Chapter 12: Your kind should not be left alive.

You know that feeling when something just feels wrong, but you can't quite put your finger on why? Yeah, that's exactly how I felt after leaving the spirit realm.

Don't get me wrong, I have a general idea but at the same time… I don't know what is really going on.

I tried my best to explain what I saw, but it was impossible for them to really get it. Honestly, I don't think I even fully understand it myself.

Jay told me to get some rest and clear my head… so I did.

…

I wake up in the middle of the night…or at least, I think I do.

The air around me is thick, humming with something very familiar. I know this isn't real. I'm dreaming, or maybe Morgana's dragging me into another vision like she did before.

The ground beneath me is soft, covered in something like moss but with a faint, golden glow. Above, the sky swirls with colors I don't have names for; deep blues that bleed into greens, silver light threading through it like veins of magic. It's beautiful. Unsettling. Wrong.

Then I hear it. The sound of laughter.

I turn and see them…witches and werewolves, together. Not just tolerating each other, but thriving side by side. Witches weave spells that lift water from a nearby stream, shaping it into delicate patterns. Werewolves in their half-shifted forms race through the trees, their movements powerful and fluid. There's no tension, no suspicion in their eyes. Only ease.

It doesn't make sense.

I step forward, and the vision shifts like water rippling around a stone.

Now I see a grand city, stone towers with intricate carvings, homes built into the massive roots of ancient trees. Magic pulses through everything, the air itself alive with it. The wolves and witches walk as equals, their symbols intertwined in banners draped across the city.

This isn't the world I know.

"What is this place?" I whisper, knowing someone must be listening.

"The world as it once was," her voice echoes beside me. "Before the divide. Before the war. Before your kind.."

I whip around to face her, but she's not looking at me. She's watching someone else.

A figure stands at the center of the vision. A woman.

No…a hybrid.

She's like me.

I don't mean in a broad similarities kind of way. I mean she looks like me…same sharp features, same expression.

My breath catches, because for a second, it feels like I'm looking at my own reflection.

Except it's not me.

"She was the first," Morgana says. "The first to somehow find herself made of both worlds."

The hybrid moves through the city, and I watch as people (both witches and werewolves) admired her. They bow their heads in respect. They reach out to touch her as she passes.

She's not feared.

She's celebrated.

That should be comforting, but it isn't. Because I know where this is going.

Something broke this world.

Morgana steps closer, her gaze unreadable. "She was thought to be the bridge between our kinds." A pause. "Much like you."

I swallow hard, my throat suddenly dry. "I'm guessing that was not the case?"

The vision shifts again. The golden glow of the city turns darker, like the sun is setting even though I know it's not. The laughter fades. The faces around me grow wary.

And then, the whispers start.

Betrayal.

The hybrid's face twists… no longer peaceful, no longer celebrated. There's something different now, something wrong in the way she stands, the way her power moved around her.

She did something. Something that broke this world apart.

I hear Morgana's voice again, quiet but heavy with meaning.

"She chose power over balance."

The words send a shiver down my spine.

Because even though I don't know the full story yet, even though Morgana is being cryptic as usual, I know what she's saying.

This hybrid, this girl who looks like me;..

Is she's the reason everything fell apart?.

Is she's the reason werewolves and witches became enemies?.

Is she's the reason I was never supposed to exist?.

I stagger back, shaking my head. "No."

"Yes," Morgana says simply. "And now you begin to understand."

My hands curl into fists at my sides. I don't want to understand. I don't want to see the pieces falling into place, to feel the weight of what this means.

Because if history is repeating itself… if I'm the second hybrid…

Then I know exactly why both witches and werewolves fear me.

And worse?

I'm starting to think they might be right.

I was still struggling with my thoughts when the world around me cracks like shattered ice, the golden city vanishing into nothing.

I don't fall, I plunge, like someone yanked the ground out from under me. Wind tears at my skin, and for a split second, I swear I hear screaming. Not mine. Not Morgana's. Someone else.

And then…impact.

I hit solid ground, but it doesn't hurt. It's not real, not in the way my body expects.

Still, I groan as I push myself up, my palms pressing against… ash?

The world isn't golden anymore.

It's ruined.

The air is thick with the stench of fire and blood, and a low hum…no, a growl…vibrates beneath my feet.

Around me, the land is nothing but scorched earth, jagged blackened trees, and deep gashes in the ground like something huge ripped through here.

The sky, once vibrant and alive, is now a sickly shade of gray, clouds moving like they're struggling to hold something back.

And then I see them.

Bodies.

Not just werewolves. Not just witches. Both.

Scattered across the battlefield like discarded dolls, some burned, some torn apart, some barely recognizable as anything human at all.

My stomach twists, bile rising in my throat. I scramble to my feet, forcing my legs to move.

This isn't just a battle. This is annihilation.

A cold voice drifts beside me. "This is what she caused."

Morgana. She stands at my side, arms crossed over her chest, her expression unreadable.

I swallow hard. "The hybrid?"

Morgana nods. "Her existence divided them. First, it was whispers, paranoia. Then, a single act of betrayal."

I shake my head. "What did she do?"

Morgana's lips press together. "She chose a side."

The words send a sharp chill down my spine.

I turn away from her, scanning the wreckage, looking for something…anything… that tells me how this could have happened.

And then the vision shifts again.

