Chapter 8 The Ceremony of Ashes

The moon hung high and heavy, blood-orange against a sky choked with thunderclouds. The forest surrounding the Crimson Circle's sanctuary seemed to recoil from the energy pulsing inside its walls. Something ancient stirred-something evil. And Aria was at its center.

Chains dragged as she was led down a spiraling staircase carved from obsidian. The walls hummed with cursed runes, flickering with a sickly red glow. Hooded figures stood in silence along the corridor, their faces hidden, their hands clutching ceremonial daggers soaked in old blood.

Cassandra walked ahead like a queen returned to her throne, each step echoing with reverence and death. Her robe shimmered with spells Aria didn't recognize-old magic, dark magic, the kind spoken of in whispers by dying witches and hunted wolves.

"Where is my sister?" Aria demanded, voice hoarse but defiant.

Cassandra didn't look back. "Safe. For now."

"I'll kill you."

"You've tried before." Cassandra paused, turned, and reached out to touch her daughter's cheek. "But you're still mine. My blood. My legacy."

Aria jerked her face away. "I'd rather burn."

"Oh, you will," Cassandra said softly. "That's the point."

The chamber at the bottom of the stairs was circular, hollow, and freezing. At its center stood a stone altar carved with claw marks. Atop it-Talia, unconscious, pale, her wrists and ankles bound in silver thread.

Aria's breath caught. "No."

"She is the key," Cassandra whispered. "Her blood. Your blood. The curse must be broken with blood willingly given-family blood. The Circle will be eternal."

"You're insane."

"I'm enlightened."

Cassandra raised a hand, and the hooded figures began chanting. Low. Rhythmic. Sinister. The runes along the walls flared brighter.

But then-

A roar shattered the spell.

The doors burst open, and Luca stormed in like vengeance made flesh. His eyes burned amber, his claws elongated. The wounds on his back were still open, but rage fueled him. Behind him, the bodies of fallen guards painted a trail of carnage.

"Touch her," he growled at Cassandra, "and I'll tear your soul from your bones."

The Circle priests tried to stop him.

They didn't stand a chance.

Luca moved like a shadow-drenched hurricane, slashing through them. Their blades couldn't cut him. Their spells bounced off his fury. Aria broke free of her captor in the confusion, elbowed a robed figure in the throat, and grabbed his dagger.

She ran for the altar.

Cassandra shrieked, summoning a column of fire to block her, but Aria dove through it, ignoring the burn, cutting the silver threads binding Talia.

Talia gasped awake. "Aria-?"

"We're getting out."

But the ground trembled.

A rift split beneath the altar.

From it rose a creature-massive, horned, made of bone and shadows, summoned by Cassandra's blood offering.

"You're too late!" Cassandra screamed. "He is awakened!"

The demon roared and surged toward them.

Luca caught Aria mid-sprint, dragging both her and Talia backward.

"We can't kill that thing!" Aria shouted over the chaos.

"We don't need to," Luca said. "We just have to trap it."

Aria's eyes darted to the runes-ancient containment spells.

"If we bleed it within the circle-"

"It'll bind itself," Luca finished.

They nodded once.

Together, they ran straight toward the monster.

Talia, barely able to stand, whispered an incantation, her blood trailing in a spiral that reactivated the sigils along the walls.

Luca leapt onto the beast's back, clawing at its spine, distracting it as Aria sliced at its ankles, forcing it within the summoning ring.

The beast howled. Raged.

And then the runes flared.

Chains of light wrapped around its body.

Talia dropped to her knees, palms out. "Now!"

Aria and Luca stabbed their blades into the sigil core.

The beast exploded into black smoke, sucked into the stone beneath the altar.

Silence fell.

Smoke settled.

Cassandra stood frozen in shock. Her power unraveled. The Circle disoriented. Their queen... undone.

Aria walked up to her mother.

Cassandra tried to summon magic-but nothing came.

"You always underestimated me," Aria said.

"I raised you."

"You raised a weapon. But you forgot-I forged my own damn blade."

And with that, Aria drove her dagger into Cassandra's chest.

Her mother gasped, choked, and fell-forever silenced.

The storm outside broke.

The Circle... crumbled.

**

By dawn, the compound burned.

Aria, Luca, and Talia walked away through the smoking ruins-bloodied, broken, but alive.

Talia leaned on Aria for support, her voice weak. "Did we win?"

Luca looked back at the flames licking the trees. "We survived. That's more than they ever expected."

Aria watched the fire dance. "It's not over. There are still factions. Still monsters."

"But we don't run anymore," Luca said.

Aria looked at him-really looked. And in the flicker of light, she saw him. The beast. The man. The one who stood between her and death without question.

She stepped closer. "We'll burn them all down together."

He smirked. "Is that a promise?"

She leaned in, lips brushing his ear. "It's a pact."

He kissed her hard-bloody, bruised, fierce.

And somewhere in the ashes, something sacred was born.