Chapter 8 SHADOW AND SILENCE

The cavern shuddered violently as shadows erupted from the floor, twisting upward like living smoke and swallowing the light whole.

And then, blackness.

Not the kind of blackness that came with night.

This was thicker, heavier. It pressed against the skin, slid down the throat, and clung inside the lungs like damp ash. It was a darkness that pulsed faintly, as if it had a heartbeat of its own.

Kael's claws scraped deep grooves into the stone beneath his boots as he fought to steady himself. Somewhere above, droplets of water fell in slow, mocking drips, each one echoing like a warning.

"Lyra!" His voice carried no further than the length of his arm before the dark swallowed it whole.

No answer.

Something moved behind him, too fast to track. He spun, claws slashing the air, but his swipe caught nothing but the strange cold.

Then came a scream.

Not Lyra's.

Too deep, too guttural, cut off too quickly to be anything but fatal.

Kael's wolf snarled inside him. 'Stay sharp. Stay alive'

*******

Lyra's sight was gone, the dark was loud. She could hear the soft crunch of footsteps circling her. She could hear breathing, slow, steady, deliberate.

The Other Lyra's voice slid into her ears like silk. "Do you feel it? The dark isn't here to hurt you, Lyra. It's here to hold you."

Lyra turned in place, keeping her voice steady. "I'm not yours."

A low chuckle floated around her, changing direction each time. "You already are. You came to me."

"I stepped toward you so Kael would think I had," Lyra shot back, forcing her tone to sound sure.

The chuckle stopped.

The silence that followed was heavier than the dark itself.

******

Kael moved forward by scent alone, following the faint trace of her, pine, wild rain, something sharp he couldn't name. It flickered in and out as if the shadows themselves were trying to erase her from him.

Somewhere to his left, a voice called, "Alpha, this way!"

He didn't hesitate, he moved toward it. But the moment he stepped into the sound, a flash of silver grazed his ribs. Not deep enough to kill, but deep enough to send the sting of betrayal straight through him.

Kael spun, catching the attacker's arm, but before he could rip into them, the figure melted into the dark like smoke.

His heart pounded harder, not from the wound, but from the truth it revealed.

Someone on his side wanted him dead.

********

The darkness thinned, not much, just enough to show a faint outline ahead. The Other Lyra stood there, eyes black and glowing faintly like embers.

"You can't keep running from yourself," the Other murmured, her voice smooth, coaxing. "Kael will never understand you. He'll chain this part of you. Fear it."

Lyra's pulse thudded against her throat. "And you won't?"

The Other stepped closer, close enough that Lyra could see the sharp curve of her smile. "I am it. And I'm offering you a place at my side. Not as my shadow, my equal."

Lyra forced herself not to move, not to react. "And if I refuse?"

The Other's smile widened, stretching too far to be human. "Then I take what's mine anyway."

************

Kael's wolves tried to regroup, but every movement they made seemed to scatter them further. The shadows swallowed their growls, their footsteps, their scents.

He caught flashes of movement, a claw here, a glint of teeth there, but they vanished before he could strike.

A wolf yelped somewhere behind him, followed by a wet, tearing sound. The scent of blood hit him like a punch.

Kael's voice was a low, lethal growl. "Hold formation!"

But his words died in the thick dark. There was no formation left.

********

The Other Lyra moved close enough for Lyra to feel her breath. "He'll never love the whole of you," she whispered. "But I will."

Something sharp twisted in Lyra's chest. She hated how part of her wanted to listen.

She glanced toward where she thought Kael might be, but all she saw was dark. No sound. No sign of him.

"Time's up," the Other Lyra murmured.

*********

A sudden pulse of light flared to Lyra's left, Kael's claws ripping through a veil of shadow.

"Lyra!" His voice was raw.

She turned, caught between relief and dread. Kael's gaze locked on her... then slid to the figure beside her.

"Move."

Her breath hitched. "I can handle this."

The Other Lyra tilted her head, amusement curling her lips. "Can you?"

Kael didn't wait for an answer, he lunged.

********

The moment Kael's claws touched the Other Lyra, the ground shuddered beneath them. Deep cracks spiderwebbed across the stone floor, widening with each heartbeat.

A bone-deep rumble shook the cavern. Air rushed upward, icy and ancient, smelling of something that had been locked away for centuries.

The Other Lyra's smile sharpened. "It's coming."

Kael didn't ask what. He grabbed Lyra's arm, ready to pull her back...

...but the floor split open, and the three of them fell.

They fell through air that wasn't air, through moments that weren't time. The dark wrapped around them, bending the world into something wrong.

Lyra felt Kael's grip slip. She reached for him, fingers brushing his wrist, then the darkness swallowed him whole.

**********

When the world stopped spinning, Lyra was on her knees. Cold stone beneath her, faint light ahead.

Her breath came in sharp bursts. Kael was nowhere. The Other Lyra was gone.

And in that faint light stood a figure in a crimson cloak, the hood pulled low.

The figure stepped forward, the sound of their boots echoing in the vast emptiness.

"Finally found you," the stranger said, voice low and almost... familiar.

Lyra's heart pounded. "Who are you?"

The hood tilted. "Someone who's known you far longer than Kael has. Longer than you've known yourself."

The figure reached up slowly, fingers brushing the hood. "Your past has been looking for you, Lyra."

The hood fell back, and Lyra froze.

It was her own face.

Not the Other Lyra's.

Not quite.

Older.

And smiling like she'd been waiting centuries for this moment.