Chapter 196: Little Hybrid

"Oh goddess," Alyssa whispered, her voice trembling as panic surged through her chest. "This can’t be real... this isn’t real..."

She repeated the words over and over, willing herself to believe it. She squeezed her eyes shut, praying with everything in her that when she opened them, she would be back under the fluorescent lights of the Academy restroom.

But nothing changed. She remained trapped in the cave, swallowed by towering stone and thick darkness. Her terror spiked, her chest heaving as her breath came in rapid, shallow gasps.

She reached out blindly, searching for a handhold, a wall, anything to anchor herself. But her fingers brushed through damp, empty air, grasping at nothing.

"ZED!" she screamed into the abyss, desperately hoping this nightmare was just in her head and that she was still safe in the restroom with Zed waiting in the hallway.

The only response she got was the eerie, hollow echo of her own voice bouncing off the cave walls. She screamed for Zed until her throat burned raw, but got no response.

Tears spilled over as realization dawned on her. This wasn’t a vision. It was real. Fucking real. She was trapped in a strange, unknown place she had somehow been transported to.

She knew she couldn’t simply stand motionless in the dark. It was dangerous. Unknown threats could be lurking in the shadows, and her screams had likely announced her presence to whatever lived here.

Wiping her tears away, she forced a deep breath into her lungs to steady her nerves. If she had somehow entered this place, there had to be a way out. She just had to find it.

She began to move, extending her hands in front of her to ward off unseen obstacles. She had no sense of direction, no way of knowing if she was walking in a straight line or treading in circles. But remaining still was death. She had to keep moving.

She lost track of how long she walked, or how much time passed. Her feet were beginning to hurt, aching against the hard ground, and a cold dread settled into her stomach as she wondered if she would remain trapped in this abyss forever.

Suddenly, an eerie laughter echoed through the cave.

Alyssa froze, her heart leaping with horror. She whirled around, straining her eyes against the darkness, but it was useless. She couldn’t see past her own hands.

The laughter echoed across the cave again–low, deep, and grating, sending a wave of terror straight down her spine.

"Who’s there?" she called out shakily. "Who are you?"

She held her breath, straining to catch the faint sound of movement. Then, something cold brushed past her ear.

She shrieked, whipping her arms out to ward off whatever it was. The laughter came a third time, and through the terror paralyzing her body, a tiny spark of defiance flared in her chest.

"Who are you?" she demanded, forcing a hostile edge into her tone. "Why did you bring me here?"

To her shock, a voice echoed out of the shadows. "I didn’t bring you here, Little Hybrid. You came to me on your own."

Alyssa took an instinctive step back. The owner of the voice seemed to be standing directly before her, mere inches beyond her sight. The inability to see him made his presence ten times more terrifying.

"Show yourself," she ordered, trying to keep her posture firm. "Now."

Once again, the grating laughter rattled around the cave, pounding against the inside of Alyssa’s skull. In the next breath, light exploded everywhere.

Flames erupted along the cave walls as dozens of torches ignited at once, illuminating the interior and casting long shadows across the rocks.

Blinded by the sudden glare, Alyssa threw a hand over her eyes, waiting until her vision adjusted to the firelight.

When she finally lowered her arm and looked up, the blood drained completely from her face. Standing before her was the same dark entity that had appeared to her in Ashgard–the same one that had haunted her dreams for months.

"You?" she whispered, her voice failing her.

The entity grinned, revealing rows of sharp, jagged teeth. His blood-red eyes gleamed with pure malice as they locked onto her frail form.

"You remember me," he rasped.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?"

"So many questions," the entity chuckled low, hovering effortlessly across the floor as he began to circle her like prey. "Who am I? You can call me Ozai."

The name struck her hard, even though she already knew it was him. She remembered Wren’s desperate warning: Ozai knows you exist...

Whoever this creature was, he was dangerous, and powerful. She could feel it.

"What do you want with me?" she demanded again, turning as he circled. "Why have you been invading my dreams?"

