Chapter 357 The Vision

Chapter 357: Chapter 357 The Vision

Talia’s POV

After dinner, I said goodnight to everyone. I hugged my mother, and I felt her warmth against me. I hugged Piper, and I whispered, "Thank you for being here." I hugged Aldric, and I felt his arms around me. I shook Gillian’s hand, and I saw the respect in his eyes.

Then I walked to our room with Kaelen.

The night was deep and quiet, and the stronghold was still.

I lay beside Kaelen, and I felt the warmth of his body against mine. His breathing was slow and steady, and I knew he was asleep. His arm was draped across my waist, and I could feel the gentle rhythm of his heartbeat against my back. But I could not sleep, because I could feel that something was wrong, and something was coming.

I stared at the ceiling, and I listened to the silence of the night.

The fire had burned low, and the shadows danced on the walls. Everything looked normal, and everything looked peaceful. But I could not shake the feeling that something was lurking just beyond the edges of my vision. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

I closed my eyes, and I tried to let myself drift. But the darkness behind my eyelids was not empty. It was waiting, and it was watching. I could feel it pressing against my thoughts, cold and heavy.

And then I felt it. There was a pull, deep in my chest, like a tug toward something I did not want to see. It was like a hand reaching into my chest and grabbing hold of my heart.

"Talia." Lyra’s voice was soft but urgent. "Something is coming. I can feel it."

I opened my eyes, and I sat up in bed. My heart was pounding, and I could feel the sweat on my forehead. "What is it, Lyra?"

She did not answer. She did not need to because I already knew.

I felt the pull growing stronger, and I could not fight it. It was like being dragged underwater, and being pulled down into the darkness with no way to escape. I tried to resist, but the force was too strong.

I laid down again, closed my eyes, and I let sleep take me.

The world around me faded in an instant, the room disappeared, and I was somewhere else. I was standing in a vast, empty space, and the darkness was pressing in on me from all sides. There was no ground beneath my feet, and no sky above my head. Just endless, suffocating darkness.

"Lyra?" I called, and my voice echoed in the emptiness. "Where am I?"

She did not answer, and I knew that I was alone.

Then I turned around and I saw a figure.

He was standing in the darkness, and I felt my blood run cold. He was tall and thin, and his skin was pale and wrinkled, like it had been stretched over bones that were too old to hold them. His hair was white and thin, and his hands were long and bony, with fingers that looked like claws.

His eyes were black. Not dark, and not brown, but black. There were empty pits that seemed to swallow the light around them, and there was nothing behind them. There was no soul, and no humanity, just cold and endless emptiness.

He smiled, and I felt the chill spreading through my body. His smile was worse than his eyes. It was cruel, and ancient, and it held no warmth. It was the smile of something that had been alive for too long, and something that had forgotten what it meant to feel.

"The last Silvertongue," he said, and his voice was like gravel scraping against stone. "I have been waiting for you."

My heart almost stopped, as I realized that this was Malachai.

I tried to speak, but no words came out. I tried to move, but my body was frozen. I was trapped, and I could feel the darkness pressing in on me, trying to swallow me whole.

He stepped closer, and I felt the cold radiating from him. It was not the cold of the night, or the cold of winter. It was the cold of death, the cold of something that had been dead for a very long time.

"You think you can stop me?" he said. "You think you and your little pack can stand against me?"

I found my voice, and I forced the words out. My throat was tight, and my voice was shaking, but I would not let him see my fear. "I know we can."

He laughed, and the sound was like breaking glass. It echoed in the emptiness, sharp and jagged. "You are nothing, Silvertongue. You are the last of a dying bloodline. And soon, you will be the last of everything."

I felt the fear rising in my chest, cold and heavy. But I also felt the anger. It burned beneath the fear, hot and bright. He had taken my mother, he had destroyed my village, and he had hunted my people for thirty years. And I would not let him take anything else.

"We will stop you," I said, and my voice was stronger now. "I will stop you."

He smiled, and I saw the cruelty in his ancient eyes. "Then come, little Silvertongue. Come and try."

The darkness swallowed him, and I was alone again.

I woke up with a gasp, and I felt the tears streaming down my face. My heart was pounding, and I could not catch my breath. I felt like I had been drowning, like I had been pulled under and was only now surfacing.

Kaelen was beside me in an instant, and I felt his arms around me. "Talia! What happened? What is it?"

I shook my head, and I pressed my face into his chest. I could feel his heartbeat, steady and strong, and I clung to it like a lifeline. "I saw him, Kaelen. I saw Malachai."

He held me tighter, and I felt his hand on the back of my head. "What did you see? Tell me."

I pulled back, and I looked into his gray eyes. They were filled with concern, with fear, and with love. "He is coming, Kaelen. He is coming for us."

I felt the cold settling into my bones. The vision had shown me what I was facing.

Malachai was old, ancient, and powerful. He had been hunting my people for thirty years, and he was not going to stop. But the vision had also shown me what I was fighting for: my pack, my family, and my home.

And I would not let him win.