Chapter 11: Blood of the Beginning
The sky in the Otherwild was getting seriously creepy—like, full-on horror movie mode. That blood-red glow? Gone, eaten up by a tide of black clouds that looked ready to spill secrets or just eat everyone alive. Liora couldn't stop shaking. Her fingers twitched, adrenaline buzzing through her veins, and she honestly couldn't tell if she was about to hurl or cry.
The guy in the armor—yeah, the Dark Alpha—didn't move quickly. He didn't have to. Every step he took cracked the ground, black veins spiderwebbing out from his boots and poisoning the silver grass. His armor looked like a nightmare, all sharp edges and weird symbols that probably spelled doom in a hundred dead languages. Two red eyes glared out from under his helmet, burning. Not looking at her, exactly. More like looking through her, right to her soul. Creepy much?
"You don't belong here," Liora said, voice shaking but trying for tough. Fake it till you make it, right?
He stopped—ten steps away, like he'd measured it out or something. "Neither do you," he rumbled, voice ancient and rough, like a mountain that learned how to talk. "Yet here we are. The living, in a graveyard for memories."
Behind her, that Shadowborn guy—the one who kept saying he was her twin or her shadow or whatever—was still on his knees, clutching his ribs, reeling from whatever power she'd blasted him with earlier.
"I came for answers," Liora spat. "Not a war."
The Dark Alpha's mouth twisted. "Answers are war. Every truth you claw out rips apart another one of your precious lies."
Her heart pounded so loud she could barely think. "What are you?"
The Shadowborn stood up, grinning like he'd just heard the punchline to a sick joke. "He's your father. In all the ways that count."
Stomach drop. Straight to the floor. "No way."
"Oh, it's true," the Dark Alpha said, voice flat as a tombstone. "You're the result of defiance. The last little thread between the cursed and the free. And your bond to Kael? Yeah. That was the final lock."
She took a step back, legs shaking. "You're lying."
"You broke the curse," he said. "But you also opened the gate."
Gate? What gate? The ground vibrated, like the world itself was holding its breath.
Then, behind the Dark Alpha, something massive started to rise. Hard to focus—her mark burned on her skin, pulsing in time with the runes crawling up the thing's sides. It looked like a door, but not a door anyone sane would want to open. Twenty feet high, black as nightmares, wrapped in chains thicker than her arm, covered in symbols her brain refused to read.
"You weren't meant to free the wolves," the Shadowborn said, all smug. "You were made to free him."
Liora turned, furious. "You knew?"
He shrugged like he'd forgotten to care. "Knew enough. Didn't think you'd wake him up so soon, though."
The Dark Alpha's smile was cold. Nothing behind it. "You're the key. Your power, your bloodline—one job, kid. Let the Alpha out. The one who should've stayed buried."
Liora balled her fists, forcing her body to stop shaking. "I'm not gonna let you wreck everything."
"You don't get to make the rules anymore," the Dark Alpha said.
"Oh, she always gets to choose," a new voice cut in. Thank the stars.
From the edge of everything—silver grass waving, light bending—Kael exploded into the scene. He was a blur, half-shadow, all teeth and claws and rage.
He smashed into the Dark Alpha before the guy could blink. Blood, fur, claws, chaos.
Liora's breath caught. "Kael!"
Didn't matter. The Dark Alpha barely stumbled. He just grabbed Kael, tossed him halfway across the field like he was nothing but a paper doll.
Kael hit the ground with a crack that made Liora's heart stop for a second.
She bolted to him, power crackling across her skin. "Kael!"
He coughed, blood on his lips, grinning anyway. "Told you not to play hero alone."
"You followed me?" she whispered, half-angry, half-relieved.
"Dante helped," he said, voice ragged. "Tracked your mirror energy. Simple stuff."
She pressed her hand to his cheek. "Shouldn't have come."
"Like I'm gonna let you fight undead daddy alone."
The Dark Alpha stalked closer, slow and confident. "Foolish boy. You don't even know what she is."
Kael spat blood, wiping his mouth. "Don't care. I love her. That's all I need to know."
