Chapter 11 - What the Portal Unleashed
1762 Words
The words echoed from everywhere at once.
Above her.
Behind her.
Within her.
Avana spun around, searching desperately.
"Who's there?"
No answer.
Her breathing quickened.
"Please... show yourself."
Silence.
She was completely alone.
Yet the unseen presence remained overwhelming, as though the entire universe itself had spoken directly into her soul.
The question lingered.
What is your greatest wish?
Her thoughts drifted backward through years of loneliness.
A father she had never known.
A mother taken from her far too soon.
A family that had disappeared piece by piece until nothing remained.
A pack that had never accepted her.
A life spent watching happiness belong to everyone except her.
Then...
Another face quietly appeared within her heart.
Not a face.
A silver mask.
The mysterious stranger.
Heat crept into her cheeks.
Her fingers intertwined nervously.
"I..."
She lowered her gaze, suddenly unable to meet the invisible presence surrounding her.
"I want to meet him again."
Her voice was barely more than a whisper.
"I want to know who he really is."
She swallowed.
"I..."
A shy smile appeared despite herself.
"...I want him."
The silence lasted only a heartbeat.
Then the endless white world erupted with deep endless laughter.
It rolled across the empty space like thunder echoing through forgotten heavens.
"Is that truly your greatest wish?" the unseen voice asked, amusement coloring every syllable.
"Search your heart again."
"There is something you desire even more."
The laughter faded.
Avana froze.
Her smile slowly disappeared.
She closed her eyes.
For a long time, she said nothing.
Then another truth rose from the deepest corner of her heart, a truth she had buried beneath years of quiet acceptance.
She was wolfless.
Every child in the Moon Fang Pack dreamed of the day they would awaken their wolf.
She had waited. She prayed.
She cried. She hoped.
Year after year, nothing had ever been answered.
She had watched others celebrate while pretending not to notice the pity in their eyes.
She had endured ridicule, humiliation, and endless whispers.
How could someone without a wolf ever dream of becoming anyone's Luna?
How could she hope to stand beside a powerful Alpha when she couldn't even hear the voice of a wolf within her own soul?
Tears gathered silently beneath her closed lashes.
When she finally spoke, her voice trembled with heartbreaking honesty.
"My greatest wish..."
She paused, struggling to force out the words she had carried inside her heart for nineteen long years.
"...is to have a wolf."
The laughter vanished.
The silence that followed felt sacred.
Then, with absolute certainty, the mysterious voice spoke a single word.
"Granted.”
Avana's heart stopped.
An invisible force hurled her to the ground.
Her eyes squeezed shut—
Then they flew open.
The endless white world around her was changing.
Her breath hitched as something impossible began to awaken beyond the sealed portal.
"W-what... have you just done to me?”
The moment the word left the unseen voice, the endless white world trembled.
A low, thunderous rumble rolled through the void, growing louder with every heartbeat until it seemed to shake the heavens themselves.
Behind Avana, the sealed portal burst open in a blaze of dazzling silver light.
She gasped, shielding her eyes as waves of warm energy surged toward her.
The light was unlike anything she had ever felt.
It wasn't painful. It was... gentle and comforting.
As though unseen hands had wrapped her in the safest embrace she had ever known.
The warmth seeped into every wound hidden beneath her skin, every scar buried inside her heart, and every lonely corner of her soul.
For one breathtaking moment, she felt... complete.
Then the force nudged her forward.
She stumbled helplessly toward the portal.
The brilliant light swallowed her whole.
Everything disappeared.
Avana's eyes snapped open.
She bolted upright with a sharp gasp, her chest rising and falling as though she had been underwater for far too long.
The temple came into focus little by little.
Ancient stone walls. Broken pillars.
The weathered altar resting beneath shafts of morning sunlight.
She pressed a trembling hand against her pounding heart.
"It... was only a dream..."
But even as she whispered the words, they felt strangely hollow.
The dream had been too vivid, too real.
Slowly, she touched her fingertips together, half expecting to find traces of the mysterious silver light still clinging to her skin.
Nothing.
Only the faint sting of healing wounds remained.
Yet...something inside her felt different.
She couldn't explain it.
The crushing hopelessness that had shadowed her every waking moment had become lighter, replaced by a quiet determination she had never possessed before.
She drew a slow breath.
Then another.
Carefully, she pushed herself to her feet.
Pain immediately protested through her bruised ribs and healing cuts, forcing her to steady herself against one of the temple's ancient pillars.
A quiet laugh escaped her lips.
"I'm still alive."
The words sounded almost unbelievable.
After everything Alpha Damon and his son had done to her...
After all the pain...
After all the blood she had shed...
She was still standing.
That alone felt like a miracle.
Taking cautious steps, Avana walked toward the temple entrance.
The cool morning breeze welcomed her the instant she stepped outside.
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.
Fresh rain-washed earth.
Wildflowers.
Pine.
