Fate betrayal

CHAPTER 17

Chapter 17: The Moon Goddess’s

Warnings

ARIA POV

The silence of the night seemed almost unreal. The tall trees of the forest formed a wall of protection about me as I sat in the clearing. By this point, my campfire was reduced to coals that glowed dimly against the approaching night. Long shadows that seemed to move while I wasn't looking were created by the silver moon that hung low in the sky.

I couldn't recall being this agitated in the past. The Moon Goddess was always there when I closed my eyes. Her warnings had increased in frequency, urgency, and crypticness.

The night before yesterday, she had informed me, "Aria, you are the key," and I could still hear her voice in my nightmares.

What's the key? Why me, too? As I gazed into the dwindling flames, the questions swirled in my head.

I was startled out of my reverie by a faint rustling sound. Every muscle in my body tensed as my head snapped up. I looked around the woodland, my keen senses searching for danger. However, there was nothing to indicate that I wasn't alone, including no movement or aroma.

However, I didn't feel alone.

A voice, so faint I nearly believed I was dreaming, said, "Aria."

My heart thumping, I sprang to my feet. "Who is present?"

Quiet.

I grabbed the dagger that was fastened to my thigh. Though I didn't think it would aid against whatever was hiding in the shadows, the cold weight of the sword was reassuring.

Then the flames jumped high, lighting the area as the fire abruptly ignited. She was standing across from the flames. Selene.

With her eyes shining with an unearthly brilliance and her silver hair flowing like liquid light, the Moon Goddess seemed as ethereal as ever. She seemed exhausted rather than angry or harsh.

I tried to sound firm, but my voice was trembling as I said, "You're here."

She said, "You called me," in a quiet voice that seemed to come from both nowhere and everywhere at once.

"I didn't—" I stopped. Perhaps I phoned her. I had definitely given her enough thought.

Selene took a step forward, her shimmering body dancing in the firelight. "Ariana, time is running out. The more days that go by, the more the equilibrium slips.

"What equilibrium?" I gripped my dagger hard and commanded. "You never tell me what I'm meant to do, even though you constantly assuring me that I'm crucial and necessary! When I don't even know what's wrong, how am I meant to repair it?

For a second, I thought she would really give me a direct response as her eyes softened.

She said, "Ariana, you are not broken." However, the link is. It was broken when you abandoned your partners, and the associated power is now dissolving.

I became cold. My friends. Killian and Darius. I had abandoned them because I believed it was the only way to shield them from the mayhem that followed me everywhere.

Selene went on, her tone becoming melancholy. "The piece of your relationship has become shaky. It thrives on the emptiness you left behind when you turned down your destined relationship. It will corrupt you and the people you care about if it isn't recovered.

The earth seemed to have been yanked out from beneath me. "Taint them? How?

Aria, the mate bond's strength is holy. When it breaks, it festers rather than dies. Darkness is how it seems, entangling and devouring everything in its path.

As I tried to take in what she had said, I shook my head. "What should I do now? How do I put an end to it?

"You have to face the piece," Selene replied. It is located in the Shadowed Crypt, where darkness and light meet. But watch out, Aria—those shadows aren't just illusions. They will put you to the test and challenge your limitations. And if you make a mistake...

The unsaid words hung heavily in the air as her voice faded away.

With the weight of her words pressing down on me, I balled my fists. "Why me?" I muttered. "Why must it be me every time?"

Selene took a step forward me and touched my face with her fingers. She had a calm, almost reassuring touch.

"Because you underestimate your strength," she remarked quietly. "And because, despite your inability to understand why, this world needs you."

Under the early light, her shape started to shimmer and then faded like mist.

"Hold on!" I yelled. "How can I locate the crypt?"

Her voice seemed distant and weak, echoing in the air around me. Aria, follow the shadows. You will find the truth via them.

Then she was gone.

---

I dismantled my tent and started to hike the next morning. I simply knew that I needed to believe what Selene was saying; I had no idea where I was heading.

The sun hardly made it through the dense canopy above, and the jungle got darker as the day wore on. Unnaturally, the shadows appeared to grow longer and move, leading me along a trail of overgrowth that I had not before seen.

I arrived in a clearing that was unlike any I had ever seen by dusk. A huge, ominous stone edifice loomed in the middle of it. Runes glowed on its surface, their light pulsing slightly like a pulse.

The Crypt of Shadows.

With my blade in hand, I warily walked up. The runes appeared to hum as I approached, and the air around the tomb was heavy, almost oppressive.

There was a black emptiness beyond when the huge stone doors groaned open by themselves. With the faint sound of whispering, a chilly breeze surged out.

At the doorway, I paused, every instinct telling me to go back. However, I was unable to. Not when I was aware of the danger.

I braced myself and went inside.

I was completely engulfed by the darkness. Here the air was cooler, acrid and stinging. I could hear the voices overlapping in a frantic symphony as the whispers became louder.

One voice, different from the others, muttered, "Aria." It was guttural, low, and brimming with hate. "You ought not to have attended."

I looked around, but all I saw were shadows.

Then I was falling as the earth underneath me moved.

I was in a large room filled with a spooky silver light as I landed. There was a pedestal in the middle, and a glistening piece of crystal rested on it.

The piece.

However, the shadows came together to create a figure that halted me in my tracks before I could move.

I was the one.

Or rather, a dark, twisted version of myself, with a wicked grin curled around her lips and crimson eyes.

"This cannot be fixed," she added in a scornful tone. "You've failed already."

With my heart thumping in my chest, I lifted my dagger. "We'll check on that."

Then she sprang forward.