Chapter 79
Chapter 79: The Wraith and the Bond
The Unwritten Lands didn't sleep.
Selene woke to the sharp scent of scorched earth and something fouler — rot, ash, memory. Valerian was already on his feet, blade drawn, his back to her like a shield.
"The trees are moving," he said quietly.
Selene pushed herself up. "What do you mean?"
"I mean they've surrounded us."
And they had.
What once looked like a sanctuary of trees had turned into a wall of bark and bone. Gnarled limbs stretched like fingers, twitching toward them. And in the spaces between — eyes. Dozens. Watching. Waiting.
"Is it the wraith?" Selene asked.
"No," Valerian said, tightening his grip. "It's the land warning us. Something worse is coming."
Selene felt it too — a pressure in her chest, like her own blood was resisting her body.
Then came the whisper.
> "Omega… nightborn… return what you carry…"
Selene staggered. "Did you hear that?"
Valerian's gaze sharpened. "It spoke to you?"
She nodded, voice thin. "It knows I carry the remnants of the crown."
Valerian's face darkened. "It was shattered. Burned in dragonfire."
"Yes, but… not everything burned. Something clung to me." She held her palm out — and a faint shimmer of dark light curled there, like soot that pulsed with memory. "I didn't realize until now."
Valerian reached toward her hand, then stopped.
"It's alive," he said. "It's not just a remnant. It's part of you now."
Selene's voice trembled. "What does that mean?"
"That you're the final seal."
Suddenly, the trees split.
From the shadows, the wraith emerged.
It was tall — almost formless — shifting between vapor and flesh, face hidden behind a veil of bone and chain. Its presence distorted the air, and every step it took wilted the ground.
Selene froze. Her bond with Valerian lit up like a star flaring inside her chest. It was fear — and fury.
The wraith didn't speak. It didn't need to.
It lunged.
Valerian met it mid-air, sword singing through the dark. The clash split the silence, magic searing the sky. The wraith shrieked — not in pain, but pleasure — as if it had waited lifetimes for this exact fight.
Selene raised her hands, summoning the power in her blood. Her omega aura surged — not submissive, not soft, but devastating.
She struck the wraith with a blast of white fire.
It flinched. Screamed. But it didn't fall.
Valerian shouted, "It's not bound to this plane — we can't kill it here!"
"Then how?" Selene cried.
"Not kill. Bind."
And she understood.
She turned to the shrine. The rings.
They were symbols of unity — the bond that birthed the curse… and the bond that could end it.
Selene gripped the rings in her fists. "Valerian! With me!"
He turned, bleeding, staggering, but came.
They stood before the altar, hand in hand, their bond blazing like sunfire. The wraith charged — shrieking, claws outstretched —
And Selene plunged the rings into her chest.
The world exploded in light.
---
They didn't die.
They ascended.
The wraith's scream turned into silence. The Unwritten Lands blinked… and then bowed. The trees settled. The sky burned silver.
Selene gasped as Valerian caught her, their foreheads pressed together, their bond now something ancient and unstoppable.
"You did it," he whispered.
"No," she breathed. "We did."
But even as peace settled in their lungs, something else stirred in the ashes.
Because while they had bound the wraith…
They had awakened something beneath it.
And it… remembered them.
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