Here's Chapter 78 of Fated to the Night King. We're deep in the aftermath now — and heading toward the reckoning. It's long, raw, and exactly where we left off.
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Chapter 78: The Thing That Followed the Flame
They were no longer in the old world.
Selene could feel it in the way the air pulsed with energy — unfamiliar, ancient, untamed. The moment the Abyss Crown was destroyed, something else had stirred, something sealed long ago beneath fire and vow.
Valerian stood at her side, his sword sheathed but his shoulders tense. His bond with her was stronger than ever — forged not by fate, but by choice.
And still… the unease gnawed at them both.
The meadow stretched into dark woods. Trees older than kingdoms towered over them, their branches humming. Runes pulsed beneath the bark, glowing faint blue like veins of forgotten power. Every step they took echoed like a whisper in the bones of the land.
"Where are we?" Selene asked.
Valerian didn't answer immediately. He tilted his head as though listening. "We're not in the realm we knew."
"Is it the Other Side?"
"No. Worse." He looked at her, eyes shadowed. "We're in the Unwritten Lands."
Selene shivered.
She had heard of them only once, in a dream she hadn't known was real — a place where time folds, where prophecy sleeps, and where broken fates crawl back to rewrite themselves.
"Why are we here?" she asked.
Valerian's voice was low. "Because when we destroyed the crown… we opened something."
A cry pierced the air — shrill, not human.
They spun, weapons ready. But the sound didn't return. The trees fell silent, watching.
Selene whispered, "Something's following us."
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By nightfall, they found shelter in the ruins of what looked like a shrine. It was carved from moonstone, covered in vines and marked with the same sigils that had branded her dreams since the Binding.
Valerian laid a hand on the wall. "It's a temple to the First Bonded."
"The omega and vampire who created the prophecy?"
He nodded. "They never ascended. They disappeared here. This was their last step."
Selene knelt at the altar. There were two rings — one silver, one obsidian — melted into the stone.
As she touched them, her vision flooded.
Flashes. Screams. Blood. A creature born from the curse that bound the First Bonded. A thing neither vampire nor omega — a wraith that hunted through bloodlines, waiting for the bond strong enough to awaken it.
And it had awakened now.
Selene stumbled back. "It's here."
Valerian caught her. "What did you see?"
"The wraith. The one created from their broken bond. It's real. And it's looking for us."
Valerian's jaw clenched. "Then we finish what they couldn't."
Selene looked at the silver ring, then into his eyes. "We have to become more than fate."
He kissed her forehead, grounding them both. "We already are."
Outside, the wind howled like it knew their names. Something vast and broken was hunting. The final prophecy hadn't ended.
It had only begun.
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Ready for Chapter 79, guys? Things are about to turn darker, deeper… and unshakably epic. Let's keep going. 💛