The pull did not fade.
It tightened.
Luna staggered as the sensation ripped through her chest, sharp and sudden, like a hook sinking into her heart and dragging her forward. She clutched Kael's arm, fingers digging into his sleeve.
"They took him," she said, voice breaking. "My father. They're moving him right now."
Kael's jaw tightened. "Where?"
Luna squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to focus past the noise of the plaza, past the lingering fear and magic in the air. She followed the pull, the dark thread stretching through her mind.
"I don't know exactly," she whispered. "But it's underground. Old. Shielded. And whatever they're doing… it's not just a transfer."
The Devourer stirred inside her, slow and alert.
*A ritual*, it murmured. *A desperate one.*
Luna's stomach twisted. "They're going to kill him."
*No, little Moon*, the voice corrected smoothly. *Death would be mercy. They need him alive.*
Kael heard the panic in her breathing. "Maeven," he snapped. "You said he was under council protection."
Maeven looked shaken, her eyes darting toward the Arbiter, who still stood unmoving at the edge of the plaza like a living judgment.
"He was," she said quietly. "But once the Watchers intervene, council authority becomes… optional."
Rhea swore under her breath. "So we just let them take an innocent man?"
Maeven's lips pressed into a thin line. "He isn't innocent."
Luna's head snapped up. "Don't."
Maeven met her gaze, unflinching. "Your father helped bind the Devourer the first time. His blood is part of the seal. That makes him a key."
The word echoed painfully in Luna's chest.
*Key.*
Not a person. Not a father.
Just a tool.
"I won't let them use him," Luna said, her voice trembling but firm.
The Arbiter's presence shifted, subtle but unmistakable.
"Interference will accelerate judgment."*
Kael stepped forward, fury burning through his restraint. "You already passed judgment."
**"Observation is not absolution."**
Luna felt the Devourer coil, amused.
*They fear losing control more than they fear you*, it whispered. *Push.*
She lifted her chin and met the Arbiter's unseen gaze. "Then observe this."
Power rippled through her, dark veins glowing faintly beneath her skin as moonlight gathered around her like a living mantle. Gasps rippled through the crowd again.
Maeven grabbed her arm. "Luna, don't. Not now."
"I'm done waiting," Luna said softly.
She reached inward, not to command the Devourer, but to bargain.
*Help me find him*, she thought. *No blood. No chaos. Just truth.*
The presence paused.
*You bargain like someone who still believes in mercy.*
"And you follow like something that craves freedom," Luna shot back.
A low hum vibrated through her bones as the Devourer shifted, extending its awareness outward, deeper, farther than before.
There.
Luna gasped.
Images flooded her mind. Stone corridors etched with ancient runes. Chains glowing faintly red. Her father suspended above a circle carved into the floor, unconscious, blood slowly dripping into symbols that pulsed with sickly light.
She cried out, dropping to her knees.
Kael caught her instantly. "Luna!"
"They're already starting," she sobbed. "We don't have time."
Rhea drew her blade, eyes blazing. "Then we go now."
Maeven hesitated, torn between fear and resolve. "If we move against the Watchers—"
"They won't stop us," Luna said hoarsely. "They'll watch."
As if summoned by her words, the Arbiter's voice echoed again.
"Proceed."
The single word chilled her more than any threat.
They moved fast.
The city blurred as they descended through forgotten passages, stone walls damp and cold, magic humming faintly beneath their feet. The deeper they went, the stronger the pull became, dragging Luna forward like gravity itself.
Her breaths grew shallow.
The Devourer's presence pressed closer, more insistent now.
*You feel it, don't you?* it murmured. *The seal weakening. Soon, I won't be the only thing bound to you.*
"What does that mean?" Luna whispered under her breath.
Kael glanced at her sharply. "What did it say?"
She shook her head. "Nothing. Just… threats."
But fear coiled in her stomach.
They reached a massive iron door etched with runes older than the council itself. Blood glowed faintly within the carvings.
Rhea cursed softly. "This is Watcher work."
Luna stepped forward, raising her hand.
The door resisted her touch, magic flaring painfully against her skin.
The Devourer laughed quietly.
Allow me.
"No," Luna whispered. "Not like that."
She took a breath, grounding herself, thinking of Kael's steady presence, of the lives she had saved in the plaza.
"I don't command," she said aloud. "I ask."
The runes flickered.
Then cracked.
The door groaned open.
Heat and copper flooded the air.
Inside, the ritual circle blazed brighter, symbols spinning faster as Luna's father stirred weakly, chains rattling as he groaned in pain.
"Dad," Luna cried, rushing forward.
Kael's hand shot out, stopping her. "Wait—"
But she was already crossing the threshold.
The moment her foot touched the circle's edge, the entire chamber lit up like a star going nova.
Luna screamed as power lashed through her, not from the Devourer, but from the ritual itself—ancient magic recognizing her bloodline, her connection, her presence.
The chains around her father snapped tight, lifting him higher as his eyes flew open.
They weren't his eyes anymore.
They were silver. Glowing. Familiar.
"No," Luna breathed. "No, that's not possible."
Her father's mouth moved, but the voice that emerged was not his own.
It was hers.
Or rather, what hers would become.
**"Hello, Luna,"** the voice said, echoing with power and sorrow. **"I've been waiting twenty years to meet you."**
Rhea's blade clattered to the floor. "What in the—"
Kael stepped forward, positioning himself between Luna and the suspended figure. "Who are you?"
The silver eyes fixed on him with terrible knowing.
**"I am what she becomes,"** it said. **"If she makes the wrong choice in the next three minutes."**
The Devourer went silent inside Luna.
For the first time since the binding, she felt it retreat.
Felt it *afraid*.
"What choice?" Luna whispered, her voice barely audible.
The figure tilted its head, chains creaking.
"The Hollow Veil is opening. The ancient one is waking. And the only way to stop it…"
Her father's body convulsed, blood dripping faster from a dozen small cuts that appeared across his skin.
"…is to complete what your father started twenty years ago."
The ritual circle pulsed, symbols rearranging themselves into a pattern that made Luna's stomach drop.
Not a binding circle.
A transfer circle.
"No," she said, backing away. "You can't make me"
**"I'm not making you do anything,"** the future-voice said sadly. "I'm showing you what happens if you don't."
The air split open behind the suspended figure.
Not a portal.
A window.
Through it, Luna saw fire. Screaming. Cities crumbling under darkness that swallowed everything it touched.
She saw Kael's body broken on scorched ground.
Saw Rhea's eyes empty and staring.
Saw the world ending while she stood at the center, crowned in shadows, too powerful to die and too broken to care.
"Three minutes, Luna," and the voice said. "Choose."**
Kael grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "Whatever it's showing you—it's trying to manipulate you. Don't listen."
But Luna felt the truth of it in her bones.
The Devourer had been silent because it already knew.
This was always how it ended.
The ritual circle flared brighter, and her father screamed—a sound of pure agony that tore through Luna's heart.
From the shadows at the far end of the chamber, a new figure emerged.
Robed in white and gold.
Face hidden behind a mask carved with two eyes instead of one.
When it spoke, every torch in the room went dark.
"The convergence has arrived,"** it was announced. "And the Moonbound must now make her first sacrifice."**
It raised one hand.
In its palm sat a single silver coin, spinning slowly.
"Heads: Save your father and doom the world."
The coin flipped.
"Tails: Bind yourself completely and save everyone but him."
The coin hung in the air, rotating impossibly slow.
Luna's breath stopped.
The Devourer whispered one final word before falling utterly silent.
Choose.
The coin began to fall.