Thessa's POV
"Run!"
Erynd shoves me behind him, facing the woman who claims to be the Moon Goddess. Silver light crackles around his hands, ready to fight.
"Now, is that any way to greet your creator?" The woman tsks, shaking her head. "I gave you life, guardian. Immortality. Purpose. And this is the thanks I get?"
"The goddess is dead." Erynd's voice is hard as ice. "I watched her die. Felt her essence shatter. You're just another soul-jumper trying to claim power that isn't yours."
"Am I?" The woman's smile widens. "Then how do I know about the vow you made? The night before the Great Fracturing, when you knelt in my temple and promised to protect me, even if it cost you everything?"
Erynd goes rigid. "Anyone could know that story—"
"You said, 'I will guard your light until the stars go dark.'" Her voice softens. "And I touched your face and said, 'Then I pray the stars burn forever, because I would not see you suffer for my sake.'"
The blood drains from Erynd's face. "No one knew those words. No one was there—"
"I was there." She steps closer. "I am the Moon, Erynd Frostborne. Or rather, I was. Before I was murdered. Before my essence was scattered. I've spent three thousand years trapped between life and death, gathering enough power to take physical form again." Her eyes shift to me. "And then you came along, little vessel, carrying my largest fragment. Finally giving me enough strength to manifest."
My heart pounds so hard it hurts. "You're using me? My power is what brought you back?"
"In a way." She tilts her head, studying me like I'm an interesting puzzle. "You awakened the ruins. Broke the curse. Released so much divine energy that it created a beacon I could follow home." She spreads her arms. "So thank you. Truly. Without you, I'd still be drifting in the void."
"What do you want?" I force the words through my tight throat.
"What do I want?" She laughs. "I want what was stolen from me. My power. My life. My place in the heavens." Her expression hardens. "And to get it back, I need the essence you're carrying."
"You want to consume her," Erynd snarls. "Like Cadeirin. Like Maren."
"No. Not consume." The woman shakes her head. "Reclaim. That power is mine. It was always mine. She's just been holding it temporarily."
"Temporarily?" Anger floods through me. "I was born with this! It's part of me!"
"You were born as a vessel. A container meant to protect my essence until I could return." She says it so casually, like I'm just an empty jar. "But vessels don't get to keep what they carry. That's not how this works."
"You can't have it." The words come out stronger than I feel. "I'm not giving you my power."
"Oh, child." She sounds almost sad. "You don't have a choice. That power isn't yours to give or keep. It's mine. And I'm taking it back."
She raises her hand and I feel something inside me respond—the goddess's essence, trying to pull free, trying to return to its original owner.
Pain explodes through my chest. I scream, dropping to my knees.
"Stop!" Erynd lunges at her but she waves her other hand and he flies backward, slamming into the ice wall so hard it cracks.
"I don't want to hurt either of you," she says, still pulling at my essence. "But I will if I must. Three thousand years is a long time to be dead. I'm ready to live again."
The essence tears at me from inside, like she's ripping out my soul. Silver light leaks from my skin, flowing toward her in streams.
"Please," I gasp. "You're killing me—"
"No. I'm freeing you." Her voice echoes strangely. "Once I have my power back, you can live a normal life. Be a normal wolf. Isn't that what you wanted? To be like everyone else?"
Is it?
I remember standing at the ceremony, wishing I could just be normal. Wishing the Moon would bless me like everyone else. Wishing I wasn't different.
But that was before.
Before I learned what I really am. Before I discovered this power. Before I chose to fight instead of hide.
"No," I whisper.
"What?"
"No!" I slam my palms against the ice floor and push back against the pull. "This power chose me. The goddess's essence made me who I am. I'm not just a vessel. I'm not just a container. I'm Thessa. And you can't have me!"
Silver light explodes from my body, breaking her hold. The streams of essence snap back into me with such force I'm thrown backward.
The woman stumbles, shock clear on her face. "That's impossible. You shouldn't be able to resist—"
"She's not just a vessel anymore." Erynd is back on his feet, blood trickling from his temple. "The moment the sanctuary bonded her to me as guardian, the moment she chose to fight, she became something new. Something you didn't plan for."
"What are you talking about?"
"The prophecy," Erynd continues, moving to stand beside me. "When the Moon returns in mortal flesh, the guardian shall choose: preserve the balance or embrace the chaos. You thought it meant choosing between you and her. But it didn't." He looks at me, and there's pride in his silver eyes. "It meant choosing whether to let Thessa become her own goddess, or force her back into the role of vessel."
"And what did you choose?" the woman asks quietly.
