Chapter 315
The air was cold as Elyra stepped into the night, her heart still pounding from Dain’s departure. She had tried to call him back, but he hadn’t listened. His words had cut through her, each one like a dagger of frustration and pain. I’ll find my own way. The weight of them hung heavy in her chest, and she could feel the sharp sting of the growing distance between them.
The temple behind her seemed miles away now, and the forest stretched out before her in endless shadows. She couldn’t lose him—not like this. She couldn’t stand by and watch him walk away, consumed by whatever darkness was taking hold of him.
Elyra pushed forward, her footsteps quick but careful as she followed the trail Dain had left behind. She called his name once more, her voice breaking in the stillness of the night. “Dain! Please—”
But there was no response.
A chill ran down her spine, and her instincts screamed that something was wrong. The air around her seemed to shift, growing denser, colder, until it felt like something was watching her. The trees around her loomed like silent sentinels, their branches swaying eerily in the wind. She could hear her breath in her ears, shallow and panicked.
Then, a flicker of movement in the distance caught her attention.
Elyra’s heart skipped a beat as she squinted into the shadows. There, standing just beyond the reach of the moonlight, was Dain. But he wasn’t alone. A figure stood before him, cloaked in darkness, its form barely visible in the night. Elyra froze, her feet rooted to the ground as she watched them.
The figure was tall, its features hidden beneath a shadowy hood, but even from a distance, Elyra could feel the unnatural pull of its presence. It wasn’t like anything she had ever encountered—no wolf, no human, no creature she had ever seen. This being felt… ancient. Its very essence seemed to distort the air around it, twisting the world into something darker.
She moved closer, her steps slow and cautious as she inched toward them. She couldn’t make out the words being spoken, but she could see Dain’s tense posture, his shoulders rigid as he spoke to the shadowy figure. He wasn’t backing away, but leaning in, his expression intense, almost desperate.
Then, as if sensing her presence, the figure’s head turned slightly, and Elyra felt a shiver run down her spine. It was as though it knew she was there, watching from the shadows.
Dain’s voice broke through the quiet, his tone low and filled with an edge Elyra had never heard before. “What do you want from me?”
The shadowy figure stood motionless for a moment before it spoke, its voice like a cold wind whispering through the trees. “I seek nothing. I only offer.”
Dain’s jaw tightened, his eyes narrowing. “I don’t want anything from you.”
The figure’s laugh was soft, almost imperceptible, like the rustle of dead leaves. “You misunderstand. I offer what you desire most—power. Freedom. The strength to overcome the darkness you feel inside.” It took a step closer to Dain, its form shifting in the darkness like a living shadow. “The shard you possess, the power within you—it is a gift. A gift that can give you the strength to control your destiny, to bend the world to your will.”
Elyra’s breath caught in her throat as she watched them, unable to tear her gaze away. The figure’s words were alluring, its promises like a siren’s call to Dain’s inner turmoil. She could see the temptation in his eyes, the flicker of something darker, something desperate.
“I don’t need your power,” Dain said, his voice thick with restraint, but there was doubt there, something flickering behind his words.
“You do,” the figure whispered. “You have always needed it. You have always known that the darkness is yours to command, and yet, you hold back. Why? Fear? Weakness?” The figure’s hand, long and slender, extended toward the shard that Dain wore around his neck. “You do not need to fight it, Dain. You can embrace it. You can let it consume you—if you choose to.”
Elyra’s stomach twisted in horror as she saw Dain glance down at the shard, his fingers brushing over the glowing crystal. She knew the power it held, the promise it carried—but she had also seen its dangers, the way it could twist and destroy. She couldn’t let him go down that path.
“Dain,” she whispered, stepping out of the shadows, her voice shaking with urgency. “Don’t listen to it. Please.”
Dain’s head snapped toward her, his eyes dark and distant, and for a moment, Elyra felt a pang of fear. This wasn’t the Dain she knew—the Dain who had always stood by her, who had been her strength. This was someone else, someone lost.
The figure turned its head toward Elyra, its eyes glowing faintly beneath the hood. “Ah, the Luna. The one who binds him.” Its voice was like velvet, smooth and dark, as it studied her with an unsettling intensity. “You think you can save him, don’t you?”
Elyra swallowed, her throat dry. “I will save him,” she said, her voice steady despite the fear clawing at her. “He’s not like you. He’s not like… whatever you are.”
The figure chuckled, the sound sending chills down her spine. “You are wrong. He is like me. He is like all of us, lost in the shadows. The question is—will he choose to embrace it?” It turned back to Dain, its eyes gleaming with something sinister. “The choice is yours. Embrace the shard’s power, and you will never fear again.”
Dain’s gaze flickered between Elyra and the shadowy figure, his expression torn. Elyra could see the struggle in his eyes, the pull of the darkness at war with the part of him that still clung to her.
But then, something in his eyes changed. The flicker of doubt was gone, replaced with something darker, something more determined.
“I’ll do it,” Dain said quietly, his voice a whisper meant only for the figure. “I’ll embrace the power.”
Elyra’s heart sank. She couldn’t let him. She couldn’t lose him to this darkness, this twisted offer.
“No, Dain!” Elyra cried, stepping forward, desperate to stop him. “Don’t do it!”
But it was too late.
-: The Warden offers Dain a deal: “Unleash the shard’s power, and you’ll never fear again.”
