Chapter 233: The Prophecy

Rhydor’s POV

The small wooden hut sat hidden deep within the thick underbrush of the forest border.

It was tiny, weathered by years of harsh rain, and looked like the kind of sanctuary built by someone who wanted to remain unfound by the outside world.

My mother stepped up to the creaky wooden door without hesitation and knocked three distinct times.

Quiet footsteps rustled from inside the cabin before the heavy latch clicked open.

A woman stepped into the doorway, her long blonde hair falling over her shoulders in loose waves.

Her bright green eyes instantly lit up with deep warmth as they landed on my mother, and a soft smile spread across her face.

"Long time no see, my dearest friend," she said warmly, her voice light and welcoming.

"Same here," my mother replied, a genuine smile breaking through her heavy expression.

They stepped into a tight embrace, hugging each other like old sisters reunited after years apart.

I stood a few paces back on the dirt path, leaning my shoulder against a mossy tree trunk as I watched the greeting.

To me, the entire display felt utterly boring and a complete waste of precious daylight.

I couldn’t understand why they were wasting time hugging on a doorstep when a war was looming over our heads.

The woman pulled back from the hug, her sharp green eyes shifting past my mother to land directly on my face.

A spark of sudden recognition flickered in her gaze.

"I remember you," she said softly.

"Great," I replied, my voice coming out flat and devoid of warmth. "Can we actually go inside now?"

She tilted her head to the side, looking at me with an amused smirk touching her lips.

"Whose terrible temper did you inherit? It definitely does not belong to your mother."

She stepped aside, clearing the narrow entranceway to let us pass. We filed through the doorway one by one.

The inside of the cottage was just as small as the exterior suggested, but a strange, comforting heat filled the air.

Dozens of tall candles lined the wooden shelves, their flickering flames casting dancing yellow light across bundles of dried herbs hanging from the low ceiling beams.

Right in the middle of the room sat a round wooden table, and resting atop a black velvet cloth was a large, polished crystal ball.

The woman motioned toward a couple of simple wooden chairs lining the wall. We took our seats while she pulled up a stool directly across from us.

"So, what brings you to my humble home after all these years?" she asked, her tone shifting into genuine curiosity.

My mother let out a long, heavy breath, resting her hands flat on her lap.

"We have a situation on our hands," she said carefully, her eyes locked on her friend’s face.

"A massively huge one. We desperately need your help and your gifted eyes to see if there is any clue on how to deal with this issue."

The witch frowned, her relaxed posture stiffening slightly.

"What kind of situation are you speaking of?"

"It has to do with the Alpha King," my mother whispered softly.

The air in the room seemed to freeze instantly. The witch’s facial expression shifted, her bright eyes narrowing into sharp slits.

"What business could you possibly have with the Alpha King?" she asked, her voice dropping into a low, serious register.

My mother let out a tired sigh.

"It is a long and complicated story. But we need your vision. If you can help us look into the future to find a clue on how to get to him, we need it. Anything that can help us."

The witch slowly turned her gaze across the small group, scanning Silas, my mother, and finally settling on me.

"You do know that a man like him cannot be brought down easily, right?" she asked, her tone grave.

"We already know that," I snapped, my impatience bubbling over as I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

"Can you just get on with it? Do your crystal ball stuff and help us out."

My mother instantly snapped her head toward me, raising her hand in a sharp gesture.

"Silence, Rhydor!"

I exhaled loudly through my nose, clamping my jaw shut and forcing myself to stay quiet.

Frustration boiled inside my chest like hot water. Time was moving far too slowly, and every second we spent sitting in this tiny room was another second I was away from the pack house, failing to guard Azura’s body in the underground chamber.

I needed a real, concrete solution to keep her safe, not an afternoon tea session.

The blonde woman looked at me, slowly shaking her head as if she couldn’t comprehend how an Alpha could possess such a short fuse.

She pushed herself up from her stool and stepped over to the round table, standing directly before the crystal ball.

My mother stood up as well, taking a position near her friend’s side to watch.

"Here goes nothing," the witch murmured.

She lifted her hands, hovering her palms just a few inches above the glass sphere, and began to chant in a low, foreign language.

Her slender fingers moved in slow, rhythmic circles through the air above the surface.

I watched the ritual with a skeptical scowl. Deep down, I knew magic was real and that her sight had guided my pack in the past, but in this moment of crisis, watching her wave her hands around felt like a massive waste of time.

Then the air inside the closed hut violently shifted.

Without warning, a sudden, powerful gust of wind blew out from the center of the room. It did not come from an open window or a crack in the door.

The breeze erupted directly from the crystal ball itself, howling around the small room with impossible force.

The flames on the dozens of candles stretched long and bright without blowing out.

