Chapter 41 Six Years Old
Six years passed in the living world.
For me, in the space between, it felt like centuries. Time moved differently here. A single day could contain years of learning, training, and preparing. The First Wolf was a patient but demanding teacher, and I absorbed everything she offered.
I learned to navigate the streams of time, watching events that had happened and events that might happen. I learned to manifest across the veil, appearing in dreams and visions to those I loved. I learned to fight beings made of pure entropy, wielding love as both shield and weapon.
And I watched young Sera grow.
Watched her learn to walk between worlds with increasing confidence. Watched her struggle with powers that terrified other children. Watched her face nightmares sent by the Void Lords with growing courage.
I could not interact with her directly yet. The veil was still too thick, her powers still too undeveloped. But I watched. Always watched. Ready for the moment she would be strong enough to find me.
That moment came on her sixth birthday.
It started normally enough. Marcus and Elena threw her a party in the garden. A small gathering of family and trusted pack members. Young Sera wore a blue dress that matched her storm grey eyes and smiled shyly as everyone sang to her.
But I could feel it through the veil. Today was different. Today, her powers had reached a threshold. Today, she was finally strong enough to cross over consciously.
The question was whether she remembered her promise. Whether she would try.
After the party, after the guests left, young Sera went to her room. She closed her eyes and reached out with her Shadow Queen senses, feeling for the space between worlds.
“Grandma?” she whispered into the darkness. “Are you there? I am six now. I practised as I promised. Can you hear me?”
In the space between, I stood at the veil, pressing my hand against the barrier. So close. She was so close.
“I can hear you, sweetheart,” I said, even though the words could not reach her yet. “Keep trying. Push through. Find me.”
Young Sera’s brow furrowed in concentration. Silver light began to pulse around her as she reached deeper, pulling at the threads of reality, searching for the path to the space between.
And then, suddenly, she found it.
The veil tore open just enough for a six-year-old consciousness to slip through. Not her body. Just her awareness. Just enough to perceive the space between.
“Grandma!” Her joy exploded through the ethereal realm like sunlight. “I found you! I did it!”
“You did it,” I agreed, pulling her consciousness closer. She appeared before me as a shimmer of light, her form not quite solid but definitely present. “I am so proud of you.”
“It is so pretty here,” she breathed, looking around at the silver space. “Everything glows. And there are so many people. Are they all dead?”
“Yes. These are your ancestors. Family who crossed over before you were born. They are all watching you. Protecting you.”
My mother stepped forward, her presence warm and welcoming. “Hello, little Sera. I am your great-grandmother. Your grandma’s mother.”
“You look like Grandma,” young Sera said with six-year-old bluntness. “But older.”
My mother laughed. “I suppose I do. It is wonderful to finally meet you properly. We have been watching you grow. You are very brave.”
“I have nightmares about dark things,” young Sera admitted. “They want to get inside me. They tell me they can make me powerful if I let them in.”
Through the veil, I felt the Void Lords stirring. They could sense young Sera’s presence in the space between. Could feel her consciousness exposed and vulnerable.
“Do not listen to them,” I said urgently, kneeling to her level. “Those dark things are called Void Lords. They are very dangerous. They want to use you as a doorway to escape their prison.”
“Why me?”
“Because you are special. You have Shadow Queen power. You can walk between worlds. That makes you valuable to them. But it also makes you powerful enough to refuse them.”
“How do I refuse? They are very loud sometimes. Very hard to ignore.”
“You remember who you are,” the First Wolf said, appearing beside us. Young Sera’s eyes went wide at the sight of the ancient being. “When they offer you power, you remember you already have power. When they offer you love, you remember you are already loved. When they offer you purpose, you remember you already have purpose. They can only control you if you forget these things.”
“Who are you?” young Sera asked. “You are really bright. Brighter than everyone else.”
“I am the First Wolf. The beginning of your bloodline. The source of your Shadow Queen abilities.” The ancient being smiled. “And I have been waiting a very long time to meet you, little one.”
“Are you going to train me? Like in the stories? Are you going to teach me to be a hero?”
“I am going to teach you to be yourself,” the First Wolf corrected gently. “Heroes are often people who sacrifice everything for others. But what you will need is not a heroic sacrifice. It is stubborn survival. The ability to say no. The courage to choose your own path even when everyone tells you you are wrong.”
Young Sera tilted her head, processing this. “So I do not have to be nice all the time? I do not have to do what everyone says?”
“You have to be kind,” I said. “But kind is different from nice. Kind means treating others with respect and compassion. Nice means always doing what others want, even when it hurts you. You can be kind without being nice. That distinction might save your life someday.”
“That is confusing.”
“I know. But you will understand better as you grow older.” I touched her shimmering face. “For now, just remember this: no matter what anyone says, no matter what anyone offers, you always have the right to say no. Your body is yours. Your power is yours. Your choices are yours. No one can take that away unless you let them.”
“Not even the dark things?”
“Especially not the dark things.”
Through the veil, I felt something shift. The Void Lords were moving closer, testing the boundaries, searching for a way to reach young Sera while she was vulnerable in the space between.
