CHAPTER 92: LIRA’S FREEDOM

Athena

The silver glow illuminating from her skin had faded. But the hum from the ancient power was still there but much quieter.

Everywhere had gone still after the battle between her and the king had ended. Seeing him lying beneath her feet, groaning, broken but alive, made her feel nothing.

Whatever happens to him from now was none of her business as she had other bigger enemies to conquer.

Caelum, the god that had started all these in the first place.

Thinking about him was enough to change her mood disturbing the peaceful state that it had settled on.

Athena stood alone on the cliff watching the sky, and breathing in the chill air of the evening breeze.

Her mind was still fragile, trying not to fall apart after all the revelations that she had been exposed to in a short period of time.

She, Athena was not just an ordinary wolf but The Moon Goddess. Her mind droft d to Lucas and how he had betrayed her trust in a desperate move to save Lira.

And Lira who was currently stuck in a magical loop in her own mind.

Footsteps echo behind her. Slow. Careful. She knew who it was, not bothering to turn.

Lucas stepped out from the shadows, his countenance filled with a mix of shame and guilt.

He stopped a few paces away, his face pale, lips parted battling with words that couldn’t find their way out.

"I’m sorry, Athena."

"Please don’t. Don’t Lucas." Saying his name hurt her throat, like a shard of glass had cut through it.

She should hate him. He almost destroyed everything. But she couldn’t do or say anything because Lira was also her friend even though their friendship was still fresh.

Turning to face him, she saw that his hands were clenched at his sides. And she despised the glint of softness in his eyes that she glimpsed when she finally looked at him. A softness that both comforted and infuriated her.

"Lira," She raised her hand silencing him. She knew he wanted to speak out so badly, to explain and beg for forgiveness. But she wasn’t ready to hear what she already suspected. But she was ready to save Lira.

"Later." She whispered, though the word felt heavy, like it might collapse under the weight of everything they had left unsaid. "We free her now."

Lucas nodded in agreement. No resistance. No protest. Just a quiet surrender.

We walked in through the grand corridor in silence, past stained glass windows depicting the legends of kings and gods, the past pressing down on us from every angle. My power thrummed inside me like a caged animal, waiting for my command.

The crystalline chamber glows ahead, its walls shimmering like morning frost, the air thick with magic so old it tastes like starlight on my tongue. I step in first. The room hummed in welcome, or warning, I can’t tell.

And then I saw Lira.

There she was, sitting in the center of the room, dressed in flowing white, her hair tumbling down her shoulders like dark silk. Her smile was faint, distant and empty. Her eyes were glazed, unfocused, staring somewhere I can’t follow. She was so still, so serene, like she was asleep but dreaming something too beautiful to wake up.

My chest tightened. I have fought with the king and defeated him. And now I have to pull her out of this whether she wants to come back or not.

Lucas stands beside me, his voice a thin thread.

"I never wanted this." His eyes stay on Lira, as if he was afraid that she would disappear the moment he takes his eyes off her if he looks at me.

"You need to know, I didn’t do it to trap her. I made the bargain to save her. I had no choice."

I wait. I’ve always known there was more. I let him speak.

"She’s my sister. By blood." His voice cracks, like the truth is too sharp to hold. "When we were children, there was an attack. She was going to die. I, " He swallows hard, like the memory choked him when he tried to remember the past. I’m

"I made the deal to keep her alive. He told me binding her would protect her. But I didn’t know what he would take from her. I didn’t know they’d steal her memories, her freedom."

I closed my eyes, letting the weight of his words sink in. Everything clicked. It made sense now, the desperation, the lies, the way he clung to her like she was his tether to the world.

"There’s another way," I whispered. I opened my eyes and let him see the glow that simmered beneath my skin, the silver power of the Moon Goddess flickering around my fingertips.

"But it will hurt. It will break her before it frees her."

"Do it." He shuddered like it pained him to say it.

I walk to Lira, each step measured, my heart beating so loudly it threatened to drown out the magic humming in the room. I knelt in front of her and gently cupped her face in my hand.

Her skin was warm. Too warm and the spell was thick, woven around her like a vine wrapped round a tree.

"Lira," I whispered, my thumb brushed her temple ready to plunge into her consciousness.

"I’m coming. I’m going to find you."

The world around me begins to dissolve, pulling me inward, into her mind, into the threads that have bound her here for so long.

The garden is impossibly beautiful. Sunlight filters through trees with leaves of gold and silver. Flowers bloom in impossible colors. It felt perfect and felt wrong at the same time.

