Chapter 7 Rise Of The Bloodbound Immediately

The forest was silent. Not the calm kind of silence that came after rain, but the hollow, aching quiet that followed destruction. Smoke curled through the trees, and the air smelled of ash and death.Aria stood among the ruins, her silver hair streaked with blood and soot. The sword Luca left behind gleamed faintly beside her boot, the last proof that he'd been real. Everything else the heat of his hand, the sound of his voice, the way he whispered her name like a prayer was gone, ripped from her by the witch's curse.

She knelt and picked up the blade. It pulsed weakly in her grip, like it still remembered him. "You promised," she whispered, voice cracking. "You said we'd fight it together."

No answer came. Only the faint whistle of the wind through burned leaves.

Her body trembled. The mark on her arm glowed faintly beneath her skin, spreading slow tendrils of red light. It no longer burned it breathed. It pulsed in time with her heart, as if something alive now moved inside her veins.

Aria sank to her knees, clutching her arm. "What have you done to me?"

A whisper echoed in her mind not Luca's voice, not her own. It was soft, feminine, ancient. You were never meant to fight the curse, child of moon and blood. You were meant to become it.

Her breath hitched. "No."

The voice laughed, smooth and cold. He was the vessel. You are the heir. You carry the blood of both wolf and vampire, moon and shadow. You are the bridge, the end of the prophecy.Aria pressed her hands over her ears, but the voice only grew louder. Images flooded her mind Luca's crimson eyes, the witch's black smile, the battlefield lit by flames and blood. Then a flash of herself standing in a ruined castle, her eyes glowing red and gold, a crown of thorns and fire upon her head.

She screamed. The forest trembled.

When she opened her eyes again, the moon had turned pale white. Her reflection shimmered in a pool of water near her feet but it wasn't her. Her pupils were slit like a predator's, her irises a strange blend of gold and red. Her teeth glinted with faint fangs.

"No," she whispered again. "I'm not-"

But before she could finish, she heard footsteps behind her.

She spun around, blade raised.

It wasn't a vampire or a werewolf. It was a figure in a dark hooded cloak, moving slowly through the smoke. The air shifted around them like mist. When they spoke, their voice was low, rasped, and heavy with power.

"Aria Moonwell."

She froze. "Who are you?"

The figure lowered their hood. It was a woman old, with long silver hair that looked almost identical to Aria's. Her eyes glowed faintly blue. "I am Lysandra," she said. "High Seer of the Moonblood. And I've been searching for you."

Aria didn't lower her blade. "Why?"

"Because the prophecy has awakened." Lysandra stepped closer, her robes brushing the ashes. "The Bloodbound has risen. And if you do not control it soon, it will consume you and everything you love."

Aria's grip tightened. "I don't believe in prophecies anymore. They're just words people hide behind when they're afraid of truth."

"Then tell me," Lysandra said softly, "was it prophecy or truth that took the one you loved?"

The words hit like a blade. Aria's lips parted, but no sound came.The seer continued, "The curse you bear was not meant for you alone. It was forged centuries ago by the witch to punish the gods who defied her. She cursed their creations wolves born of moonlight, vampires born of shadow to destroy each other until the end of time. But the gods left a flaw in her curse. Two souls could merge both sides, ending the blood feud. You and the vampire prince were meant to be that flaw."

Aria's heart pounded. "Then why did we fail?"

"Because love cannot bloom where hate still breathes," Lysandra whispered. "The witch twisted your bond, feeding on your pain. When you tried to destroy her, you only fed her strength."

Aria's knees weakened. "Then there's no way to save him."

"There is," Lysandra said, her gaze sharp as moonlight. "But it comes with a price."

Aria's eyes lifted slowly. "What kind of price?"

"You must embrace what you've become. You must accept both your bloods wolf and vampire and command the curse from within. Only then can you find the realm where his soul is trapped."

"The void," Aria murmured. "Where she took him."

"Yes. But beware, child of moon and blood once you cross that realm, there is no guarantee you will return as yourself. The Bloodbound will awaken fully. And once it does... it will never sleep again."

Aria looked down at her reflection once more. Her hands trembled, but her eyes were clear. "Then I'll take the risk."

Lysandra's lips curved faintly, a mix of pity and pride. "You sound like your mother."

"My mother's dead." The seer's expression softened. "No. She is the one who made the pact that birthed the prophecy. Your mother was the first to defy the curse. You are her echo."

The words hit her like lightning. Aria stumbled back, shaking her head. "That's not true."Lysandra stepped forward, lifting her hand. The air shimmered. A vision appeared a woman with Aria's eyes, kneeling before the moon, her hands soaked in blood. "Your mother made a vow beneath the Blood Moon. To end the war, she bound her soul to the shadow prince. But the witch struck before they could unite. Their deaths marked the beginning of the curse. And now, through you and the vampire prince, their bond is reborn."

