The Moonforest had never been silent, yet now even the wind held its breath.
The group moved cautiously beneath the pale canopy, guided only by the faint glow of the ancient sigils on the trees. Lira led the way, her twin blades unsheathed. Lyra walked a step behind, her silver eyes scanning every shadow. Nisha trailed beside Lian, chattering softly — her voice a small defiance against the oppressive quiet.
But the forest listened. It watched.
Lian's steps were heavy. The scratch on his wrist — the one that had glimmered silver the night before — still burned faintly. Beneath his skin, light pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat.
He tried to ignore it, but every few seconds, the veins along his arms flickered gold. He kept his hands buried in his pockets to hide it, hoping the others wouldn't notice.
They did.
Lyra's gaze lingered on him too long. Lira, though silent, seemed to feel it too — the hum of divine power barely leashed.
The deeper they went, the thicker the air became. A chill rolled through the mist. Then — a sound. Low, guttural. Wrong.
Dozens of yellow eyes blinked open among the trees.
"Spirit beasts," Lyra hissed, drawing her blade. "But corrupted… twisted by shadow essence."
The first one lunged — a wolf made of smoke and bone, its maw dripping black energy. Lira met it mid-leap, slicing through its neck in a clean arc. The creature dissolved into dust, but two more emerged to take its place.
Then four. Then ten.
"Back-to-back!" Nisha cried, conjuring a glowing ward in the air. Symbols spun from her palms like shards of moonlight. "I'll hold them off as long as I can—"
Her barrier shattered before she could finish. The beasts were faster this time, their energy deeper, darker.
Lyra sliced one apart but took a hit to her side. Blood — silver-bright — stained her tunic. She winced but didn't falter.
Lian grabbed a fallen branch, useless as it was, and swung it at the nearest beast. It snapped like glass against the creature's shoulder.
He stumbled back, chest heaving. The mark on his wrist burned like molten fire now, spreading up his arm, into his chest.
A roar filled his ears — not from the beasts, but from within him.
He fell to one knee. Gold veins crawled up his neck, bright and blinding beneath his skin. His eyes widened as his reflection caught in the edge of Lira's blade — no longer brown, but glowing gold, ancient and furious.
"Lian?" Nisha gasped, her voice trembling. "Your eyes—"
The ground cracked.
The beasts froze mid-lunge, snarling but unable to move. Air warped around Lian, bending the mist into spirals of light.
He rose slowly, the forest trembling under the pulse of divine energy. His voice, when it came, was layered — his own and something older, deeper, like a forgotten god speaking through a mortal vessel.
"Return to the light that bore you."
The beasts screamed. Their shadows peeled away like smoke under sunlight. One by one, they disintegrated into motes of radiant dust that drifted upward, vanishing into the canopy.
Silence fell again. The only sound was Lian's heartbeat — each thud echoing like a drum across the forest.
His glow dimmed slowly, veins fading from gold to faint ember. He looked at his hands in disbelief.
"I… did that?"
Lira stared at him, blades lowered, expression unreadable. Lyra's face was pale, eyes reflecting both awe and fear.
"That wasn't just power," Lyra said quietly. "That was command. Authority of creation itself."
Nisha approached him cautiously. "Lian… are you okay?"
He tried to answer, but the glow flared again — this time violently. His body convulsed, knees buckling.
"Lian!"
He gasped, clutching his chest. The light beneath his skin turned harsh, twisting through his veins like molten chains.
"Something's—wrong—" he choked out.
A symbol, circular and ancient, burned faintly on his chest — a seal. It pulsed in rhythm with his agony.
Lyra dropped beside him, pressing her hand to his shoulder. "The curse is reacting. The seal wasn't meant to break — it's trying to contain him."
Lira's eyes widened. "Then what happens if it fails?"
Lyra's voice was grim. "It doesn't fail. It kills him first."
Lian's scream tore through the air. The forest around them flickered with golden fire, trees bending under invisible pressure.
Lira grabbed his shoulders, shouting over the rising hum, "Lian! Fight it! You have to stay with us!"
His eyes flickered open, gold bleeding into white. "I… remember…"
"What?"
He looked past them — not seeing them at all — as if staring into another world. "A woman's voice… 'They sealed you to protect us all…'"
Then his body went still.
The light collapsed inward, fading as suddenly as it had risen. He fell limp into Lira's arms, chest still faintly glowing but stable.
Nisha knelt beside them, whispering a healing incantation, though she knew it wouldn't help. "His energy's… trapped inside him now. The seal's holding, but it's choking his spirit."
Lyra stood slowly, her expression shadowed. "We need to reach the Shrine of Echoes. If we don't free that seal soon, it will devour what's left of him."
Lira lifted her gaze, determination cutting through her fear. "Then that's where we go."
Behind them, the Moonforest seemed to tremble — not in warning, but in recognition. Somewhere deep within the trees, an ancient presence stirred, whispering through the roots.
The Eternal One has awakened… but the curse hungers still.
As they carried Lian through the mist, faint golden light leaked from his fingers — not burning now, but soft and sorrowful, like the heartbeat of something divine remembering its cage.
Cliffhanger:When they finally reached a clearing, Lian's eyes fluttered open.For a moment, his voice wasn't his own."The light beneath my skin isn't power," he whispered weakly."It's the memory of what I was."