✨ Chapter 50 – The Girl the Moon Calls
The battlefield went silent.
Not because the fighting stopped—
but because the ground beneath the forest moved.
The colossal eye—silver, cracked with lunar veins—stared upward from beneath the earth.
Its pupil expanded, contracting like the breath of something waking from centuries of sleep.
Ariana felt it in her bones.
Her wolf whimpered.
"Moonbeast rises.
Seal weakens.
It seeks us."
Ariana struggled to sit upright on the healing cot, her entire body trembling from expenditure.
Kai was already at her side, breath still raw from the fight, hands shaking as he supported her shoulders.
Ariana reached out, gripping his shirt.
"Kai… It saw me."
Kai swallowed, his jaw flexing.
"I know."
"It's—it's looking for me."
"I know."
Ariana looked at him with wide, terrified eyes.
"Kai, I didn't mean to call it—"
Kai cupped her face gently, forcing her to meet his gaze.
"You didn't call it, Ariana. It recognizes you."
Her breath halted.
Kai continued, voice thicker now, trembling with fear and protectiveness:
"You're Moonborn. Your mother was Moonborn. That… thing can feel your magic. It's not your fault."
Ariana shook her head, tears welling.
"But now it's waking faster—because of me."
Kai's eyes tightened.
"Then the academy will just have to fight harder."
A sharp tremor rolled through the ground.
He held her against him as the shockwave trembled through the tents and walls.
Ariana closed her eyes.
"I can feel the seal cracking…"
Her wolf breathed a low, pained growl:
"Too early.
Not full moon.
Danger."
Ariana whispered:
"It's not supposed to wake until midnight…"
Kai's voice sharpened.
"Then someone or something is forcing it."
Ariana shivered.
"The corruption."
Outside, the second wave of dark hybrid vampires shrieked and joined the corrupted beasts. Professors shouted orders. Students scrambled to reinforce barriers.
Ariana tried to stand—
and failed.
Kai caught her before she fell.
"Ariana, STOP. You can't go out there like this."
She pushed weakly against his chest.
"Kai—people are getting hurt."
"And you're dying," he snapped softly.
Ariana flinched.
Kai's voice broke.
"I'm not losing you. Not tonight."
Ariana lowered her head.
Her wolf whispered gently:
"Mate fears.
Protects us."
Ariana swallowed hard.
"Kai…"
She looked up, voice low.
"There's something you need to know."
His breath caught.
Ariana nodded toward her bracelet.
"I think… I think I'm going to need to break it."
Kai froze.
His face drained.
"No."
"Kai—"
"No." His voice rose. "Ariana, absolutely not."
"Kai, listen—"
"That bracelet is the only thing keeping your wolf from burning your body out!"
Ariana's eyes softened.
"Kai… you know I can't fight the Moonbeast like this. I barely held the shield together tonight."
Kai's hands trembled on her shoulders.
"That doesn't mean you break the only thing that protects you!"
Ariana touched his cheek.
"Kai… I have to."
His eyes shined with raw fear.
"No you don't. We'll protect you—every division, every student, all of us—"
Ariana shook her head.
"You can't stop the Moonbeast. Not without me at full power."
Kai shut his eyes tightly, breathing unevenly.
"I don't care if the world burns," he whispered.
"I won't let losing you be part of the price."
Ariana's heart twisted painfully.
"Kai… I'm not trying to die. Breaking the bracelet won't kill me."
He opened his eyes, golden and tormented.
"It could."
Ariana didn't deny it.
Kai clenched his jaw.
"I'm supposed to protect you. That's what I promised."
"And you have," Ariana whispered.
He shook his head.
"That's not enough."
A tremor rolled deep beneath the forest again.
A thunderous groan—
low, ancient, angry—
vibrated through the stone walls.
Ariana flinched as pressure crushed against her ribs.
Her moon-fire surged involuntarily, spilling along her arms like silver threads.
Kai grabbed her wrist.
"Careful—"
Ariana inhaled sharply.
"It's reacting to the Moonbeast. My magic is reacting…"
Kai's face twisted with helplessness.
"That's why I can't let you break the bracelet! If this is how your power behaves while sealed—Ariana, you could destroy yourself when it's free!"
Ariana touched his chest gently.
"Or I could save everyone."
His breath faltered.
She continued softly, "Kai… my mother didn't die passing her magic to me just for me to hide from it."
Kai's eyes widened.
"You learned that from Solarin?"
Ariana nodded.
"This power is mine. She trusted me with it. And I need to trust myself too."
Kai's throat worked.
"Ariana… please…"
She held his gaze.
"I have to be who I am."
His voice cracked.
"And who is that?"
Ariana stepped closer, touching his forehead with hers.
"Moonborn."
Kai closed his eyes.
"And what if it kills you?"
Ariana whispered:
"What if it saves us instead?"
A boom shattered the sky.
A pillar of red energy shot upward from the forest—
straight from the direction of the Moonbeast's seal.
Ariana felt the breath leave her lungs.
Students and professors screamed.
The forest convulsed as if something beneath it were trying to stand upright.
Kai grabbed Ariana and shielded her as dirt and roots exploded upward.
Seraphina ran toward them.
"Ariana! The seal is almost broken!"
Zane shouted from the battlefield.
"WE CAN'T HOLD THEM! THEY'RE PUSHING TOWARD THE CENTRAL COURTYARD!"
Calen yelled:
"THEY'RE TRYING TO DRIVE US INTO A TRAP!"
Rylan screamed:
"WE NEED HER! WE NEED ARIANA!"
Every voice echoed a single truth:
Ariana was the key.
Not the academy.
Not the professors.
Not the Pillars.
Her.
Ariana looked out at the chaos.
At the students fighting to protect each other.
At the professors throwing everything they had.
At the rising shadow boiling from the forest.
The Moonbeast was moments away from fully waking.
Ariana inhaled.
"Kai."
He looked at her instantly.
She took his hand.
"In the final battle… I will break the bracelet."
He shook violently.
"Ariana—please—"
She lifted her other hand and placed it over his heart.
"You told me you'd protect me."
"I will."
"Then trust me to protect you too."
Kai stopped breathing for a moment.
Then—
slowly—
he pulled her into his arms.
"Twelve hours," he whispered.
"Twelve hours till the full moon."
Ariana leaned into him.
"I know."
Kai buried his face in her hair.
"Then I'll spend every second of it trying to keep you alive."
Ariana's wolf purred softly.
"Safe.
With mate.
Strong."
Ariana pulled back slightly.
"We go back to the battlefield."
Kai shook his head instantly.
"You're not strong enough."
But Ariana smiled softly.
"I'll get stronger."
Her moon-fire rose—
controlled
steady
bright.
Kai exhaled, eyes widening.
And for the first time that night, he believed her.
Ariana stepped toward the battlefield.
Students parted for her.
Seraphina whispered:
"Ariana Sterling… the girl the moon calls."
A deep rumble answered her.
The Moonbeast moved again.
The seal was nearly gone.
Ariana lifted her hand—
moon-fire curling upward—
and whispered:
"Then let it call.
I'll answer tomorrow."
The final battle loomed.
And Ariana was done running.