“You need to go back now,” I said urgently. “Your consciousness has been here too long. Your body will start to suffer if you stay much longer.”
“But I just got here! Can I come back tomorrow?”
“Not tomorrow. Visiting the space between takes energy. You need time to recover. Maybe once a month. Once every few weeks.” I held her close, or as close as I could with her only being a consciousness rather than a physical form. “But I will always be here waiting. Whenever you need me. Whenever you are scared or confused or just want to talk. I will be here.”
“Promise?”
“I promise. Forever and always.”
Young Sera hugged me back, her light merging with mine for just a moment. And through that contact, I felt everything. Her fears. Her hopes. Her loneliness at being different from other children. Her confused about her powers. Her desperate need for guidance.
“You are doing so well,” I whispered. “Better than I ever did at your age. Better than Selene did. You are going to be magnificent.”
“I am scared,” she admitted. “The dark things are getting louder. They know I found you. They are angry.”
“Let them be angry. You have something they can never have. You have love. You have family. You have people who will fight for you across death itself.” I pulled back to look at her seriously. “And little one? When you are sixteen, when they make their final push, when they offer you everything you ever wanted, remember this moment. Remember that I am here. That I will always be here. That you are never alone.”
“Why sixteen?”
“Because that is when you will be powerful enough to be useful to them. Strong enough to tear open their prison. Old enough to make binding choices.” I touched her face gently. “But also old enough to choose wisely. To refuse them. To save yourself and everyone else.”
“That is a long time away. Ten whole years.”
“I know. It seems like forever when you are six. But it will come faster than you think.” I looked at my mother, at the First Wolf, at all the ancestors gathered around us. “Until then, you live. You play. You learn. You are a child as much as you can. We will handle the worrying. We will handle the planning. You just focus on growing up strong and happy.”
“Okay,” young Sera agreed. Then, with the innocent selfishness of a six-year-old: “Can I have a present? Since it is my birthday and I did find you as I promised?”
I laughed, the sound echoing across the ethereal space. “What kind of present?”
“Can you come visit me? In my dreams? Sometimes I have good dreams but sometimes the dark things make them scary. Can you make them not scary?”
“I can try. I cannot stop the Void Lords from reaching you completely. But I can appear in your dreams. Protect you there. Turn your nightmares into something better.”
“That would be the best present ever.”
Through the veil, her body was beginning to show strain. She had been here too long for a first visit.
“Go now,” I said. “Before you hurt yourself. Close your eyes. Feel for your body. Let yourself be pulled back.”
“Will it hurt?”
“A little. Like stretching a muscle you have not used in a while. But you can handle it. You are brave.”
Young Sera closed her eyes and concentrated. The shimmering light that represented her consciousness began to fade, drawn back toward the living world.
“Bye, Grandma! See you in my dreams!”
“See you in your dreams,” I promised.
She vanished.
Through the veil, I watched her physical body gasp and open her eyes. She looked exhausted but triumphant. She had done it. Had crossed over and returned safely.
Selene burst into the room seconds later, having felt the massive surge of Shadow Queen power.
“What did you do?” she demanded. “Your presence just blazed across half the kingdom!”
“I visited Grandma,” young Sera said proudly. “In the space between. She is there. She can hear me. She promised to visit my dreams.”
Selene went very still. “You crossed over? By yourself? At six years old?”
“She promised. When I was three. She said I could visit when I was six and better at walking between.” Young Sera yawned hugely. “I am very tired now though. Can I nap?”
“Yes. Yes, you should definitely rest.” Selene helped her niece into bed, tucking her in carefully. “That was very advanced magic, little one. Very dangerous. You could have gotten lost. Could have been trapped between worlds.”
“But I did not. Grandma was there. She kept me safe.” Young Sera’s eyes were already closing. “She is always there. Watching. Protecting. She said so.”
Within minutes, she was asleep.
Selene stood over her, emotions warring on her face. Through our bond, which had never truly broken even in death, I felt her conflict. Pride that young Sera had succeeded. Terror at the danger. And something else.
Loneliness.
“I know you are there, Mother,” Selene whispered into the quiet room. “I can feel you through the veil. Can feel your presence even if I cannot see you.” Her voice cracked. “I miss you. Every day. I wish I could cross over to visit you as she can. Wish I could talk to you. Hear your voice.”
Through the veil, I pressed my hand against the barrier, wishing I could reach through. Wishing I could comfort her.
“You do not need to cross over,” I said, knowing she could not hear the words but hoping she might feel the sentiment. “You are exactly where you need to be. Protecting her. Teaching her. Being the aunt she needs.”
As if hearing me, Selene wiped her tears and straightened her shoulders. “I will protect her. I promise. Whatever comes. Whatever the Void Lords try. I will be here. I will keep her safe.”
Through the veil, I smiled. “I know you will. That is why I can rest. That is why I can focus on fighting from this side. Because I know she has you on that side.”
That night, as promised, I appeared in young Sera’s dreams.
Not as a ghost. Not as a memory. But as myself. Solid and real within the dreamscape.
