Chapter 3

• LYRA POV
• I woke up slowly, my eyelids heavy, my body feeling strangely cold. When I looked around, I found myself lying in a soft bed inside a chamber lit with soft blue flames. I recognized instantly that this was the witch coven. More specifically my mother’s old room.
• Before I could gather my thoughts, the door opened and my grandmother walked in. Khalia. The strongest witch in our entire coven. Her presence alone could silence storms.
• “Hi, Grandmother,” I said weakly. “How did I get here?”
• “You were brought here by your father,” she answered, walking closer. “He stayed for a few hours, but he has already returned to his kingdom.”
• I nodded slowly. My grandmother sat beside me, her eyes scanning my face like she was searching for hidden wounds. Coming from her, that worried me even more. She was a Seer. She could see things others couldn’t.
• “How many days have I been unconscious? I feel weak,” I asked.
• “You have been unconscious for three days.”
• Three days.
• My heart dropped.
• “Really? Wow. I feel empty,” I whispered. “Grandmother, Aria is gone, I can't feel her. Do you have any solution for my wolf? For Aria?”
• Her expression softened with sadness. “No, not yet. But we are looking for answers. All the elders are searching.”
• I swallowed hard. “What should I do, Grandmother? I can’t live without Aira. She’s part of me.”
• “Come,” she said gently. “Let’s go outside. You must try to shift.”
• We walked to the open training field. The grass swayed lightly around my feet. Normally Aira would have been excited, pushing at my skin, ready to run. This time. Nothing.
• I tried to shift.
• I tried to call her.
• I tried to feel even a spark.
• “Aria,” I whispered.
• But it was like calling into a dark cave. I couldn’t feel her. Not her warmth. Not her strength. Not even her breathing.
• It felt like she was there but deeply asleep. Locked away. Refusing to wake up.
• And I knew why.
• Kabir.
• If not for him, Aira wouldn’t be like this. His rejection didn’t only break me.
• It broke her.
• I am now wolfless.
• I hate him.
• My grandmother placed her hands on my shoulders. “Child, your fate is clouded. But I must tell you what I saw.”
• My heart thudded painfully. “What did you see?”
• “I saw shadows. I saw war. A war you must face. A war tied to your destiny and the survival of our world,” she said.
• War? Me?
• “I don’t know who the enemy is,” she continued, “but you are the key to stopping it. You and Aira. And without Aira awakened, it will be impossible.”
• I breathed deeply, fighting the sting in my eyes.
• “So, what do I do?”
• “You must be trained,” my grandmother said firmly. “From today onward. And we will search for how to awake Aira.”
• And that was how my training began.
• Since I could not shift, they trained my body and my witch power instead. I learned how to hold visions, how to cast spells without losing control, how to channel hybrid energy. It was tough, painful, exhausting, but I pushed through.
• I would not be weak again. Never.
• Days turned into weeks.
• Weeks into months.
• And then exactly six months later, something changed.
• It happened at night. Alone in my room, exhausted from training, I whispered into the dark:
• “Aria, please come back. I need you. Don’t leave me.”
• No answer.
• Tears rolled down my cheeks as I drifted into sleep, pain heavy in my chest.
• And then the dream hit me.
• I saw the Lycan empire, the werewolf kingdom, and even the witch coven.
• All cursed.
• Madness.
• Blood.
• Creatures attacking each other without reason.
• A voice echoed through the vision:
• “Only the marked one can stop it.”
• I jolted awake gasping, drenched in sweat.
• And then I heard it.
• A faint whisper inside my mind.
• Barely there.
• Broken.
• Aira.
• She said only one word:
• “Mate.”