The Gatekeeper's words—"Your trial begins"—still rang in his ears like a distant echo that was coming from across a distant unseen mountain. His body remained frozen. Trying to decipher a few words like they were some computer program codes.
Around him, the mist thickened, the forest silenced, and the world became nothing but ash and flicker. He couldn't feel the pain of Cassian's groans nearby, he didn't realize when Cassian had been beaten when trying to protect him from the beasts. He couldn't even feel the pulse of ancient magic weaving around them.
Cassian was crumpled at Mingi's side, his hand pressed to the deep gash along his ribs. He'd flung himself between the Gatekeeper's sigil and Mingi without hesitation—old instincts, the kind only blood and regret could breed. His breathing was ragged, each inhale slicing through the air like a dull blade. And yet, he didn't take his eyes off Mingi.
"Don't move…" Cassian hissed. "The trial… it's not just about you." " This shyt hurts like I didn't expect it" he growled.
The gatekeeper was gone along side the seer.
The seer had vanished not long after the gatekeeper left. But the veil of the forest seemed to shutter. But what she left behind was no ordinary flame. The sigil at their feet, once a shallow crescent, had expanded—its edges glowing now with radiant white fire, breathing like a living thing.
Then, the world shifted.
Far away, beneath the high cliffs of the Taylor pack village, Selene gasped.
She had seen the flame rise from across the valley, but now, in the vision forced into her sleep, she felt it. The fire danced behind her eyelids, and beyond it, Mingi stood frozen in the center like a statue of light and shadow.
He wasn't alone.
A towering figure—blurred, cloaked in stars and bone—stood beside him, whispering something Selene couldn't hear. Then came the voice, so clear it sliced through her soul.
"He'll either be your ruin or redemption ."
Selene awoke with a sharp breath, clutching her chest. The embers in her mind still glowed.
"Selene," said her beta Alia, her Second, standing at the tent's entrance. "It's happened."
Selene blinked, already knowing what Alia meant.
"The Gatekeeper."
Alia nodded. "The signal reached Cassian. He's calling a Council of Elders. He knows about the Moonborn."
The tent fell into silence, save for the rhythmic flutter of ceremonial banners outside. Selene rose, still trembling.
"What does he plan to do?"
Alia didn't answer immediately. Her eyes shifted with unease.
"They think the Gatekeeper's rise threatens the balance. The Gate was once under the Greek Domination—before our time. If the Moonborn claims it... it could unravel the treaties, even the boundary seals."
Selene's breath caught.
"We sealed that gate," she whispered. "Centuries ago."
Alia stepped closer. "And now, it seems… he may be trying to open it.
Meanwhile, the Council gathered under the Great stone canopy in Alpha Lucian's residence. Elders of every lineage—wreathed in bone and windwoven cloaks who stood at the center of the hall displeased and with twisted faces not only because of their age but because of the anger they had in them at that moment .
"If the Moonborn awakens the Selenite Gate, our pact ends," The elders groaned. "We've hidden too long under the illusion that prophecy cannot rise again."
One of the Elders, who was a thousand seasons old, raised a gnarled hand. "What do you propose?"
"Observation first. Interference if necessary," Lucian said. "We let the trial unfold. But we prepare to destroy the boy… if the Gate opens."
Selene stood in the shadows, her face hidden. She wasn't invited. She was summoned—and warned.
Lucian caught her eye from across the chamber, his gaze ice.
"You are still my secret," he whispered through the old mind-link they shared. "Don't forget who you are meant to protect."
Back in the forest, the world cracked.
The crescent flame beneath Mingi exploded in silence—no heat, no sound—just a fold in space. Cassian reached out, coughing blood, but they were already gone.
In an instant, they were no longer on Earth.
The forest vanished. Time vanished. They stood inside a realm of mirrored light and ghostly fragments, floating like islands between stars. Mingi hovered in the center of it all, not breathing—but not dead.
He was remembering.
A memory he never lived.
In it, a younger Cassian stood over a trembling child—him, but not quite. They were in a corridor of obsidian glass, fire flashing beyond the windows.
"Don't look at the gate!" Cassian shouted, shielding the boy with his arms. "He'll hear you—he always hears when you look!"
The child cried out as light pierced the hallway. From the shadows emerged a man—half-cloaked, half-god—carrying a silver torch and eyes of flame.
The uncle.
Mingi tried to speak, but his throat had no voice in this memory. The scene blurred and reformed.
The Selenite Gate stood before them. Its surface shimmered like a lake frozen in moonlight. Chains of celestial script curled around its edge, rattling with whispers.
The uncle turned to Mingi.
"You were never born to be hidden," he said. "You were carved from rebellion. The Gate only opens for those who remember who they truly are."
Mingi took a step closer. "Who am I?"
The uncle smiled—sadly.
"You are the most intelligent of the moonborns to ever exist. So figuring out who you are will be the first step to fulfilling your destiny"
Behind them, Cassian groaned again, this time older. The real one. Injured. Slipping.
"Protect him," the uncle said, fading.
Selene clutched the bark of a pine tree, the vision slicing through her again like lightning.
"He's inside," she murmured. "He's inside the trial realm…"
Alia's voice was urgent behind her. "Selene, Lucian suspects your connection. He ordered two shadowwalkers to follow you tonight. You need to run."
But Selene didn't run.
She walked toward the glowing crescent that now pulsed in the earth just beyond her reach. The trees bowed in silence, the moonlight bending to kiss her bare shoulders.
She whispered Mingi's name.
And the sigil answered.
It flared once more—fire turning gold, then violet—before collapsing inward like cave.
The shadows Lucian sent to follow Selene couldn't go into the realm as she did because they didn't have the powers she did.
Just as she reached out to talk to Mingi, everything became white.
Where w
as she? In another realm? Or was any of it even happening.