Wolf Queen - Book 1 of The Nightfall Series

Eight

The realm of the Goddess was a strange but ethereal plane of existence. It was a mirror image of the world she knew with exceptions. It was a world of constant night, stars sparkled in the sky and lit up the realm with glistening light. Peace overtook her entire being in its presence, she imagined it was what many wolves felt after their deaths as they were welcomed into the Goddesses arms.

It was a place and feeling that she had yearned for many a time since the pack wars. She was always ready to welcome death as a friendly companion. As she sat in the moon's valley and basked in its greatness, she felt the last inkling of her madness leave her mind. She breathed in deeply as her mind was finally clear after so long.

The memories of death and blood still filled her mind, grief still crippled her very being, but she could now function on more than just instinct. She would no longer be associated as feral. Her emotions were easier to control and contain but not gone, never gone.

She could never forget.

"It is beautiful, isn't it?"

She didn't stiffen nor jump at the voice, its crystalline tone tinkling in the air. She didn't reply to the Goddesses words, instead she picked at the grass that tickled her legs. A new sentence had been placed on her head, a new fight to be fought. Another death sentence to be enacted.

"You have changed so much, My Star. You once welcomed my embrace."

Her hand brushed along her cheek, catching a tear she didn't realise she had shed. Her touch warmed her skin, such a familiar touch. She leaned into her hand and let out a shaky breath, her composure shattered. The Goddess saw her for all she was and all that she had been. Once champion when in her prime, she was now a hollow damaged shell.

Adelaide finally gained the courage to look up and meet the gaze of the Goddess. Silver eyes met. One soul as old as time another soul full of grief and sorrow.

She cleared her throat as she gathered her thoughts, the magnitude of power emitted from the entity before her calming and magnificent. It had been a long time since their last meeting.

"You summoned me." She spoke.

"Our connection has been renewed. It has been too long a time to be parted."

Adelaide knew the costs of being without the Goddesses guidance for so long. Any longer and her madness would have overtaken her, she had fled the moon valley after the end of the pack wars with her father. Their grief had filled their every being, they had abandoned the Goddess in her greatest hour. Their faith tested.

The Conduit was the vessel to the Goddess, a vessel that required contact regularly with the Altar. Once at every solstice at least, she had not returned in the mere twenty years since their self-imposed exile. She was blessed to still be alive. Others would have thought, wished, her to be dead.

"You have been lost, my child."

Her words were soft as she took Adelaide's hands into her own. Her tone almost sorrowful as their palms faced one another parallel to the ground. Adelaide tried her best to steel her mind for what was to come but nothing ever did. An invasion of the mind was an invasion of the soul.

"It's time to bring you home."

The connection was instant, her vision turning white as their minds melded into one. The past. The present. The future. All flashed by like the blink of an eye, she picked up on small details as they registered within her mind. Tense at the memories of the past, of her past, that raced through their minds. Aggression at the snippets of the present presented to her. And hurt at the images of the future that was yet to pass.

"You are my most treasured creation. Remember, My Star."

Warmth spread in her chest at her words, her love pouring into her, reminding her of the emotion that she had once lost focus of.

"We are bound for life."

Her mind filled with the knowledge the Goddess was offering her, she gasped at the truths that were unfurled, the atrocities that had been committed. The traitors in their mist.

"I have not and never shall abandon you."

White once again filled her vision, as she felt the Goddess retreat and send her back to the realm of the living, to the chaos of the living world. Where no peace would be found.

My Bright Star.

She felt the change between the moon's realm and the realm of man. The air was cool against her skin, silence filled the void of space around her. She opened her eyes to find her vision filled with twinkling stars once again. The world of eternal night was now trapped beneath the lake's calm waters.

She lay on her back and felt water lap at her fingers and body as she floated along the surface. It was no surprise to her that it was where she had found herself. The Goddess had pushed her to re-connect.

The lake was a direct mirror to the eternal realm and the purest connection to the Goddess and the powers that she bestowed upon the Conduit. She would soon need to retake her vows to finalise the bond and enable all her abilities or slowly begin to go mad again once more.

She could feel the power of her beast in her bones as she sat up, letting her feet touch the pebbles of the bottom of the lake as her hair cascaded behind her in a sheet of silver. The beast was weary and anxious, things needed to be put into motion.

Her eyes wandered over the many eyes that watched her from the shore as she stood there. She felt their eyes filled with wonder dig holes into her, still unknowing of what she truly was and what she represented. They came from a time where war was non-existent.

Juveniles to the true world.

Her feet moved forward in one step after the other as she moved on autopilot. Her mind and body exhausted from what it had experienced in the last few hours.

Fires had been lit in the huge basins that surrounded the temple, as the black night enveloped them and the moon greeted them with her gaze. The lake hummed with power as her feet touched the dry stone and her skin turned cold against the night air. It reminded her of home.

Many bowed their heads as she walked but she ignored them all, her eyes fixed upon her father. He stood, waiting for her at the foot of the altar while Leonidas stood at the top, watching her carefully. She was once again the top predator in the great game. The greatest weapon of them all.

Her eyes flitted over the figure that stood beside Leonidas, the male, and she felt annoyance and frustration fill her as her eyes narrowed at him. He attempted to stand tall under her gaze, but his head bowed slightly under the glowing silver eyes that investigated his soul. He understood the power she held but had no clue of his own, locked away deep inside of his mind.

She stopped beside her father and met his gaze. She offered him a small smile as he looked upon her, finding no cause for concern. She looked back to Leonidas and met his gaze strongly as her voice echoed around the valley that surrounded them.

"The champion has been chosen. Train him well and he may save us all." She spoke ominously.

Silence met her ears as Leonidas nodded his head and the crowd sank to their knees. Re-finding their path to the Goddess in their hour of need. Their faith would be tested all too soon.

Her beast huffed in her mind, bored with the pageantry that came with her re-connection as the Conduit and urged her to move on. She looked over the gathered packs one last time before turning and walking away into the forest that surrounded the temple, she needed the solace of her own territory and boundaries.

Her father followed her as they slowly disappeared from sight, into the solace of their own minds.