“Grandma!” She ran to me and I caught her, lifting her and spinning her around like I had done when she was three. “You came! You really came!”
“I promised, did I not? I always keep my promises.” I set her down and looked around at the dreamscape. We were in the garden, the same garden where I had died, but transformed. The flowers were impossibly bright. The sky swirled with colours that did not exist in the waking world. Dream logic made everything fluid and strange.
“The dark things usually come here,” young Sera said, pointing to a shadow in the corner of the garden. “They hide in that spot and whisper mean things.”
I walked into the shadow and pressed my hand against it. Through the veil, I felt the Void Lords recoil.
“Not tonight,” I said firmly. “Tonight this is our space. They are not welcome.”
The shadow shrank, retreating to a barely visible spot.
“How did you do that?” young Sera asked, awed.
“Because this is your dream. Your mind. Your space. And I am here with your permission. The Void Lords are trying to intrude without permission. That makes them weak here.” I knelt beside her. “In dreams, you have more power than you realise. You can shape reality. Make it what you want. The dark things can only influence your dreams if you let them.”
“Really?”
“Really. Watch.”
I gestured, and the garden transformed. Suddenly there were toys everywhere. A swing set. A treehouse. Everything a six-year-old could want to play with.
Young Sera’s eyes went wide. “I can do that? Can I make my dreams whatever I want?”
“With practice. It takes time to learn dream control. But yes. This is your mind. Your realm. You are the queen here.”
“The Shadow Queen,” she said thoughtfully. “That is what everyone calls me sometimes. They think I do not hear. But I do.”
“Does that bother you?”
“Sometimes. It makes me sound scary. I am not scared. I am just me.”
“You are just you,” I agreed. “The Shadow Queen is a title. A role. But it is not who you are. Who you are is young Sera. Kind. Curious. Brave. Loved.” I touched her face gently. “Never forget that distinction. The role is what you do. The person is who you are.”
We spent hours in the dreamscape. Or what felt like hours. Time was strange in dreams, even stranger in dreams touched by the Shadow Queen's power.
I taught her to reshape the garden. To make flowers grow with a thought. To change the sky colours. To create playmates from imagination. Basic dream control. Skills that would serve her later.
And I answered questions. So many questions.
“Why did you have to die?”
“Because bodies get old and tired. Mine was ready to rest. But my spirit, the part that loves you, that part is eternal. That part will never leave you.”
“Do you miss being alive?”
“Sometimes. I miss holding you. Miss tasting food. I miss feeling sunshine on my skin. But I do not regret being here. Because from here, I can protect you in ways I could not while alive.”
“Are you going to teach me to fight the dark things?”
“Eventually. When you are older. For now, I am just going to teach you to be yourself. That is the best defence against them.”
As dawn approached in the waking world, I felt the dreamscape beginning to dissolve.
“Time to wake up,” I said. “But I will be back. Every night if you want. Or as often as you need.”
“Every night!” young Sera said immediately. “Please come every night. Then I will never have scary dreams.”
“I will come as often as I can. But sweetheart, I cannot stop all the scary dreams. The Void Lords are strong. Sometimes they will break through. When that happens, remember what I taught you tonight. You are the queen here. You have the power. They can only scare you if you let them.”
“I will remember.”
The dream faded. Young Sera woke in her bed, sunlight streaming through her window. She sat up, smiling, energised despite spending the entire night in deep dream-learning.
Through the veil, I watched her run downstairs to tell Selene about the dream. Watched Selene’s careful expression, pride mixed with concern.
My mother appeared beside me in the space between. “You did well. She learned much.”
“It is not enough. She needs years of training. Years of preparation. And we only have ten years before the Void Lords make their move.”
“Then we use those ten years wisely. You visit her dreams every night. Teach her everything you can. And during the day, Selene teaches her in the waking world.” The First Wolf joined us, her presence blazing. “Between the three of you, she will have the best teachers possible. The living and the dead. The experienced and the ancient. The present and the eternal.”
“What if it still is not enough?”
“Then we adapt. We improvise. We find another way.” The First Wolf’s eyes blazed with determination. “But we do not give up. We do not accept failure. We fight until the last possible moment. That is what our bloodline does. That is what makes us special.”
Through the veil, I watched young Sera eat breakfast, chattering excitedly about her dream to Elena and Marcus. They listened with patient confusion, not fully understanding what their daughter had experienced.
But Selene understood. And through our bond, I felt her resolution strengthening.
Together, across the veil, we would prepare young Sera for what was coming.
We had ten years.
It would have to be enough.
The Void Lords stirred in their prison, angry that their influence had been blocked. Angry that young Sera had found allies in the space between. Angry that their perfect vessel was being fortified against them.
But their anger changed nothing.
We were ready for them.
And in ten years, when they made their final move, they would discover something they had not anticipated.
A sixteen-year-old girl with the training of her aunt, the guidance of her grandmother, and the legacy of every strong woman in her bloodline.
They thought they were hunting a vulnerable child.
They had no idea they were walking into a trap set by the dead.
Let them come.
We would be waiting.