Celeste’s POV

*****

One constant with using the Vein I’ve come to realise is how absolutely shattered I feel after. The Dark sigils. The magic outbursts—

—All of it brought me closer to a point of no return I could feel in my very soul. Tearing at me. Almost screaming to break free.

Tonight especially, it was far stronger than ever before. I felt my mind, thoughts and everything that made me who I am fading away like embers flaking off a burning tree. It was terrifying.

I was certain I’d lose myself and something else would take over. But that didn’t happen.

And now I was left lying on my bed, wondering how long I had before it became an inevitability. Or at least, I thought I was lying on my bed...

"What...?" I blinked, placing a hand over my eyes when a sudden influx of light hit me.

I squinted hard, my vision coming back. Letting me take in my surroundings.

Glowing above me was a massive silver moon. Its rays fell around me like liquid, refracting off... a surface.

Wait.

My eyes fell down. The ’ground’ wasn’t soil or pavement. It was a lake! A translucent lake, on which I stood as if it were a solid platform. That wasn’t even the strangest part.

The reflection of the moon on the water didn’t exude the same brilliance as the original. Instead, it contrasted it in every way.

Pitch black. Pulsing like a living mass of chaos and darkness. It was like watching day and night intersect. Light and darkness. Life and death.

The lake and everything else stretched as far as my eyes could see. I was alone.

Panic gripped me once that realisation dawned on me. "H–Hello?"

Silence.

I didn’t know when I took a step forward. The water beneath my feet rippled for a few meters, making me aware of its depth. I had no clue how I was walking on water now but if it suddenly stopped...

Nope.

Staying put, I yelled this time. "Where am I?! Is this another dream scape?"

Nothing.

Frustration tightened my chest. "Nyx?! It’s you isn’t it?" Unbothered by the prospect of speaking that way to an ancient witch, I went on. "What do you fucking want with me? When will this madness end?"

I stretched out my arms. "My powers? My Vein connection? Whatever it is you want just take it! And leave me alone!"

My eyes stung with a wetness that I bit back.

Saying I was tired would be a huge understatement. I was exhausted. Almost completely worn out. I could feel it under my skin... any more pressure, any more crack in my mind and I’ll break.

I didn’t know when I fell to my knees as the tension in my chest became overwhelming. My fingers splayed across the solid lake, while the tears I struggled to hold back fell.

One drop. Two. Three.

Soon I was bawling my eyes out, shuddering and heaving for air. It seemed to escape my lungs endlessly, making the knot there worse.

My forehead rested on the lake’s surface as I wept.

Then—

"Celeste Bloodoak," a melodious voice chimed through the air around me, making me gasp mid-sob. I didn’t raise my head but I felt the sudden shift. And the ripples on the lake.

"Daughter of chaos and moonlight." The voice added like she was listing titles I never asked for. Definitely female. Nyx? No—this didn’t sound like her. "Get up."

Something stirred in me. Before I knew what was happening, my head rose, eyes scouring the place in search of the voice’s source.

It wasn’t a hard find.

Standing just a few meters ahead of me was a woman I could only describe with one word:

Divine.

Lush silver hair that flowed around her like clouds. A flowy silver-white robe clinging to her body like moonlight turned to silk. Calm silver eyes. And a crescent moon halo hovering behind her head like a crown.

A lump formed in my throat, making speech impossible. A sudden wave of peace washed through my being.

This... feeling...

Just then, the woman’s lips curved. "I’ve been watching you. Wondering when you’d finally slip into my domain since your true nature began awakening."

She took a measured step forward. Then another. Slowly, she got closer to me until she stood above me. Her hand stretched toward my face.

All she did was gesture but I understood perfectly what she wanted me to do. And also realised who she was under the same breath.

"You..." I took her hand, disbelief cracking my voice. "... You’re the moon goddess."

Once she helped me to my feet her smile widened. "I assumed that was quite obvious."

Her eyes scanned me, warm but also seemingly curious. Then they lifted to meet mine again. "I know you have a lot of questions right now—"

"A lot?" I didn’t know when I scoffed, my hand slipping out of her grip. "Let’s just start with one—if truly you’re the moon goddess and this isn’t some other trick from that deranged hag... why?"

She blinked, expression neutral. "Why?"

