunge toward Scarlett.
She screams my name, diving aside as my claws slash the air where she stood. The bond between us burns white-hot, searing my chest with pain. I fight to stop to regain control but she’s too fast, dodging through the rubble, firing an arrow that grazes my shoulder.
I feel it pierce flesh, but I don’t stop. The Goddess drives me forward, each movement heavy with unnatural strength.
> You will obey.
“Scarlett!” I roar, half in warning, half in despair. “Run!”
She doesn’t. She fights. She grabs a shattered spear from the ground, spins, and slams it across my face. Pain explodes, real and grounding. For a second, I see her truly see the fear in her eyes, the defiance, the heartbreak.
And something inside me cracks.
Kael’s voice floods in like light through shattered glass.
> Now, John! Fight her hold!
I drop to my knees, clutching my head. The darkness writhes, screaming, as Kael’s presence surges. I can feel him burning through my veins, pulling me back from the edge. The Goddess shrieks, her form flickering in the mist around us.
Scarlett hesitates, torn between fleeing and staying.
She steps closer, voice shaking. “John, look at me. Please, look at me.”
I force my head up. Her face swims in my blurred vision mud-streaked, bloodied, radiant.
“Remember,” she whispers, “the night we promised the moon we’d never let it change us.”
The words hit something sacred inside me. The memory raises her laughter under the silver light, our fingers intertwined.
And just like that, the Goddess’s grip falters.
Kael shouts inside my head, “Now!”
I seize control, clawing my way to the surface of my mind. Every muscle screams as I push the darkness back, inch by inch. The mist howls, the village shakes, but I don’t stop until I feel her power rip from my chest in a violent surge.
Then silence.
When I open my eyes, I’m on the ground. Scarlett kneels beside me, crossbow discarded, her trembling hands pressed against my wound.
“John,” she breathes, tears streaking her face. “Don’t you dare die on me.”
I cough weakly, tasting blood. “You always gave impossible orders.”
She lets out a broken laugh. “You idiot.”
I want to tell her everything to apologize, to thank her but the bond flares again, this time colder. The air shivers, and I realize with horror that the darkness hasn’t vanished. It’s simply shifted.
Behind her, the mist gathers. A shape forms a silhouette with my face, but eyes of molten silver.
Kael’s voice whispers in dread,
> She’s getting a new body.
I try to speak, to warn Scarlett, but it’s too late.
The shadow lunges.
Scarlett is thrown backward as the shadow collides with me, fusing into my chest. The pain is indescribable not just physically, but spiritual, as if my very soul is being rewritten. The Goddess laughs, her voice now echoing from inside me and the darkness both.
> You can’t destroy what was born from the moon itself.
Scarlett screams my name, reaching for me but her touch is the last thing I feel before everything goes white.
When the light fades, she’s gone. The ruins are silent again. And I’m standing alone in the ashes.
My reflection in the cracked glass nearby shows eyes that aren’t mine one blue, one silver.
The Goddess’s whisper curls through me like smoke.
> Now, my choice, the hunt truly begins.