Chapter 41 What am I?
Sera’s POV
They didn’t give me time to ask more questions.
Maera led the way like she had a destination , and I followed because stopping felt worse. The path wound away from the main estate, past places I’d never been allowed near as a child.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” she said without looking back.
“That’s not an answer.”
She smiled. “You’ll get used to those.”
My father stopped at the edge of a clearing. “This is where I leave you.”
I turned to him, suddenly nervous. “You’re not coming in?”
“This part isn’t mine, it's yours,” he said gently.
Maera finally turned, lifting a brow. “Don’t worry. I’ll return her alive.”
“I heard that,” I muttered.
My mother squeezed my hand. “We’ll be close.”
I nodded and followed Maera through the narrow path.
“So,” I said after several minutes of silence, “you’re really my trainer.”
“Yes.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
She glanced over her shoulder, lips curving. “You’ll ask better ones once you stop pretending this is optional.”
I snorted. “Trust me, I stopped pretending the moment I found out I was a hybrid.”
She slowed then, turning to walk backward so she could look at me properly. “Good. Because what you are doesn’t get the luxury of ignorance.”
“That’s comforting,” I muttered.
She stopped in front of a tall stone structure half-hidden by vines and old trees. It looked ancient, older than the pack lands themselves, like it had been there before names mattered.
“This is where it begins,” Maera said.
I studied it warily. “What begins?”
“Your training and survival,” she replied.
She pressed her palm to the door. It responded instantly, stone shifting like it was alive, opening inward with a low grinding sound.
I stared. “That thing recognized you.”
“No,” she corrected. “It recognized you.”
That sent a shiver straight down my spine. I had a million questions to ask, but a part of me already knew the answer, for some weird reason.
Inside, the space was circular, wide enough to hold a dozen wolves comfortably. The floor was carved with symbols that made my head buzz if I stared too long. The walls were lined with shelves filled with objects I didn’t recognize. Crystals, vials, even old weapons that were drawn in ancient books.
“What is this place?” I asked.
“A testing chamber,” Maera said. “And a training hall. And occasionally, a battlefield.”
“That last part would have been nice to know earlier.”
She ignored that. “This is where we figure out what kind of hybrid you are.”
I folded my arms. “You are saying that like there are categories.”
“There are,” she said simply. “And they matter.”
I waited.
She sighed, clearly deciding how much to give me. “Some hybrids are born of compatible bloodlines. Their powers blend. Those ones are unstable but manageable.”
“And the others?”
She met my gaze. “The others shouldn’t exist.”
My throat tightened. “Which one am I?”
“That is what we are about to test,” she said.
She motioned me closer to a table at the center of the room. On it sat a strange apparatus, glass and metal intertwined, symbols etched along its surface.
“I don’t like that thing,” I said.
“It doesn’t matter child,” Maera replied. “Hold out your hand.”
I hesitated. “You’re sure my parents are okay with this?”
“They agreed the moment they realized what’s at stake.”
That didn’t reassure me at all, but I extended my hand anyway.
Maera took a small blade from her pocket.
“This won’t hurt much,” she said.
“That’s a lie people tell right before hurting someone.”
She smirked. “You’ll survive.”
The blade nicked my palm. Pain flared briefly, then warmth as blood welled up. Maera caught it in a thin vial, her movements precise, like she had done this many times before.
As soon as my blood touched the glass, the air shifted. Like something had latched onto my pulse.
“Maera,” I said slowly, “is it supposed to do that?”
She was already pouring the blood into the machine. “No.”
The thing flared instantly. Something bloomed across its surface, spinning through colors too fast to track. The symbols on the floor answered, glowing faintly, then brighter.
My heart started to race. “That doesn’t look normal.”
“It isn’t,” she said under her breath.
The silence deepened, vibrating through the soles of my feet, into my bones. I felt exposed, like every secret inside me was being dragged into the open.
“Maera,” I pressed, “talk to me.”
Her jaw tightened as she adjusted a dial. “It’s reading,”
I swallowed. “Is that bad?”
“Yes.”
“But hybrids have multiple—”
she cut in. “This isn’t blending.”
The object chimed sharply, then the lights flickered.
The symbols on the floor flared bright enough that I had to squint.
“Maera,” I gasped. “I don’t feel right.”
She grabbed my shoulders. “Focus on my voice. Breathe slowly child.”
The machine suddenly went silent then the glow slowly died.
Maera straightened slowly.
I searched her face. “Well?”
She didn’t answer at first. Her eyes were fixed on the readout, wide, stunned, like she was staring at something she’d never imagined seeing.
“Maera,” I said, fear creeping in now, “say something.”
“That’s…” She shook her head. “That’s not possible.”
My stomach dropped. “Stop saying that.”
She turned to me, and for the first time since I met her, she looked shaken.
“You’re not just a hybrid,” she said quietly.
My breath hitched. “Then what am I?”
She looked back at the object, then at me again, as if comparing the two.
“You carry incompatible lineages,” she said slowly. “Power that should cancel itself out.”
“I don't understand,” I whispered.
“It means you shouldn't exist,”
“Maera, I've been told that for a while now. That's a vague answer,” I replied, folding my arms.
“No,no you don't understand. You're
far beyond what we ever imagined.” She said, with visible fear in her voice.
“What am I?” I sat up.
“You’re not just a hybrid,” Maera whispered.
“You’re a Convergence-Born.”