The Alpha King's Witch Bride-Chapter 372: _A Declaration And A Sacrifice

My eyes fluttered open, body thrumming with magic. Not just my magic.

Surrounding me was a swirling storm of pure chaotic magic, crackling like lightning. It was boundless. Endless. Stretching thicker than a void.

There was no ground, no sky, no directions to follow. It felt like I was floating through space.

"The Vein..." I whispered to myself, staring at my arms. Black sigils pulsed underneath, coiling through me like worms come alive.

I whipped my head around, searching for Ryker. I could’ve sworn I had him in my grasp before—

"The Vein must have made you go insane!" His aggravating voice boomed behind me, cutting off my line of thought.

Although we were surrounded by endless darkness, I could see him clearly. His cold red eyes, his bared fangs, and his battered skin with flickering red energy lines sparking across it.

The bat-like wings behind him unfurled, but then shrivelled weakly when they touched the chaotic magic around us.

"Me? Insane?" My voice echoed through the void, full of scorn. "Look who’s talking. You’ve made the Vein twist you so much. Control you until—"

"You have no right!" He sneered, swiping his right hand at me.

As he did, the energy around him took shape, shifting into a chaotic maelstrom of dark energy. The storm hurtled through the Vein, sweeping toward me like a tsunami.

But I wasn’t afraid.

The dark sigils in my skin sparked, my connection to the Vein pushing stronger than ever. One cold glare was all it took to make the energy storm dissipate into the shapeless stream of chaos it once was.

Panic flashed through Ryker’s face but he didn’t give up. His body burst with his red aura as he lunged at me, claws swiping through the void.

He arrived within seconds—but I was prepared.

A swipe at his wrist charged with the Vein’s energy blocked his right claw while a telekinetic counter spell made his other hand recoil.

"You know it’s over, Ryker." I blurted coldly, clenching my fists hard until my knuckles cracked.

An invisible force coiled around him, restraining his limbs until they were straighter than plywood and twisting his neck backwards.

He grunted, his veins popping from the pressure as I continued. "The Vein is my birthright. It was never yours to control or unleash."

His lips parted, voice coming out in strained huffs. "You... You decide to accept that part of yourself now?" He laughed, the sound dry and foreboding. "You’ll... You’ll need me, Odessa. I’m the only one who can truly... Truly guide you in—"

"That’s the thing," I cut him short, twisting my right wrist.

The motion made the right side of his body snap harder until the crack of his bones echoed through the void. He screamed, sending shockwaves.

"Just like any birthright, I can choose to reject it." My hair whipped around me like snakes, the dark sigils pulsing with more life.

Whispers filtered into the furthest reaches of my mind. They were distorted, muffled, unclear. But underneath them all was one voice I chose to hold on to with everything in me.

Sirena.

’Don’t lose yourself, Odessa...’ The voice was weak but hopeful. ’We still have Kaelos to go back to. We still have everything we’ve worked for up to this moment to go back to.’

Fight. Don’t give up.

"Choice?" Ryker snarled, saliva shooting out with disgust. "You think you have a choice with the Vein? With aeons of chaotic magic that—"

"Just watch me." I interrupted, twisting my left wrist next.

The left side of his body snapped as well, the red vein-like energy threads sparkling like mini lightning bolts. His skin bristled, flaking off into the void like ash.

"The only thing no longer needed in that equation is you..." My lips coiled into a smirk, my voice layered with others.

I could feel it. Witches from millennia past—all speaking through me. All channelling their anger, their thirst for vengeance... Through me.

Ryker blinked, his teeth gritting. But slowly, his face began contorting, fear twisting it into something unsightly.

"Y–You..." The word choked out, so weak and fleeting that I could barely hear it.

Not with the other voices raving stronger in my head.

"The... The Vein is tied to your bloodline." Ryker stuttered desperately, his body twitching in a move to get out of my telekinetic control. "You can’t get rid of it even if you tried. Not entirely."

I’ve heard enough...

The dark sigils glowed to their peak, this time tinged with my violet energy. The Vein trembled, the vast expanse of chaos and darkness coiling to my will.

My head tilted slightly, my voice still layered with those of my ancestors. "How can I be tied to something I have nigh absolute control over?"

Blood trickled down his nose like a red bead. And then his eyes. The rift he’d cut through his chest sealed forcefully under my will.

And yet through it all, he managed to speak.

"That’s the key word. N–Nigh..." He sputtered bitterly, black blood choking out as his body gave in. "There’s... There’s someone in this domain who has tied the Vein completely to her will. The one who linked it to your bloodline in the first place."

I hesitated, my brows almost twitching into a frown.

I knew who he was talking about instantly.

"Nyx." Saying that name felt like a curse.

Even the voices of the witches’ past retreated from my lips.

Queen of the creatures of the night. Self-proclaimed queen of chaos and the dead.

Unfortunately, my moment of hesitation gave Ryker an opening. He broke free from my telekinetic hold, roaring with so much might that the Vein roared with him.

