Chapter 66 A bombshell has been dropped
Kai's POV
I saw Mira walking up to me in the cafeteria. The year was coming to a close, and most people had started filing out of the academy.
"Hey.... You're not going on holiday?" She asked.
I had a clan in which I can come from, so yeah... It was right for her to ask that question.
"I'm not sure yet..." I responded.
I still had a lot of things to settle in this side before I could think of returning to the clan for a break. Not that I would have the break I truly desired, but even though.... It was better than nothing.
"How about you?" I questioned.
"Oh... I'm not returning home for the break this year." She said nonchalantly.
"Why not?" I questioned.
That was quite odd considering that she hadn't been here for long, so she probably won't have adapted quickly to the academy.
"I've been searching a lot of things... Doing research and all..." She said.
"Things are not really adding up in the academy, and I need to know what is going on."
"Do you want to share?" I asked.
I was the closest to her, so if she wanted to share her thoughts with anyone, it would probably be me.
"Yes.... I would love to do that." She responded.
"Let everyone come around first."
I totally understood her. What she had to say would either brighten or dampen out moods, but whatsoever the case may be, I was up for it.
Soon enough, other students filtered into the cafeteria. I came across Rex's figure first before Luna joined in, and then after a few minutes, I spotted Zara on the line trying to get food.
"Hey...." Luna greeted, waving her hands as she sat in our usual table.
"What's up with the light faces?" Rex questioned.
"It's nothing, bro." I responded as I shook hands with him.
"Hey Mira, Luna, Rex, and Kai." Zara greeted with a cheerful voice as she settled into her usual seat, which was beside mine.
"Hello, everyone." I responded to Luna and Zara's greetings.
Mira just nodded, not really in the mood to say anything at the moment.
"Are you okay, Mira?" Rex questioned.
"Yeah... I guess." She responded.
"Who's going home for the break?" I queried.
"Not me." Zara said.
"Definitely not me either." Luna responded.
It just so happened that none of us actually wanted to go on a break.
"I have something to share." Mira said.
Everyone glanced nervously at Mira; the cafeteria noise around us faded into a dull hum. Even Zara stopped eating halfway, fork hovering near her mouth.
Mira dragged her palm slowly down her face....like she was trying to gather courage.
“Okay,” she whispered.
“I don’t know how to say this with simplicity, so I’ll just… talk.”
Luna leaned forward.
“Mira, breathe. We’re listening.”
Mira inhaled sharply.
“The academy isn’t as random as we thought. We weren’t admitted based on performance, luck, recommendation, or even genetics.”
She paused.
“We were chosen. Every one of us is sitting here.”
My heart thudded once....hard. Chosen?
Rex frowned.
“Chosen for what? You’re not making sense.”
Mira nodded like she had expected the confusion.
“You remember Professor Ajax, right? History professor. Bitter old wolf. He walks around like he has moonlight stuck up his spine?”
“Yeah,” Luna muttered.
“Well,” Mira said steadily.
“Ajax isn’t just a professor.”
She tapped her tablet screen and rotated it to face us.
“I found something on him...genealogical mapping and mythological records the academy had classified. He’s the last direct lineage holder of the Moon Goddess’s first son.”
Zara stiffened beside me.
“The Moon Goddess had a son?”
Mira nodded.
“Two, actually. Twins... but one was erased from existence. Ajax descends from the surviving line.”
“This sounds impossible,” Rex muttered.
“Not impossible,” Mira replied dryly.
“Just… old, buried, and purposely rewritten.”
I rubbed the back of my neck.
“Why hide it?”
Mira swallowed.
“Because Ajax’s bloodline has power over fate. He can manipulate lunar cycles, celestial bondings, mating rhythms....and memory.”
My stomach twisted. Memory.
Of course.
Of course, that part of the story had claws in me.
Zara slowly placed her fork down.
“Mira, why are you telling us this now?”
“Because Ajax has been meeting with Dr. Voss in secret for two months,” she whispered.
“And every single time, student files change. Schedules reassign. Wolves get relocated. Death investigations disappear.”
My blood ran cold.
“And it gets worse,” Mira added.
Her fingers shook against the tablet.
“His power isn’t passive. It reacts to choice.”
Rex blinked. “Choice?”
“Yes. Decision-branching. Parallel living. Multiple outcome reality.” Mira pushed her hair back and exhaled shakily.
