Chapter Four: The Trial of Memory
744 Words
The fire crackled with unnatural rhythm, casting flickering shadows along the cave walls. Selene stared, unmoving, as her mother’s ghostly image faded into the smoke. Her body was frozen, but her mind spun like a storm.
“He knew. He always knew.”
The words echoed, slicing deeper than claws ever could.
Lucien placed a steadying hand on her shoulder. “Selene—”
She flinched away. “Why did she say that? How can I see her? She’s dead.”
“She’s a memory,” Lucien said. “Or rather, your memory. The first trial has begun.”
Selene backed away from the fire. “This is insane. I’m not ready. I didn’t ask for this.”
“No,” he agreed. “But the Moon doesn’t wait for readiness. Only worth.”
The flames surged again, and this time, Selene wasn’t just seeing her mother—she was being pulled into the memory.
She blinked—
And suddenly, she was there.
A darkened cottage. Wind howling through cracks in the walls. A child’s sobs echoing from the corner.
She turned and saw herself—barely six years old, clutching her knees, tears streaking her cheeks.
“Where’s Mommy?” the young Selene cried. “Where is she?!”
Selene felt her own breath shorten. She remembered this night.
The storm. The screaming.
And then—
The door had burst open.
Kael stepped in, taller than she remembered, cloaked in black. His face was unreadable, his eyes cold. He approached the child version of her.
Selene tried to speak—tried to scream—but the memory played on without her control.
He knelt beside young Selene and whispered something too soft to hear.
Then he rose.
And walked straight into the back room—where her mother had been hiding.
Selene surged forward, shoving open the invisible door.
There, her mother stood in the shadows, hands glowing faintly with magic.
“You can’t take her,” she said.
Kael drew his blade. “It’s not my choice. The Council has decreed—she must be silenced before she awakens.”
“She's just a child!”
“She’s a threat.”
The blade flashed.
Selene screamed.
The memory shattered.
She dropped to her knees, gasping, back in the cave.
Lucien caught her before she collapsed.
“You saw it, didn’t you?” he asked gently.
She didn’t answer. Couldn’t.
Her mother hadn’t died in an accident. She had been executed.
By Kael.
By the same man Selene had loved, craved, mourned.
Lucien’s jaw tightened. “They buried the truth so deep, even you forgot.”
“He was supposed to protect me,” she whispered. “He was family.”
“He was a coward.”
Selene looked at her hands—trembling, glowing faintly now with the same light her mother once held.
Her voice came out hoarse. “She tried to fight them. Alone.”
Lucien nodded. “But you don’t have to.”
Selene stood slowly. “The Council will pay for what they did.”
“There’s more,” Lucien warned. “The trials aren't just memories. They awaken the parts of you that were sealed. They unlock your magic—but they come at a cost.”
“I’ll pay it,” she said.
“Even if it breaks you?”
Her eyes were fierce now. “Then I’ll rise from the pieces.”
He stepped back, bowing slightly. “Then prepare. The next trial will test your will against the pull of the Alpha Bond.”
Selene’s breath hitched.
“The bond with Kael?” she asked.
Lucien nodded. “If you sever it, you’ll reclaim your full strength. But if you falter…”
“I won’t,” she snapped. “I’d rather burn than be chained to him again.”
He studied her. “We’ll see.”
A gust of wind swept through the cave. The seal on her wrist burned.
Selene hissed, gripping it. The crescent rune split in two, revealing an inner mark—the symbol of severance.
Lucien paled. “You weren’t supposed to face this trial until the full moon.”
The fire flared again, casting Kael’s shadow on the wall.
He was coming.
Selene’s mark glowed white-hot.
And then the cave trembled.
> Outside, a howl split the sky—a chilling, broken sound that shattered the night’s silence.
Lucien turned to her, face grim.
“He’s found you.”
- Writer
