CHAPTER 15
The Burn of Becoming
The silence didn't last long.
The door had opened, and the figure who stepped in wasn't another guard. It was a young woman with flame-red hair bound tightly behind her head, dressed in deep forest-green robes that shimmered faintly. Her eyes were sharp, curious—and slightly wary.
"You're to come with me," she said, not unkindly.
I stood slowly. My limbs felt heavy and foreign, as if I were still shaking off the touch of that vision. My bones ached with something deeper than pain—change. Something inside me had cracked open, and now it was leaking out in the form of power I didn't understand.
The girl must've noticed because her gaze lingered on my hands. Faint silver light still pulsed beneath my skin, dancing like moonlight over water.
"You saw her, didn't you?" she asked quietly.
I froze. "Who?"
"The Lady of the Forest. The Daughter of the First Moon. She only shows herself to the true blooded. The real vessels."
My stomach twisted. "Is that what I am? A vessel?"
She hesitated before nodding. "More than that, I think. But come. The Council's waiting for your second trial."
I followed her out, my mind a storm. What else would they test me for? What else was there to uncover?
As we moved through the corridor, the air felt different. People watched from doorways and shadows, whispers trailing behind us like smoke. Not all were cruel or hateful—some looked with awe, others with fear. I didn't blame them. I barely recognized myself.
Eventually, we reached a domed chamber carved into the rock of the mountain. The ceiling sparkled with crystals that pulsed faintly with the rhythm of my heartbeat. At the center of the room stood a single obsidian pedestal, and above it floated a crystal orb encased in swirling light.
Six members of the Council stood spaced around the room. The silver-haired woman was there, as unreadable as ever. So was the man with the kind eyes and the heavy voice. The others watched with different expressions: doubt, curiosity, suspicion. My mother—My mother—stood among them now, arms crossed tightly, her lips pressed into a line.
The girl stepped away from me. "She's ready."
The silver-haired woman nodded. "Then we begin."
"What is this?" I asked, voice firm despite my nerves.
"This is the Trial of the Flame," the man said. "To wield what you were given, you must master what it threatens to destroy. The power inside you—it burns. It consumes. We must know if you can withstand it."
A test of control.
I stepped forward until the heat of the orb made my skin prickle. The power inside it pulsed, calling to mine. My breath caught in my chest.
"Be careful," Aerie warned, his voice cautious. "This isn't about force. It's about restraint."
I reached out—and the moment my fingers brushed the surface of the orb, my world exploded.
Fire.
Not just flames, but something more primal. A roaring blaze inside my chest, tearing at my ribs, crawling up my throat. It wasn't pain. It was hunger. Power uncontained. It wanted out. It wanted to burn everything around me.
I screamed, falling to my knees, but the flames didn't stop. The room vanished. I was alone in a sea of fire, my skin glowing silver and white, my veins alive with molten light.
"Control it!" Aerie shouted. "Focus!"
But I couldn't. I wasn't even sure where I ended and the power began. Memories surged—my parents, the lie of my childhood,,the Council's judgment, My mother's broken voice. They cracked me open like glass.
Then something shifted.
"Let me in," Aerie said, voice deeper now. "Let me take the reins."
I didn't hesitate. I opened the door.
Suddenly, my posture straightened. My body moved without my command, fluid and feral. My eyes snapped open, glowing with a golden fire. The room flickered back into place. The chamber gasped as one.
I wasn't me.
Aerie had taken over.
The male presence, dominant and composed, moved with unsettling precision. My head tilted slightly, scanning the Council as if amused by their stunned faces.
"She let me out," Aerie spoke through my lips, his voice richer, deeper.
Council members flinched. One of them stumbled back, eyes wide. "That's a male wolf spirit… inside a female vessel."
"She is not just a vessel," Aerie said, flexing my fingers. "She is Selene. And you will learn what that means."
My mother stepped forward now, her face pale but her voice steady. "Aerie… what are you doing?"
He turned her way, my mother's face reflected in eyes not entirely mine. "Protecting her. Teaching her. Giving her what no one else dared."
The orb flared, but Aerie didn't recoil. Instead, he raised my palm—and absorbed the light. It rushed into us like a flood, wild but welcomed.
The pedestal cracked.
Crystals above shattered, raining light. My hands glowed brighter and brighter until Aerie exhaled sharply, then slowly, gently, gave control back to me.
I gasped, stumbling forward as myself again. The power lingered—but now I could feel the balance. The connection. The shared strength.
My mother caught me. Her arms wrapped around me tight, and for the first time, I didn't resist.
"You've changed," she whispered.
"No," I breathed. "I've finally become."
The Council remained speechless. Their world had shifted. So had mine.
I was no longer something to fear.
I was something to reckon with.