Chapter 318 The Hunter

Chapter 318: Chapter 318 The Hunter

Talia’s POV

The name hung in the air between us, heavy and dark.

"Malachai," I repeated, and I felt the anger burning in my chest.

The name felt like poison on my tongue, and I wanted to spit it out.

I had heard the name before, whispered in the shadows of my nightmares, and spoken in the warnings of the old stories. But hearing it from my mother’s lips, and seeing the fear in her eyes as she said it, made it real in a way that nothing else ever could. This was not just a name, it was a monster, and it had been hunting my family for thirty years.

I wanted to erase Malachai’s name from existence, to make it so that he had never existed, and so that he had never hurt my mother, and so that he had never destroyed Luminara. But I could not. He was real, and he was out there, and he was still hunting us.

"He is the one who took you from me," I said, and my voice was thick with emotion. "He is the one who destroyed Luminara."

My mother nodded, and I saw the grief in her tired eyes. "Yes, Talia. He is the one."

I looked at her, and I felt the questions rising in my chest. "But who is he? Is he a wolf? One of the dark wolves the library books spoke of? Or is he something else?"

My mother was quiet for a long moment, and I watched her face as she searched for the words. I could see the fear flickering in her eyes, the same fear that I now realized had been haunting her for thirty years.

"Malachai is not a wolf, Talia," she finally said, and her voice was barely a whisper. "He is something older, and something darker."

I watched my mother’s face, and I saw the years of fear etched into her features. She had been running from him for thirty years, and she had been hiding from him for thirty years, and she had been surviving him and his Silver dungeon for fifteen years. And now, she was finally free, but she was still afraid.

I felt the cold seeping into my chest. "What do you mean?"

She shook her head, and I saw the tears streaming down her face. "I do not know exactly what he is, Talia."

I reached for her hand, and I felt it trembling in mine, and she was shaking.

I could feel her terror radiating through her skin, the way her body still remembered the cage, the silver, and the darkness that had consumed her for fifteen years. Even now, sitting beside me in the warmth of the fire, she was still trapped in that moment, still running from a monster that had already been defeated. And I knew that true freedom would take more than just breaking the bars.

I realized that even though she was free, and even though she was sitting beside me in the safety of the forest, the memory of Malachai still had power over her. And I hated him for that.

She let out a slow breath. "But I know what he wants," she continued. "He wants to destroy all Silvertongues, Talia."

She looked at me. "Malachai does not just want to kill us, Talia," my mother said, and her voice was raw with grief. "He wants to erase us from existence. He wants to make it so that no one remembers us, so that our magic dies with us, and so that we become nothing more than a forgotten whisper in the wind. He wants to wipe our bloodline from the face of the ground."

She shook her head slowly. "He wants to take down every single one of us, and he has been trying to do it for thirty years."

I looked at my mother, and I felt the fear and anger mixing in my chest. "Why? Why does he want to destroy us?"

She looked at me, and I saw the pain in her eyes. "Because our magic is the only thing that can stop him, Talia. The Silvertongue magic is the one power he cannot control. And it is the one true power that can defeat him."

I stared at her, and I felt the weight of her words pressing down on me. "Our magic can stop him?"

She nodded. "That is why he has been hunting us for so long. That is why he burned Luminara and scattered our people. He is afraid of what we can do, and he wants to make sure we never have the chance to do it."

I looked at her, and I felt the determination settling in my chest. "Then we will prove him wrong. We will use our magic, and we will stop him."

She looked at me, and I saw the hope flickering in her tired eyes. "I know we will, Talia. I know we will."

I squeezed her hand, and I looked at the fire. The flames were dancing, and I watched them flicker and glow.

Malachai was not a wolf. He was something older, and something darker. And he wanted to destroy us all.

But I would not let him.

I would protect my mother, and I would protect my pack.

I would protect every Silvertongue who was still out there, hiding and running and surviving just like my mother had.

I thought about all the Silvertongues who were still out there, scattered across the land, hiding in shadows and running from a hunter who would never stop chasing them. I thought about the children who had never known their own magic, the elders who had lost everything, and the families who had been torn apart. And I made a silent promise to every single one of them.

I would find them, I would bring them home, and I would make sure that no one ever had to be afraid of Malachai again.

I would give them a home, and I would give them safety, and I would give them hope. Because that was what my mother had given me, and that was what I was going to give to others.

And I would protect the Silvertongue magic, no matter what it took.