Kill The Luna

47

"Wait!"

The desperate, piercing shout echoed loudly across the open space of the beautiful garden, breaking the tense silence. I didn't stop my boots from moving, keeping my back turned toward her as I marched away, but her voice grew even more frantic, chasing after me through the clean air.

"The prophecy is completely real, Fedora! I am absolutely sure of it!" Elda cried out, her footsteps shuffling quickly against the soft green grass as she tried to keep up with my pace. "Just stop for a single second and think about your own life! Why on earth do you think you actually survived that horrific fall in your past? No regular human being jumps from a height that incredibly dangerous and makes it back down alive! It was entirely because of the hidden power inside your blood. Minor accidents and regular weapons simply cannot kill you, because the curse itself will protect your body until you have fully done what it wants you to do!"

I kept walking, my shoulders rigid with tension, but her words felt like heavy stones dropping into my mind.

"And another critical thing you need to realize is that the secondary curse your father placed on you was meant to hide the real threat!" she pleaded, her voice cracking with an intense, desperate energy. "Dangerous people and rival packs were actively searching all over the entire world for the fabled child of prophecy. They wanted to destroy you before you could grow up. But your father found a way to completely hide your true identity under that fake bond! He didn't make you suffer because he hated your guts, Fedora. He did it because he genuinely loved you and wanted to keep you breathing! But now that you have completely broken that master bond, you are like a bright, shining signal in the dark. Many powerful enemies are suddenly aware that you are alive and free, and they will never stop hunting you until they finally get their hands on you!"

I didn't turn around. I kept my gaze locked on the exit path, my face completely hard and unreadable as I called back over my shoulder. "When they finally come for me, I will find a way to handle it myself."

Elda completely lost her temper at my stubbornness. A dark, furious flush crept up her slim neck, and she stamped her foot against the dirt. "No, you absolutely cannot handle this alone!" she roared, her polite mask completely slipping away to reveal pure, raw frustration. "I am doing all of this twisted work because I actually care about your survival! And whether you like it or not, I am the only single person on this earth you can truly trust to help you guide these powers! With all the deep knowledge and experience I have gathered over the decades, there is no one else who can protect you. Everyone else in your life just wants to use you for something!"

She paused, taking a deep, shaky breath as she adjusted her posture, her eyes narrowing into a cold, warning stare. "You can walk right out of this garden and go anywhere you want to go in this world. I am not going to stop you, and I am certainly not going to use force to keep you locked up here. But you better bear it clearly in your mind that the members of the New Order will find you, and they will ruthlessly end your life. They will not be merciful or patient like I have been with you today. And right before you draw your very last breath on this earth, you will remember my face, and you will remember that I warned you."

The heavy words hit me like a physical blow, and my boots instantly froze in the middle of the grass path. My heart began to hammer violently against my ribs as a sudden, terrifying realization began to click inside my brain.

*No... this could not be it,* I thought, my mind spinning into a wild, frantic circle as the pieces of the puzzle finally fell into place. *So... that massive, secret meeting of the Alphas that happened recently... was it all held entirely because of me?*

A cold sweat broke out across the back of my neck. *All this time, after I secretly heard about that meeting, I truly thought they were gathering to talk about some other massive threat or someone else entirely. If what Elda is saying is actually the truth, then that means so many innocent people have already died in the crossfire because of my existence. And if I just run away and refuse to act right now, many more people will still die because of me.*

I stood perfectly still in the middle of the beautiful garden for a long, painful moment, the heavy weight of the world pressing down on my small shoulders. I closed my eyes, taking a deep, shaky breath to calm the storm raging inside my chest. Slowly, I turned my body back around to face her, my expression completely flat and serious.

"Okay, fine," I muttered, my voice dropping into a quiet, defeated whisper as I stared at her across the grass. "What exactly is it that you want from me, and what do you want me to do?"

The dark frustration vanished from Elda’s face in a single flash, replaced by a bright, triumphant smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes. She practically glided across the lawn toward me, her arms opening wide as she tightly wrapped them around my shoulders, hugging me against her chest before I could even pull away.

"Now you are finally talking like a smart girl," she whispered happily against my ear, her voice dripping with a smooth, chilling sweetness as she stepped back and patted my arms. "As you already know very well, I am a very simple woman at heart. And what I want from you is incredibly simple too."

She tilted her head to the side, her smile turning deeply calculating as she raised a long finger into the air. "First of all..."