The crisp scent of mountain water.
When she opened her eyes again, the breathtaking landscape stretched before her.
Crystal-clear waterfalls tumbled over towering cliffs before crashing into sparkling streams that wound gracefully through the forest below.
Golden sunlight filtered through the towering canopy, scattering dancing patches of light across moss-covered stones.
Bright birds flitted from branch to branch, filling the peaceful valley with cheerful songs.
Even after everything she had endured...
The Moon Fang Pack remained heartbreakingly beautiful.
Nature had never learned to hate.
Only people had.
Her gaze drifted back toward the temple.
Mounted upon the far wall hung an enormous painting that had survived the passing centuries.
Dust softened its colors, yet its magnificence remained impossible to ignore.
A regal Luna stood beneath a glowing crescent moon, dressed in flowing silver robes embroidered with intricate runes.
Beside her towered an enormous silver wolf, its intelligent eyes fixed protectively upon the world beyond the canvas.
In one elegant hand, the Luna held a jeweled scepter crowned with a radiant moonstone.
Power.
Grace.
Authority.
Everything Avana had never imagined herself becoming.
She stared longer than she intended.
Without warning, another image quietly surfaced inside her thoughts.
A silver mask.
Heat crept into her cheeks.
"Why am I thinking about him again?"
Almost unconsciously, her hand slipped beneath her clothes until her fingers closed around the pendant resting against her chest.
The metal felt pleasantly warm.
Not from but within the morning sun.
The comforting warmth spread through her fingers and slowly eased the restless beating of her heart.
A small smile touched her lips.
Before she could lose herself in the memory—
Crunch.
Footsteps.
Someone was approaching.
Avana's body instantly tensed.
Her hand tightened around the pendant before she quickly tucked it back beneath her clothes.
She stepped behind one of the temple's broken stone columns, her breathing becoming slow and careful.
The footsteps grew closer.
Through the trees emerged a young woman carrying a woven basket overflowing with freshly gathered herbs, wild vegetables, fragrant leaves, and delicate woodland flowers.
Avana recognized her immediately.
Aria.
She came to this secluded part of the forest almost every week, gathering medicinal plants for her mother and fragrant herbs she used to bake the soft herbal breads everyone secretly loved.
She had no idea someone was watching her.
Avana hesitated.
She wanted to call out.
But what if Aria became frightened?
What if someone had followed her?
Just then, an unexpected tickle rose in Avana's throat.
She tried to suppress it.
It was already too late.
A weak cough escaped her lips.
Aria froze mid-step.
The basket shifted nervously in her hands as she slowly turned toward the abandoned temple.
"...Hello?"
Only silence answered.
She frowned.
Another faint cough drifted through the trees.
Concern replaced caution.
Setting her basket down, Aria carefully followed the sound, pushing aside overgrown vines until she stepped into the clearing.
The instant her eyes landed on the thin, battered young woman standing beside the ruined pillar...
Time stopped.
Her lips parted.
The color drained from her face.
The basket slipped from her fingers.
Fresh herbs scattered across the forest floor.
"...Avana?"
Her voice cracked.
"No..."
She blinked rapidly, as though afraid the image would disappear.
"It can't be..."
Tears instantly flooded her eyes.
"It... it's really you."
Before Avana could answer, Aria ran.
She threw her arms around her friend with such force that Avana staggered backward.
"Avana!"
The embrace nearly stole the breath from her lungs.
For a heartbeat, she simply stood there, frozen.
Then, slowly, she wrapped her arms around Aria.
"...Aria."
Emotion tightened her voice.
Aria buried her face against Avana's shoulder, sobbing openly.
"I thought I'd lost you."
"I searched everywhere."
"I asked everyone."
"I never stopped praying that you were alive."
Avana closed her eyes.
For the first time in many years...
She no longer felt alone.
Their friendship had begun years ago, when they were little girls struggling to find their place in a world that judged people far too quickly.
Older pack children often mocked Aria for being the daughter of a humble herbal healer instead of a respected warrior.
One afternoon, Avana had quietly stepped between them, taking every cruel insult upon herself until the bullies eventually lost interest and walked away.
From that day onward, Aria had refused to leave Avana's side.
Later, when she discovered Avana hiding behind the old training grounds after another brutal punishment, she hadn't asked questions.
She had simply sat beside her, divided her lunch into two equal portions, and smiled.
It was the first act of kindness Avana had received in years.
From that moment forward, they became sisters, not through blood, but through choice.
They shared laughter. They shared secrets.
Dreams whispered beneath moonlit skies.
They cried together after difficult days.
They protected each other's hearts.
And while the rest of the Moon Fang Pack looked at Avana with contempt...
Aria never once did.
That had never changed.
If only they had known.
Long before that moment, fate had already chosen the two words that would change everything.
Then... the silence broke.
A single voice echoed through the stillness.
And at last… the waiting was over
No one was prepared for the two words that came next.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD