Chapter 45
Kayla lifted her head slowly.
The first thing she saw was Ana, standing quietly a few steps away and offering her her right hand.
For a moment, Kayla wasn’t sure if she was hallucinating. Her mind had already played cruel tricks on her since she entered this cursed place.
Voices that weren’t real, images that twisted the truth, emotions that didn’t belong to her.
But there Ana was, with the same lips that filled with words Kayla had seen a hundred times before.
“You received the warning not to look back when you entered the corridor, didn’t you?” Ana asked.
Kayla didn’t answer at first. She simply stared at the figure in front of her, unsure of what to believe.
She had heard a lot of unreal voices since she came to Lythos. In the mirror. In the corridor. She had seen things that shouldn’t have been possible.
Her body was still shaking from the near miss, from the voice that had mimicked Zayron so perfectly she had nearly lost her mind. So now, standing here and looking at Ana, Kayla didn’t trust her eyes.
She slowly pushed herself to her feet, never taking her eyes off the she-wolf that was standing in front of her. Her muscles ached, and her palms were scratched, but she didn’t feel any of it.
Her focus was on Ana.
"You are not real. Don't think for a second that I didn't know you are not real," Kayla finally said. Her voice was steady, but she didn’t move closer.
"I know what it took me to climb the Cliff of Orpheus. I know the price I paid to get here. Ana, I know can't get past all that."
Ana tilted her head. She didn’t look offended or confused. She looked like someone who understood the sentences before they were even said.
"Why are you staring at me like I’m some visible Vyrekin?" Ana asked with a slight smirk.
Kayla frowned. "Oh, I never asked for who you are. Why are you telling me?"
Ana laughed, the sound echoing a little too long, bouncing off the rocks and walls around them. But it wasn’t cruel.
It sounded like the real Ana, the one who often laughed when things got too serious.
“Kay, I'm not a Vyrekin! I'm real!” Ana said.
“Stop trying. I won't believe you,” Kayla said.
"I promise I’m real."
Kayla dusted off her palms, her eyes still locked on Ana’s face. "I don’t trust anything I see here anymore. Not after that corridor. I even saw Zayron. If I had believed what I saw, my mind would have been lost by now."
Ana’s smile faded slightly. She stepped closer, her tone gentler now. "Kay, I’m not here to confuse you. I’m not an illusion. I’m real.
Okay, let me tell you something only both of us know. Do you remember the day you saved the Supreme Mother? You told me to go to Zayron’s office and get the key to the Azure Moon ancestral vault.
You couldn’t risk him finding out who you are yet. I tore through that place for you. And I found the key. Don’t you remember?"
Kayla held up her hand, stopping her. "Don’t. Don’t try to convince me. I won’t believe you. Not here. Not until I leave this cursed cliff."
Ana didn’t argue further. She simply shrugged. "Fair enough. But am I at least allowed to follow you around? I won’t say a word if that helps."
Kayla hesitated, but then nodded. "You can follow me. Just don’t try to convince me to change my mind. I'm not leaving this place without meeting the alchemist."
With that, Kayla turned, and her eyes landed on an ancient gate just a few steps ahead. Her breath caught for a moment, and then she let out a slow, relieved sigh.
The gate was tall, carved from a dark metal that shimmered faintly under the muted sky.
Symbols were etched across its surface, symbols that pulsed gently with a reddish glow.
This was it. The entrance to the tower. Beyond this gate was the dreaded Alchemist of Lythos.
The one who lived between realms, untouched by time and unwelcome by the earth. The one they said was cursed by the moon herself.
Kayla walked forward, her heart pounding. She reached the gate and laid her hand on it.
The metal felt warm under her palm. A heartbeat later, a line of red light ran across the symbols.
A voice, low and ancient, spoke from the gate. "Blood must open what blood sealed."
Kayla stepped back, trying to understand what it meant. There was no handle, no keyhole. The symbols continued to glow faintly, pulsing like veins.
She looked at Ana, but the she-wolf said nothing, only watched her.
Taking a deep breath, Kayla bit the inside of her cheek and pressed her finger against one of the symbols. Nothing happened.
She remembered the phrase again. Blood must open what blood sealed.
Ana drew her dagger, the one she had kept hidden in her boot, and cut a small line across her palm. The pain was sharp but brief.
She stepped forward and pressed her bleeding hand against the center of the gate. The reaction was instant.
The gate flared with light. The red symbols turned gold for a moment, then returned to red.
The metal beneath her palm grew hot, and then the heat vanished just as quickly.
The door groaned. A sound like grinding stone and rattling chains filled the air.
Slowly, the gate began to open inward, revealing a dark hallway beyond.
Ana took a step back and wiped her palm on her sleeve. She glanced at Kayla, who was watching her every move.
Kayla didn’t speak again. She simply moved forward, walking through the Blood Gate and into the tower that held the answers she had risked everything to find.
As soon as Kayla stepped into the wide, dimly lit hall, a cold wind brushed across her face.
Her foot halted mid-step when a voice echoed through the walls, a voice she recognized too well.
“Welcome to the Hall of Bargain.”
Kayla’s heart skipped. The voice sounded like hers. Not similar, it was hers.
Calm, steady, but filled with something dark underneath. She stood still, trying to make sense of it.
Ana, who walked in right after her, looked around and blinked. “What’s the matter? Why did you stop?”
Kayla looked at her carefully, unsure if she even heard it. “Did you hear anything just now?”
Ana shook her head. “Nothing. But there.” She pointed ahead at a staircase carved into the dark stone. “That way. It’s the only path forward.”
Kayla frowned and turned back to the hall. “Are you sure?” she asked. “You said that like you’ve been here before.”
