chapter 5:AWAKENING SHADOWS II
840 Words
Her lips parted, trembling, as she tried to form the words.
“Mother?”, she called out. The single word fell from her mouth, thick with disbelief and emotion, her eyes teary. Her voice cracked, raw and trembling, as the tears that had welled up began to spill down her cheeks.
The hooded figure tilted her head, the gesture both tender and sorrowful. The faintest smile from her lips, though her eyes glistened with unspoken pain.
“Lycia,” she whispered, her voice like a balm and a blade, both soothing and cutting all at once for Lycia.
Lycia’s legs felt weak, her very body trembling as a storm of emotions surged within her. Love, grief, longing,confusion and different emotions swirled in a chaotic dance. She stumbled forward, her hands stretched out, reaching out for the woman, desperate to feel her, to confirm that this wasn’t just another cruel twist of her mind.
Her fingers brushed the edges of the hood, and for a brief moment, the woman’s full face was revealed. She was radiant and strong, but yet her expression was heavy with sadness. Lycia’s breath caught in her throat.
It was her. It was her mother.
“I’ve missed you,” Lycia choked out, her voice breaking under the weight of the years she’d spent without her, reminiscing the moments she shared with her mother before she was gone.
The woman’s hand reached out, her fingers light as a feather as they brushed against Lycia’s cheek, wiping away the tears that fell freely now. Her touch was cool, yet it sparked something deep within Lycia, an energy that felt both foreign and familiar.
“My brave girl,” her mother said, her voice thick with emotion. “You’ve carried so much, more than you should have ever had to.”
Lycia sobbed, the sound torn from her chest like a raw wound.
“Why did you leave me? Why now? Why here?” Lycia asked with more tears flowing from her eyes, like that very question had unlocked more emotions in her.
Her mother’s expression softened, but there was something else behind her gaze; urgency.
“Listen to me Lycia,” she said, her tone firm yet gentle. “You have a choice, Lycia. You have always had a choice. But time is running out.”
Lycia shook her head, the words were too heavy to grasp. “I don’t understand. What choice mother? What are you talking about?”
The mist around them seems to thicken and the shadows deepen, the forest fading into a swirling void. Her mother’s figure began to shimmer, as though she were a flame flickering in the wind.
“You are more powerful than you realize,” her mother said, her voice growing distant even as Lycia tried to hold onto her. “But you must trust yourself. Trust your blood, and trust your heart. Your choices will shape the pack’s gate. Beware the ones who walk in shadow and light , they are never what they seem”.
“No!” Lycia cried, clutching at her mother’s hands. “Don’t leave me again!” Tightening her grip on her mother
Her mother leaned in, embracing Lycia with arms around her, and retracting with a pressing kiss to Lycia’s forehead. “I am always with you,” she whispered. “You will see me again when the time is right.”
“Mother!”, Lycia cried out realizing what was about to happen. “No no no! Don’t leave me again. Please!!”
The world around them dissolved, the shadows swallowing her mother’s form as Lycia screamed her name.
“Mother!!!”,She cried out loudly, with more tears flowing out more than ever. Filled with rage and lots of emotions this time.
The sound of her own voice jolted her awake. Lycia sat up, her chest heaving, her cheeks wet with tears. The room was still, the fireplace still lit, but casting faint and flickering light on the walls.
Her mind screamed that this was not real. But it felt real. The dream, or whatever it had been, felt too real to ignore. Her mother’s words echoed in her mind, filling the silence around her.
She took a breath, wiping her face, her resolve hardening. Whatever lay ahead, she wouldn’t face it in fear. She would fight. For her mother. For herself. For the truth buried in her blood.
She sat up, her senses on high alert. The faint crackle of the fire in the hearth sounded sharper, the scent of burning wood filling her nostrils. She could hear the soft scuffle of boots outside her door, the faintest rustle of fabric as someone shifted their weight. Her breath hitched. These weren’t normal sensations. She pressed her hands to her temples, her mind spinning. What was happening to her?
Her heart ached, her hands trembling as she clutched the sheets. But deep within her, something had shifted; a spark, a whisper of strength she didn’t know she possessed.
- Writer
