Chapter Nine: The Messenger's Ultimatum

The night air was thick with an eerie stillness. Aria had spent the past few days trying to make sense of everything she had learned—the visions, her mother, and the growing power inside her. But none of it prepared her for what was coming.

A cold wind whispered through the trees, sending a shiver down her spine. The silence was unnatural, pressing down on her like a weight. She had fought countless creatures before, but this was different.

This was waiting.

Watching.

And then—

A shadow moved.

It wasn't like the ones she had fought before. This figure stood tall, its form wrapped in flowing dark robes that seemed to shift like smoke. Its face was obscured, hidden beneath a hood, but two piercing silver eyes glowed from the darkness.

Aria tensed.

She could feel it.

Power.

Ancient and suffocating.

The figure stepped forward, the ground beneath it darkening with each step.

"You have walked too far down this path," it said, its voice a deep whisper that sent chills through her.

Aria gripped her dagger. "Who are you?"

The figure didn't answer immediately. Instead, it raised a hand, and the air around them trembled.

"I am a messenger," it said finally. "Sent to offer you a choice."

Aria's heart pounded. "What choice?"

The figure took another step closer, and suddenly, the shadows behind it began to twist and form shapes—faces.

Familiar faces.

She gasped as she recognized them.

The baker who had once given her food when she was starving. The old woman who had warned her to run the night the villagers turned against her. Even Callan—his face frozen in the same expression he wore before his death.

All of them, staring.

Unmoving.

Trapped.

The figure's voice cut through the silence.

"They are but the first," it said. "More will follow if you continue."

Aria's grip on her dagger tightened. "What do you want from me?"

The messenger tilted its head.

"Submit."

The word echoed through the night, thick with power.

Aria's breath caught. "You're asking me to join you?"

A slow nod. "You were never meant to fight against us."

Something deep inside her twisted.

Hadn't she just learned that she wasn't like the humans? That she had been hidden for a reason?

The messenger's voice softened.

"You are one of us, whether you accept it or not. Fighting is useless."

Aria shook her head. "No. I am human."

The figure remained silent for a long moment.

Then, it raised its hand again.

This time, the vision that appeared was different.

A town.

A home.

Burning.

Aria's blood ran cold.

She recognized the houses. The streets.

It was the village she had left behind.

And it was in flames.

The messenger's voice was calm, almost gentle.

"This is what awaits them if you refuse."

Aria's breath came in short gasps. "You're lying."

The messenger lowered its hand, the vision fading.

"You know I am not."

A lump formed in her throat.

The villagers had feared her. Hated her. Blamed her for Callan's death.

But that didn't mean she wanted them to die.

The messenger took one final step forward, towering over her now.

"You have until the next full moon," it said. "Submit… or they all burn."

Then—

The wind howled.

The figure dissolved into shadow.

And Aria was left standing alone.

With a choice she never wanted to make.

Aria stood frozen, her mind a battlefield of fear and fury. The messenger's words echoed in her head, a dark promise that clung to her bones.

"Submit… or they all burn."

The village. The people who had cast her out. The ones who had turned their backs on her.

Did she owe them her protection?

Her hands curled into fists.

It didn't matter.

She wouldn't let innocent people die, no matter how they had treated her.

The trees swayed violently in the wind, their branches creaking like old bones. The air was thick with something unnatural. The messenger might have vanished, but its presence still lingered, watching, waiting.

Aria took a deep breath.

She needed time to think.

But time was running out.

She walked through the forest, each step heavier than the last. The weight of the ultimatum pressed on her like a suffocating shroud.

The next full moon.

That gave her barely a month.

How was she supposed to prepare for something like this?

Who could she even turn to?

Her feet carried her back to the ruins she had been using as shelter—a crumbling stone structure hidden deep within the woods. The fire she had left burning earlier had died down, but the embers still glowed faintly in the darkness.

She dropped to her knees, staring into the flickering light.

What do I do?

Her mind spun through the possibilities.

If she submitted, she would be betraying herself—betraying everything she had fought for.

But if she refused…

The village would be destroyed.

More than that—her loved ones, the few people she still cared about, would suffer.

