CHAPTER 48 – Truth and Lies

CHAPTER 48 – Truth and Lies
Calla’s POV

Theo's body trembled in my arms. His words still echoed in my head like a curse.

Her.

I stared at him, my heart pounding. "Who do you mean, Theo? Who is she?"

He looked at me with eyes wide with fear. His mouth opened, but he did not make a sound. His chest came up once. Then it stopped.

I shook him gently, not willing to believe what had just happened.

"No. Remain here. You need to tell me."

Raiden stepped ahead of me, his voice strained and rough. "We need to leave. If he is travelling to the Luna Temple, we have minutes, not hours."

I gestured, my body numb. I could not mourn Theo at the moment. The Shadow King had made his second move. And this time, he did not act alone.

We gathered what warriors we could, most of them still bandaged from the last battle. The forest was so quiet that I felt I could hear the whisper of my own heartbeat. No birds. No wind. The silence before a storm.

My mind kept circling back to the same question. Who was she?

Raiden walked next to me. His hand brushed against mine once. I did not move away. We both needed the touch. Although we did not say it aloud, we were both scared.

When we reached the sacred edge of the Luna Temple, I stopped. The earth here was different. Warmer. Older. Roots of the ancient trees hummed with old magic. I'd been here before, as a child. Elara had said the temple energy was pure, not touched by time. Today I wasn't so certain.

A soft wind blew through the glade ahead, and with it, a scent that made my wolf bristle.

It was repulsive. Rotting and sweet at the same time.

Raiden leaned into the wind. "He's here. But… something else is too."

We walked forward cautiously. What we discovered gave me the chills.

The Shadow King stood below the temple, now shrouded in black cloud. His hands were upraised. His voice uttered words in a dialect I didn't understand. But I recognized their import.

Dark magic.

Beside him was a woman in a scarlet cloak. She stood with her back to us, but her presence set all upon my form on edge. Her energy flowed out from her like the warmth of a blaze. Unchecked. Unleashed upon the world. Lovely and yet abhorrent.

Raiden exhaled gently, "That's her. "

We crouched behind the ridge together. My eyes stayed fixed on the woman as she turned intentionally.

She did not have a face.

Not like she was hidden. There was nothing there at all. A smooth, hollow canvas where her face would have been. But her eyes, shining white, blazed through the emptiness like stars in darkness.

A whisper slipped into my mind.

Calla…

I gasped, falling back. Raiden caught me.

"You heard her, too?" he asked.

I nodded, shivering.

"She's speaking to me. In my head."

Suddenly, the woman's head turned in our direction. Although she was not staring at me with her eyes, I felt that she was.
She began walking towards us.

Raiden pulled me back. "We're not prepared for this fight."

But that was too late.

The Shadow King lifted his hand, and from the mist, creatures emerged. Warriors. Not dead, but not alive either. Once wolves, now abominations. Their eyes were empty. Their mouths hung loosely as if still screaming.

I panted softly, "He made our ancestors his soldiers."

We were outnumbered. Outmatched. But we could not retreat.

"Ready," Raiden answered. "We stand as one."

We transformed. My wolf growled in my chest. All my bones hurt from the last battle, but I ignored it. Pain was the cost of survival now.

Our warriors attacked the monsters head-on. Roars echoed through the clearing. Claws clashed. Magic burst like thunder.

I fought as if I were possessed. For every one of the monsters I killed, another took their place. The faceless woman never entered the fight. She just watched. Her head cocked to the side, her shining eyes following my every movement.

Why me?

And then I felt it.

A tug.

Not from the outside.

From within.

Something ancient and hidden stirred. Like a memory I had suppressed. My wolf growled fiercer, but I couldn't focus on her.

I battled on in the chaos until I was facing the Shadow King directly.

"You've lost," I shouted.

He smiled. "Have I?"

He brought his arm up. The earth beneath me broke open. Dark tendrils of wood burst forth, encircling my legs. I tried to snap them off with my magic, but they were unbreakable.

Raiden charged him from the side. The two of them crashed into the stone temple steps. I managed to free one leg and rushed to help, but the faceless woman stepped in her way.

She said nothing.

She didn't need to.

I knew what she needed.

She held out her hand, and the world was quiet. The battle. The screaming. The wind.

Silent.

I and I only.

She crept forward. The light in her eyes pulsed.

I stepped back. "Who are you?"

Her head tilted.

And then her voice in my brain was like a bell.

I am what you buried. What she feared. What he awakened.

I trembled at it. "That is not an answer."

You already know me. You carry my mark.

My hand went to my chest.

The birthmark.

The crescent-shaped one.

And at once, the memory flooded back.

Not a dream.

Not a story.

A truth.

I had glimpsed her as a child. Once before. In the old woods. When I had wandered too deep. She had said my name. She had taken my hand.

And Elara had told me for years it was just a dream.

I breathed softly, "You're the Whisper."

She nodded once.

The Whisper was a myth. An old goddess. A goddess who was the mother of wolves. Banished. Feared.

Why was she here now?

"What do you want of me?" I said.

Your power. Your station.

"No."

She edged closer. Her form wrapped around me like a mantle. Warm. Appalling.

Then you shall burn along with the others.

Before I could take a step, she put both hands out. The air grew dark. Lightning split across the sky.

I looked to see Raiden carry on fighting the Shadow King, the two of them red and scarred.

I needed to stop this.

I needed to choose.

But a voice cut through the storm.

"Elara?" I turned.

She stood at the edge of the clearing, a silver staff with ancient runes of power pulsing in her grasp. Her eyes blazed.

"Calla, hear me. You bear her blood, but you are not she. You have a choice."

The Whisper cursed.

Too late.

Power exploded from her in all directions. The trees blazed like hellfire lanterns. The temple trembled. Ashes filled the air.

I screamed.

Then—

Darkness.

When I opened my eyes, I was somewhere else. A white place. Endless. Silent.

The Whisper stood before me. Her form wavered now. Disappearing.

I knew she was inside my mind.

She tried to touch me.

I took a step back.

"You're not me," I said to her.

She didn't say anything.

"I choose who I am. I choose what I become."

She began to vanish.

Then she whispered one last thing.

So let it be. But you're not done yet. The ultimate betrayal is yet to come.

She vanished.

I opened my eyes again.

Raiden was beside me, gasping. The Shadow King lay on the ground, still. The beasts were no more. The forest was scarred but intact.

We'd won.

Or so I'd thought.

Until I turned to see Elara, on her knees, blood pouring from her stomach.

Lysandra was behind her.

Smiling.

With a bloodied dagger.

I warned you," she said. "Only one Luna has a place here.".