Liora's chest squeezed tight.
The Dark Alpha stopped, just a few feet away. "Love is a cage."
"No," Liora snapped, standing up. "You are."
She put herself between Kael and the monster, fire snapping in her palms, Shadowborn magic burning bright.
"I don't care what I was built for," she said. "I pick who I am."
He tilted his head, unreadable. "Then pick fast. The gate's open. What's coming through doesn't care about love, blood, fate—any of it."
Behind him, the door's runes pulsed like a heartbeat. Chains snapped, one after another, the sound sharp enough to hurt.
Liora spun, panic clawing at her. "How do I stop it?"
The Shadowborn just whispered, almost kind. "You can't. That's the joke. You were made to start things. Not stop them."
She glared, feeling the fury build. "If you knew—why bring me here?"
He shrugged, almost bored. "Wanted to see if you could break the story. Change fate."
"And?" she demanded.
He grinned, chilly and detached. "You slowed it down. But you can't erase it."
The last chain snapped.
The door shuddered, swinging open. Darkness spilled out, thick and choking. A claw, massive and inhuman, broke through the gap—something out of the worst kind of nightmare.
Kael's voice was raw. "Run, Liora. Please."
She shook her head. "No. We do this together."
"I can't fight that."
She smiled, fierce and wild. "Good. Because I can."
She lurched forward, like she'd just plugged herself into a live wire. You could practically see the power crackling off her skin—hot, cold, whatever, it was both and neither. Not just fire or shadow anymore. Something weirder. Like if creation and destruction had a baby at a rave.
Behind her, that thing in the gate bellowed. The whole damn Otherwild quaked—like it was trying to shake her off.
Liora just threw her arms up, letting loose with a yell that felt like it could split the world. She didn't just chuck out the curse or the creepy fire. She went full nuclear.
She let go of everything. Her secret. Her shame. Her damn soul.
Light blew out of her chest, wild and blinding. It punched a hole in the darkness for, like, one blazing heartbeat.
The gate froze.
The creature shrieked, jerked back like it'd touched a hot stove.
Kael just gawked, jaw somewhere on the floor. "What the hell was that?"
Liora dropped her arms, chest rattling. "A choice," she panted.
But then—cracks spidered out under her boots.
The power snapped back, gone before she could even grab it. Like chasing water down a drain.
"No. No, no, no—" She clawed at the air, desperate.
And then—
A voice rolled out from the gate, old as bones, deep as the universe, and way too familiar.
"Child of ruin… child of mine…"
Her body seized. Eyes flipped white.
Kael lunged, caught her before she hit the ground. "Liora!"
She didn't hear him.
She was gone.
—
Visionland
Liora drifted, lost in a black ocean speckled with stars.
Someone appeared. A woman.
Not the usual suspects—no Dark Alpha, no Shadowborn drama.
This lady had her face. Older. Glaring and glorious. Crying.
"You need to get this," the woman murmured. "I built you to save them all. But I screwed up. Made you too strong."
Liora's voice trembled. "Who are you?"
The woman brushed her cheek, gentle. "I'm who you'd be if I hadn't made the sacrifice."
"What sacrifice?"
"I split myself. Gave half to the light, half to the dark. You… you're what happened next."
Liora's heart felt like it'd snapped in two. "So I'm not real?"
The woman's laugh was sad. "You're more real than anything. You're balance. But you gotta earn it."
The vision started to unravel, bits of night flaking away.
"Wait!" Liora yelled. "What do I do?"
The woman glanced back. The damn door was opening again.
"You have to choose," she whispered. "Lock it up for good… or become what's waiting on the other side."
—
Reality check: Otherwild
Liora jolted awake, Kael still holding her like she weighed nothing.
The door? Blown wide open.
The monster? Out.
Shadowborn? Gone. Poof.
Only the Dark Alpha left, arms spread like he'd just scored the game-winning goal.
"You really should've run," he said, all smug and velvet.
Liora forced herself upright, legs trembling but stubborn.
"Yeah? I'm done running."
And the beast—her beast—opened its eyes.
Same as hers.