The Alpha's Fated Outcast: Rise Of The Moonsinger. Chapter 343: Trials of echoes - past lives

Lyla

The clearing facing the Northern Forest shone brightly under the Moonlight.

I'd gone to bed early after telling Ramsey I was tired and needed to rest. When I arrived, not just Circe but Nanny, Terra, and three priestesses I recognised from the Moon Temple were waiting.

They were all dressed in ceremonial gowns and ford a circle around a pattern of intricate symbols drawn in what looked like crushed rocks and herbs.

"You ca," Nanny said with a frown. I know she wished I were anywhere but here. "I thought you might change your mind or couldn't convince Ramsey that you needed ti alone tonight."

"Nanny," I sighed. "I need to do this, hmm? I'll be fine." I replied, approaching the circle cautiously.

Terra stepped forward, handing a simple white shift. "Change into this. The trial requires you to be free of modern attachnts."

I nodded, slipping behind a nearby tree to change. When I returned, Circe was arguing with Nanny in hushed tones.

"—perfectly safe if she maintains focus," Circe insisted.

"Nothing about this is safe," Nanny countered. "You know as well as I do that so people never return from the echoes."

They fell silent when they noticed . Circe's expression shifted to sothing more ceremonial as she gestured for to approach.

"Before you enter the circle," she said formally, "you should understand what awaits. The Trial of Echoes will show you the lives of previous Moonsingers, from the most recent back to Neriah herself. You'll experience their triumphs, failures, and most importantly, how they used their powers. Rember the death of a Moonsinger is also a rebirth of another Moonsinger, but 10,000 years passed before you were reborn."

"Will I just be watching?" I asked.

Terra shook her head. "You'll experience their lives as if they were your own. Their emotions, pain, and joy will all feel real to you."

"And the danger?" I pressed.

"So people beco lost in the echoes," one of the priestesses explained. They forget who they are and where they co from. They remain trapped in the past, and their bodies will beco empty shells in the present."

I swallowed hard. "How do I prevent that?"

"Rember your na," Nanny said firmly. "No matter what you see or feel, rember that you are Lyla, daughter of Miriam and Logan Woodland, mate of Ramsey Kincaid, mother of—" She caught herself, glancing at the other priestesses. "Rember who you are."

Circe nodded in agreent. "Your identity is your anchor."

"My identity is my anchor," I nodded. "Got it!"

I stepped forward, ready to enter the circle, but Circe held up her hand. "First, we must prepare your path."

The priestesses took positions around the circle and began a low, haunting chant in a language I didn't recognise. Terra joined them, her deep alto adding richness to their soprano tones.

"Blood of the present calls to blood of the past," Nanny translated quietly beside . mories sleeping in Moonlight await the wakening touch. The wisdom of ancestors flows through the vessel. Ti becos nothing; space becos void."

The chanting grew louder as Circe stepped forward with a small earthen bowl. "Your blood will connect you to the bloodline of Moonsingers," she explained, offering a silver dagger.

I hesitated briefly before cutting my palm and allowing several drops to enter the bowl. Circe mixed it with the iridescent liquid I'd seen earlier and added crushed herbs that sizzled upon contact.

"When the chanting reaches its peak, you will enter the circle, drink the mixture, and lie down in the centre," she instructed. "Your spirit will begin the journey while we maintain the connection here."

"How about the babies?" Nanny asked from beside . "What will happen to them?"

"My babies?" I turned to Circe. "Is there a problem?"

"Well," Circe sighed, "in the Veilwalk, you should only focus on yourself, and if you don't do that, you might get trapped."

My hand flew to my stomach imdiately. "You're asking to forget that I am pregnant?"

Circe nodded. "Terra ntioned that your wolf ca back to protect the children. I hope she shows up in ti to keep them safe. Can you communicate with her? I can't feel her."

"She's dead," I said quietly. "I killed her myself, but she ca to at the last fight and taught how to fight off those vicious Ferals. I don't know if she'll turn up again. Is there another way to protect the babies?"

"Yes, by not thinking about it. It's a good thing you're not showing yet, so it's barely noticeable. The spirits in the Veilwalk are vicious spirits trained to feed on souls. If they think you're trying to protect soone other than yourself, they might notice the baby, but if you keep the focus on you, that would be easy to overlook."

I nodded, inhaling deeply and pushing the worrying thoughts that had crept into the back of my mind. "I'll go through with it."

"Lyla!" Nanny sighed again. "Please."

"You promised, Miriam," Terra murmured. "Stop trying to change the girl's mind."

Nanny sighed again but didn't say anything as they resud their chanting.

The chanting intensified, the priestesses' voices blending with the night sounds of the forest around us. A strange wind picked up, though the trees around us remained still.

"Rember who you are," Nanny whispered one last ti, squeezing my hand before stepping back.

When the chanting reached a crescendo, I entered the circle. The symbols seed to shift beneath my feet, glowing faintly in the Moonlight. I accepted the bowl from Circe, the mixture now swirling with tiny points of light like a miniature galaxy.

"Drink and lie down," Circe instructed. "We will watch over your body until dawn."

I drank the mixture in one gulp. It tasted bland—but sothing about the mixture seed to tingle across my tongue and burned down my throat. I managed to lie down in the centre of the circle before the world began to blur around .

The last thing I heard was the chanting, now seeming to co from inside my own head rather than from the priestesses.

Then everything dissolved into mist.

***

When the mist cleared, I stood on a battlefield. The clash of steel, screams of the wounded, and snarls of Ferals created a horrifying symphony around . No one seed to see —I was an observer in soone else's mory.

A tall, powerfully built man with dark skin and fierce eyes commanded a unit of warriors against a swarm of Ferals. This was Aeron, the Moonsinger, before . I recognised him imdiately.

When I started having visions after mating with Ramsey and the Feral attack in the Northern Forest, I was dressed as him. I had also t him when I went for Neriah's sword. Seeing him now in person looked better than my imagination thought he would.

Despite wearing only a Gamma commander's insignia, he led with natural authority.

"Hold the line!" he shouted to his warriors. "Don't let them break through to the village!"

One of his n fell, ripped apart by Feral claws. Another soon followed. The line was collapsing.

"Fall back to position three!" Aeron commanded. "Archers, cover their retreat!"

As his warriors regrouped, three massive Ferals cornered Aeron against a rocky outcropping. He raised his sword, prepared to die fighting.

There was sothing strange about these Ferals. They weren't like the ones we had fought at White Mountains. These seed like the ones who had attacked at the Northern Forest. They had this intelligent glow in their eyes.

"Co then," he growled. "Let's see what you're made of."

The first Feral lunged. Aeron slashed with his sword, opening a gash across its chest, but the wound closed almost instantly. The second and third circled, looking for an opening.

Fear flashed across Aeron's face—not for himself but for his warriors beyond. "If I fall, they all die," he whispered.

Sothing changed in his expression then—a realisation, a surrender to sothing greater than himself. He opened his mouth, and instead of a battle cry, a lody erged.

The song wasn't beautiful—it was raw, instinctual, almost primal. But it carried power that made the very air vibrate. The Ferals froze, then turned on each other, tearing and slashing with uncontrolled fury.

Aeron watched in horror and fascination as the creatures destroyed each other. When the last one fell, he stared at his hands as if they'd beco foreign objects.

"Commander!" A warrior approached cautiously. "What did you do to them?"

Aeron looked up, confusion evident in his eyes. "I... don't know."