But before his right claws could connect with my face, I raised my chin.

All the restraint I’d maintained died, the Vein heeding my will. And with that—Ryker fell, his body combusting instantaneously into thousands of ember specks.

The specks blew past my indifferent face. I floated through the darkness, the reality of what happened hitting me like a breath of fresh air.

The Lord of the North was dead.

But even that didn’t seem enough.

My eyes scanned through the void, squinting when I thought I felt a presence. Or rather... Multiple presences.

"Nyx?" I called out.

If I remember, correctly she was supposed to be in a forced slumber alongside her "monsters of the night". The vampires.

"Under the pure chaos of the Vein... I make this declaration." My arms stretched out in front of me.

The dark sigils became molten underneath my skin, causing a pained gasp to leave my mouth. But I bit my lips through the pain.

A reaction meant what I was about to do was already working.

"I relinquish my connection to this chaotic magic," I yelled out, my chest heaving heavily. "Forever. And seal the opening Ryker made in the mortal plane. Let it be known into the furthest reaches of time and space!"

Vein energy sparked like lightning around me, the dark sigils in my blood answering my cry.

Suddenly, a spectral figure manifested in front of me. It was vague at first, almost transparent.

But when the figure fully formed, my eyes widened at the face I saw.

"M–Mother?" I shook my head, unable to believe it for a second.

Yet there she was. Her eyes filled with warmth. Her blonde hair flowing around her like clouds. And a silver dress clinging to her body, shimmering like fairy dust.

"This... This is—"

"My sweet girl." Even her voice felt real as she stretched her hands to my face. "Sadly, I’m not alive. But this is my spirit. Drawn to you after the boundaries between realms shifted."

I didn’t care if it was a fucking blow-up doll speaking with her voice.

A sob broke out from my chest when I felt her cold touch on my face. I jumped into her embrace, burying my face in her hair.

"Saying I miss you and Dad doesn’t cut it." I sniffled, pulling her closer. "I... I’ve—"

"I know, sweetie. I know." She shushed me, brushing her hand through my hair. "You’ve lost so much. Seen so much bloodshed. So it breaks me to be the one sent by the Vein to tell you this..."

I froze, my sobs dying in my throat.

Slowly, I withdrew from her arms, my brows furrowing into a frown. "W–What do you mean?"

It was at that moment that I noticed the sigils under my skin fading away. Not hiding until they would become a menace again. But actually fading like they were never there.

My jaw slacked with shock, joy sparking deep in my chest.

The declaration. It... It actually worked?!

"The Vein heard your command and heeded it." My mother forced me to look her in the eyes. "But like anything else in the world of magic... It came with a price."

I understood what she meant soon when I heard Sirena’s whisper come through.

’Girl...’ she coughed, her voice weak. ’Odessa. I don’t... I don’t feel so good...’

A sharp pain tore through my being just then, causing me to scream as I clutched my chest.

’Sirena?’ I whispered back, my eyes getting blurry. ’Sirena... What’s wrong? You—’

"Your hybrid blood is what awakened your connection to the Vein in the first place." My mother chimed. "If that weren’t the case it would’ve skipped you. Just like it’s done with witches in our bloodline for generations."

No—

My eyes stung, sorrow eating through my soul as I felt the connection fading away. My connection with Sirena. My wolf.

"I’ve... I’ve only shifted once!" My voice became desperate as the pain of her dying hit me again. "I’ve only known her for some months. P–Please. There... There has to be—"

"Odessa..." A voice different from my mother’s spoke out in the open at that moment.

Light spilt out of me, taking the shape of a wolf glowing with a silver white light.

"Sirena." I clutched my chest, feeling the emptiness left behind. "No. I—"

"It’s been a fun ride, girl." She whimpered softly, standing majestically beside my mother. Her form was slowly shifting into nothingness.

"But you need this for your freedom." She continued, leaning in. I wasted no time touching her head, my tears falling in waves. "From the Vein. From all this chaos."

Her voice was getting weaker with each word and with it, our connection.

It was inevitable.

"I’ll... I’ll be wolfless again." My throat was tight. "How... how am I supposed to be Luna Queen without a wolf?"

A small laugh left her. "You’ll still be a werewolf. It’s still in your blood and no one is taking that away."

"But I’ll just be a wolfless one."

The void suddenly started cracking, creating a spatial tear to my right. I swallowed hard, blinking at the tear and the chaos magic spilling into it.

"Go." My mother was the one who spoke this time. "You were a witch before a wolf. And you’re still Kaelos’ mate. The people will be fools not to accept you as Luna Queen."

Before I could speak, the spatial tear sucked me through it. I screamed, crying and clawing at Sirena who just floated there.

The last thing I saw before the spatial tear closed was my wolf—my Sirena—disintegrating into specks of lights, becoming one with the Vein’s magic.

Light devoured the darkness, and for a heartbeat, I thought I saw Sirena smiling — before everything shattered into silence."