Suddenly, the battlefield isn't just dead bodies and scorched land. Now, it's alive.

I see it happening in real-time; wolves, their fur matted with blood, clashing against witches hurling magic that cracks through the sky like lightning.

And at the center of it all, her.

The hybrid.

She stands atop a broken tower, dark energy twisting around her like a living thing. There's something wrong in the way it moves, how it breathes like it's feeding off the chaos.

Her face is unreadable, but her eyes…her eyes burn with something too intense, too consuming.

Power.

The kind that doesn't just destroy. The kind that wants to.

"She tried to fix what she broke," Morgana says softly. "But power like hers… like yours… it doesn't bow to good intentions."

A witch on the battlefield lets out a war cry, her hands glowing with fire as she launches herself toward the hybrid. A massive werewolf intercepts her, claws raking across her chest before she can land her attack.

The witch screams.

The hybrid doesn't even flinch.

She lifts her hand, magic gathering in her palm, and then..

A flash of light.

A pulse so strong it knocks everyone; witch, werewolf, everyone…off their feet.

And when the dust settles, only the hybrid remains standing.

She looks around at what she's done, her chest rising and falling like she's realizing it, too.

Then she lets out a breath. A whisper, so quiet I almost miss it.

"I never meant for all this to happen."

The words stab through my ribs.

Because I know that feeling. That fear of losing control, of trying to protect something and instead destroying everything.

I take a step forward, heart hammering. "She really didn't mean…"

"But she did," Morgana cuts me off.

The battlefield vanishes.

We're back in the ruins again, the effects of her power painted across the land.

Suddenly, the battlefield, Morgana, all of it…shatters like glass, the pieces dissolving into darkness. And for a split second, I'm weightless, floating in the void with nothing but my own ragged breathing.

Then… pain.

A cold, clawing force wraps around my arm, yanking me downward. My body jerks violently, and the moment my feet hit solid ground again, I know something is horribly, horribly wrong.

The ground feels like it's about to give way, you know? Like I'm standing on this crazy edge where darkness could just swallow me whole at any second. These shadows are seriously creepy…they're crawling up my legs like they've got minds of their own, checking me out, feeling me up in this nightmare landscape. And that voice...

God, that voice.

It's not something you hear. It's something you FEEL deep in your bones, like a whisper that could shatter reality if it decided to get just a little bit louder. Not human. Not anything close to human. Something ancient that's been waiting, watching, hungry.

And that voice? It's getting closer.

"You don't belong here, hybrid."

I yank my legs away from the grip, stumbling backward. My heart hammers against my ribs, my pulse a frantic drumbeat in my ears. "Who the hell…"

Something moves in the dark.

A shape, tall and twisted, pulling itself forward in slow, deliberate steps. It's not a person. Not a werewolf. Not a witch.

It's wrong.

A mass of shadows and jagged, shifting limbs, like it can't decide what form to take. Its face (if you can even call it that) is a twisting void, except for its eyes. Hollow. Endless.

One can even say hungry.

"You should not exist." The voice isn't loud. It doesn't need to be. It slithers into my head, wrapping around my thoughts, squeezing tight.

I shake my head, trying to shove the thing's words out of my mind.

The thing laughs. It's not a sound, it's a feeling, a low scraping vibration in my chest that makes my stomach twist.

"You are an abomination. A stain on the balance of power. And now, you will be erased."

The shadows surge.

I throw myself to the side just as a tendril of black mist lashes out, striking the ground where I stood. The stone hisses on impact, melting like it was hit with acid.

Okay. That's bad.

I scramble up, magic crackling through my veins, sparking at my fingertips. "Morgana!" I whip my head around, but she's gone.

Of course. Of course she leaves right when some demon-thing decides to kill me.

The spirit moves fast. Too fast. One moment, it's at a distance, the next, it's right in front of me. Shadows coil around my wrists and ankles, locking me in place. My magic flares, but the moment I try to call on it, the thing tightens its grip.

Agony shoots through me like a thousand needles burrowing under my skin.

"Your kind has already doomed the world once before." The spirit leans in close, its breath cold as death itself. "We will not allow it to happen again."

I scream as the shadows sink deeper, tearing at something inside me. Not just my body, it was going after something else.

Something deeper.

It's trying to pull my life energy out.

No. No.

Panic claws at my ribs.

If this thing succeeds, if it rips my magic away….I won't just be powerless. I'll be dead.

I fight.

I thrash, kicking, twisting, trying to break free. The spirit laughs again, squeezing tighter, my vision blurring from the pain.

And then…

"Fight back, Olivia."

A voice, and not the shadow's.

A different one.

Nova.

'Being of use to me in this spirit realm… not just once but twice in one day but that wasn't where my mind should be right now.'

The words cut through the haze of pain, sharp and demanding. I suck in a ragged breath, gritting my teeth.

The spirit may be strong. It may know things I don't. But it doesn't know me.

It doesn't know that I've been fighting for my life since the day I became 'this so-called hybrid'.

It doesn't know that I refuse to die.

My magic surges.

Not a spell. Not a controlled burst of power.

A raw, unstoppable force.

And I felt whole for once… intentionally letting it all out.

A sense of calm washes over me.

The shadows constraining me crack, shatter, and explode outward. The spirit screeches, recoiling as energy detonates from my body in a wave of gold, silver and blue fire.

The world rips apart.