Aria's heart thudded painfully. "So this was never about us..." "No," Lysandra said softly. "It was about legacy. About the gods rewriting their mistakes through you."Aria stared at the moon, fury burning in her chest. "Then I'll rewrite their ending too."

The seer's smile faded. "Be careful what you wish for, child. The Bloodbound does not choose mercy."

Before Aria could answer, the wind shifted. The trees groaned, their branches curling inward. The ground began to hum with energy dark, cold, familiar. Aria's pulse quickened.

"She's here," Lysandra whispered. "The witch knows you've awakened."

Aria raised her sword. "Then let her come."

The forest erupted in screams as shadows poured between the trees the witch's specters, her dark army reborn. Lysandra drew a silver staff etched with runes, eyes blazing with moonlight.

"Do not hold back, Aria. The Bloodbound within you hungers let it feed."

Aria gritted her teeth. "And if I lose control?"

"Then control the loss."

The first shadow lunged, claws slicing through the air. Aria met it mid strike, her blade glowing bright red. When she swung, the air itself cracked, slicing through the ghost like fire through smoke. The curse burned inside her wild, powerful, alive. She could feel her heart beating in two rhythms, one human, one monstrous.

As the specters surrounded them, the sky darkened. The Blood Moon began to rise again.Aria's voice broke through the chaos. "Luca... if you can hear me... hold on. I'm coming for you."And then she vanished into the fire and shadow, her scream echoing into the night not of pain, but of power awakening.

The world blurred into smoke and flame. Aria fought through the swarm of specters, every strike drawing out more of the power that burned inside her. The sword in her hand felt lighter now, alive. With each swing, shadows screamed and dissolved into red sparks.

"Enough!" she shouted, her voice echoing like thunder. The ground shook, and a ring of light erupted from her feet, vaporizing the last of the wraiths.

When the dust settled, Lysandra was gone. Only her staff lay cracked in two beside a blackened tree. Aria's heart clenched, but there was no time to grieve. A voice faint, familiar was calling her name.

Aria...

Her eyes darted around. "Luca?"

The whisper came again, softer this time, from nowhere and everywhere. The mark on her arm pulsed in response. The Blood Moon above flared, and a crimson beam fell upon her, swallowing her in light.

The forest vanished.

She stood in a void of swirling mist and broken stars the Veil, the border between the living and the cursed. The air shimmered with distant cries and fragments of forgotten souls. Each step she took echoed like a heartbeat.

"Luca!" she cried again.

Something shifted behind her. She spun and froze.

He stood a few paces away, half-hidden by the mist. His hair was darker now, his skin paler, and his eyes glowed a deep black rimmed with red. A faint scar ran across his throat where her hand had once rested.

"Aria," he said. His voice was calm, too calm. "You shouldn't have come."

Tears stung her eyes. "You think I'd leave you here?" She took a step forward. The mist between them rippled like water, and a sharp pain shot through her chest.

He shook his head slowly. "This place feeds on emotion. Every heartbeat you spend here gives the witch more strength."

"I don't care," she said. "I came to bring you home."

He smiled faintly. "Home? The moment the witch bound us, there was no home left for either of us."

She reached for him, but he stepped back. "Don't," he warned. "The curse... it's part of me now. If you touch me, it'll spread faster."

Aria lowered her hand but didn't retreat. "Then I'll burn the curse out."

"You can't fight darkness with anger."

She met his gaze. "Then I'll fight it with love."

For a moment, the black faded from his eyes, and the Luca she knew flickered through. "Always stubborn," he murmured.

"Always yours," she replied.

The air trembled. The mist coiled around them, forming shapes faces of the dead, arms of shadow. The witch's laughter echoed above.

Even here, you defy me? You belong to the curse!

Luca winced, clutching his head. Aria ran to him despite the pain slicing through her veins. When her hand touched his chest, light burst between them.

Their marks flared her gold and red, his silver and blacktwisting together into a single glowing symbol that pulsed like a heartbeat.

The witch's voice shrieked, and the void cracked.

Aria gritted her teeth. "You don't control us!"

A shockwave erupted, hurling the specters away. In the light that followed, she saw glimpses of Luca's soul fragmented, chained by black fire. She could feel the curse trying to pull her in, to make her one with the void.

Luca's voice came faintly. "Aria... stop. You'll lose yourself."

She smiled through tears. "Then we'll be lost together."

The world around them fractured. She saw flashes-her childhood home, the burned forest, the moon bleeding red. Then everything collapsed into white.

When she opened her eyes again, she was lying on cold stone. The void was gone. She was inside a ruined temple lit by torches that burned blue.

Luca knelt beside her, breathing hard. His eyes were no longer black but dark red. "You pulled me out," he whispered.

Aria sat up slowly. "We're free?"