Loose sheets of parchment paper, dried herbs hanging from the ceiling beams, and small wooden bowls lifted straight off the furniture, floating silently in midair around us as if gravity had ceased to exist.

Silas braced his boots against the floorboards, his eyes wide as he held onto his chair, while my mother stood firm against the supernatural pressure.

The witch’s body went completely rigid.

Her head snapped upward toward the ceiling rafters, and her green irises rolled back until her eyes turned entirely white.

Her hovering hands froze mid-circle, locking into place above the glowing glass.

When she spoke, her normal, warm voice was completely gone, replaced by a hollow, distant echo that rattled the wooden walls of the cabin.

"No blade forged by men will pierce his heart..." she chanted, her unnatural voice vibrating through my chest.

"...nor will the roar of any King break his throne..."

The floating objects in the room hovered higher, spinning in slow, hypnotic circles around her glowing form.

"The Alpha King shall only fall before a crown..." the strange voice echoed, filling every corner of the hut.

"...worn by a daughter of the moon... an Alpha born of soft flesh... carrying the strength of the long-lost ancestors."

The moment the final word left her mouth, the blinding light inside the glass snapped out.

The howling wind vanished instantly. Every piece of floating parchment, herbal bundle, and wooden bowl dropped dead out of the air, crashing onto the table and floorboards with a loud clatter.

I pushed myself up from my chair immediately, my mind racing as I tried to piece the words together.

The statement made absolutely no sense to me.

I glanced over at Silas, who looked just as lost and confused as I felt, running a hand through his hair with a deep frown.

However, when I looked at my mother, her face was entirely different. She wasn’t confused at all. She looked like someone who had just been handed a clear, undeniable truth.

The white faded from the witch’s eyes, her bright green pupils returning as she let out a harsh, breathless gasp.

Her knees buckled beneath her, and she stumbled backward, but my mother reacted instantly, stepping in to catch her by the arms before she could hit the floor.

"It is deadly..." the witch panted out, her voice raspy and weak as she leaned heavily against my mother.

"Are you truly sure you want to pursue this path?"

"You have given me exactly what I needed to hear," my mother said firmly, holding her friend steady.

"Thank you."

I stepped forward, throwing my hands up in sheer frustration.

"She did not say anything useful at all! She just stood there and spoke in useless riddles!"

My mother shot a sharp, warning glare over her shoulder, her eyes telling me to keep my mouth shut before I made things worse.

"We will be on our way now," my mother said softly to the weakened woman, helping her sit down on the stool.

"I wish to see you again soon, my friend."

The witch gave a tired nod, resting her hands on the table as we turned and stepped back out into the cool forest air.

The wooden door clicked shut behind us, and the moment we walked a few yards down the dirt path, I turned directly to face my mother, unable to contain my anger any longer.

"What was all of that back there, Mother?" I demanded, my voice rising.

"That woman did not give us a single solid answer! Why would you just thank her and walk away? That monster is actively trying to hunt down and take my mate’s body, and I need a real strategy, not poetry!"

My mother kept walking down the trail, her pace steady and calm.

"She gave us the exact clue we required."

"How?" I scoffed, throwing my hands out to my sides.

"Explain it to me, because it sounded like complete nonsense!"

She stopped walking, turned around on the path, and looked up at me with a completely flat, unimpressed expression.

"You are simply too dumb to understand," she said plainly.

A sharp scoff escaped my throat, a strange feeling of déjà vu washing over my chest.

My mind instantly flashed back years ago to a quiet riverbank, remembering a younger version of myself looking down at a little girl covered in mud, using that exact same word in that exact same harsh tone.

The memory hit me like a slap to the face, but I quickly shook it out of my head, refusing to dwell on the guilt.

"The message was extremely clear for anyone actually listening," my mother explained, her tone shifting into a serious, calculated explanation.

"The only person who possesses the ability to kill the Alpha King... the only warrior who will be capable of defeating him in this war... is a female Alpha."

She paused, letting the heavy words hang in the silent woods between us.

"And based on the vision she was granted," my mother continued, "this female Alpha is currently living amongst us right now."

Silas stared at her with wide, bewildered eyes, while I stood there feeling completely thrown off balance.

A female Alpha was an anomaly, something so rare it barely existed in pack history.

"If Azura were still alive today, I would have considered her to be the only person capable of standing against that man," my mother said, her voice softening with a touch of grief as she looked at me.

"That girl carried an immense, hidden power within her blood. But she is no longer with us."

She took a step closer to me, her eyes locking onto mine with an unyielding, commanding intensity.

"Which leaves us with a very specific reality," she said firmly.

"We need to search for and find this female Alpha. She is living right under our noses within the Crescent Moon Pack. She is our only hope to slay the Alpha King and erase his dark mark from history once and for all."