"Yes." My voice grew rigid with anger. I just couldn’t hold it back. "Why now? Why are you appearing to me now and not any of the nights I cried to you? The days I begged for a wolf? The hours spent trying to connect with her only to be answered with silence."

I lifted a shaking finger. I didn’t know what I was about to say. But I just felt like lashing out at someone. Too bad the only available target was a freaking goddess.

However, before any words could escape me again—she spoke.

"You are no ordinary wolf, Celeste. Or hybrid," her words were soft. Devoid of any anger after how harsh I’d been. "I know no words can compensate for all you went through... but I just want you to know it was never my intention to hurt you. I couldn’t even if I tried."

I blinked, creasing my brows.

Was all that supposed to be comforting?

"You couldn’t even if you tried?" I echoed. "What’s that supposed to mean?"

"It means," She didn’t waste a second. "I created werewolves and the mate bonds millennia ago but never directly interfered with any of you. To protect the balance between divinity and mortality."

She paused, eyes assessing. A more serious light shone in those orbs now.

"Your very existence breaks that balance," Those words shook me more than they should have. "Your soul... it decided most of your fate from the very beginning. Interfered with the natural laws I’ve instilled in all my children. Which is why you’re here."

I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t.

Because just then I remembered something Nyx said. When she pulled my consciousness into the Vein.

"The Vein is your home," her voice echoed in the back of my mind. "You’re born of debt."

Which begged the question... how could it be ’home’ if I’ve never been in it? Unless—

"Was I..." The mere idea made my lips tremble. It was crazy to think. But right now ’crazy’ seems like the new normal. "... Was I born from the Vein?"

The question left my lips and lingered between us.

The lake beneath my feet rippled softly, silver light trembling across its surface. For a moment the moon goddess didn’t answer. She simply watched me... the way someone might observe a fragile thing about to crack.

Then she spoke.

"Years ago," she began, her voice quieter now, "when the Vein first threatened to tear open the balance between realms... your mother made a choice."

My heart skipped when she paused.

"To seal the Vein’s power away, she sacrificed the one thing most sacred to my children." Her gaze drifted briefly to the silver moon above us. "Her wolf."

The words hit me like a physical blow.

"She told me that," I confirmed with a whisper.

"The Vein is not merely a source of power," the goddess continued. "It is a prison. A lock. One forged from chaos itself. Your mother offered her wolf’s essence as the final seal."

I swallowed hard.

That meant...

My chest tightened as realisation crept in.

"But then..." I shook my head slightly. "How am I—"

"You were never meant to exist."

The statement was so calm that it took my brain a second to process it.

"What?" I blinked at her. "What do you mean I wasn’t supposed to exist?"

Confusion twisted through me, but before she could answer—My hands flickered.

Just for a second. Like a faulty image.

I froze.

The goddess noticed too.

Her silver eyes darkened slightly as she studied my form. Tiny distortions shimmered across my arms, like fragments of my body phasing in and out of the dreamscape.

"Time is short," she murmured.

That definitely did not help my anxiety.

"Hey—wait," I stepped toward her. "You can’t just drop something like that and not explain—"

"You were never meant to control the Vein, Celeste." Her voice cut through my words. Soft. Yet absolute. "You were meant to hold it."

The rippling black reflection of the moon beneath my feet pulsed violently as my stomach dropped.

"What does that even mean?" I demanded.

But the goddess’s gaze had shifted to the horizon. To the endless lake where silver light and black chaos bled into each other.

"The Vein will open soon," she said quietly.

My pulse thundered. "What?" 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"The forces surrounding you," she continued, "the enemies, the chaos, the awakening within your soul... all of it is drawing the Vein closer to breaking free."

Her eyes returned to mine.

"When that moment comes... You must choose."

I stared at her. My throat suddenly felt dry as I asked. "Choose what?"

For the first time since appearing, the moon goddess’s expression turned grave.

"Whether you will wield the Vein..." The black reflection beneath us surged. "...or become it."

Everything shattered with those words.

The lake. The moon. The goddess herself.

The world around me collapsed into darkness.

And then—

I shot upright in bed with a sharp gasp.

My chest heaved violently as air rushed back into my lungs. Sweat clung to my skin and my heart pounded as I’d just sprinted a mile.

The room around me slowly came into focus. And then my bed.

The faint sunlight slipping through the curtains, showed me it was already daytime.

I pressed a trembling hand against my chest, trying to steady my breathing.

"Holy shit..."