Chapter 123
Chapter 123
Ellaine’s Point of View:
The dark haze twisted around me like vines made of nightmares, slithering around my ankles, rising toward my throat. I couldn’t breathe.
The sky above warped with shadows, swallowing the stars, the moonlight drowned by Luca’s presence. His power wasn’t just darkness–it was despair, grief, bitterness that had festered for centuries.
Luca’s voice slithered into my ear, coated in honey but sharp like thorns. “You were never meant for them,” he whispered, stepping closer. “You are not theirs to keep. You are power incarnate, Ellaine. And I… I am the only one who understands what that means.”
I stared at him.
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His face was barely recognizable–more bone than flesh, of corruption, but his eyes were hauntingly clear, burning with desperation… and something like hunger.
“They only want your power,” he said. “They’ll praise you until they fear you. Then they’ll try to destroy you. But I won’t. I never will.”
My body felt heavy.
My heart thundered in my chest.
Behind me, I could hear the cries of the others–Audrey shouting, Lira sobbing, warriors calling my name–but their voices were distant, muffled under the pounding of blood in my ears.
“I can teach you,” Luca said softly, “to rule. Not hide. Not beg for scraps of affection. I will make them kneel for what they’ve done to you.”
I staggered forward, breath shaking.
My magic flared around me again–hot, wild, desperate.
The storm inside surged like a tidal wave, crashing against the edges of my mind.
Too loud. Too much. The light and the dark warred within my
bones.
Then… other voices rose from the storm.
“A dangerous power can’t be owned by one person…”
“She must choose. She can’t have two powers at once.”
“One must die, or the other will survive.”
“You know what to do.”
“No… shut up… shut up–SHUT UP!” I screamed, dropping to my knees, clutching my head as pain cracked like lightning thro my skull.
My vision pulsed red and white.
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The world spun.
I wanted it to stop. I wanted peace. Just one moment of stillness.
And then, a voice broke through.
Soft. Familiar Home.
‘I am always here, Ellaine.‘
I gasped, eyes wide. “Mika…?”
‘Yes, my El.‘
The warmth of my wolf’s presence flooded through me like sunrise after a long, cold night.
Mika’s voice was calm, steady, the thread that kept me from unraveling.
‘And you already know who he is to you.’
I turned.
There he was.
Francesco….
Bloodied, battered, limping–but still standing. Still fighting. For me.
His voice cracked with pain. “ELLAINE!!!”
And something shattered inside me. Not from fear. Not from magic.
From memory….
It all came rushing back, like a broken dam flooding a silent valley.
The quiet garden under moonlight.
The way he knelt beside me in silence when I cried, never asking for anything in return.
The gentle way he always said my name–like it mattered.
The way he looked at me the night I first laughed again.
The birthday morning–the blue roses no one else had.
The warmth of his hand over mine. The patience. The respect.
The love he never forced but always gave
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He had always been there. Never once turning away, even when I was broken, even when I pushed him.
He never asked me to choose him.
He just stayed.
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And in that moment, I knew truly knew–who he was to me.
My soul didn’t ache for him because I was weak. It called for him because it remembered.
Because it belonged to him.
I rose to my feet, light flickering in my hands. Francesco’s breath caught. He didn’t move. He trusted me completely, even now. His eyes–those warm, ancient, stormy eyes–were filled with nothing but love.
Luca’s voice rose in panic. “Don’t listen to him, Ellaine. You’re stronger than this–stronger than their pathetic idea of love. Don’t waste what you are for him.”
I turned my head to him slowly. “You’re right,” I said softly.
Luca smiled.
But I wasn’t finished.
“I am stronger. Strong enough to choose love. Strong enough to protect the people I care about. Strong enough… to end this.
His smile faltered.
“I remember everything,” I said, stepping back toward Francesco–but only to whisper: “I love you.”
His face broke, tears springing to his eyes. “No. Don’t. Please…”
But I was already turning.
I walked toward Luca, eyes burning with light.
He frowned. “What are you-?”
I reached for him.
And I saw the flicker of fear in his eyes.
“You don’t own me,” I said.
Then I grabbed him.
Luca screamed, tried to pull away–but it was too late.
Magic surged through me, not wild anymore–but sure. Steady. Complete. I wasn’t a storm anymore. I was the eye of it.
A goddess forged in pain, love, and choice.
The ancient power within me ignited like a star collapsing inward. Light erupted, white–hot and blinding, enveloping us both.
“NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! NO! LET ME GO! LET ME-”
His voice was ripped away as the explosion swallowed everything.
“ELLAINE!!!”
Francesco’s voice was the last thing I heard before the world disappeared into light.
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Chapter 123
Third Person: Moments Later
The crater where the explosion had detonated still steamed. All around it, the rogue wolves were gone–disintegrated into ash
Trees were bent outward, scorched at their edges. The wind had gone still.
Francesco stood at the edge, blood dripping down his cheek, every breath a stab of pain.
He stared at the center of the crater, at the spot where Ellaine had stood.
There was… nothing.
Just her body.
No sound.
Just the echo of her name in the void.
He dropped to his knees.
“Ellaine…”
Audrey arrived first, her blade still drawn, face pale and stricken. Then Marlow. Then Lira, silently weeping. The warriors stood back, stunned and reverent. No one knew what to say. No one could speak.
“She did it,” Audrey finally whispered. “She saved all of us.”
Marlow’s hand clenched over his chest. “At what cost…”
Lira dropped beside Francesco, placing a hand on his shoulder–but he didn’t move. He couldn’t.
And then…
A flicker.
A gentle breeze swept through the clearing.
A single white light–no larger than a firefly–rose from the ground, dancing through the smoke. It twirled once, then twice, before vanishing upward into the air.
Francesco raised his eyes.
He saw it.
Felt it.
And a whisper–so soft it might’ve been imagined–carried in the wind.
‘Not gone. Not yet.”‘
Meanwhile…
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Somewhere between worlds–beyond life, beyond death–Ellaine opened her eyes.
Light surrounded her. Endless, infinite. But it was warm. Gentle. Safe.
She looked down at her hands, at the threads of magic winding between her fingers.
And she smiled.
“I’m not done yet.”
