Chapter 21: The Phantom's Price
1325 Words
Abigail’s POV
The wind howled like a thousand lost voices as we crossed into the edge of Phantom Hollow.
It wasn’t the same as I remembered it. Once littered with bones and silence, the ruins pulsed now alive with ancient magic. Silver mist coiled between the broken stones, thick and chilling. My boots crunched over frost-kissed grass, though the air didn’t bite. It was the kind of cold that seeped into the soul.
Riven stood at the boundary, his silver eyes glowing faintly. “The Hollow feels your presence,” he murmured.
“That’s supposed to reassure me?”
He didn’t smile. He rarely did.
“Ivy,” I said, glancing back.
She nodded, slinging her bow across her back and stepping beside me. “If there’s something here that can help us stop Gideon, then let’s find it fast. This place gives me the creeps.”
“Welcome to my old haunt,” Riven muttered. “Quite literally.”
We entered the remains of the Phantom Pack’s temple. Vines covered its crumbling walls, but the circular stone altar in the center still radiated power. The Seer’s Circle. Where the ancestors once gathered to channel visions, to crown Alphas with sacred fire.
Now, it felt like standing on the edge of the world.
Elara shivered. “Something is watching us.”
“There always is,” Riven said quietly.
Lucian stepped beside me. “You sure about this?”
No. But I couldn’t let doubt rule me. “We need answers. If the Phantom Pack’s blood runs in my veins, I want to know what that means.”
He gave a short nod but didn’t let go of my hand.
I stepped into the circle. The instant my foot touched the center stone, something cracked through the world like thunder.
The mist surged upward.
My vision went white.
The Echo of the Huntress
I stood in the heart of a storm. But not wind or rain memories. Shards of lives not my own whispered around me, brushing against my skin like forgotten truths.
A voice echoed, sharp and steady.
"You have come seeking the fire. But the fire demands sacrifice."
A figure appeared in front of me, tall, draped in flowing black robes. Her face was hidden, but I recognized the energy radiating from her.
Selene.
Not as I’d remembered her in my childhood, gentle and wise. No. This was Selene as she had been in her final war. The Huntress reborn. Fire, fury, fate.
“You left me to die,” I whispered, the words out before I could stop them.
She tilted her head. “I left you to live.”
My chest ached. “You knew what Victor would do. What Gideon was. You could’ve stopped it.”
“I could have delayed it. That’s all.” She stepped closer. “But I saw what you would become. You had to rise from the ashes, Abigail. Just as I did.”
“I don’t want to be a legend.”
“No legend ever does.”
Lightning cracked through the white mist. Images spiraled around us, Victor standing triumphant over my father’s body, Gideon calling forth a monstrous shadow from blood-soaked earth, me crawling through mud, half-dead but alive.
I turned to Selene. “What is Gideon?”
“Not just a wolf. He’s a vessel now. The Bloodfang’s Curse has anchored to him.”
“The curse is real?” My voice trembled.
“Yes. It was forged in the first wars. A hunger that consumes leaders, made to break bonds and burn empires. And now it’s tied to you.”
“To me?”
“You are the Celestial Huntress reborn. The curse seeks you because you are its opposite. The only power that can unmake it.”
Everything felt too big. “So how do I stop him?”
Selene’s image began to fade, but her voice lingered like fire in my blood.
"Reclaim the Moondrinker."
"Unite what was broken."
"And do not fear the darkness within you, it is the key."
Then everything shattered.
Back in the Hollow
I gasped as the vision released me.
Lucian caught me before I fell, cradling me close. “What did you see?”
“The Moondrinker,” I said breathlessly. “It’s not just a relic. It’s a soul-binder.”
Elara’s eyes widened. “It was said to contain the essence of the first Alpha.”
“And the only weapon strong enough to bind a cursed soul,” Riven added. “But it was lost ages ago.”
I shook my head. “It’s not lost. It’s sealed. And I think I know where.”
The Hollow trembled beneath us. The stone beneath my feet cracked open, revealing a spiral staircase leading into the earth.
We looked at each other.
Then I stepped forward. “Let’s find it.”
The Descent
The descent took hours. The air thickened with old magic, and our torches dimmed as we went deeper. Ivy led the way, blade drawn. Lucian stayed at my back, silent and steady.
Finally, we reached a cavern unlike anything I’d seen.
A crystalline lake shimmered in the center. At its heart floated a single silver blade.
The Moondrinker.
Its handle was forged of moonstone. The blade itself pulsed with power, etched in ancient glyphs. It didn’t rest on anything; it hovered.
Riven let out a slow breath. “That… that’s it.”
“No guards?” Ivy asked warily.
As if summoned by her words, the cavern walls trembled.
From the shadows rose a creature made of bone and smoke, its face a blur of old wolf and wraith. It opened its maw, and a voice rang out not from its mouth, but from within our minds.
"Only the blood-bound may take the blade."
Riven stepped forward. “She’s the last of the Phantom bloodline. Let her prove it.”
I stared at the creature, heart pounding. “How?”
It lunged.
Lucian moved to defend me, but I held up a hand. “No. I need to do this.”
The creature clawed toward me, forcing me back toward the water. My dagger flashed uselessly. Its body reformed every time I struck.
Then I remembered Selene’s words.
"Do not fear the darkness within you."
I stopped running.
Let it come.
The creature struck, and I reached out with something deeper than claws.
I summoned the huntress in me.
Magic roared through my veins. Light burst from my skin. The creature froze mid-attack as silver fire erupted around me. It howled no longer a monster, but a soul freed from pain.
Its form unraveled, turning to mist.
The lake stilled.
The blade fell into my hand.
It fit perfectly.
The Oath
As we emerged from the cavern, the Hollow was no longer silent. The spirits of the Phantom Pack had returned. Silvery wolves stood on the ridges, watching us with glowing eyes.
One stepped forward.
A she-wolf.
Selene.
“You are ready,” she said, her form flickering like a flame. “But the cost of power is always a sacrifice.”
“What sacrifice?” I asked.
She looked at Lucian.
Then at me.
“Love. Or loyalty. You may not keep both.”
Before I could ask more, she vanished.
The March Begins
We left Phantom Hollow at dawn. The Moondrinker strapped to my back, its weight light but its meaning heavy.
Lucian walked beside me. Silent.
He hadn’t said much since Selene’s final warning.
“You okay?” I asked.
He glanced at me. “I will be. Just… promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“When the moment comes… don’t try to protect me from the choice. I knew the cost the day I followed you.”
My throat tightened. “I won’t let it come to that.”
“You might not have a choice.”
I didn’t reply.
Because he was right.
- Writer
