Chapter 44
The prophecy spoke clearly:
“The child of the Silvertail heir shall awaken their name in fire, and wash away the curse in blood.”
I never believed in prophecies.
Until I stood atop the Trial Peak, where the wind howled like wolves mourning the past, and the pain in my veins burned brighter than the stars.
Awakening, I realized, was never a choice.
It was a bite from fate.
The sacred Trial was held in Riftbreath Valley, a forbidden crevasse west of the
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continent, where the bones of three failed Awakened still poisoned the land.
The fog never lifted here. The spiritual density was so intense that ordinary werewolves would go mad upon entering.
But I was no longer ordinary.
As the Silvertail Heir Candidate, I had to survive three stages of the Awakening Trial:
Phase One: Spiritual Endurance
Phase Two: Bloodline Recognition
Phase Three: Soul Ignition
Success meant I would become the first
“Dual–Core Maternal Awakened” in the tribe’s recorded history.
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Failure… meant erasure–mind, body, and soul.
As I stepped into Riftbreath, Rima followed close, with Talon and Riven behind.
“I’m coming with you,” Riven said.
I glanced back. “Aren’t you afraid?”
“I’m afraid you won’t come back, he replied.
Talon stepped up, his tone calm. “During the trial, if your mind begins to shatter, only one of us is authorized to forcibly pull you out. Choose.”
I looked at both of them.
“Rima,” I said without hesitation.
They blinked.
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I smiled faintly. “She’s a healer. And the only one my spiritual core recognizes as a neutral presence.”
Talon nodded. Riven simply murmured, “Then I’ll wait outside the gate.”
Phase One: Spiritual Endurance.
“Sadie Hale,” announced High Ritualist Varo, as the moonlight ignited the first array, “you will now face the truths you’ve denied.”
I closed my eyes.
My mind was pulled deep into the Lineage Projection–a mental realm born from ancestral resonance.
The world around me shattered into pain and
memory.
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I saw myself bleeding in an alley.
I heard that call again.
“Noah… please save me…”
“You’re so dumb, Sadie–sis.”
The nightmare looped–faster, sharper, crueler each time.
“You were just a pawn,” a shadow whispered.
“No one ever loved you.”
“The child is nothing but leverage.”
“Your Awakening will change nothing-”
“NO!”
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I screamed, flinging my spiritual energy in a silver explosion.
The illusion shattered, and in my hand formed a glowing Spirit Blade.
Phase One–passed.
Phase Two: Bloodline Recognition.
Here, i had to bleed into the Moon Seal. If
my Silvertail heritage was true, the markings would respond.
I didn’t hesitate.
I sliced my palm, and my blood fell on the altar.
The valley rumbled.
The array ignited in a storm of ancient runes
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-not the mark of a simple heir.
But the crest of a Dual–Origin Resonator.
“She carries both Alpha and Omega bloodlines?” Varo whispered in disbelief.
“She is Awakening… with her unborn child,” Rima said.
Suddenly, the array flickered.
A dark haze slithered into the pattern.
“This isn’t a natural disturbance, Rima cried. “It’s external mental interference!”
Pain tore through me. My womb burned with chaos. Caelum–my son–was screaming in my soul.
“They’re trying to reach him!” Talon shouted,
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drawing his sword.
But a shadowy figure dropped between us.
“You can’t approach her.”
He wore a half–skull mask and a robe etched with black sigils.
“You shouldn’t have birthed an illegitimate hybrid,” he said, tone deathly calm.
My eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”
He lifted the mask.
Eyes I almost recognized stared back.
“You can call me Cyrus,” he said.
“I’m your father’s brother.”
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My breath caught.
I had no known relatives. No records. No claims.
And yet this man–this Alpha–stood here, not only knowing my origin, but also targeting my child.
“You tried to control my son?”
“I tried to bring him back to order,” he said coldly. “You let emotion cloud your judgment. You’ve cursed the bloodline.”
He raised his palm. Dark fire gathered there.
“And I’m here… to fix you.”
“No!” Rima lunged forward but was thrown back.
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Talon yelled, “Trigger the reversal sigil! Now!”
But it was too late.
The flames struck me, hitting the lunar mark on my belly.
I fell to my knees.
Caelum writhed inside me–his spiritual signals were spiking, erratic.
If this went on… I would lose him.
“You touch him again,” I hissed, “and I’ll drag your soul through the void.”
Cyrus tilted his head. “Will you save him? Or sacrifice him to complete your Awakening?”
He smiled, twisted and calm.
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“Choose, Sadie.”
“Your son…”
“Or your power?”
I couldn’t move. Could barely breathe.
And then–I heard a heartbeat.
Not mine.
His.
Caelum’s.
He was calling me.
I stood.
My skin burned. My spiritual core blazed like a forge.
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“I choose both.”
“Even if it kills me.”
My aura ignited.
Silver and blue light exploded from me, swallowing the valley in a pillar of radiant
fire.
Cyrus screamed.
The land cracked.
And the last thing I saw–was Caelum’s heartbeat glowing in silver across my skin.
Then everything went dark.
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