"How else could I reach you except through your dreams?" Ozai grinned viciously. "As for what I want with you... that is a discussion for another time."

"Who are you, really? Why did you bring me here? Is this another nightmare?"

"I didn’t bring you here, Little Hybrid," Ozai replied, gliding closer until the chill of his form touched her skin. "You came to me. Your powers–that fresh, untainted magic surging inside you–drew you directly to my domain."

He reached out a withered hand toward her face, and Alyssa caught sight of the blackened, deformed finger where his flesh had melted when he touched her months ago. This time, he hesitated.

His hand hovered over her cheek before slowly pulling back. "You and I are bound, Little Hybrid. We are far more alike than you know."

"We are nothing alike!" Alyssa snapped, her eyes flashing. "You’re a monster."

"And you’re not?" Ozai taunted, his grin instantly vanishing into a cruel scowl. "We are all monsters, Little Hybrid. Every last one of us. It’s the reason your pathetic Lycan husband hesitates to tell the world what you truly are."

"You don’t know anything!" Alyssa yelled back, her hands trembling violently.

"Don’t I? Ask your mother why she is so hellbent on keeping you hidden. Why she goes to such extreme lengths to keep you from me."

A dozen questions rushed to Alyssa’s lips, but the weight of his words made her head spin violently.

"Why are you hunting me?" she whispered. "I don’t have anything you want."

"That is where you are wrong," Ozai countered, the sickening grin slitting his features once more. "You possess everything I require. That ancient power churning in your veins. That fresh, untouched blood..."

In a blink, his form vanished, only to. reappear beside her, his face hovering mere inches from her ear.

"And I will claim that power," he growled. "It belongs to me. You stole it from me."

"I didn’t steal anything..."

"YOU STOLE WHAT WAS MEANT FOR ME!" Ozai roared, the force of his voice causing the entire cave to tremble. Loose debris fell from the ceiling as his red eyes burned like hot coals. "Why do you think you are standing here? Why do you think my spirit invades your dreams? The power within you hungers for its source; it is drawn to me because it is mine! And I will have it, even if I have to kill you to get it!"

Alyssa gasped as Ozai’s form began to contort. The shadowy figure dissolved into a nightmare of elongated claws, jagged bone, and towering skeletal structures–a terrifying creature of darkness and decay.

He raised a massive hand toward her, and an invisible force violently lifted her off the floor.

Panic choked off her airway, wrapping tightly around her throat like an iron band. She couldn’t fight. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t even twitch a finger as she hung suspended in the air.

"Once your blood sets me free," Ozai hissed, his monstrous face exhaling a thick plume of black smoke, "I will come for you in the flesh. And I will burn down every soul that dares to stand between us!"

Alyssa’s vision began to blur out. Air refused to enter her lungs, the crushing invisible grip tightening until her chest was on the verge of collapsing. Her eyes rolled back, dark spots multiplying across her vision.

Just as her consciousness began to slip away, a familiar ancient fire ignited within her.

Power erupted through her veins, snapping the paralysis. The whites of her eyes burned into a brilliant, fiery red as the invisible hands gripping her throat suddenly loosened.

Her body floated higher, her hair fanning out around her as if caught in an unseen wind. She lifted her hand and pointed a finger at Ozai.

Ozai suddenly let out a piercing scream. In the next instant, his body shattered into a mass of black blood and thick smoke.

...

Out in the hallway, Zed kept checking his watch as the minutes dragged on. When fifteen minutes passed without any sign of his Luna stepping out, a cold prickle of alarm set in.

He knew what Dorian would do to him if anything happened to Alyssa on his watch, and he wasn’t about to wait and find out.

He strode towards the restroom, approaching the door and knocking firmly against it. "Luna? Luna, are you alright in there?"

Silence.

Knowing something was terribly wrong and abandoning all protocol, he shoved the door open and rushed inside.

And froze on the spot.

Alyssa was lying collapsed on the cold tile floor, her limbs locked rigid, her entire body violently convulsing from a seizure.