The Gate of Shadows

With a brief hesitation, I brought the bracelet to my lips, kissing it lightly.

Ah... What is it I want?

My desire to see the silver wolf who gifted me the glowing jewel grew exponentially.

Fenris… I want to see you. Can I stay with you? Watch you smile... Fenris... Fenris... Fenris!

I reached for the empty space for it to morph into the horror from before. All the Cerberus officers that had fought the mayhem had fallen by my hand. They couldn’t stop the beings that went on a rampage when I lost my mind.

One last Cerberus member was all that was left, standing just a few lengths away from me. He had silver hair and amber eyes, just like Fenris. I was delirious already, unable to organize my thoughts.

There was no way Fenris was there, but I wanted him there.

You’re finally here… I…

Reaching my hand out to him, the desire to meet with his warmth overwhelmed me.

“Fen... ris... I-I... w-wanted... t-to... see... y-you.” I managed to voice, desiring to run to him, but I couldn’t move.

My legs had given out by the time I found him. The wolf scrunched up his eyes, tilting his head at the name I had used to call him. It only took him seconds to realize what was going on.

“Oh... by the gods. You’re Lilith?” the young silver wolf's voice broke, grabbing his right shoulder.

At that moment, I sobbed loudly upon hearing my name come from his mouth. His voice was so soothing, too.

“Am... I... F-finally... D-dead?” I whimpered.

His eyes shimmered as tears became visible in the corner of his eyes.

“No… sweety, you aren’t.” He answered, wincing soon after.

His eyes were so pretty, though.

“Oh... Are... y-you... h-here... t-to... k-kill... m-me?” I quivered.

He shook his head, “No, I won’t hurt you.”

“Oh...” I whispered, shifting my orbs towards my side to see the feline eyes move.

My hands were still gripping her fur from one of her legs. She and all the other demons were frozen in time, as was the surrounding area, shocking me back into reality. My eyes finally perceived everything that had been hiding from me.

Next to me lay the head of a silver-haired Lycan, the man called Amir. Due to all its injuries, it was almost unrecognizable. Before this, I had only seen him in pictures in some stores I walked by.

The monsters emerged victoriously all around us, with the dismembered bodies of Cerberus officers lying everywhere. We were located on a crater that used to be the Silverant's marketplace.

Even the docks were gone like a bomb had left only desolation in its place. The vampire woman I had seen before was nowhere to be seen. My eyes couldn’t perceive the end of the destruction, but probably more than half of the city was gone.

How did this happen? Was it me? No... No!!!

“Ah... Ah!” My mind shattered into a million pieces, feeling the weight of it all.

Before I could lose myself in the sorrow, the familiar young man standing before me took a step forward.

“Lilith,” he called, forcing my orbs to lock on him.

Fenris...

He wasn’t the silver wolf I knew; perhaps it would’ve been him if he had time-traveled a few years forward—a more mature and taller version of the little wolf I came to love. Stella mentioned that Amir had an older son, too.

Is that who I’m staring at right now?

A man who left you to die by falling for a fake. The whispers erupted once again, sending shivers down my spine.

Placing my hands on my head in a feeble attempt to stop them, I shook my head. “Shut up!”

Even though time had stopped, there was no halting the nightmares from my mind. I was part of their realm, taking my sanity along with them. My psyche could slip at any moment again. The wolf in front of me was bleeding from his missing right arm.

“Baby girl, we don’t have much time before this zone breaks. Do you see that crystal next to you?” the young Lycan whispered, pointing with his eyes next to me.

I followed his gaze to see a shimmering purple crystal lying close to me.

“I need you to put that close to your heart. It should cancel the spell.” He informed, wincing in pain.

Blood pooled under him, letting me realize his arm wasn’t the only thing bothering him. His left leg appeared to be injured as well. The amount of red under him was worrisome as Lycan’s had super healing qualities.

Cracks began appearing around us, marking the impending doom of everything. It was almost as if the magic they had used to stop time was faltering, something that shouldn’t have been visible to the naked eye.

Yet somehow, I could see them; something was changing me.

Don’t listen to him! They must pay! The whispers tried to sway me.

“Will... i-it... stop...” I couldn’t finish my thought, wincing from the hisses trying to drown me again.

They were head-shattering, leaving me feeling like they would split me apart from all the voices invading me.

“Yes, it will.” The injured Lycan assured me.

The words I shared with Fenris back at the beach replayed in my mind.

Brave... Be brave for once, Lilith! No… headstrong! Don’t think! Please pick it up! Everything will end! Maybe then I’ll find peace!

No! The voices howled otherwise.

Pulling away from the shadow demon who had protected me, I quickly fell onto my abdomen, forcing myself to worm towards the crystal. The cracks of the spell got more prominent, much like the ticking time bomb of the circle from earlier.

The shadow beasts slowly moved again when I forcefully dragged myself towards my goal. No amount of pain would stop me from reaching it, a crystal I had never seen in any books I read. If the Cerberus order tried so hard to use it against me, it had to be what they used to close the last portal.

However, before I could reach it, the feline protecting me moved before all the others. The incantation rolled off her, alerting me that she was pretending to be frozen before. She truly was something else.

“No!” the young Lycan shouted, falling to his knees.

Ah… I failed again.

I thought it was over momentarily, feeling my heart plummet when she picked me up by my dress and sat me upward before walking to the crystal. The thought of her crushing it passed through my mind when her paw touched her stone.

 Gazing at the mesmerizing crystal, she plucked it up in her mouth and dropped it before me, leaving me stunned.

“Why…” I mumbled, watching her sit before me, pushing the stone closer.

A soft purr left her, “I’ll always be with you.”

With a brief hesitation about my well-being, I grabbed the crystal and shoved it into my chest. At first, it felt like I was being pulled out of myself, only to be blinded by blue light. Everything faded away, along with my consciousness, plunging into darkness.

It was the first time I had felt at peace since the fall began, and I wished it would last forever.