Lira stands among the blossoms, her white dress trailing behind her. She’s turning in slow circles, searching, calling out.

"Father?" Her voice is soft, uncertain. "Where are you? Please, I want to see you."

The illusion pulses around her, alive and dangerous.

I step into the garden, the silver light blooming around me, disrupting the false perfection.

"Lira," I say gently. She turns, and for a heartbeat, her eyes are clear.

"Athena?" She blinks, confused. "What are you doing here? Father’s waiting for me. He promised he’d take me home."

"No," I whisper, walking toward her. "He’s not real. This place isn’t real."

She steps back, her eyes filling with panic. "No, you’re wrong. He’s here. I can feel him. He promised,"

"He lied." I hold out my hand, the moonlight floating around my palm like liquid silver.

"You don’t belong here. Come with me. Lucas is waiting for you." I stretched my hand to her.

The threads begin to reveal themselves, silver cords stretching from her heart to the edges of the illusion, tying her to the false world, to the bargain Lucas made, to the chains that have kept her trapped.

I take a deep breath and raise my hand. "This will hurt."

I sever the first thread.

In the physical world, Lira’s serene smile falls off, and a flicker of discomfort and pain replaces it.

The garden trembles, flowers wilting, sky fracturing apart. The second thread snaps under my touch, the sound sharp as breaking glass.

A faint tremor runs through her body in the physical world as the second thread is severed.

"No. Stop, please."

"I’m here," I whisper, tears blurring my vision. "Come back to me."

With every every thread that I cut, a jolt of agony shoots through Lira’s mind.

One of the thread resists, but I cut it, and the magic recoils violently, throwing me back. Lira collapses in the garden, sobbing, the walls of the illusion beginning to crack and fall.

Her voice is raw, broken.

"It hurts. it hurts so bad."

"I know," I whisper, crawling toward her, wrapping my arms around her trembling form.

"But you’re almost free."

One last thread. The thickest. The deepest. I summon every ounce of the Moon Goddess’s power, letting it burn through me, searing my bones.

I slice it.

And then, she screamed.

It was a guttural, piercing sound, echoing through the crystalline chamber, ripping through the quiet magic that had permeated the air. The illusion in her mind shattered, fragments of the idyllic garden exploding outward like glittering shards of glass.

In the physical world, a burst of raw magic erupted from Lira’s body, a chaotic, unchanneled force that sent ripples through the very air.

Lucas, who had been watching with bated breath, cried out her name, a desperate, anguished shout wrenched from his throat.

"Lira!" He lunged forward, thinking she was dying, his face a mask of terror and despair.

But I held firm, my hand still pressed to Lira’s forehead.

My own features was strained with the effort of channeling the immense power required. I pushed through everything, Lira’s internal screams, the outward explosion of magic, and focused on the last thread.

And then, with a final, resonant snap, the last thread severed.

Lira’s body convulsed once more, a violent shudder that racked her from head to toe. The garden self destructs as Lira screams one final time as the magic explodes outward, the force hurling me from her mind and slamming me back into my own body.

The chamber is a storm of light and sound. Lucas was on his knees, shouting her name over and over.

"Lira! Lira!"

Her eyes flutter open. She blinked, dazed, her breathing shallow.

Then, slowly, her eyes cleared. The glazed, dreamlike quality gradually receded, replaced by a sudden, sharp clarity.

Recognition flickered within them, a dawning horror, a wave of memories crashing down upon her. She remembered. Everything. The king, the bargain, the enchantment, the silent, terrifying years lost in a manufactured bliss.

The realization was too much.

"I remember," she whispers, tears streaming down her face.

Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed.

Lucas catches her before she hits the ground. He presses his forehead to hers, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.

Unconscious, she looked like a ghost in her white gown.

He gathered her limp form into his arms,cradling her like she’s the last precious thing he has left in the world. His face was buried in her hair and his shoulders heaving with ragged sobs.

"I didn’t know what else to do. I just wanted to save you." He choked out, his voice hoarse with pain and regret, tears streaming down his face.

"I’m sorry. I’m so sorry." His apologies were heartfelt, a litany of remorse whispered against her unconscious form, a desperate plea for forgiveness that hung heavy in the silence of the crystalline room.

I watch them, my chest hollow, my power fading like the last light of the moon.

I should say something. I should comfort him. But I don’t.

I simply kneel beside them, my hand resting lightly on Lira’s shoulder, anchoring her to the world she fought her way back to.

And I whispered, almost to myself, "You’re free now."

Even if none of us ever truly will be.