Just when I thought I would fade into dust I landed hard on a smooth surface that wasn't stone or earth but something else.
I gasped and stood up blinking through the mist.
Everything shone like it had been made from moonlight, silver trees reached into the fog and it's leaves glowed. Pools of water showed not the sky above but memories moving images from the past.
I saw myself kneeling outside the De Vargue family house soaked in rain.
And beside that pool a second memory played, Amalric hidden behind a curtain listening as father whispered,"Only one of them will survive the trials. Choose wisely."
I turned away my throat burning, this was the place where truth lived.
Where the Moon showed what we tried to hide, I had entered the Realm of Silver Shadows.
"Delphine."
I spun around at the sound of my name, it had echoed from everywhere and nowhere.
"Who's there?" I called.
Nobody answered only the wind, then the fog parted and I saw a figure standing tall, strong and beautiful. It was Sigard, my first love.
The boy who taught me how to fight, to breath . The one who vanished the night my family tried to drown me.
But he wasn't supposed to be here, he had died burned in the red moon raids.
"Sigard?" I whispered.
He smiled. "You came."
My legs trembled. "You're not real."
"Does it matter?" he asked softly. "I'm what you need to see."
He reached for my hand and for a moment i let him, his touch felt warm and safe but I pulled back.
"I came for Amalric."
"Why chase someone who only wants you gone?" he asked gently. "Stay here and forget her. Forget them all."
I looked around the trees as they glowed softly, the air didn't hurt and my heart didn't ache.
It would be easy to stay but I remembered Veran's face when he told me the truth.
The Seer's voice whispering, "Only those who choose to rise survive."
And Amalric's eyes silver like mine, twisted with hunger.
"I can't stay," I said. "Not when everything is still broken."
Sigard's smile faded. "Then you'll lose me again."
Tears filled my eyes.
"I already did."
I stepped back and watched him vanished.
I walked for what felt like hours deeper into the silver woods.
Strange wolves watched from the trees, their eyes glowed blue and their fur shone like water but they didn't move or speak.
They were waiting for something I had no idea what.
Then I saw Amalric standing by a huge altar carved into a silver mountain, a pool of moonlight shone at its center.
She didn't look at me.
"I thought you'd stay behind," she said.
"You don't know me," I replied.
She laughed softly. "I know everything about you, I was raised to watch you remember?"
"Then you know I won't let you claim this place."
"I don't need your permission," she said turning toward me. "The Moon already chose me."
"We were both chosen!" I snapped. "Or didn't you feel the bond when we bled together?"
She flinched but only for a second.
"Do you know what they told me?" she asked softly. "That I was just your shadow that no matter what I did, you'd always shine brighter. So I carved my own path and I made them fear me."
"You became Deucalion's puppet."
"I became someone they can't ignore."
I stepped closer. "And what now you'll become queen of ashes?"
She shook her head. "I don't want a crown."
"Then what do you want?"
Her voice broke.
"I want to matter."
That truth hurt more than her lies ever did because i understood it, all my life I begged for someone to see me and so had she.
We were just two broken girls shaped by cruelty but only one of us could lead.
I looked at the altar, the pool glowed then a voice old and terrifying echoed around us.
"The one who steps into the Moon's Core will gain its power."
I felt the pull but Amalric moved first, she stepped into the light.
"No!" I shouted running forward, but something slammed into me like an invisible wall.
Amalric turned her body glowing as the moonlight wrapped around her.
"I'll rewrite the story," she said.
"You'll destroy everything!" I screamed.
Her smile trembled. "Then let it all burn."
The light consumed her and in that moment, I saw the world crack. It was a vision, fire swept the packs, wolves howled as the land turned to ash.
Veran's body lay broken, the moon turned red and Amalric stood alone crowned in flames with silver blood in her hands, and it was mine.
I fell to my knees gasping as the vision ended.
The light faded, Amalric stood in the altar pool her eyes wide. Her hands was shaking as she looked at me scared.
"What did I do?"
But before I could reach her, a voice thundered across the realm.
"The bond has been broken! The Core is unbalanced."
Cracks formed in the silver ground, wolves howled in agony. I heard Amalric screaming, I pushed forward trying to reach and grabbed her wrist but the ground broke open and she she fell into the light.
I screamed her name, my was voice trembling.
"Amalric!"
But she was gone as if she wasn't there before, the Moon's voice spoke again.
"The twin flame is lost. One remains, rise Daughter of Ash."
I didn't know what that meant but I felt it in my bones and in my breath.
The light wrapped around me and I felt my body lift, every wound torn open and healed again. My blood burned like wildfire, I could feel my heart pounding like thunder.
And when I opened my eyes, I stood alone at the broken altar. I wasn't just Delphine, I was something more, something Dangerous.
The Silver realm was gone and the world had changed.
The war had begun.