Chapter 37: The Moonstone Trials
1037 Words
Abigail's POV
The sacred clearing shimmered under the moonlight, its grass untouched by wind, its silence far too still. This was no ordinary place; it pulsed with magic older than any lore I’d read. The air tasted of silver and ash. Somewhere in the distance, I heard a lone howl pierce the stillness, low, mournful, and ancient. A summons.
I took a step forward, and the earth shifted beneath my boots.
“Abigail Whitefang,” came a voice that echoed with the force of generations.
Selene’s spirit flickered before me again, more vivid this time, her white hair glowing, her translucent form draped in robes woven from moonlight. Her expression was calm, but there was gravity in her eyes.
“You’ve chosen to awaken the Huntress. But the power you seek cannot be inherited. It must be earned.”
I swallowed the tension building in my throat. “I’m ready.”
“Then face the Moonstone Trials. Survive them, and your bloodline’s legacy shall return to you. Fail, and your soul will be claimed by the veil between worlds.”
Cool.
No pressure.
The spirit lifted a hand, and the clearing shimmered. Trees unraveled like ribbons, melting into an endless expanse of darkness, and then
I fell.
Trial One: The Betrayal
I landed on a stone. Cold. Familiar.
The scent of blood choked me.
I knew this place. Knew it too well.
The Whitefang Pack Hall. But not as it had been. This version was twisted, cloaked in shadow and fire. Corpses littered the floor, wolves I once called kin.
“Father?” I whispered.
A figure stood at the far end of the hall. Tall, proud, his silver eyes gleaming even through the flames licking the walls.
“Abigail.”
I ran to him but froze when another figure stepped from the shadows.
Victor.
Drenched in blood. Smirking.
“You trusted me,” he said, flicking a knife between his fingers. “And look what it cost you.”
My father turned, the betrayal unfolding again. Victor’s blade plunged into his chest, and I screamed.
I couldn’t stop it. Couldn’t move. The past played out in an endless loop, pain blooming in my chest like wildfire.
“End it,” Selene’s voice echoed.
“How?” I sobbed. “I can’t change the past”.
“No,” she said, appearing beside me. “But you must forgive it.”
Forgive? How could I forgive this?
But deep down, I knew the truth. My hate for Victor had kept me alive. But it had also become a chain around my neck. One I could no longer afford to wear.
I knelt beside my father’s fading body and placed my hand on his.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough,” I whispered. “But I’ll make it right. I swear it.”
The flames vanished. The bodies dissolved into starlight.
Selene nodded once. “You’ve passed the first.”
Trial Two: The Mate Bond
The world twisted again, and I found myself in a moonlit glade. A single silver thread stretched from my chest into the dark woods ahead.
The bond.
Lucian.
I followed the thread, breath hitching with every step. The forest shifted around me, whispering doubts in my ears.
You don’t need anyone.
He will betray you like the others.
You are stronger alone.
At the heart of the woods, I found him Lucian, bound in chains made of shadow, his eyes blank, his expression devoid of the warmth I knew so well.
“Abigail?” he asked, confused. “Why did you leave me?”
“I didn’t.” I moved to reach for him, but the shadows snapped between us like snakes.
“You fear me,” he said. “You fear what it means to love me.”
“That’s not true!”
“Then prove it.”
The shadows rose like waves, trying to drown us both.
I reached through them anyway, my fingers burning as I grasped his wrist.
“Even if this bond breaks me,” I said, “I will never let it be used to weaken me.”
The silver thread pulsed, brighter than before, and the chains shattered.
Lucian stepped free, eyes clear.
“I trust you,” he said. “But do you trust yourself?”
I blinked and he was gone.
Trial Two faded.
Trial Three: The Beast Within
This time, I stood before a mirror.
My reflection stared back, but her eyes were molten gold, and her smile was wrong.
This was the Huntress.
The wild, ancient force slumbering in my bloodline. She wore my face but not my soul.
“You think you can command me?” she sneered. “You barely command yourself.”
“I don’t want control,” I said.
She tilted her head. “Then you’ll lose it.”
“No,” I breathed. “I want balance. Unity. I won’t let you consume me.”
“You can’t cage what was born wild.”
She lunged. I met her, claw for claw.
Our fight was feral, bone-shattering, and vicious. I bled. So did she.
And then, through the chaos, I realized she moved when I did. Fought when I struck. She wasn’t my enemy.
She was me.
I stopped resisting. Let the rage roll through me.
And then I embraced her.
Golden light erupted between us, and the reflection smiled for real this time.
“You are ready,” she whispered.
The mirror shattered.
Awakening
I opened my eyes in the clearing again, gasping for air. My body trembled, but power thrummed in my veins, something ancient and furious and mine.
Selene stood before me, pride in her expression.
“You’ve awakened the Huntress.”
I looked down at my hands. They glowed faintly. My heartbeat echoed like a drumroll.
“What now?” I asked.
“Now,” Selene said, “you must gather your pack and prepare. The eclipse nears, and with it, the final war.”
Her voice became wind, scattering leaves and whispers.
I stood alone.
But not afraid.
I had survived the past.
I had chosen trust.
I had embraced the wild.
And now I was reborn.
- Writer
