Seraphina's world tilted violently as her eyes locked with the impossible figure before her—the woman whose grave she had knelt over, whose absence had carved a wound so deep it never truly closed.
Her mother stood motionless, neither smiling nor frowning, her expression unreadable beneath the shimmer of ethereal light that cloaked her like mist spun from sorrow.
Seraphina's heart pounded, not with joy, but with a creeping dread that this moment—this reunion—wasn't meant to bring comfort.
"M-Mother?" her voice cracked, raw and uncertain, as if speaking the word might shatter the fragile illusion before her.
The woman nodded slowly, her eyes—once warm hazel—now glowed with the same cursed luminescence etched into Seraphina's skin.
Kael stepped beside her, stiff and guarded, his gaze shifting between the woman and the silver-cloaked figures who remained silent shadows in the mist.
"You're dead," Seraphina whispered, her voice trembling as she took a step closer.
"I was," the woman replied, her voice like wind rustling through dried leaves—soft, brittle, and impossibly old.
"Then how—why—are you here?" Seraphina demanded, fists clenched so tightly her knuckles blanched.
The woman turned slightly, revealing a jagged scar across her throat that pulsed faintly with violet light.
"They took me," she said.
"They who?" Kael asked sharply, stepping forward, instincts flaring like fire behind his eyes.
The silver-cloaked figures answered in unison, their voices layering over one another like a song sung backward.
"The Forsworn."
Seraphina's stomach twisted at the name—she didn't know it, yet it echoed in her bones like a memory lost in the fog of dreams.
"They are the forgotten blood," her mother said quietly, reaching out as if to touch her daughter, but her fingers stopped inches away.
"They feed on betrayal," one cloaked figure intoned.
"They breathe through broken oaths," said the other.
Kael's hand hovered near his blade, but he didn't draw it—something about this space felt sacred, yet poisonous.
"You were taken," Seraphina said slowly, eyes narrowing.
"But you didn't die."
Her mother's lips trembled.
"I died in every way that mattered."
Seraphina staggered back a step, her legs suddenly weak.
"Why now?" she asked.
"Why show yourself now, after all these years of silence, of suffering?"
"Because you awakened it," her mother said.
"The mark."
The cursed light flared on Seraphina's arm, burning through the thin fabric of her sleeve as if it recognized its maker.
"I never asked for this," Seraphina muttered, voice tight with pain.
"But you were born for it," the silver-cloaked ones said together.
Kael stepped between them and Seraphina, his voice cold.
"What do you want from her?"
The figures didn't answer—instead, the space around them shifted, the forest dissolving into a night sky swirling with unnatural constellations.
Stars blinked into life in shapes that made no sense—wolves howling in silence, moons fractured like mirrors, symbols spinning like haunted galaxies.
Seraphina clutched her head as visions surged—of herself standing in fire, of Kael bleeding beneath twin moons, of a crown made of bone in her trembling hands.
"Stop it!" she screamed, falling to her knees.
Her mother knelt beside her, pressing a ghostly hand to her cheek.
"They're showing you what could come," she whispered.
"Then I don't want it," Seraphina sobbed.
Her mother looked at her with sorrow so deep it seemed carved into her face.
"You may not have a choice."
Kael crouched beside them, placing a firm hand on Seraphina's shoulder.
"She does," he said fiercely.
"As long as I breathe, she chooses."
The silver-cloaked figures tilted their heads, watching him curiously.
"You are brave," one said.
"And foolish," said the other.
Their bodies began to fade, unraveling like smoke, but their final words rang clear.
"Remember the Trial was only the beginning."
"And the wolves of fate are still hungry."
The stars blinked out.
The forest returned.
But her mother remained.
Seraphina reached out, fingers brushing against her mother's hand.
It felt real.
Warm.
Human.
Yet wrong.
"There's something you're not telling me," Seraphina said quietly.
Her mother's eyes darkened, just for a second.
"There's much you do not remember."
"Then tell me," Seraphina pleaded.
"Start with the truth."
Kael's fingers tightened on Seraphina's arm, steadying her even as his own pulse pounded like thunder beneath his skin.
They both stared at the woman who called herself Seraphina's mother, the same woman who had supposedly died twelve winters ago in a fire no one could explain.
