The Alpha's Fated Outcast: Rise Of The Moonsinger. Chapter 346: Trials of echoes - the way forward

Lyla

Neriah reached for him, but he stepped back. At that mont, sothing between them shattered. She did not know it then, but that rejection, that denial, was the mont the darkness crept in stronger.

"I can help you," Neriah insisted. "You broke your oaths, we can make sacrifices, and nd your relationship back with the goddess, you don’t need to give yourself to darkness. Please..."

But Corvus had already made his choice. The darkness claid him completely; with it, he had gained sothing terrible – the ability to turn werewolves into mindless, bloodthirsty Ferals.

And he unleashed it upon the Auréans.

The Northern Forest burned.

The Auréans, guardians of the world, who had lived for centuries in peace, fell one by one – not to swords or claws, but to Corvus’ dark powers, which twisted them into soulless monsters.

I watched as Neriah tried to stop it. How she tried to help her people cling onto their sanity.

Hundreds died as dark energy ripped through the settlent, turning friend against friend, parent against child.

She found Corvus under his favourite oak tree.

"Corvus, stop this!" she had scread, her voice filled with heartbreak.

"You did this," he whispered. "You left no choice."

Rian and Thas fell, trying to defend her from him.

Corvus, caught in Neriah’s power, was split in two—his body was destroyed while his spirit beca darker, fueled by rage and betrayal.

"If I cannot stop you," Neriah’s voice echoed in the void, "I will ensure you cannot use your powers. You will have no form; I will trap you eternally, and we will both know no peace."

In her grief, Neriah sang a song of binding, using the last of her strength to contain the darkness she’d inadvertently helped create.

***

The visions faded, and I found myself standing in a field littered with dead bodies. Horror filled as I recognised them—Nanny, Terra, Lenny, Clarissa, and finally, Ramsey, his eyes staring lifelessly at the sky.

It was the first vision I’d had after my powers awakened. I’d been so scared when I saw it, but now, I knew that would be my reality. If I didn’t try to stop Xander in any way, I would watch my loved ones die.

Nathan has died...how much more would need to be sacrificed?

"This is what awaits if you fail," a voice said.

I looked up to see Xander standing at the edge of the field, his hand stretched toward .

"It doesn’t have to end this way," he continued, his voice almost gentle. "Embrace who you truly are. Accept . Finish the blood oath that Neriah began."

"What blood oath?" I asked, my voice trembling. "I am not Neriah, Xander. I do not have misplaced feelings. I know who my heart belongs to. I love only one man and would never sleep with you."

"You almost did," he said with a smile. "Back at the human world, rember."

He flicked his wrist, and an orb appeared. "Rember this, right? I knew this day was going to co and..."

"You cannot deceive , Xander. That orb is useless to you. You never took any of my powers. My wolf made sure of that. Stop lying. You’ve lied to many tis, so I cannot trust anything that cos out of your mouth.

He nodded. "You know, the binding that tethers to this endless cycle of return," he said, "When Neriah tried to contain , she used blood magic—her blood and mine, intertwined. But the ritual was flawed, incomplete."

"Because she was pregnant," I realised.

"Yes. The children she carried complicated the magic. Instead of destroying or freeing , she created a cycle—I return again and again, seeking release." He stepped closer. "You carry the sa bloodlines. You can end this, one way or another."

"You’re asking to join you?"

"I’m asking you to complete what Neriah started," he corrected. "Not with death, but with understanding. Your children carry both bloodlines—Rian’s through your mate; They are the key to restoring balance."

"How can I trust anything you say?" I challenged. "You’ve killed countless Moonsingers before ."

"And I also die in the process. Our fates are sealed. The birth of a Moonsinger is my rebirth. I am tired of doing this over and over again. It gets exhausting. Destruction isn’t the answer. Neither is eternal binding. Open up the gates. Neriah sealed and give back my form. Like the way you transford those Ferals back to their human form."

As he spoke, I felt sothing stirring within —not just my power, but understanding. Every Moonsinger before had tried to defeat the Dark One through binding and sacrifice. None had succeeded permanently because they misunderstood the nature of the problem.

The Dark One wasn’t just an enemy to be destroyed. He was part of a broken cycle that needed healing. He was a lovesick fool bent on destroying an entire generation of Lycans. He wanted them gone from the earth.

"My na is Lyla," I said firmly, centring myself in my identity. "Daughter of Miriam and Logan Woodland, Mate of Ramsey. Mother of the children I carry."

"Don’t leave yet, Lyla," Xander sighed. "Just hear out."

"I am a Moonsinger," I continued, feeling my power rising. "Not just of destruction or healing, but of balance."

In that mont of clarity, I felt my pheromones awakening, flooding my system. But instead of the wild force I’d feared, the foul offensive sll, I found I could direct it, shape it, transform it into sothing new—neither light nor shadow but the harmony between them.

With a gasp, I opened my eyes to find myself in the clearing. It was almost morning. A little streak of sunlight filtered through the trees, and the priestesses lay exhausted around the circle’s edge. Nanny knelt beside , tears streaming down her face, while Circe stared at with a mixture of awe and fear.

"You’ve returned," Nanny whispered, helping sit up. "We thought we’d lost you."

"What happened?" Terra asked, her voice hoarse from hours of chanting. "What did you see?"

I t their gazes steadily, feeling different.. The power that had frightened before now flowed through like a familiar current, controlled and directed by my will rather than my emotions.

It was as if I could feel my pheromones flowing through , but this ti, no one was wrinkling their nose, and I wasn’t getting soaked or stimulated. I had it under control.

"Everything," I replied. "I saw everything."

"Did you learn how to defeat him?" Circe asked eagerly.

I stood slowly. My body ached, but my mind was clearer than it had ever been. "Yes. But not in the way anyone expected."

The twin moons would rise this night. The Dark One would co for , for my children, for the power he believed would free him.

But I was ready now. Not just to fight, but to heal a wound that had festered for centuries.