Chapter 82

Chapter 82: The Prophecy War Begins

The first blow was not struck with a sword.

It came with silence.

A terrible, crushing silence as Selene and Ciro faced one another beneath a churning sky. Lightning split the air in jagged arcs, and the ground trembled with the tension of a thousand truths unspoken. The ancient ruins of the Unwritten Lands groaned beneath their feet, whispering of histories too old to hold.

Ciro, once her brother, was now a creature twisted by darkness. His eyes burned with a furious red, not the kind of bloodlust born from war, but the deeper fury of betrayal. His veins glowed faintly with abyssal runes, markings no human should bear, not even a cursed one.

"I waited for you," Selene said, her voice steady despite the way her heart threatened to break. "You never came back."

"I died for you," Ciro hissed. "And when I returned, it was already too late. You had chosen him."

Valerian moved to her side like a shadow finding its moon, his presence calm but ready to strike. His sword hummed with ancestral energy, fed by a bloodline long sealed and a heart now unchained.

"She chose fate," Valerian said coldly. "And you chose ruin."

Ciro laughed, sharp and broken. "Fate? No. This was mine first! I was meant to be the omega king. I was meant to rule!"

The crown on Selene's head pulsed faintly with light.

The war began.

Ciro moved like a nightmare, his hands forming ancient signs that summoned beasts of shadow. Black tendrils erupted from the ground, clawing and writhing, each one alive with venomous rage. Selene stepped forward, and from her palms came not fire, not frost, but pure starlight—white-hot beams of fate, slashing the tendrils into dust.

Valerian intercepted the first wave of abyss-bound warriors. Creatures with no mouths, only fangs. Eyes sewn shut. His blade cut clean through them, dark mist evaporating around him. Every movement was a dance of death, elegant and merciless.

Selene's power had changed since the crown. It was no longer just an omega's bond. It was prophecy incarnate. She called down shields made of light and summoned memories that fought for her—echoes of those who had died protecting the line she now represented.

The sky wept silver rain as the battle thickened.

Ciro unleashed the Blood Echo, a curse meant to steal memories from his enemies. It hit Selene like a tidal wave. Suddenly she saw her mother again, her tiny hands reaching for her as flames consumed their home. She saw herself, younger, weaker, before she had known what she was. Before Valerian.

She screamed.

But Valerian caught her.

His voice was low, urgent: "You're here now. You're stronger than him. You wear the crown, Selene."

She blinked.

The visions vanished.

And with a furious cry, she raised both hands. The ground cracked. A circle of runes ignited around her feet. Moonlight spilled from her body in radiant arcs that scorched the battlefield, repelling every creature that dared come close.

Ciro stumbled back, eyes wide. "No… That power… it was never supposed to be yours!"

"It was always mine," she said. "You were just too blinded by pain to see it."

The battlefield paused.

For one breathless moment, even the cursed beasts halted. Selene walked forward slowly, her steps marked by glowing sigils.

"I loved you, Ciro. I would've given anything to save you."

"Then die with me!" he shouted, raising his hands for a final strike.

But before he could unleash it, Valerian moved like lightning.

His sword pierced through Ciro's chest.

The air went still.

Ciro looked down, confusion in his eyes. "You... you still protected her. Even now."

Valerian whispered, "Always."

Ciro collapsed, his blood mixing with the cursed soil. The abyss tried to reclaim him—tendrils snaking around his body. But Selene stepped forward and raised her palm.

"Not this time. I free you, brother."

With a single word in the old tongue, she shattered the curse.

Light exploded.

When it faded, Ciro was gone. Only a memory remained.

The enemy army scattered. Without their cursed general, their magic unraveled. Selene and Valerian stood alone among the silence, the battlefield littered with ash and fading echoes.

Selene turned to Valerian, her voice soft. "Is it over?"

He sheathed his sword. "No. That was just the beginning."

Above them, the sky churned darker than ever.

The war had only just begun.

But now the world had a queen who would not break.

And a king who would not fall.

Together, they would rewrite fate.

---

To be continued in Chapter 83...