"Start from the beginning," Seraphina said, her voice steadier now but lined with suspicion and heartache.
Her mother's eyes shimmered with regret, like light glinting off a still lake hiding monsters in its depths.
"They lied to you," she whispered.
"Everyone did."
Seraphina's breath caught.
"About what?"
"About who you are," she replied.
"You were born under the Eclipse Veil, a prophecy written in the oldest tongue of our kind—one that was meant to be broken before it could ever breathe."
Kael glanced at Seraphina, his brows furrowed as pieces began to fall into place, but none of them painted a clear picture—only something terrifyingly ancient.
"You're saying she's... what, some chosen one?" Kael asked, voice laced with doubt but weighted with worry.
"No," the woman said softly.
"She's the cursed one."
A silence fell like a blade between them, sharp and impossible to ignore.
Seraphina's lips parted, but no sound came out.
"The wolves you saw in your dreams—those that bled from the sky and sang your name in death—were real," her mother continued.
"They guard the Gate of Undoing, and you... are the key."
Kael stood abruptly.
"No," he said.
"She's just a girl who's been through too much."
"She's the girl who ended a war before it began," her mother corrected.
"And if she doesn't remember what was taken from her, then that war will rise again—this time unstoppable."
Seraphina's hands trembled.
"What was taken from me?"
Her mother's face paled further.
"Your bond."
Kael froze.
"What bond?"
"Her fated mate," the woman said.
"Her Alpha."
Seraphina blinked rapidly, her heart slamming against her ribs as something inside her recoiled.
"I don't have a mate," she said.
"You did," her mother answered, each word a dagger.
"He was erased from your memory... by those who feared what your union would awaken."
The world tilted again.
Seraphina gripped the bark of a nearby tree to steady herself, breathing hard, eyes wide and unfocused.
"I don't remember anything," she whispered.
"But your blood does," her mother murmured.
"And soon, so will your heart."
Kael's expression was unreadable.
His voice, though quiet, held a razor's edge.
"Who is he?"
"His name was Damon," the woman said.
"And he's still alive."
Seraphina's knees buckled, and this time Kael caught her before she hit the earth.
"Why would they erase him from me?" she cried.
"Because together, you were too powerful," her mother replied.
"Your union could break the chains of fate—or forge new ones far darker than the world can bear."
Kael looked away, jaw clenched, his hand still steady on Seraphina's back.
"I need to find him," Seraphina said suddenly, standing upright even though her legs screamed against the weight of it all.
Her mother nodded solemnly.
"You must—but be warned, love does not survive unscathed by time or tampering."
Before Seraphina could ask another question, a low howl split the forest air, ancient and agonizing, echoing with a fury that made the trees sway.
Kael spun toward the sound, already shielding Seraphina behind him.
Her mother stiffened.
"They found us."
"Who?" Kael demanded.
"The ones who erased Damon," she whispered.
"The ones who will do the same to you—unless you run."
Seraphina stared at her mother in panic.
"I can't leave you."
"You must," her mother insisted, backing into the shadows of the trees.
"If they capture me, they get nothing—but if they take you again... the Eclipse falls."
Kael grabbed Seraphina's hand, tugging her toward the darkness between the trees.
"Now," he hissed.
Seraphina looked back, tears already streaming.
Her mother's form shimmered, breaking apart like fog under morning light, fading into nothing as another howl—closer this time—shattered the moment.
They ran.
Through thorns, over roots, past trees that bent in warning.
The forest grew colder.
The air, thinner.
And somewhere behind them, something hunted—not just with fangs and claws, but with forgotten memories and stolen love.
Seraphina's breath hitched as a voice whispered through the wind.
"Damon remembers you."
She stopped mid-stride.
Kael jerked to a halt, spinning toward her.
"What are you doing?"
She shook her head.
"I heard something."
Kael scanned the trees.
"There's no time, Seraphina!"
But her gaze had already turned inward, into the space where dreams touched blood and truth bled into shadow.
She whispered a name she hadn't remembered until this moment.
"Damon."
And in the far distance, a howl answered.
One that knew her.
One that remembered everything she had forgotten.