Chapter 17 – The Twin Moons’ Prophecy
1224 Words
The storm had not stopped for three days.
The wind howled across the mountains like something alive, tearing through the forests and rattling the fortress gates. Inside, fires burned low and shadows crawled along the stone walls, whispering of things older than memory.
I hadn’t slept since the vision.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the two moons circling each other — silver and gold — locked in their endless dance. Their light still burned behind my eyelids, as if a part of that otherworld had followed me back.
Lycian watched me from across the war table. He hadn’t said much since that night. But I could feel the storm inside him too — the same pull between duty and something dangerously close to faith.
“We can’t wait here,” I said finally. “The voice said my choice decides which world survives. If we do nothing—”
He cut me off. “You could die, Emily.”
“Or I could save us all.”
The words came out sharper than I meant. For a heartbeat, the room fell silent except for the crackle of the fire.
His jaw tightened. “You sound like your father.”
“I’m not him.”
“Then stop chasing his ghost.”
That hurt more than I wanted to admit. I looked away, tracing the map spread out before us — mountains, rivers, borders drawn in ink and blood. At the center, a circle marked The Sacred Ridge.
“That’s where it began,” I said softly. “And that’s where it’ll end.”
Lycian stepped closer, resting both hands on the table. “The Ridge is forbidden for a reason. No wolf has returned from it.”
“Maybe they weren’t meant to,” I said. “Maybe they didn’t have the mark.”
His gaze fell to my wrist. The faint white light pulsed beneath my skin, like a heartbeat that belonged to something older than me.
He sighed, the kind of sound that carried years of unspoken fear. “If we do this, we go together.”
“Together,” I promised.
We left before dawn.
The rain had turned the earth to mud, the sky heavy with clouds. The forest smelled of wet leaves and lightning. Each step took us farther from the safety of the pack, deeper into the wild silence that existed beyond its borders.
By midday, the air had changed — colder, thinner. Birds no longer sang. The trees grew taller and stranger, their bark etched with marks that glowed faintly when we passed.
“This place remembers,” Lycian murmured, running his fingers across one of the markings. “Old magic.”
“Not wolf magic,” I said. “Older.”
We followed a narrow trail that wound up the mountain, past crumbling stone pillars half-swallowed by moss. My pulse quickened with every step. The mark on my wrist grew warmer, guiding me like a compass.
When we reached the plateau, the clouds parted for the first time in days.
The Sacred Ridge lay before us — a wide circle of black stone, smooth as glass, etched with runes that shimmered under the faint sunlight. And above it, even in the daylight, both moons hung in the sky, pale ghosts of themselves.
I stopped breathing. “They’re here.”
Lycian’s hand found mine, grounding me. “Then so are we.”
We stepped into the circle.
The air changed instantly — charged, electric, like the pause before thunder. The runes flared white, then gold, then white again. The light seeped through my boots, up my legs, into my skin.
And then… the world dissolved.
I stood in a place that was both sky and sea — endless, shifting light stretching in all directions. The moons hovered above me, closer now, almost within reach.
A figure emerged from the glow — neither man nor woman, wrapped in shadow and moonlight. Their voice echoed like the tide.
“You have come, child of two moons.”
“I’m not a child,” I said, though my voice trembled.
“All power begins as one.”
“What am I?”
“You are the bridge — between blood and breath, between beast and being.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will. When the moons touch, one world will fade. The choice is yours: unite them, or divide them forever.”
The light flickered, revealing shapes behind the figure — wolves made of stars, humans of smoke, all watching. Their faces were unreadable, ancient.
“But know this,” the voice continued. “Balance demands sacrifice.”
I felt the ground vanish beneath me. The light turned to fire, burning but not consuming. I gasped, clutching my chest. Images flashed — Lycian’s face, the pack, flames, blood, a howl that split the sky.
“No!” I cried. “There has to be another way!”
The figure tilted their head.
“There is always another way. But every path carries a price.”
Then everything shattered.
I woke to Lycian shaking me. The world had color again — gray sky, cold wind, stone beneath me. My throat hurt like I’d been screaming for hours.
“Emily!” His eyes were wild. “You disappeared — you were gone, I couldn’t—”
I grabbed his arm. “I saw them. The moons. The prophecy… it’s real.”
He swallowed hard. “What did it say?”
“That I have to choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Whether to unite or destroy the two worlds. Human and wolf.” I looked up at the sky, where both moons now glowed faintly through the clouds. “But to do that, something — someone — has to be sacrificed.”
Lycian went still. “You mean—”
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “But it feels like the magic is already deciding.”
For a long time, we said nothing. The wind tugged at my cloak, carrying the distant echo of a howl — low, mournful, too far away to be real.
Lycian finally spoke. “We’ll find another way. We always do.”
“You don’t believe that.”
His jaw tightened. “I have to.”
He helped me to my feet. My knees were shaking, but the mark on my wrist glowed steadily — stronger than before, almost blinding.
“Emily,” he said quietly. “If the choice comes to that… if it’s your life or the world’s—”
“Don’t,” I cut him off. “Don’t finish that sentence.”
He looked away, but I saw the fear flicker in his eyes.
The sky rumbled again. A silver tear of light split the clouds, illuminating the path back down the mountain. It felt like the world itself was holding its breath.
“The moons are moving closer,” I said. “It’s starting.”
Lycian nodded once. “Then we move faster.”
As we began our descent, the ground trembled beneath us. From the valley below came the faint, unmistakable sound of war drums.
Cael’s army was already on the march.
And above us, the two moons crept closer, their light bleeding together — silver and gold, life and shadow, love and doom.
- Writer
