The world dissolved.
Aria wasn't falling this time—she was being pulled.
Dragged through blinding white light, her body weightless, her thoughts scattering like snowflakes in a gale. She tried to breathe, to speak, to scream—
But the light swallowed everything.
Then, suddenly—
Darkness.
A void stretched around her, vast and endless, no sky, no ground, no horizon. Only shadows twisting into shapes that vanished when she blinked.
Aria wrapped her arms around herself. "H-hello?"
Her voice echoed strangely, as if the darkness tasted her words before giving them back.
A whisper answered:
Moonbreaker… you cannot hide.
Aria gasped. "No—no, not you…"
The Devourer's presence slithered through the void, cold and consuming.
The final phase begins.
Your power breaks.
Your will follows.
Aria staggered. "Stop. Get out of my head!"
Her wrist blazed violently in response, silver light fighting against the dark fog creeping toward her.
But it wasn't enough.
The shadows struck—
Aria screamed—
And in the real world, her body arched violently on the sanctuary floor, energy crackling from her wrist like lightning.
⸻
Back in the Sanctuary
Ronan forced himself onto all fours despite the bite marks and gashes tearing through his side. Corrupted wolves lay unconscious around him—some breathing, some not.
But he didn't care.
He only saw her.
Aria lay collapsed at the entrance of the sanctuary, glowing veins crawling up her neck, her eyes rolled back as her body shook.
Ronan's heart nearly stopped.
"ARIA!"
He dragged himself toward her, every movement sending fire through his muscles. Blood dripped onto the crystal floor.
The stranger grabbed his shoulder. "Stop—don't touch her! She's unstable!"
Ronan snarled and shoved him back. "I don't care!"
He crawled beside Aria, cupping her face gently. "Aria… please… look at me."
Her body trembled violently, light flickering beneath her skin like caged lightning.
The stranger stepped beside them, urgency tightening his voice. "She's entering the final phase—the Phase of Eclipse. If you interrupt it wrong, she could—"
"DON'T FINISH THAT SENTENCE," Ronan growled.
Aria's chest heaved.
Her lips parted weakly. "Ro…nan…"
His breath caught. "I'm right here."
Her eyelids fluttered but didn't open.
"I can't… see you," she whispered.
"It's okay," he murmured, brushing her hair back. "I've got you."
"I'm scared…"
"I know."
Her trembling hand reached toward him—her fingers glowing.
He caught it carefully.
And pain shot up his arm.
Ronan gritted his teeth, refusing to let go. "You won't face this alone."
The stranger crouched beside them, eyes glowing. "Alpha—listen to me. If she loses her sense of self in this phase, she becomes a vessel. The Devourer will enter her."
Ronan stiffened.
Aria's breathing faltered.
Her pulse flickered.
"No," Ronan whispered desperately. "No, no—Aria—stay with me—"
Her body spasmed.
Light burst from her chest.
The sanctuary trembled.
⸻
Inside Aria's Mind
The darkness thickened, swirling like mist around her ankles.
Aria pressed her hands to her temples. "Stop… please…"
A voice answered from the void.
Not the Devourer.
Gentle. Familiar.
Moonlit.
Child.
Aria turned—and the First Luna stepped forward, her silver hair flowing like liquid starlight.
"Why…" Aria sobbed, collapsing to her knees. "Why is this happening? I didn't ask for this!"
The First Luna knelt before her, touching her cheek. "Great power seeks its vessel, little one. But only you decide what enters."
Aria shook violently. "The Devourer is trying to take me. I can feel it. I can't fight it."
"You're not fighting alone."
Aria looked up, eyes filled with tears. "Ronan?"
The First Luna smiled softly. "He's calling you even now."
Aria closed her eyes.
She heard him.
His voice—shaking—calling her name through the bond.
"Aria… come back to me. Please."
Her heart clenched painfully.
The First Luna touched her wrist, where the silver veins pulsed like a heartbeat. "The final phase is not destruction."
"What is it then?"
The First Luna's eyes glowed brighter.
Rebirth.
Aria's breath hitched.
"But rebirth comes with a price," the First Luna continued. "You must choose what you protect—and what you surrender."
Aria swallowed. "What do you mean?"
"The Moonbreaker either breaks the Devourer…"
Her eyes darkened.
"Or breaks herself."
⸻
Ronan's Desperation
In the sanctuary, Ronan lifted Aria onto his lap, holding her trembling body against his chest. Her skin glowed like molten silver, too hot to touch—but he held on anyway.
"Aria—listen to me—don't go where I can't reach you—please—"
The stranger touched Ronan's shoulder.
"You have to reach her through the bond," he said. "Her spirit is trapped between shadow and moonlight."
"I know!" Ronan snapped. "But how?!"
"Tell her something only you can. Something that anchors her to this world."
Ronan looked down at her—her glowing veins, her pale lips, her trembling chest.
Words tore out of him.
"Aria—I need you."
Her fingers twitched.
"I need you to breathe."
"I need you to fight."
"I need you to come back to me."
Her body arched with another pulse of silver light.
Ronan forced his voice through it.
"Aria… I can't lose you."
Her breathing faltered.
His voice broke.
"You're… my world."
The sanctuary pulsed.
Her wrist flared violently.
⸻
The Devourer's Last Attempt
In the void, the shadows tightened around Aria like a cage.
The Devourer whispered:
You will break.
You will fall.
You will be mine.
Aria fell to her hands, shaking, tears splashing onto the dark floor. "I'm… not yours…"
You cannot escape fate.
"I choose," Aria whispered.
You are weak.
"No."
She lifted her head, her eyes glowing faint silver.
"I'm not weak."
The shadows recoiled.
The First Luna smiled proudly.
Listen.
Aria closed her eyes.
Ronan's voice echoed through the void, raw and desperate:
"Aria… you're my world."
Her breath caught.
Tears streamed down her face—not from fear, but from something deeper.
Hope.
She dug her fingers into the darkness beneath her.
"I choose Ronan."
Light burst from her chest, shattering the shadows.
The Devourer screamed.
And the void exploded in silver.
⸻
The Return
Aria gasped as she slammed back into her body, her chest arching as she inhaled sharply for the first time in what felt like eternity.
Ronan choked out a broken sound—half sob, half laugh.
"Aria—Aria!"
Her eyes fluttered open.
She saw him.
His face—bloodied, terrified, beautiful.
Her lips trembled. "Ronan…"
He pulled her into his arms, burying his face in her neck.
"I thought I lost you," he whispered, voice raw.
Aria clung weakly to his shirt. "I… chose you."
His breath caught. "What?"
She lifted her glowing wrist weakly. "The Devourer tried to take me. But I chose you."
Ronan's arms tightened around her as though he feared she'd shatter.
The stranger stepped back, awe flickering in his gaze. "She stabilized the final phase… before transformation."
Aria blinked. "Transformation?"
The stranger nodded slowly.
"Yes. The final phase of the Moonbreaker awakening is transformation. And now…"
He pointed at her chest.
Aria looked down.
Silver light spiraled outward beneath her skin.
"…it has begun."
Ronan wrapped both arms around her protectively.
"What does that mean?" he demanded.
The stranger exhaled.
"It means the next time her power rises… she won't just glow."
Aria's heart pounded.
"What will I do?"
The stranger's voice dropped.
"You will become the Moonbreaker."
Ronan pulled her closer.
Aria swallowed.
The sanctuary trembled with approaching shadows.
And the Devourer whispered from the other side of the world:
Moonbreaker…
I will come for you.