"Not yet," he said. "We've only moved from one prison to another."

She followed his gaze. At the center of the temple stood an altar made of obsidian, carved with runes that pulsed with the same red glow as their marks. Blood dripped from the ceiling, forming a pool around its base.

"This is the witch's heart," Luca said. "She bound it to both our souls. Destroying it will end her power."

Aria rose, gripping his sword. "Then we end it now." Luca caught her wrist. "If we destroy it, the bond between us may break. We could lose everything we are." She looked into his eyes. "We already lost everything once."

He hesitated, then nodded. "Together." They stepped to the altar, hands joined, blades raised. The runes flared brighter, sensing their defiance. The ground trembled, and the witch's voice screamed through the air one final time: If you end me, you end yourselves!

Aria tightened her grip. "So be it."

The two blades struck the heart at once. A flash of crimson exploded outward, swallowing the temple in light and silence.

Light devoured everything. Aria couldn't breathe, couldn't think. Every sound melted into a roar that came from inside her own chest. For a moment she thought they had died. Then the light fractured, and the world began to rebuild itself around her.

The temple was gone. In its place stretched a plain of gray dust beneath a sky split in two half silver, half crimson. At her feet lay the shattered remains of the altar, its heart reduced to glimmering shards that pulsed once before turning to ash.

She looked down. Her hands were glowing faintly, veins of red and gold weaving together under her skin. She wasn't bleeding; she was changing.

"Luca?" she whispered.

He lay a few feet away, motionless. Aria stumbled toward him, falling to her knees. His chest still rose and fell, but faintly, like a candle struggling against wind. When she touched him, a surge of heat shot through her arm and into his heart. His eyes opened no longer black, but a deep scarlet streaked with silver.

"You did it," he murmured. "You broke her heart."

"Then why does it still feel like she's here?"

He sat up slowly. Around them, the sky flickered. Shadows still writhed at the edge of the horizon, whispering. "Because she never truly dies. The curse is part of the balance now. You destroyed her body, but her magic needs a vessel."

Aria stared at her hands. "You mean-"

"Yes." His eyes softened. "It's you."

The wind howled through the plain, carrying voices echoes of the witch, the seer, the armies that had fallen. Aria rose to her feet. "If this curse needs a vessel, I'll be one it can't control."

Luca stood with her. "Aria-"

She turned to him, fierce and calm all at once. "All my life, I was taught that wolves obey the moon and vampires obey the dark. But I am both. The moon and the dark obey me now."

Her hair lifted in the wind, streaked with strands of silver and red. The mark on her arm spread across her skin, wrapping around her neck like a living sigil. Power rolled off her in waves, shaking the ground.

Luca shielded his eyes. "You're becoming the prophecy."

"I'm rewriting it."

The light around her burst into a circle that stretched across the plain. The whispers stopped. For a heartbeat, even the wind obeyed her.

Then, out of the silence, a faint voice spoke-the witch's, softer now, almost reverent. Blood of moon and blood of night... the child of both shall rule the end.

Aria's voice cut through the air. "Rule? No. I'll protect what's left."

She lifted her hands. The fragments of the altar rose with her, glowing brighter, spinning faster until they became a ring of fire and shadow. She pressed her palms together, and the fragments fused into a single stone half light, half dark.

"This is the heart of the Bloodbound," she said. "As long as it exists, neither side can destroy the other again."

Luca stepped closer. "You just made peace... with power itself."

She looked at him, tears forming. "But peace has a cost."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I can feel it, Luca. The curse wants to stay anchored. If I remain here, it holds. If I leave, it breaks free."

He shook his head. "No. We just got each other back. There has to be another way."

She smiled sadly. "You once said love was the only thing strong enough to defy death. Maybe that's what this is."

He reached for her, voice shaking. "Aria, don't-"

She leaned in, pressing her forehead to his. "Remember me. Not as a curse, not as a queen. Just as the girl who loved you when the moon bled red."

Her lips brushed his, and the world ignited.

A pillar of light rose from the ground, piercing the sky. The gray plain melted into color forests reborn, rivers glowing like silver veins. The moon turned white again. When the light faded, Luca stood alone at the edge of a quiet meadow, the stone resting in his hands.

The mark on his arm had vanished. The curse was gone.

He looked to the horizon. For a moment, he swore he saw her Aria standing in the moonlight, hair drifting like flame, smiling before dissolving into starlight.

He sank to his knees, clutching the stone to his chest. "You didn't die," he whispered. "You became the blood that binds the world."

Above, the moon shimmered once, and the wind carried her voice, faint but certain: I'm still here.

Luca rose, eyes shining with determination. "Then I'll find you again," he said. "Even if it takes forever."

As he walked into the dawn, the world whispered her name,Aria Moonwell, the Bloodbound Queen protector of both night and light.

And in the stillness that followed, peace finally took its first breath.