Chapter 142: The Realm of Forgetting

Chapter 142: The Realm of Forgetting
Chapter 142: The Realm of Forgetting

Melissa’s POV

I followed Kane through the thick forest, where there was silence and a lot of mist. Zephyr and Lydia took the lead. Their eyes were worried, but they moved purposefully. We didn't say much. The only sounds were the gentle rustle of branches overhead and the crunch of fallen leaves beneath our boots.

We were heading to a secret region that had been completely unexplored for hundreds of years.

Zephyr had said, "The birthplace of the first wolves." "The starting point."

Now I could sense it. The air had a different energy. Older. Wilder.

Even though Kane was walking quietly next to me, his hand continued to touch mine, seemingly to let me know he was there. I was appreciative. The admonition from the altar still weighed heavily on my heart. Whatever was coming… it was bigger than any of us.

"How far is it?" I asked quietly.

“Not long,” Lydia responded without turning. “You’ll feel it before you see it.”

She was also correct.

My chest began to feel strangely warm, and then I felt a pulse, like a heartbeat, in the air. I felt my inner wolf stirring. Not afraid. Wondering.

The trees then abruptly came to a halt.

We emerged into a spacious clearing encircled by luminous inscriptions on old stone pillars. A silver mist floated above the grass, and in the middle stood a pool of crystal-clear water that shimmered like stars.

“This is it,” Zephyr said. "The Realm of Forgetting."

It didn’t feel forgotten.

It had a living quality.

As if it had been anticipating my arrival.

The ground beneath my feet vibrated softly as I took a step forward. My wolf let out a low whine, not out of fear but out of wonder.

Then I heard someone speak. Gentle, aloof.

"You have arrived, daughter of light."

The enthusiasm remained, but the voice waned.

I took a step toward the glistening water. Something deeper was mirrored by the surface, which was more than just water. Something unnatural.

Uncertain of what to do, I knelt next to it.

Behind me, Lydia said softly, "Touch it."

I looked at Kane after turning back to her. He nodded slightly to me.

So I made contact.

I felt a rush of warmth as soon as my fingers contacted the surface. It didn't hurt. It felt as though something gentle and old was holding you tightly, like sunlight.

My thoughts were racing. The moon, stars, and a woman with silver eyes and white hair howling into the wind were among the images that passed before my eyes. And then another – a warrior with her claws bloody. Then another — a healer, gleaming with golden light, holding a dying infant in her arms.

Every one of them...

Me.

Previous lifetimes.

Memories. Feelings.

And another thing.

There is a force hidden deep within my spirit that is just waiting to be roused.

The water began to swirl and rise, curving around my hand like it remembered me.

It exploded skyward in a silvery shaft of light. My body rose off the floor. Light flooded into me, and I floated over the pool.

I refrained from screaming.

I refrained from crying.

I agreed to it.

I allowed the last of my goddess blood to come to life.

As the light gradually dimmed, I gently fell back to the ground.

Kane came running over to me. "Hey, Melissa! Are you—?

"I'm all right," I said.

However, I was different.

No more.

I sat by myself at the edge of the bright pool, stroking the grass with my fingers. Zephyr, Kane, and Lydia had left me alone, waiting just outside the stone pillars. I sensed their concern. However, everything was too quiet inside of me.

Then the fog changed.

I raised my head.

A familiar yet unfamiliar figure emerged from the light. Her eyes were piercing and perceptive, and her silver hair glistened like the moon. She donned the ancient robes of the Moonborn, and her face… her face was mine.

But more senior.

Smarter.

I said in a whisper, "I know you."

"You ought to," she said coolly. "I am just one of many... Buried in your blood is a former self. A life that began long before your birth.

I stood up as she stepped closer.

"You were the first one?" I inquired.

“No,” she answered with a tiny smile. However, I was the last to attempt to complete what you now need to start.

“I don’t understand.”

“You will,” she said. "But you have to pass the last trial first."

The world around us abruptly transformed.

The stars disappeared. The stones cracked. And I was standing in a mirror of myself — a replica of me stepped from the mist, eyes gleaming black, her smile harsh and vicious.

“Meet your fear,” the ghost queen murmured. "Explore the person you might become if you allow darkness to prevail."

I looked upon the warped representation of myself. Though poisoned, her voice was mine. She still had power, but it was tainted.

"I'm unbeatable," she growled. "I'm already carried inside by you."

I balled my fists up.

"No. You are all carried by me. However, I choose who I become.

From the haze, the ghost queen smiled.

The trial was underway.

I resisted her.

My darker side.

However, there wasn't a true conflict. There was no fire, no claws. This was more profound. A spiritual battle.

I could feel the anxiety tearing at my chest with each stride she took toward me.

“You wanted power,” she continued, circling me. When you were weak, you pleaded for it. You screamed for it as they broke you. I replied. The strength you requested is me.

I clinched my teeth and said, "I didn't ask for this." "No, not if it means losing my identity."

She remarked, "You'll lose everything anyhow." "You do it every time. Melissa, you can't save them all. But you could with me.

Tears burned in my eyes as I staggered back.

She was telling the truth. Not entirely.

At times, I had desired the gloom. When Damon broke me. When the pack abandoned me. in the absence of Kane.

But I was more than that.

I didn't choose to be that person.

"I'm not you," I asserted. "My suffering gave birth to you. However, I am no longer just in pain.

All about me, light burst forth.

She let out a scream.

The darkness shattered.

And just like that... Once more, I was by myself.

I shook and dropped to my knees.

The ghost queen reappeared with a proud expression on her face.

"You're dead," she replied softly. "And now... You have to realise the reality."

She reached out and touched my forehead.

Visions flashed.

The moon. A throne. Fire. War. A youngster screaming in a burning world. Then...

A scroll.

With luminous runes writing my name.

Not at the very end.

However, at the summit.

The ghost queen whispered in my ear, "You are not the end of the prophecy." "The beginning is you."

Then she was gone.

The silence of the Forgotten Realm left me gasping for air.