?


    Chapter 0784


    Nina


    Darkness enveloped me, recing the inferno of mes and smoke that had taken over the lush jungle. Thest thing I saw before everything went ck was the swirling array of portals, out of which poured a plethora of armored troops.


    My father''s reinforcements had arrived. But were they toote?


    Before I could even process what was happening, however, I was transported out of the world of the conscious and was sent somewhere else entirely.


    When I opened my eyes, a vast expanse of nothingness stretched out in every direction. And yet, even in this infinite void, I felt a strange sense of familiarity-a recognition that this ce existed somewhere beyond the boundaries of the physical world.


    I had been here before, and recently, too. In fact, I could still hear the dying shrieks of the shadow entity.


    I stood, looking around.


    A soft glow pierced the gloom, drawing my attention. There, in the distance, a figure materialized, her form radiating with a brilliant white light. As she drifted closer, the details of her face became clearer, and my heart clenched with a mixture of joy and sorrow.


    Selena.


    My twin sister''s sad face almost seemed to shimmer in front of me, her eyes red-rimmed from crying and her cheeks hollow, so much unlike the way she had looked thest time I had been here.


    "Sister," she said, her voice weaker than before. "You came."


    "Selena..." I breathed. "What''s happening? Why am I here again? You look..." I paused, taking in her appearance again.


    A soft chuckle, if one could even call it that, echoed in the back of her throat and seemed to bounce off of walls that didn''t exist. "It''s tiring, keeping that... thing at bay," she murmured. "And it grows more tiring by the day."


    Her expression tightened then, a flicker of strain passing across her face as she extended a glowing hand toward


    me.


    "Nina, you must listen to me," she urged, her voice cracked and hoarse. "The shadow entity is growing stronger with each passing moment. I can''t keep it at bay forever, and if I don''t..." Her eyes dropped to my pregnant belly.


    A chill ran down my spine at her words, and I instinctively wrapped my arms around my stomach, cradling the tiny life that had taken root inside of me.


    "The baby..." I whispered, realization dawning on me. "Is it...?"


    Selena gave a solemn nod. "Your child is weakening because of the shadow entity, Nina," she exined. "If we don''t act soon, the shadows will consume it—and your baby will die."


    Die. My baby would die.


    Panic gripped my body, a thousand questions swirling through my mind. What could I do? How could I possibly protect my unborn child from such a powerful force of darkness? After everything, after all that we had been through, I couldn''t...


    As if sensing my distress, Selena reached out, her glowing, pale fingers brushing against my cheek gently to wipe away the tears that had begun to spell.


    "There is a way," she murmured. "You already know."


    I felt my stomach clench. "You don''t mean..."


    She nodded. "The ritual, Nina. It''s ancient, and it exists for a reason. It will allow me to bind my spirit to the baby."


    I shook my head, my brow furrowing in confusion. "But... how? You''re My voice trailed off. I couldn''t bring myself to say the word: dead.


    Selena offered me a sad smile and nodded. "Yes, I am dead. But in a sense, I will be reborn," she exined softly, “ The child will carry my memories, my experiences-all that I am. Upon hering of age, of course,"


    My eyes widened. "H-Her?" I murmured.


    Selena chuckled again. "I suppose I spoiled it," she said, a bashful look crossing over her features. "But, yes, Nina; you''re having a daughter. A little girl."


    At the same time, I felt both uplifted and crushed. Learning that I was having a little girl was supposed to be a joyous asion, a moment shared between me and Enzo in the safety of a doctor''s office.


    But now, I didn''t even know where Enzo was, or if he was even alive.


    And to top it all off, my dead twin was telling me that the only way for my baby to survive was to perform a ritual that would rob my daughter of her individuality. I would be birthing my own sister, in a sense.


    "Wh-What about the shadow entity?" I asked. "If I do this, will it be stopped? For good?"


    Selena''s expression hardened, and she nodded. "The ritual will sever its connection to our world," she answered." Right now, I am using the light of my spirit to protect you-but, being dead, I am quickly running out of light. The child, however, is alive. Her light,bined with mine, will be enough to banish the shadow entity forever."


    A heavy silence fell between us. This was my choice to make a decision that would not only shape the fate of my unborn child but also bring my twin sister back.


    With a trembling hand, I reached out, my fingers intertwining with Selena''s. "I... I don''t know," I whispered. "It feels so..."


    "You must make your decision soon," she replied, her voice already fading, growing fainter with each passing second- I was waking up. "If you wait too long, then..."


    The entity''s shrieks grew louder in the distance, and I felt my stomach twist and clench in unending knots.


    "...Then the entity will consume me... your baby... even yourself..."


    With a final, brilliant re of light, Selena vanished.


    I was jostled awake with a start, my eyes snapping open to find myself in what felt like the back of a wagon. I heard and felt wheels wobbling against rutted ground, creaking and straining over what felt like rough terrain. Disoriented, I blinked against the harsh re of sunlight filtering through the smoke-choked air, my lungs burning with each ragged breath. The scent of charred wood and smoldering embers assaulted my senses.


    And as my vision cleared, I saw the devastating aftermath of M''s rampage.


    The once-vibrant and lush forest had been reduced to a smoldering wastnd, entire swaths ofnd scorched and ckened by the ravenous mes.


    How far the mes had swallowed the jungle, I couldn''t be sure; but I didn''t recognize where we were, indicating that we had either traveled quite far already or that the stretch of jungle that I hade to recognize had simply been reduced to nothing but ash.


    But it was the sight of the procession of refugees that really shook me to my core.


    Hundreds of men, women, and children marched through the wastnd, their faces ckened by smoke. Sobs and coughs echoed in the stillness, punctuated only by the sudden tramping of feet.


    A choked sob escaped my lips as I scanned the devastation, searching in vain for any sign of a familiar face, any indication that my friends had survived the inferno. But amongst the sea of faces, I didn''t see any of them.


    "M-My husband," I rasped out, my voice cracked and hoarse and raw from inhaling the smoke. "My pack.."


    A figure sitting beside me in the carriage-a grizzled, soot-stained warrior whose face I didn''t recognize-looked


    over at me.


    And he shook his head.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!