The Alpha’s Fated Outcast: Rise Of The Moonsinger

Chapter 346: Trials of echoes - the way forward.

Lyla Neriah reached for him, but he stepped back. At that moment, something between them shattered. She did not know it then, but that rejection, that denial, was the moment the darkness crept in stronger.

"I can help you," Neriah insisted. "You broke your oaths, we can make sacrifices, and mend your relationship back with the goddess, you don't need to give yourself to darkness. Please..." But Corvus had already made his choice. The darkness claimed him completely; with it, he had gained something terrible - the ability to turn werewolves into mindless, bloodthirsty Ferals.

And he unleashed it upon the Auréans.

The Northern Forest burned.

The Auréans, guardians of the world, who had lived for centuries in peace, fell one by one - not to swords or claws, but to Corvus' dark powers, which twisted them into soulless monsters.

I watched as Neriah tried to stop it. How she tried to help her people cling onto their sanity.

Hundreds died as dark energy ripped through the settlement, turning friend against friend, parent against child.

She found Corvus under his favourite oak tree.

"Corvus, stop this!" she had screamed, her voice filled with heartbreak.

"You did this," he whispered. "You leftno choice." Rian and Thames fell, trying to defend her from him.

Corvus, caught in Neriah's power, was split in two-his body was destroyed while his spirit becdarker, fueled by rage and betrayal.

"If I cannot stop you," Neriah's voice echoed in the void, "I will ensure you cannot use your powers. You will have no form; I will trap you eternally, and we will both know no peace." In her grief, Neriah sang a song of binding, using the last of her strength to contain the darkness she'd inadvertently helped create.

*** The visions faded, and I found myself standing in a field littered with dead bodies. Horror filledas I recognised them-Nanny, Terra, Lenny, Clarissa, and finally, Ramsey, his eyes staring lifelessly at the sky.

It was the first vision I'd had after my powers awakened. I'd been so scared when I saw it, but now, I knew that would be my reality. If I didn't try to stop Xander in any way, I would watch my loved ones die.

Nathan has died...how much more would need to be sacrificed? "This is what awaits if you fail," a voice said.

I looked up to see Xander standing at the edge of the field, his hand stretched toward me.

"It doesn't have to end this way," he continued, his voice almost gentle. "Embrace who you truly are. Accept me. Finish the blood oath that Neriah began." "What blood oath?" I asked, my voice trembling. "I am not Neriah, Xander. I do not have misplaced feelings. I know who my heart belongs to. I love only one man and would never sleep with you." "You almost did," he said with a smile. "Back at the human world, remember." He flicked his wrist, and an orb appeared. "Remember this, right? I knew this day was going to cand..." "You cannot deceive me, Xander. That orb is useless to you. You never took any of my powers. My wolf made sure of that. Stop lying. You've lied tomany times, so I cannot trust anything that comes out of your mouth.

He nodded. "You know, the binding that tethersto this endless cycle of return," he said, "When Neriah tried to contain me, she used blood magic-her blood and mine, intertwined. But the ritual was flawed, incomplete." "Because she was pregnant," I realised.

"Yes. The children she carried complicated the magic. Instead of destroyingor freeing me, she created a cycle-l return again and again, seeking release." He stepped closer. "You carry the sbloodlines. You can end this, one way or another." "You're askingto join you?" "I'm asking you to complete what Neriah started," he corrected. "Not with death, but with understanding. Your children carry both bloodlines-Rian's through your mate; They are the key to restoring balance." "How can I trust anything you say?" I challenged. "You've killed countless Moonsingers before me." "And I also die in the process. Our fates are sealed. The birth of a Moonsinger is my rebirth. I am tired of doing this over and over again. It gets exhausting. Destruction isn't the answer. Neither is eternal binding. Open up the gates. Neriah sealedand giveback my form. Like the way you transformed those Ferals back to their human form." As he spoke, I felt something stirring within me—not just my power, but understanding. Every Moonsinger beforehad tried to defeat the Dark One through binding and sacrifice. None had succeeded permanently because they misunderstood the nature of the problem.

The Dark One wasn't just an enemy to be destroyed. He was part of a broken cycle that needed healing. He was a lovesick fool bent on destroying an entire generation of Lycans. He wanted them gone from the earth.

"My nis Lyla," I said firmly, centring myself in my identity. "Daughter of Miriam and Logan Woodland, Mate of Ramsey. Mother of the children I carry." "Don't leave yet, Lyla," Xander sighed. "Just hearout." "I am a Moonsinger," I continued, feeling my power rising. "Not just of destruction or healing, but of balance."

In that moment of clarity, I felt my pheromones awakening, flooding my system. But instead of the wild force I'd feared, the foul offensive smell, I found I could direct it, shape it, transform it into something new-neither light nor shadow but the harmony between them.

With a gasp, I opened my eyes to find myself in the clearing. It was almost morning. A little streak of sunlight filtered through the trees, and the priestesses lay exhausted around the circle's edge. Nanny knelt beside me, tears streaming down her face, while Circe stared atwith a mixture of awe and fear. "You've returned," Nanny whispered, helpingsit up. "We thought we'd lost you." "What happened?" Terra asked, her voice hoarse from hours of chanting. "What did you see?"

I met their gazes steadily, feeling different.. The power that had frightenedbefore now flowed om throughlike a familiar current, controlled and directed by my will rather than my emotions. It was as if I could feel my pheromones flowing through me, but this time, no one was wrinkling their nose, and I wasn't getting soaked or stimulated. I had it under control.

"Everything," I replied. "I saw everything." "Did you learn how to defeat him?" Circe asked eagerly.

I stood slowly. My body ached, but my mind was clearer than it had ever been. "Yes. But not in the way anyone expected." The twin moons would rise this night. The Dark One would cfor me, for my children, for the power he believed would free him.

But I was ready now. Not just to fight, but to heal a wound that had festered for centuries.