The Betrayal
450 Words
Chapter Eight
“Bella,” Kevin says urgently, rising. “Listen to me carefully. The Wardens didn’t just protect balance. They fed it.”
My head snaps toward him.
“What?”
Elias’ jaw tightens.
“Don’t.”
Kevin ignores him.
“Morrath was never meant to be destroyed. It was bound to your line. Each generation gave a portion of their power to keep it asleep.”
Ice floods my veins.
“And if they didn’t?”
Kevin looks at the sea demon towering behind me.
“It feeds.”
The wolves bristle. Raife steps forward.
“She needs to bind it again.”
The hybrid laughs softly.
“Or she could control it.”
Every eye turns to him. He shrugs.
“Imagine it. A Sea Warden who doesn’t seal the Devourer… but commands it.”
The thought slides into my mind like silk. Power. Absolute. Terrifying. Elias grabs my shoulders.
“Don’t even consider it.”
“Why?” I snap. “Your kind has ruled for centuries.”
“And destroyed everything we touched,” he growls.
Morrath’s presence presses closer to me. Warm and welcoming.
“You are not meant to serve. You are meant to reign.”
The sea wraps around my ankles. Not drowning but claiming.
And then pain. It rips through my spine like lightning.I scream. Raife moves first but Elias is faster. He catches me as I collapse.My skin burns but its not red or it's usual pale colour it's glowing, faint silver veins illuminate beneath the surface. My reflection in the water shifts. My eyes are no longer fully brown. They shimmer deep ocean blue. Kevin stares in awe.
“It’s happening already…”
“What is happening?” I gasp.
Raife answers quietly.
“She’s becoming more than Warden.”
The hybrid’s smile widens.
“Or less human.”
And that’s when the betrayal happens. Not from Kevin or from the wolves. From the hybrid.
He moves faster than any of us expect. Claws fully extending.
He lunges, not at me at Morrath and drives something into the sea demon’s core. A blade that looks like is made of bone and some kind of black metal. The ocean explodes in rage. The hybrid laughs even as the water begins to crush him.
“Long live chaos!”
Morrath roars. The blade wasn’t meant to kill it. It was meant to unbind it completely. The chains shatter. Every ancient seal your bloodline ever made is now gone. The sky turns blood-red. Raife curses.
“You i***t!”
The hybrid disintegrates under the pressure of the sea. But it’s too late. Morrath is no longer rising. It is fully here.
Free.
- Writer
