The Ruins of Lyriana
808 Words
The map of silver light hovered in the air.
It pointed north.
Far beyond the battlefield.
Beyond the shattered lands.
Beyond the reach of the Council.
A place long erased from history.
“Lyriana…” Evelyn whispered again.
The name felt familiar.
Like a memory she had never lived.
Aiden stepped closer, his expression darkening.
“That’s where your mother hid the truth.”
The Void King’s roar echoed from the distance.
The sky trembled.
The crack in reality remained open, leaking darkness into the world.
But for the first time since the war began…
He was not advancing.
He was watching.
Waiting.
Because now the target had changed.
Evelyn lowered her glowing hand.
The moonlight faded slightly.
The map remained suspended in the air.
Lucien stepped forward immediately.
“We move now.”
Damon frowned.
“We are in the middle of a war.”
Kael cracked his neck.
“We’re always in the middle of a war.”
Cassian glanced at the sky.
“That thing won’t wait.”
He was right.
In the distance, shadow creatures regrouped.
The Council forces were collapsing.
The Void King’s army still loomed above everything like a curse waiting to fall.
Aiden turned toward Evelyn.
“You don’t have much time.”
Evelyn’s grip tightened on the pendant.
“What is Lyriana?”
Silence.
Selene’s memory still lingered in her heart.
Aiden finally spoke.
“It was a sanctuary.”
“For who?” she asked.
His eyes darkened.
“For those who carried the Moon Goddess’s blood.”
Evelyn’s heart tightened.
“People like me?”
Aiden nodded.
“And your mother.”
The map shifted suddenly.
Lines of light forming a path through the mountains.
Evelyn felt something pull inside her chest.
A direction.
A calling.
The First Wolf’s voice whispered faintly.
It remembers you.
Evelyn frowned.
“What remembers me?”
But the voice faded.
Damon stepped forward.
“We travel as a unit.”
Lucien nodded once.
“No one separates.”
Kael smirked.
“That sounds boring.”
Cassian sighed.
“It sounds necessary.”
Aiden didn’t argue.
Instead, he looked at Evelyn.
“You will be hunted all the way there.”
Evelyn met his gaze.
“I already am.”
For a moment, something like pride flickered in his eyes.
Then—
A massive explosion echoed across the battlefield behind them.
BOOOOM!
The Void King had moved.
The sky split further.
Darkness poured faster.
The decision was no longer optional.
Lucien raised his hand.
“Move.”
Instantly, the group shifted into motion.
Warriors followed.
Survivors retreated.
The remaining Council forces scrambled to escape the collapsing battlefield.
And Evelyn ran with them.
For the first time, she wasn’t running away from her destiny.
She was running toward it.
---
Hours later…
The world behind them was gone.
The battlefield had become a burning ruin in the distance.
The sky still flickered with unstable darkness.
But ahead—
The mountains rose like ancient guardians.
And somewhere inside them…
Lyriana waited.
The group stopped at the base of the cliffs.
The map shimmered above Evelyn’s hand.
Now brighter.
Stronger.
Closer.
Damon scanned the area.
“No Council trackers yet.”
Kael laughed.
“Yet.”
Cassian stared upward.
“The Void King hasn’t moved.”
Lucien’s expression was sharp.
“He’s letting us go.”
That statement made everyone quiet.
Aiden stepped forward.
“He’s not letting us go.”
He looked at Evelyn.
“He’s letting her lead him.”
A chill spread through the group.
Evelyn frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Aiden answered quietly.
“Lyriana was never just a sanctuary.”
The wind shifted suddenly.
The map flickered.
As if reacting to his words.
“It was a seal,” he continued.
A pause.
“And a trap.”
Evelyn’s blood ran cold.
“A trap for what?”
Aiden looked at the mountains.
“For him.”
Silence.
Then—
A distant crack echoed across the sky.
The Void King was getting closer.
Not behind them.
Above them.
Lucien looked up sharply.
“Something’s coming.”
The First Wolf’s voice suddenly returned.
Stronger than before.
Faster.
Urgent.
You are not going to Lyriana.
Evelyn froze.
“What?”
The map flickered violently.
The mountains seemed to shift.
The First Wolf’s voice deepened.
You are being led there.
Evelyn’s heart pounded.
“By who?”
The sky above darkened.
And then—
A new symbol appeared in the clouds.
Silver.
Beautiful.
Unfamiliar.
Aiden’s face went pale.
“No…”
Evelyn looked at him.
“What is it?”
His voice dropped.
“That’s not Moon magic.”
He swallowed.
“That’s older.”
The First Wolf went silent.
For the first time…
It did not speak.
And far ahead in the mountains…
Something inside Lyriana awakened.
Waiting.
For her arrival
- Writer