Ana shrugged. “No. I’m just saying there’s no other way here. Look around, Kayla.”
But Kayla was not seeing one staircase. She was seeing three.
Three old staircases, each curved and cracked, each leading upward but not quite in the same direction.
And standing on each one was a pregnant she-wolf. All three looked like her.
Not just similar in face, but exact replicas. Each held a different expression, and each one stared down at her like they had been waiting.
The one on the left had tired eyes and held her swollen belly protectively. She looked like she had given up everything and settled for a quiet life.
“You don’t have to do this,” she said, her voice calm and soft. “Go back home. You’ve done enough. You’ve proven yourself. You don’t owe anyone anything, not Zayron, not this child. You could live free.”
The second one stood in the middle. She looked fiercer. Her arms were crossed, and her tone was cold.
“Give up the child,” she said. “That’s what the Alchemist wants, isn’t it? What’s more valuable than the blood of the unborn heir of a powerful Alpha?
You want to save Zayron? Then make the deal. Sacrifice the pup. It’s a small price to pay to save the one you love.”
The last one, standing to the far right, smiled as though she already knew what Kayla would do.
“Forget everything,” she said. “Forget Zayron. Forget the packs. Forget the past. You don’t need any of them.
You could leave now, start again. There are other places, other lives waiting for you. You don’t have to bleed for a world that has done nothing but hurt you.”
Kayla stared at the three of them. Her throat tightened. They looked so real.
They looked like possibilities. One promising peace, the other love, and the last freedom.
“What are you doing?” Ana asked suddenly. Her voice snapped Kayla out of her thoughts. “Why are you staring at the hall like that? There is only one staircase here. Let's move forward!”
“You mean you don’t see the staircases?” Kayla asked without looking at Ana.
“See what?”
Kayla finally looked at Ana. “Three of me. On three staircases. Each telling me what they think I should do.”
Ana’s face dropped. She slowly stepped back and said, “Kayla, I think your mind is playing with you.”
“No,” Kayla said sharply. “This is part of the test. This whole cursed place gets in your head.”
Ana sighed and folded her arms. “Then listen to me. Don’t talk to them. Don’t argue with them. You’re not well if you let your mind drag you into this.”
But Kayla was already stepping forward, her eyes locked on the versions of herself.
“I’m not going back,” she said clearly.
The peaceful version of her smiled sadly. “Then you’re walking into suffering. You’ll lose yourself and your pup. You’ve already given too much.”
Kayla stepped past her. “If I go back now, I’ll lose. If Zayron is gone already, returning won’t save him. But if he’s alive, then this path is the only chance.”
The fierce one narrowed her eyes. “So you’re willing to let your pup bleed to death? To give up your child’s safety? What kind of mother does that?”
“I never said I’ll give up my child! I never said I'll watch my pup bleed to death,” Kayla snapped.
“The Alchemist wants blood!” a voice said.
“If blood is what the Alchemist needs, then she can take mine! Not my pup’s.”
“And if yours is not enough?” the third one asked softly. “If you bleed and still lose everything including your pup?”
Kayla paused and breathed deeply. “Then at least I’ll know I did not run away. I will not let fear write my story.”
The three figures started fading. The voices blended into the cold air.
But Kayla stood still, waiting for them to disappear entirely.
Behind her, Ana had gone quiet. She watched her with an expression Kayla couldn’t read.
After a while, Kayla wiped her face with her sleeve. Her cheeks were warm. Whether from tears or heat, she didn’t know.
Her hands trembled a little, but her legs remained firm.
Ana moved beside her again. “Are you done?”
Kayla didn’t answer at once. She looked at the staircases. Only one remained now. The others had vanished like smoke.
“I’m tired,” Kayla said at last.
Ana nodded slowly and pointed again. “That’s the only staircase here. Let's keep moving.”
Kayla stared at it, her eyes dull. She felt like something inside her had burned out.
Her body ached, her mind was worn thin, and her heart felt like it had been split and sewn back together too many times.
“I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore,” she muttered.
“But you’ve come this far,” Ana said, more gently now. “You knew this journey wasn’t going to be easy.”
“I knew,” Kayla replied. “But knowing doesn’t prepare you for standing in front of yourself and seeing the parts of you that want to quit.”
Ana didn’t reply. She waited beside her quietly.
Kayla finally exhaled. The air around her felt heavy, like the walls were watching.
Her steps were slow, but she moved. One foot forward, then another. She placed her palm on her belly as though reminding herself why she was still walking.
As soon as Kayla placed her right foot on the first stair, something clicked in her mind.
She froze.
Ana, who had started following behind her, frowned. “What is it again?”
Kayla didn’t look at her. Her eyes slowly scanned the hall again. “This place, it’s called the Hall of Bargain, right?”
Ana looked around, confused at first. Then her eyes landed on something carved into the stone wall at the far end. She walked closer, squinted, and pointed at it.
“You’re right. It’s written here. ‘The Hall of Bargain.’ Why do you ask?”
Kayla stepped back from the stair slowly. Her hand rested on her belly as her thoughts rushed.
“It just hit me,” she said. “The Alchemist, she’s not going to ask for my blood.”
Ana turned back to her. “Then what do you think she is going to ask?”
Kayla’s voice dropped, almost like she was afraid to say it out loud. “The blood of my pup. That’s the bargain.
That’s the real price. That’s what she’ll demand in exchange for saving Zayron.”
Ana’s eyes widened, her whole face tightening in shock. “No. No, that can’t be it. How can she ask for something like that?”
Ana stepped closer. “Then what do we do now?”
Kayla took her leg down from the step and turned away from the staircase.
“I’m going back home,” she said.
Ana blinked. “What?”