Amber_Glint

Lila Harper never believed in magic until a glowing, winged creature lured her into the hidden world of Arcanwyn Academy, a school concealed deep within an ancient, living forest. At Arcanwyn, magic isn’t just taught, it breathes, grows, and sometimes breaks the rules.

When forbidden creatures begin vanishing and dark magic awakens beneath the academy’s roots, Lila discovers a prophecy tied to her bloodline. As secrets unravel and powerful forces collide, she must decide whether to protect the ancient bond that keeps the magical world safe or risk everything to unleash what has long been caged.

Magic chose her. But the truth might destroy her.

Whispers of the Forbidden Creatures

Chapter 33: Echoes of the Forgotten

The deeper they walked, the more warped the world became.

The corridor bled into shadows. The floor trembled beneath their feet as if something ancient was stirring. Lila felt it not just beneath her skin, but within it. Like a memory she'd never made but somehow knew. Her pendant was pulsing faintly now, reacting to the energy around her.

"Lila," Thorne murmured, his voice low, "something's coming."

From the darkness ahead, a flicker.

Ghostlike figures, cloaked in mist, their faces blurred and shifting. They didn't move like people. They floated, their feet never touching the ground, and their mouths didn't speak but their thoughts poured into the air like smoke.

"You shattered the seal."

"You broke the cycle."

"Do you understand what you've done?"

Lila stood her ground. "I did what I had to. I freed us."

"You freed yourself. But at what cost?"

Suddenly, the figures multiplied, surrounding her and her companions. The tunnel echoed with words that weren't said aloud—accusations, fears, prophecies.

"No," Thorne warned, raising a hand. "They're not here to fight."

Lila took a step forward. "Then what do you want?"

One stepped closer. Its form shifted slowly taking on her shape.

Herself. Pale, broken-eyed, bleeding from a wound over the heart.

It whispered, "You still don't know what you are, do you?"

Lila gasped, finding herself alone in a circular chamber. The others were gone.

"This is your truth," said a voice behind her.

An old woman stood there, veiled in gray, her eyes like pools of memory. "This place reveals. It doesn't lie. And neither can you."

"What am I?" Lila demanded. "Why me?"

The woman walked to the center of the room, placing a hand on a stone pedestal. "Because your blood remembers. You are not the first. You are the last. The cycle ends with you unless you make the same choice."

A book appeared on the pedestal. Bound in cracked leather, covered in ancient sigils. The same sigils that had once lined the Forgotten King's throne.

Lila's breath caught. "This… this is his journal."

WHISPERS OF THE FORBIDDEN CREATURES: Echoes of the Forgotten