The old shrine
2294 Words
The Old Shrine
Nobody moved.
The warrior stood in the doorway, covered in blood. His chest rose and fell as he tried to catch his breath.
Darius stared at him.
“What happened?”
“We found the body.”
“Whose body?”
The warrior swallowed.
“The Luna’s.”
A gasp went through the room.
My stomach dropped.
Darius’s mother was dead?
She had been missing since last night, but nobody had expected this.
Darius stepped forward.
“Where?”
“The old shrine.”
His face changed.
I noticed it at once.
Fear.
Real fear.
“Take me there.”
He turned to leave.
“I’m coming.”
He stopped.
“No.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Stay here.”
“You just rejected me. You don’t get to order me around.”
A few people went quiet.
Darius looked at me.
His eyes were hard, but there was something beneath them.
Something I couldn’t read.
“Lena, stay away from that shrine.”
“Why?”
“Because it isn’t safe.”
“Then why are you going?”
His jaw tightened.
He didn’t answer.
I stepped closer.
“You know something.”
“I don’t.”
“You’re lying.”
His eyes met mine.
For a second, neither of us moved.
Then he looked away.
That was enough.
He was hiding something.
The warrior cleared his throat.
“Alpha, we need to go.”
Darius nodded.
Then he looked at me one last time.
“Don’t follow me.”
He walked away.
I watched him disappear through the doors.
My chest hurt.
I hated that it still hurt.
I hated that a part of me still wanted him to turn around.
He didn’t.
I looked at the people around me.
Some were whispering.
Some were staring.
I couldn’t stay here.
I pushed through the crowd and stepped outside.
The night air hit my face.
I took a deep breath.
Then I heard it.
Come.
I froze.
My heart started racing.
I looked around.
Nobody was there.
“Who are you?”
Silence.
Then the voice came again.
Come to the shrine.
My wolf stirred.
Lena, don’t.
“I know.”
Then why are you going?
I didn’t have an answer.
Maybe I was tired of being kept in the dark.
Maybe I needed to know why Darius was afraid.
Or maybe I already knew I was walking into something I couldn’t escape.
I entered the forest.
The trees grew thicker with every step.
Branches scratched my arms.
The moonlight barely reached the ground.
I kept going.
Soon, the old shrine appeared between the trees.
I hadn’t been there in years.
My mother used to bring me there when I was little.
I remembered her hand in mine.
I remembered the bells hanging from the trees.
And I remembered what she always told me.
“Never come here alone.”
I had never understood why.
Now I did.
The shrine looked abandoned.
Vines covered the walls.
The wooden doors were cracked.
But there were footprints in the mud.
Fresh ones.
I crouched.
Boots.
Bare feet.
Then I saw something else.
Wolf tracks.
My heart started pounding.
Someone had been here.
Recently.
I stood and looked at the stone beside the door.
There was a strange symbol carved into it.
The same symbol the warrior had mentioned.
I reached out.
The moment my fingers touched it, pain shot through my hand.
I gasped.
Everything went black.
Then I saw her.
My mother.
She stood in the middle of the shrine.
Her face was wet with tears.
“Mom?”
She looked at me.
“Lena.”
I tried to reach her.
She stepped back.
“Listen to me.”
“Where are you?”
“You have to leave.”
“Why?”
She looked over her shoulder.
Her face filled with fear.
“They found you.”
“Who?”
She opened her mouth.
The vision disappeared.
I gasped and stumbled against the wall.
My hand was burning.
I looked down.
The symbol was glowing beneath my skin.
A footstep sounded inside the shrine.
I froze.
Another.
Someone was here.
I reached for the door.
It opened.
A hand grabbed my wrist.
I screamed.
“Quiet.”
Darius.
He pulled me inside and shut the door.
“What are you doing here?”
“I heard a voice.”
His eyes narrowed.
“What voice?”
“I don’t know.”
He looked at my hand.
His face went pale.
“What is that?”
“I don’t know.”
He grabbed my wrist.
His fingers were shaking.
“Where did you get this?”
“It appeared when I touched the stone.”
He stared at it.
Then he looked away.
“You need to leave.”
“Stop saying that.”
“Lena.”
“No. Tell me what is happening.”
He didn’t answer.
Something dripped onto the floor.
We both looked down.
Blood.
Fresh blood.
I followed the trail.
A body lay near the altar.
A woman.
Long dark hair.
A silver necklace around her neck.
I knew that necklace.
My mother’s.
I stopped breathing.
“That’s my mother’s necklace.”
Darius moved in front of me.
“Don’t look.”
“Why?”
“Lena.”
I pushed past him.
I stared at the body.
It wasn’t his mother.
I looked at Darius.
“Then who is she?”
He didn’t answer.
A sound came from behind the altar.
Darius pushed me behind him.
A low growl filled the shrine.
A man stepped from the shadows.
Blood covered his shirt.
His face was bruised.
But he was smiling.
Darius stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
The man laughed.
“You don’t remember me?”
Darius’s eyes narrowed.
“Answer me.”
The man looked past him.
Straight at me.
His smile faded.
“No.”
He took a step back.
“She survived.”
My heart stopped.
“What are you talking about?”
He stared at me.
“Your mother told us you were dead.”
My mouth went dry.
“Who are you?”
“Someone who was there that night.”
“What night?”
“The night your mother disappeared.”
Darius moved toward him.
“What did you do to her?”
The man ignored him.
His eyes stayed on me.
“You really don’t know.”
“Know what?”
He looked at Darius.
Then back at me.
“You aren’t Lena Vale.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
Darius suddenly grabbed my arm.
“Don’t listen to him.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
His grip tightened.
“Because he’s lying.”
The stranger smiled.
“Am I?”
Darius’s face changed.
The man stepped closer.
“You should ask him what happened the night your mother disappeared.”
“Darius?”
He didn’t answer.
My heart sank.
“You know?”
His silence said everything.
Then the stranger whispered,
“She wasn’t the only person who disappeared that night.”
I stared at him.
“Who else?”
His eyes locked onto mine.
“You.”
The room went silent.
I couldn’t breathe.
Darius’s grip loosened.
The stranger smiled.
“Your mother didn’t hide you from us.”
He looked at Darius.
“She hid you from him.”
The lanterns went out.
Darkness swallowed the shrine.
I heard Darius shout my name.
Then something cold touched the back of my neck.
A voice whispered into my ear.
“Do you want to know who you really are?”
My body froze.
I knew that voice.
It was the same voice that had warned me earlier.
The voice that had told me Darius never rejected me.
And now it was whispering from inside my own head.
Run lena,
He’s waking up.
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