Chapter 20 — The Three-Day Countdown
940 Words
The temple remained silent after the First Alpha disappeared.
Elara stood beneath the fading moonlight, staring at the place where he had vanished.
Three days.
That was all he had given her.
Three days to find a way to break his curse without destroying the Moon Kingdom.
Three days to save thousands of lives.
And three days to discover whether there was another secret hiding beneath everything she had learned.
Cassian stepped beside her.
“We’re going back to the palace.”
Elara didn’t move.
“I need answers.”
“You’ve been awake all night.”
“I don’t care.”
“Elara.”
She finally looked at him.
“I can’t let him win.”
“You won’t.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I believe it.”
She studied his face.
“You almost died because of me.”
Cassian shook his head.
“I almost died because he attacked us. That’s different.”
“It doesn’t feel different.”
He reached for her hand.
“Then stop blaming yourself for everything.”
Elara looked down at their hands.
For a moment, the fear inside her became quieter.
Then Lysandra approached.
“We need to leave.”
Elara turned.
“Why?”
“The temple is no longer safe.”
“Does the palace have answers?”
“Some.”
“Then let’s go.”
They returned to the Moon Kingdom before sunrise.
The streets were strangely quiet.
Warriors stood on every corner, watching the mountains.
Everyone knew something was coming.
When Elara entered the royal chamber, several council members were waiting.
One of them immediately stood.
“Your Majesty, we should evacuate the kingdom.”
Another shook his head.
“Where would we go?”
“The eastern territories.”
“They’ll never accept us.”
Elara listened without speaking.
Then she walked toward the center of the room.
“We are not abandoning the kingdom.”
The council became silent.
“We have three days.”
One elder stepped forward.
“And what exactly do you intend to do?”
“Find the truth.”
He frowned.
“The truth won’t stop the First Alpha.”
“Maybe not.”
Elara looked at the Moon Crown.
“But it might tell us how to defeat him.”
Lysandra nodded.
“There is one place we haven’t searched.”
Elara turned.
“Where?”
“The royal archives.”
Cassian looked surprised.
“I thought the archives were destroyed.”
“They were supposed to be.”
Lysandra walked toward a hidden door behind the throne.
She pressed her hand against the wall.
A section of stone moved.
A staircase appeared.
Elara followed her underground.
The deeper they went, the colder the air became.
Ancient symbols covered the walls.
At the bottom stood a massive wooden door.
Lysandra opened it.
Shelves filled the chamber.
Books.
Scrolls.
Ancient maps.
Records from hundreds of years ago.
Elara stared.
“You kept all of this?”
“I couldn’t destroy our history.”
They searched for hours.
Cassian examined old records while Elara read through royal documents.
Then she found something.
A book bound in black leather.
Its title was written in silver.
THE FIRST BLOOD.
Elara opened it.
The first page contained a drawing of the First Alpha.
Beneath it was a warning.
The First Alpha cannot be destroyed by ordinary means.
Elara turned the page.
Another line appeared.
His curse is connected to the Moon Crown.
Her heart raced.
“Cassian.”
He came over.
“What?”
She showed him the page.
“If the curse is connected to the crown, then maybe we can separate them.”
Lysandra took the book.
“Keep reading.”
Elara turned the page.
Her eyes widened.
“There.”
A paragraph explained that the First Alpha had once been bound to the Moon Crown by the Moon Goddess herself.
But there was a second condition.
The bond could only be broken by the true heir.
Elara stared at her mother.
“That’s me.”
“Yes.”
“But there’s a catch.”
Cassian read the final line.
“What does it say?”
Elara swallowed.
“It says the heir must willingly give up the crown.”
Silence.
Cassian’s expression changed.
“If you give up the crown, what happens?”
Elara looked down at the book.
“I don’t know.”
Lysandra’s face became pale.
“There should be another page.”
They searched frantically.
Nothing.
Then Elara noticed something strange.
A faint silver mark appeared on the final page.
She touched it.
The book opened by itself.
A hidden message appeared.
The crown can be surrendered only once.
Elara stepped back.
“What does that mean?”
Lysandra stared at the message.
“It means once you give it up, you can never reclaim it.”
Cassian looked at Elara.
“You’d lose your powers.”
Elara nodded.
“And my claim to the throne.”
Another silence.
She looked at the crown.
For the first time, she understood what the First Alpha really wanted.
He didn’t need to steal the crown.
He needed her to surrender it.
But why?
Elara turned another page.
There was one final sentence.
Her heart stopped.
The heir who surrenders the crown becomes the First Alpha’s successor.
Cassian’s expression hardened.
“No.”
Elara closed the book.
“We’ve been looking at this wrong.”
Lysandra frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“The First Alpha doesn’t want me to destroy him.”
Elara looked toward the doorway.
“He wants me to replace him.”
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