255
David
"You should be proud of how far you've come," I said. "Not too long ago, you wouldn't have been able to make the light bend. Celebrate it."
She nodded. "I just... feel very behind."
"It's not a race," I said. "Some people won't even start basic magical training for another ten years, another ten days. Think about how discouraged they would feel, just thinking about all the witches that have already gotten through training?"
I nodded. "I suppose you have a point."
I wrapped an arm around her and kissed her temple.
"You're doing just fine." I hummed. "Tell me how your classes went otherwise, hm?"
I listened to her. The gentle familiarity of her voice washed over me. I could barely keep my eyes open, but I wanted so much to be in this moment with her. I didn't want to go back to sleep just yet. Whatever waited for me was just going to be more to worry about.
And Lucy was so beautiful, so warm, and the way her eyes lit up when she smiled was doing something to the ache in my chest. I could feel the bond between us growing stronger just being in her presence.
Time seemed to slip away, and before I realized it, the room was bathed in the gentle hues of twilight. Lucy glanced at the clock, a realization dawning on her.
"I should let you rest," she said. I looked at her. "You're barely keeping your eyes open."
I turned my face, burying it into the crook of her neck, as a low, pleading rumble escaped me.
"Stay with me?"
The invitation hung in the air. "At least until I fall asleep?"
Lucy said nothing for a moment. I looked up at her and found her expression soft and warm. I wanted to kiss her so badly.
"Okay."
I put the tray in my lap on the tray with her plate and lay back. She cuddled up to me, letting me squeeze her close, her fingers entwined with mine.
As the room grew darker, I settled into the comfort of having her there. I listened to her heart beat slow down, her breathing even out as she drifted into sleep. The rhythmic sound of her breathing felt like a lullaby, and eventually, I succumbed to the embrace of sleep, grateful for the serenity she brought to my heart.
And just as I expected, I was dropped into another vision, some dreamscape. I wasn't back in Hel, but I wasn't anywhere I wished I could be. In the distance, I could hear the sound of waves on the shore. I felt Lucy's mind near and figured that I had a choice. I considered joining her on the beach. I could see her sitting by the water and looking out, but the stone path that led into the dark called me.
Duty called me, so I turned away and walked down the path until I found myself standing in a grand hall adorned with symbols of ancient power. Shadows of my ancestors, each marked by the unique energy of their time, surrounded me as if I was standing on the ground floor of a great senate hall. Their presence was palpable, and a hushed anticipation hung in the air.
My gaze drifted around the room as their faces took shape in the shadows. I recognized most of them. My father, his father before him, and so on. All of them had grave expressions as they looked down at me, not in judgment but something else.
"David."
The voice rumbled from high up and center of the room. I looked into the eyes of Fenris himself. He smiled at me warmly. "How... honored I am to know that one of my line is filled with such heart. To have been called to the Trial is one thing. To pass it is another."
I swallowed, nodding at him. "It's... a lot to meet you."
He chuckled. "We will have much more to say to each other in the coming days, but for now, a warning. Oren and that woman have tampered with things they don't care to know about or care about but will doom us all."
I winced. "I had a feeling I was right on that."
He nodded. "The convergence draws near, and you're at a crossroads."
Images danced in the air.
"You must free them both and end Oren's reign sooner rather than later. The moon must gleam again."
I frowned. "Who?"
He smiled. "That dearest son is something you will have to learn on your own."
"I didn't think you would be cryptic about it."
"I'm not," he said. "I simply cannot answer as I do not have the answers. My abilities to see beyond you and your knowledge have dwindled with your awakening."
My shoulders slumped. "Damn it."
"You will do well, young Fenris," he said gently. "Until next time."
As the hall receded into the shadows, I wasn't put on the shores with Lucy. Instead, darkness swarmed around me. I felt it shifting, moving me, but I couldn't see where I was going or why. A distant murmur started. I could hear at least two voices, but only one of them was familiar.
"Nosebleeds are very serious. It could mean his brain is melting."
The woman's voice was gentle, almost indulgent, like she was speaking to a child. Whose memories were these? I felt something tugging at me.
I felt the cold wind rushing around me and the howl of Hel's snowdrift.
Another shifter spirit? Calling to me? A door shimmered into existence and opened. Through it, I heard another voice.
"You... haven't had a nosebleed since we were kids."
My eyes widened. That was Tony's voice. Where was I? Where did this door lead? I drew closer.
"How much longer do you think this can go on?"
The voices faded again like I was fighting against waves pulling me under into darkness, pushing me away from the door even as I struggled towards it.
"I'm not hiding anything?"
Matt sounded so young and unsure, younger and more uncertain than I had ever heard him, but why? Who was the woman he was speaking to? "You should make arrangements if you're going to keep up with this... just the beginning... Soon, you'll be throwing up blood, suffering from body aches and high fever."
The sound went out again, and slowly, I slipped back into complete darkness, but not before I heard the last bit.
"Dying? Because you are."
I stared into the dark, uncertain. My mind raced with possibilities. Was this a ripple of the future? The past? No, it didn't feel like the other visions. It felt more like...a dream. Like dream walking, but whose dream and how if Matt was clearly awake?
Then, the words started turning in my mind.
Nosebleeds.
Nosebleeds again after years of not having one? Having them frequently as a child?
Throwing up blood? Body aches and high fever?
Matt was dying, but not from any disease, but something else. It was pressing at the back of my mind what it could be, but it wasn't until I turned feeling something stirring in the darkness. The softest glow of moonlight in the shape of a wolf, a small, thin wolf that looked like it was barely holding on, was there beneath chains much like mine had been, but different. Its eyes looked up at me with pleading. I approached slowly, narrowing my eyes until I stopped not too far from it.
The barrier hadn't worked because Matt wasn't a werewolf. He was a shifter, and just like that, my theory was right. All shifters were connected and Selene's curse was killing them, but did that mean Tony was a shifter as well? Maybe not.
Was Matt one of the people I was supposed to save?
The thought angered me, knowing what he'd done to Lucy, yet there was only one wolf I knew of with moonlight fur, not stark white or grey-silver, but moonlight: they were born healers.
Matt was a healer, and his gift was killing him from the strain of whatever he wasn't doing. Eating? Maybe the virus was putting even more of a strain on his body than he could take, but what was the catalyst for it being a problem now? What had happened between now and Matt's childhood?
The moon must gleam again.
A shiver ran down my spine at the thought. I'd have to look into it. The wolf let out a soft whimper. I reached out as guilt twisted through me.
How was I going to explain this to Lucy?
"I'll help you," I whispered. Then, the wind picked up, and darkness yanked me back. I heard Selene laughing from somewhere in the dark. I tumbled through the frozen world and darkness, through him and understanding, until I could feel the warmth of my bed around me.
Questions raged through me, but the only thing I was sure of when I opened my eyes was that there was more to Blue Moon than I had ever thought.
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