The Showdown King's Messenger
1120 Words
CHAPTER NINE
The Shadow King's Messenger
The city fell silent.
Even the flames seemed to stop dancing.
The massive creature stood beyond the city walls, towering over everything in sight.
Its glowing red eyes remained fixed on Aria.
Watching.
Waiting.
Hungry.
Fear gripped her chest.
The creature had spoken.
Not growled.
Not roared.
Spoken.
And it had called her by a title she never wanted.
Moon Queen.
The words echoed through the city like a curse.
Around her, warriors tightened their grips on their weapons.
Several citizens fell to their knees in terror.
Others began praying.
Aria's pulse raced.
"What is that thing?"
Her voice barely rose above a whisper.
Damien's face was pale.
"A Titan."
The answer sent a ripple of fear through everyone nearby.
Lucien's expression darkened.
"The Council has truly lost its mind."
Aria looked from one face to another.
Nobody seemed surprised.
Only terrified.
That frightened her even more.
The giant creature took a single step forward.
The ground shook violently.
Stone cracked.
Several nearby buildings trembled.
Citizens screamed.
The city walls had protected Moonfall for centuries.
Yet standing before the Titan, they suddenly looked very small.
Very fragile.
The creature smiled again.
A terrible smile.
Then its deep voice echoed across the kingdom.
"Deliver the Queen."
Silence followed.
The demand hung heavily in the air.
Lucien stepped forward.
His eyes flashed gold.
"No."
The single word carried the weight of authority.
The Titan laughed.
The sound shook windows throughout the city.
"You would choose war?"
Lucien didn't hesitate.
"You already brought war."
The creature's smile vanished.
For the first time, genuine anger appeared in its eyes.
High above the battlefield, hidden within storm clouds, another figure watched.
A man dressed entirely in black stood on a floating platform of dark energy.
His face remained concealed beneath a hood.
Only his silver eyes were visible.
Unlike the members of the Shadow Council, he radiated something ancient.
Something terrifying.
Power rolled from him like a living storm.
The Titan lowered its head respectfully.
"My lord."
The hooded figure continued staring at Aria.
Thousands of feet below.
Millions of people surrounding her.
Yet his attention never wavered.
After centuries of waiting...
He had finally found her.
A slow smile crossed his lips.
"Interesting."
The voice carried impossible power.
The storm itself seemed to react.
Lightning flashed.
Thunder rolled.
The Shadow King's awakening had begun.
Back in the city, Lucien's wolf paced restlessly.
Danger.
Everything about this situation screamed danger.
The Titan wasn't attacking.
Not yet.
Which meant it had another purpose.
A message.
A warning.
Or a trap.
None of those possibilities were good.
Aria stood beside him.
Her mark burned faintly beneath her sleeve.
The silver glow had become more frequent.
More powerful.
And far less predictable.
Lucien hated it.
Not because of the power.
Because every new awakening brought her closer to becoming a target.
A bigger target.
As if the entire supernatural world wasn't already hunting her.
A sudden movement caught his attention.
The Titan was raising one enormous hand.
Dark energy gathered around its fingers.
The air became heavy.
Citizens backed away.
Instinctively.
Fearfully.
Then the creature opened its hand.
Something fell.
A small object dropped from the sky.
Landing in the center of the city with a loud c***k.
The Titan smiled.
"A gift."
Before anyone could react, the creature turned.
And vanished into the darkness beyond the mountains.
The battlefield fell silent.
Confused murmurs spread through the crowd.
"What was that?"
"Why did it leave?"
"What did it drop?"
Aria's curiosity immediately surfaced.
The object sat in the middle of a crater.
Half buried in stone.
A black box.
No larger than a suitcase.
Yet somehow it felt dangerous.
Wrong.
Lucien's instincts agreed.
"Nobody touch it."
Warriors immediately obeyed.
The crater was secured.
Citizens were evacuated.
Within minutes only Lucien, Damien, the Elders, and Aria remained nearby.
Elder Cassandra studied the box carefully.
Then her face lost color.
"No."
Lucien looked at her sharply.
"What is it?"
The old woman swallowed.
"A Shadow Relic."
The name meant nothing to Aria.
The reaction it caused did.
Every Elder looked horrified.
Damien cursed.
Several warriors stepped back.
Fear filled the air.
Aria stared at the box.
"What does it do?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Finally Cassandra spoke.
"They contain memories."
"Whose memories?"
The Elder's expression darkened.
"The dead."
Night had fallen by the time the relic was brought inside the royal palace.
The atmosphere had changed.
The city still stood.
The attack had paused.
Yet nobody felt victorious.
Something worse was coming.
Everyone knew it.
The black box now rested on a stone table within the council chamber.
Dozens of warriors guarded the room.
The Elders stood nearby.
Lucien remained at Aria's side.
The Moon Queen's mark continued glowing softly.
As though reacting to the relic.
Or recognizing it.
Aria wasn't sure which possibility frightened her more.
Cassandra slowly approached the table.
Her hands trembled.
That alone was alarming.
The woman feared almost nothing.
Yet she clearly feared this.
"The relic will only open for one person."
Aria's stomach tightened.
She already knew the answer.
"Me."
Cassandra nodded.
Silence followed.
Lucien immediately stepped forward.
"No."
The Elder sighed.
"We don't have a choice."
"There is always a choice."
The tension between them became obvious.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Aria stepped toward the relic.
Everyone turned.
"What if it contains answers?"
Her voice remained steady.
Stronger than she felt.
"We've been guessing this entire time."
She looked at Lucien.
"I need to know who I am."
The Alpha King stared at her.
His wolf hated this idea.
Every instinct screamed danger.
Yet he could see the determination in her eyes.
The same stubborn determination that refused to let a child burn in a collapsing building.
Eventually he nodded.
Reluctantly.
Carefully.
"One minute."
Aria managed a small smile.
"One minute."
Then she touched the relic.
Instantly, darkness exploded around her.
She was no longer inside the council chamber.
No longer inside the palace.
No longer inside Moonfall.
Instead, she stood on a battlefield.
Bodies covered the ground.
Thousands of them.
Warriors.
Creatures.
Kings.
The air smelled of blood and fire.
Above everything stood a silver throne.
Cracked.
Broken.
Abandoned.
A woman sat upon it.
Silver eyes.
Silver crown.
The Moon Queen.
The real Moon Queen.
Not a vision.
Not a memory.
Her.
The woman looked exhausted.
As though carrying the weight of the world.
When she saw Aria, she smiled sadly.
"You came."
Aria's heart pounded.
"Who are you?"
The answer changed everything.
"I am you."
The battlefield vanished.
And somewhere deep beneath the earth...
A pair of ancient silver eyes opened.
For the first time in a thousand years.
The Shadow King was awake.
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