Chapter 102
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“I’m only eighteen,” I cried, my voice raw. “I’m just a fucking girl. What the hell do you want from me?‘
The spirit creatures crept from the trees, foxes, deer, birds, even a small bear. They circled me silently, protective and solemn.
“I’m not a goddess,” I choked. “I’m not strong enough. I’m not ready. People have died already for this cause. What if I fail? What if I make it worse? How do I save anyone when I can’t even stop shaking?”
I curled into myself, tears soaking the moss, grief and fear coiling like snakes in my gut. Then… the moss moved. It breathed. And from it,
she rose.
She was tall, glowing faintly green with skin like rich soil and vines for veins. Her hair was a cascade of living moss and tiny blossoms, her eyes deep pools of spring–fed water. The scent of earth after rain surrounded her.
The Earth Goddess.
I didn’t even know her name, but I felt it before she spoke…“I am Verenya.”
Her voice was a song wrapped in thunder. She knelt before me and reached out, her moss covered hand cool against my tear streaked cheek. And then she sang. No words…just music. Magic. Life itself.
The sound flowed through my bones like a promise. Roots grew stronger. Trees stood taller. And in my heart, something settled.
“You are not meant to bear this alone, child of moon and wolf and fae,” she whispered. “But you are not broken. You are becoming.”
I sobbed again, but this time with something new in my chest. Hope.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” I whispered.
“You can,” she said, placing her hand to my heart. “And you will. And you shall not walk alone.”
She leaned forward, moss and blossoms shifting gently, and pressed a glowing green mark over my heart. The earth pulsed around me. Magic surged.
“You carry my blessing now,” she murmured. “And as the Moon has her chosen, so shall you be mine.”
Warmth spread through me like sunrise in spring. My body relaxed. My eyes grew heavy.
“Sleep now, Elowen. The world will wait. And when you wake… you will rise.”
VI
Darkness pulled me under gently, and I surrendered to it. Marked by the earth. Blessed by two goddesses. Still afraid… but no longer alone.
Lachlan POV
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MacCrae Forest, Just Before Dawn
The forest stirred different this morn. Thicker magic than I’d ever felt, even in these woods where spells hung heavy like mist. Somethin‘
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Chapter 102
ancient… somethin‘ sacred.
Follow her, my ma whispered.
A white doe had appeared at the edge of the clearing where we’d been waiting, her eyes like polished jade, intelligent, urgen the earth and turned, trotting away as if she expected us to follow.
“Aye,‘ I murmured, my heart thunderin‘. “She’s guidin‘ us.”
We followed, me and Isolde, our steps silent, breath shallow. I could feel it in my bones, the air vibrated with her magle Elowen (
The deer led us deeper through the trees, into places I’d no‘ seen since I was a wee lad. Places the forest only opens when somethin extraordinary is happenin‘.
And then…We stepped into a moss drenched glade, lit by soft beams of light that didn’t come from the sun. Elowen lay in the center, the forest itself had cradled her in a bed of moss and blossoms. Her hair splayed like silver fire. Her face soft in sleep.
And just above her heart, glowin‘ like new growth in springtime, was a mark. A goddess mark. Green as emeralds. Strong as stone. My gasped beside me, her hand flyin‘ to her chest.
“By the old gods…” she breathed. “She’s been blessed twice.”
“Aye,” I whispered, my throat tight as hell. “By the Earth Goddess herself.”
Isolde hit her knees in the moss without a second thought, tears spillin‘ freely.
“This is no‘ just prophecy,” she choked out. “This is legend, Lachlan. This is myth come alive. The Earth Goddess hasn’t chosen anyone since the days of ancient fae. And now, now..she’s chosen her.”
I stepped forward, my heart thumpin‘ like war drums. My hands trembled as I slid one beneath Elowen’s back and the other beneath her legs.
“Come here, mo ghrá,” I murmured, liftin‘ her gently. “Let’s take ye home.”
The spirit creatures bowed as we passed, no joke, they actually bowed. The foxes. The bear cub. Even the fuckin owls.
The coven waited in stunned silence as we returned. And then they parted, like the sea in one of the old stories. Isolde raised her hand. her voice clear and royal, “She’s been chosen by the Earth Goddess herself!”
Gasps echoed. Some cried out. Others just dropped straight to their knees. And then…The earth shimmered. The moss glowed. The air thrummed like a heartbeat. And she appeared.
Verenya. The Earth Goddess,
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She rose again from the very moss beneath Elowen’s feet. Tall and radiant, with vines in her hair and blossoms blooming from her fingers. Her presence brought everyone to silence, every witch and mage and wolf struck still.
“I speak to all who serve this coven,” she said, her voice rollin‘ like thunder through soft rain. ‘I have chosen Elowen Thorne as mine. She is both Moon and Earth. She is the balance. The vessel. The hope.”
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Chapter 102
Gasps. Tears. Disbelief.
“Guide and guard her with your lives,” Verenya continued, her eyes sweeping the coven. I lend you my strength. My power. And may protection.”
A soft, shimmering wind rushed through the crowd as her blessing took root. People glowed. Their bodies shivered with magic. Some wept openly. And then she was gone. Just like that. Silence fell. And one by one, every single member of the coven… hit their knees in prayer and reverence.
Even Daxon and Ashrian. Ash’s voice trembled in my head, “What the fuck just happened?”
Dax couldn’t even speak. I held Elowen tighter against my chest and whispered, “This is just the beginnin‘, love.”
And I knew then, deep in my marrow, we were all about to change the damn world.
Chapter Comments
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Visitor
7 days ago
Her damn mood swings are giving me whiplash. Either embrace or give up. This back and forth is getting old.
B2
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