“Everything we do forms a split path. Every argument, every heartbreak, every bond we break or build...it doesn’t disappear. It becomes another version of us somewhere else.”
Silence.
The kind of silence that could swallow a universe.
Zara’s breathing changed beside me.
“You mean… there are other versions of us?”
“Yes.”
“Like....copies?” Luna asked, voice trembling.
“No,” Mira corrected softly.
“They’re not copies. They’re you. Your soul reflects what choices you didn’t make.”
I felt something shift inside me.
Something big.
Zara’s lips parted slightly.
“So… the Zara who loved Kai is somewhere else. The Zara who killed him is somewhere else. The Zara who never met him…”
“Exactly.”
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“So what about here?”
Mira stared right at her.
“Here is the version where both of you matter the most. Because you two....your choices...affect all other worlds.”
My pulse kicked.
“What makes us so important?” I asked quietly.
Mira smiled sadly.
“Because you and Zara, in every timeline, were always meant to end....or serve....the Moon Goddess.”
Zara flinched. “Serve her?”
“Yes.”
“You mean she’s alive?” Rex asked, eyes widening.
“Alive, sleeping, scattered,” Mira said.
“And Ajax is trying to bring her consciousness into this world. He needs Zara to trigger the Devourer fully. And Kai…” She turned toward me, eyes dull with sympathy.
"He needs you because your alien blood opens the veil between the two worlds.”
I sat back, stunned.
There was a ringing in my ears....like someone had struck a bell inside my skull.
Zara’s fingers moved beneath the table and brushed my knee before she realized what she was doing. We both froze.
Heat shot up my spine.
Her scent slammed into me, warm, dangerous cinnamon with a hint of smoke. Luna raised a brow but smirked knowingly.
Zara cleared her throat and moved her knee away. But not far.
Not far enough.
Rex coughed into his hand.
“This is crazy. Ajax? Moon Goddess? Parallel lives? These are bedtime stories.”
Mira shook her head.
“This is us.” She widened the documents further.
“Every timeline we exist in is connected through emotional choice.”
I frowned.
“Emotional choice?”
“Yes. Our emotions ripple into other versions of ourselves. Zara’s pain changes hundreds of timelines. Your fear of losing her changes thousands. Your bond....your love....rewrites entire fates.”
My chest tightened. Love.
Zara looked away sharply when Mira said it, cheeks flushing.
Gods.
After everything....she still reacted to me.
I swallowed hard.
“What does this mean for the academy?”
“It means the academy is a hub,” Mira answered.
“Where timelines narrow. Where decisions weigh heavier. Where the Goddess will wake again through one of us.”
Zara’s hand trembled on the table.
Rex whispered.
“Holy shit…”
Luna leaned forward.
“Do we have a role?”
“All of us do,” Mira confirmed.
"Rex, your bloodline was built for protection. Luna, yours was built for healing. Mine is built for truth.”
She hesitated before facing us.
“And Kai and Zara… you two are built for union. Bonding. Mating. Cosmic pairing.”
Zara inhaled sharply....too sharply.
Heat crawled up my neck.
Luna smirked.
“Well… finally, someone said what we’ve all been thinking.”
Rex laughed under his breath.
“Yeah, that tension has been burning holes in the walls.”
Zara’s eyes snapped to mine....not angry, just overwhelmed.
Her voice was soft. “Kai…”
Gods help me....I loved when she said my name.
“Yes?”
She opened her mouth to speak, but the cafeteria lights flickered violently overhead.
Everyone jolted.
Then.... Darkness.
A blackout swallowed the room whole.
Chairs scraped, people gasped, wolves snarled. Someone screamed.
Electric buzzing rushed through my skull.
I felt Zara’s hand grip my forearm instinctively....tight, panicked, real.
My breath stuttered.
Her whisper brushed my throat.
“Stay close to me.”
My pulse thundered in response.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Her hand slid down my arm, fingers curling into my palm, and I tightened my grip so hard I thought I might bruise her.
Rex cursed somewhere to the left. Luna growled.
Mira whispered....
“This will be happening frequently now. The timelines are bleeding.”
And under the table, in that darkness....
Zara exhaled shakily, like the sound alone was a confession.
Like she wanted me.
Like she remembered us.
And I whispered into the dark, voice rougher than it should have been....
“Zara… when this ends, we need to talk about everything.”
Her breath hitched.
“I know.”