"I chose chaos." Erynd's hand finds mine, his grip warm and strong. "I chose to let her forge her own path. Become her own divine being instead of just carrying your shadow."
The woman is silent for a long moment. Then she throws her head back and laughs—a sound like breaking glass.
"Oh, this is delicious. The loyal guardian who waited three thousand years for his goddess to return, and when she finally does, he chooses a girl he's known for three days instead." She wipes her eyes. "I should be furious. But honestly? I'm impressed."
"So you'll let us go?" I ask cautiously.
"Let you go?" Her laughter stops abruptly. "Absolutely not. If I can't reclaim my essence peacefully, I'll rip it out of you by force. I didn't claw my way back from death just to lose everything to a child playing goddess."
She raises both hands and the entire ruins shake. Ice cracks. Crystals shatter. The ceiling begins to collapse.
"If I can't have my power," she shouts over the chaos, "then no one can. I'll bring this whole place down. Kill you, kill Cadeirin's army, kill everyone. And in the destruction, my essence will scatter again. Maybe next time it will find a more cooperative vessel!"
Massive chunks of ice fall around us. Erynd pulls me toward the passage but it's collapsing too.
"We're trapped!" I yell.
"The crystal chamber!" Erynd points to a different passage I didn't notice before. "Where the goddess died. It's the strongest part of the ruins. If anywhere can survive this, it's there!"
We run, dodging falling ice and crumbling walls. Behind us, the woman's laughter echoes.
The passage opens into a huge chamber. In the center is a crater filled with thousands of glowing crystal shards—pieces of the goddess's original essence.
"Don't touch them!" Erynd warns. "Divine fragments are unstable. If you—"
I trip over debris and fall forward into the crater.
My hands plunge into the crystals.
Every shard lights up at once, so bright I can't see. Power floods into me—not just the essence I already carry, but all of it. Every fragment. Every piece. Three thousand years of scattered divine power rushing into my body in one overwhelming surge.
I hear Erynd shouting my name. Hear the false goddess screaming in rage. Hear Cadeirin's wolves breaking through the outer walls.
But it all sounds far away.
Because something is happening inside me. The fragments aren't just entering my body—they're merging. Combining. Transforming into something new.
The light grows impossibly brighter.
When it finally fades, I'm standing in the center of the crater. The crystals have all dissolved. The essence is gone.
Because it's all inside me now.
Every. Last. Piece.
I look at my hands and they glow with solid silver light. Not flickering. Not fading. Constant. Powerful. Divine.
Erynd stares at me with his mouth open. "Thessa?"
I turn to face the woman who claimed to be the Moon Goddess. She's frozen in the doorway, eyes wide with horror.
"No," she whispers. "You absorbed it all? That's impossible. A mortal body can't contain that much power. You should be dead. You should be—"
"I'm not mortal anymore," I hear myself say. My voice echoes with two tones—mine and the goddess's, speaking as one. "I'm not a vessel. I'm not a fragment. I'm complete."
The woman's face twists with fury. "You stole my power! You stole my life!"
"No." I step toward her and she actually backs away. "The power chose me. The essence made me whole. I didn't steal anything. I became what you could have been if you'd trusted someone with your power instead of hoarding it."
"You're a child playing dress-up in a goddess's clothes—"
"And you're a ghost wearing a stolen face." I raise my hand and feel the full weight of divine power responding to my will. "Leave. Take whatever scraps of essence you have and go. Build your own power instead of trying to reclaim mine."
"I'll destroy you. I'll—"
"You can try." Silver light wraps around me like armor. "But I don't think you'll win. Because unlike you, I'm not alone."
Erynd moves to stand beside me, his own power blazing. Together, our combined divine energy makes the air itself shimmer.
The woman looks between us. At Erynd's unwavering loyalty. At my complete control over power she spent lifetimes trying to reclaim.
She smiles, but it's ugly and bitter.
"Fine," she hisses. "Keep it. Enjoy your brief moment of glory. Because they're coming for you now. Cadeirin. Maren. Every Alpha who wants power. Every priest who fears change. They'll never stop hunting you." She backs toward the exit. "And when they finally tear you apart, I'll be waiting to collect the pieces."
She vanishes into shadow.
Erynd and I stand in the ruined chamber, surrounded by settling dust and broken ice.
"Is it over?" I ask quietly.
"No." He looks toward the outer passages where sounds of digging have stopped. "It's just beginning."
The walls explode inward.
Cadeirin's wolves pour through, fifty strong, with the Alpha at their head.
He sees me glowing with complete divine power and smiles.
"Hello, my Moon." His voice is honey and poison. "Ready to become mine?"