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TASHA'S POV

The moon had not yet risen, but I escaped my quarters anyway, drawn by a queasy compulsion.

The training grounds were empty now, its rune-inscribed stones shining silver in the moonlight.

The night wind whispered softly in my ear, memories of Frigg's final spells—whispers of power and warning that passed through me like a heartbeat.

Mina's words reverberated in my mind: "The moon will bleed.

The bond will break. And your Luna shall fall.

" I had discovered her collapsed by the brazier hours before, eyes blazing with Damon's voice.

The Council had gathered to restore her, and although she was secure for now, the recollection of possession stuck with me like a raw wound.

I raised my hands and let the lightest breeze kiss my fingers—a circle of air that carried the scent of jasmine that bloomed at night. Julia's crystal, with Frigg's runes etched into it and the runes that were very old, glowed with soft heat at my hip. "Lead me," I breathed to its warmth.

A surge of energy answered: a glimpse so fleeting I almost missed it.

I was seeing my own face, shaded to one side, looming over a destroyed altar amidst a grove of shattered stone.

Behind me, Tasha of myth—other than my own visage—cried out with a shout that echoed through worlds.

And darkness. One, fiery serpent?sigil on Damon's palm, the mark of his foul covenant.

I panted hard, and the wind died.

From the border of the field, Cass's voice shouted, soft but insistent: "Tasha? You okay?"

I turned to find him walking toward me, cloak billowing, eyes shadowed with worry. "I—I saw something," I breathed. My heart thudded in a rhythm that seemed like a drum beating war.

He took two strides to cover the distance. "What did you see?"

"Damon. The sigil. Frigg... I think she's warning me." The words tumbled from my lips, naked and desperate. "Something's waking. Not only in the tunnels—inside us."

Cass laid a soothing hand on my shoulder. "You're not alone here." He stopped, lowering his voice. "We've discovered oddness tonight. A few students missing for hours... wards that flash when they move."

I looked into his eyes. "You think they're in league with him?" I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat.

He nodded. "I'm going to find out. But I need to know you're safe."

I smiled wryly. "Don't get lost in the catacombs.".

He smiled—transient twitch of the man I adored before war—but never softened his eyes. "Don't get blown away by your own gusts." And then he went away into the darkness.

Standing alone beneath the moon, I shut my eyes and prayed, "Frigg—help me."

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CASS'S POV

The tunnel corridors smelled of damp stone and hidden truths.

My shaft of light danced over green walls covered in moss as I guided Mina and three loyal soldiers—Rylan, Mara, and Javi—far beneath the academy.

We each had our loads: Mina to interpret her visions in real time, Rylan to cut through obstacles, Mara to shatter wards, and Javi to nudge rubble with telekinetics.

The first sigil was on a shattered pillar: a twin-serpent loop incised into greasy shadow, barely visible in the leaping torchlight. I knelt, casting a ward-detection spell. "They've been here," I growled. "Shadowbound influence spreading."

Mina's violet eyes gently glowed. "I felt it," she said. "They've spoken in my dreams again—voices promising power if they betrayed us."

I clenched my teeth. "Then we hunt them tonight."

We turned a corner into a narrow alleyway where herbs had dried—sage, lavender, and beneath them some wilted stalks of nightshade. Mara sniffed. "Nightshade... they're trying to sabotage our healing."

Rylan leaned back against the wall. "Voices," he breathed. "Above us."

We moved towards a heavy wooden door with new footprints on it. I nodded, and we burst in simultaneously.

Within, six students knelt in a circle around a small brazier, holding a black?glowing amulet and whispering. Their faces—once radiant with curiosity—were now gaunt and frantic.

I moved forward. "Hands where I can see them."

They leapt to their feet, startled. The girls' leader, a talented telekinetic named Elina, tried to throw a torch at me.

Javi knocked it out of the air with his telekinesis, which crackled like white fire.

Rylan tackled another, overpowering him in a flash of lightning.

Mara threaded between them, setting up a confinement ward to cut off any runaway magic.

I seized the amulet before the boy could. "This is the work of Damon's darkness," I growled. "You're betraying your own. You're under his control."

They exchanged guilty glances. The boy who held the charm, his pale and shaking face, panted, "He promised us glory—power we could never dream of under Blackwood's rule."

I rammed the amulet into my detect spell. It growled like a cornered animal. "He's casting you shadows, and you'd betray the whole pack one day."

Mina sat at the feet of the pack. "You can be free," she told them softly, her healing aura enveloping her. "Don't forget what you are—who you protect. This blackness isn't yours."

The boy's eyes flickered back and forth from defiance to shame. They waited in line and hung their heads one by one.

I incanted the release spell. The amulet split in two, the serpent shape of the amulet dissolving into dust. After the coals had quieted, the students stood as if waking up from a bad dream—water-drenched eyes, slumping shoulders in humiliation.

I breathed in deeply. "You've been deceived by lies and half-truths. We'll straighten you out. But we have to be careful—there may be more of them hiding among us."