She thought of the old woman who had warned her to run. Of the children who had once smiled at her before their parents told them she was cursed.

She thought of Callan.

Would he want her to give in?

Would he blame her if she didn't?

A wave of frustration surged through her, and she slammed her fist into the ground.

A spark of violet light crackled around her fingers.

Her powers had been growing stronger, but she still didn't understand them.

And now, she needed them more than ever.

Aria barely slept that night.

Her dreams were filled with shadows and silver eyes, voices whispering her name from the darkness.

When she awoke, the sky was painted with streaks of gray, the dawn struggling to break through the thick clouds.

She had made her decision.

She wouldn't submit.

But she wouldn't let the village burn either.

That meant one thing—

She had to fight.

And to do that, she needed to become stronger.

The messenger was no ordinary creature. It carried an aura of power, something ancient and suffocating.

And if she had any hope of stopping it, she had to figure out what she was and how to use her abilities to their fullest.

She had spent too long running.

Now, it was time to face the truth.

Whatever she was, whoever she was—

She would master it.

And she would win.

The training began that very morning.

Aria had learned bits and pieces of her abilities over time, but she had never pushed herself to the limit.

Now, she had no choice.

She started with what she knew—visions.

They came to her unpredictably, flooding her mind when she least expected them.

But what if she could control them?

She sat cross-legged on the cold stone floor of the ruins, closing her eyes.

Breathing in.

Breathing out.

She focused on the violet energy within her, the power that hummed just beneath her skin.

For a long time, nothing happened.

Then—

A spark.

A flicker of light behind her closed eyelids.

And suddenly, she was falling.

The world around her shifted, colors bleeding into shadows. She saw flashes—images that came too quickly to process.

A battle.

A storm of violet fire.

A face, half-hidden in the darkness, whispering her name.

Then—

Pain.

A searing, burning pain in her chest.

She gasped, wrenching herself out of the vision.

Her body trembled, her breath ragged.

That was the first time she had entered a vision by choice.

And it had nearly crushed her.

But she had seen something.

Something important.

A face.

Someone she didn't recognize—

But someone who knew her.

A chill ran down her spine.

This wasn't just about the messenger.

There were others.

Watching.

Waiting.

And they were coming.

Days passed.

Aria pushed herself harder than ever before, testing the limits of her strength.

She discovered she could manipulate the violet energy not just as visions, but as raw power.

She could wield it.

Shape it.

It felt unnatural at first, like trying to control a storm with her bare hands.

But with time, she learned.

And as she learned, she grew stronger.

She wasn't the same girl who had once been chased from her village.

She wasn't a frightened child anymore.

She was something else.

Something more.

And when the full moon rose, she would be ready.

The night arrived faster than she expected.

The sky was eerily clear, the moon a perfect silver disk in the heavens.

Aria stood at the edge of the forest, her heart pounding.

The air was thick with tension.

And then—

The shadows moved.

The messenger emerged from the darkness, its silver eyes gleaming.

"You have made your choice," it said.

Aria raised her chin. "Yes, I have."

The messenger tilted its head. "And?"

She took a deep breath.

And then—

She let the power surge.

Violet energy crackled around her, the ground trembling beneath her feet.

The messenger remained still, watching her with unreadable eyes.

Then, it did something that made her blood run cold.

It smiled.

"Interesting," it murmured.

Aria tensed. "What?"

The shadows around the messenger twisted, growing larger.

"I hoped you would refuse."

The realization struck her like a thunderclap.

This had never been about giving her a choice.

This had been about pushing her to fight.

The messenger raised its hand, and the sky darkened.

Aria's breath caught as the air around her became heavy, suffocating.

And then—

The attack came.

Shadows lashed out at her like whips, cutting through the air with deadly precision.

Aria barely had time to react, throwing up a shield of violet energy. The impact sent her skidding backward, her boots digging into the dirt.

The messenger was toying with her.

Testing her.

And she refused to lose.

She gritted her teeth and launched forward, summoning all the power she had spent the past month mastering.

The night erupted in a storm of shadows and violet fire.

This was it.

Her first real battle.

And she would either win—

Or she would die.