The Goddess’s Warning
418 Words
The rain stopped just before dawn.
Ash drifted through the ruined courtyard, settling over fallen banners and shattered stone. The air still hummed with leftover magic—the kind that remembered every scream.
Aria knelt beside what remained of the battle fires. Her mark no longer glowed; instead, a faint ring of silver encircled it, etched into her skin like a second moon. It hadn’t been there before.
Kael approached quietly, armor dark with soot. “You burned the field clean,” he said. “And left this.” He brushed his fingers near the new mark, not daring to touch. “What does it mean?”
Aria shook her head. “It feels … alive.”
“The Moonfire obeyed you,” Daren said from behind Kael. “Now it brands you. That’s no blessing.”
A chill ran through the courtyard. Clouds thinned, and pale light spilled down. The air shimmered—then a voice, soft and distant, rolled through the space like wind over water.
“Child of shadow and flame, power unbound brings ruin. The bond you forge will crown and consume.”
The ground trembled. Aria gasped as silver light flared beneath her feet, symbols blooming across the stones in the shape of a crescent throne. Kael grabbed her shoulders, pulling her close.
“Goddess,” he breathed. “Show yourself.”
The voice only laughed—low, sorrowful.
“Would you defy fate, Lycan King? Then bleed for her as she will bleed for you.”
Then the light vanished. Silence returned, broken only by the crackle of dying fires.
Aria sagged against him, shaking. “She spoke of ruin.”
Kael’s hand steadied her. “Prophecies speak in riddles.”
“Riddles that kill,” Daren muttered.
Kael ignored him. “We’ll find her meaning. There’s an oracle beyond the Frost Vale—old enough to have seen the Moon’s first rising. She’ll know.”
Aria looked up, eyes searching his. “And if she says the goddess meant to end us?”
Kael’s answer was simple, fierce. “Then we end the prophecy first.”
⸻
That night, the fortress slept uneasily. Aria stood at the balcony again, the new mark gleaming faintly. Somewhere below, Kael’s steps echoed through the halls, restless as her own heartbeat. She touched the silver ring and whispered to the unseen sky,
“Crown or consume, goddess—I’ll choose my own fate.”
Far beyond the clouds, the Moon burned brighter, as if listening.
- Writer