Mina put a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. "Go home. Sleep. We'll talk about it in the morning."

DARKNESS & DAMON'S POV

Damon perched atop a shattered cliff, away from the academy's faltering torches, in a world of writhing obsidian clouds and gnarled spires. The darkness enveloped him like a shroud, a mixture of his own arrogance and the old void's endless hunger. His eyes blazed with selfish triumph.

"They would try to hold me in check," the darkness sneered through him. "Let them learn of wards and rituals. Their cohesion will soon shatter."

He punched a fist into the air. Night descended into three respectful shapes—students of the academy he had reclaimed in totality: Elina the telekinetic, Jonas the emergent necromancer, and Cara the deceiver. Their eyes glimmered with deference.

"You are my heralds," he panted. "You tell me of each ward, each fleck of insurgency. This evening, you plant the seeds of chaos."

Jonas nodded, his face pale. "I have stolen the bones of the old war dead. They will rise as restless spirits to haunt the night watch."

Elina cracked her knuckles. "I'll weave smoky illusions—fear in every heart."

Cara smiled, voice so soft it was like a lullaby. "And I will show them visions of doom—of Blackwood's fall."

Damon's lips curled. "Excellent. By dawn, the academy will be shaking. And when Tasha fails. I will claim my prize."

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COUNCIL'S DECISION (BLACKWOOD'S POINT OF VIEW)

The council room—formerly the seat of wisdom—hummed with expectation. Blackwood stood at the head of the table, Cass and Tasha to his left and right. Mina hung back, pale but resolute. Julia the telekinetic advisor furiously drew maps and notes in charcoal.

Blackwood's voice was low and measured. "We cannot rely on old defenses alone.

Damon has infiltrated our ranks. We must fortify both body and mind.

" He pointed to wards carved into the floor and walls.

"Every corridor will be lined with reinforced runes.

No student may pass without a PASS PENDANT—etched with both their name and a protective sigil. "

Cass leaned forward. "I'll organize patrol rotating in pairs—no one alone in the tunnels. And we'll hold nightly sweeps to ensure no rogue wards remain."

Julia added, "I've begun crafting soul?links: small amulets keyed to each of you. Should Damon attempt mental manipulation, the link will surge with warning—like a flare in your mind."

Tasha rested her hand on the table, eyes blazing. "And my link to Blackwood—our souls are already bonded. We can reinforce that bond. If he senses me falter, he can anchor me back." She looked at him. "Ready?"

Blackwood's eyes met hers, fingers brushing against hers. "Always."

Mina broke in, voice trembling but firm. "I'll document my visions as they happen—symbols, words, feelings. We have to interpret them quickly. Each installment is a step for Damon in the future."

An older woman, somber in flowing white robes, stepped forward. "I will provide night-watch rituals—meditations that fill the soul with radiance and dispel creeping darkness."

Julia nodded. "And I'll watch over the wards with my telekinesis—any magical intrusion will be detected at once."

Blackwood closed his eyes for a moment. "Then it is settled. We fight on two fronts—externally against the raiding armies, and internally against the poison Damon has sown."

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THE MYSTERIOUS ARRIVAL

A sharp rap echoed through the gatehouse. Julia threw open the huge oak doors to reveal a hooded figure, robes as black as spilt ink and splattered with rust-red blotches. Their staff bore the emblem of Nocturnis—a twin-moon crest hidden from most.

Blackwood and Tasha arrived immediately. The traveler shoved back their hood to reveal a face distorted by ritual markings—lines of ancient script cut into skin, softly glowing.

They produced a creased parchment:

"When stars are aligned, the flame of Luna must choose between love and heritage."

Tasha recoiled at the words. She spoke to Blackwood. "What's this meant to say?"

The traveler rested a cold hand on Tasha's shoulder.

"The final game is close at hand. Your power won't merely be threatened by Damon's darkness, but by your true self sacrifice.

" Their tone was a rasp, as if every word cut them a century of suffering.

"Use restraint with the choice—to save people you love, or fulfill the legacy written within your blood. "

Mina stepped forward and laid a gentle hand on the traveler's unspoken pain. "Who brought you here?"

They shook their head, eyes distant. "The witch of Nocturnis—Frigg's dying ward. She could not herself. I bear her last warning."

Before anyone might have insisted further, the emissary turned around and vanished into the darkness, leaving the Council in stunned silence. The wind whined through the open doors, and they heard the echo of their footsteps down the cobbled street.

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Tasha stared down the depths of the campfire, Frigg's journal clutched in her lap. The cryptic warning burned in her mind: "Choose between love and legacy." She felt earth give way beneath her—a decision impossible to come on the horizon.

Shadows deepened in the courtyard. Somewhere within the now-secured walls, Damon's whisper hung, waiting to pounce on any faltering heart.

Tasha closed her eyes, heart clenching. "What do I have to surrender in order to save them all?" she breathed, aware the answer would decide the fate of two worlds.