Luna Aurora (Alpha Fenrir)

Chapter 336

Elyra stood at the edge of the clearing, the soft wind ruffling her hair, her heart racing with a mixture of anticipation and fear. She hadn't seen Dain in weeks, their paths diverging more with every passing day. She had hoped that this meeting-on neutral ground-would be the chance to speak, to reach him, to somehow pull him back from the edge. But deep down, she feared it might be the beginning of something far darker.

The moonlight bathed the clearing in an ethereal glow, casting long shadows between the trees. Elyra took a deep breath, clutching the shard in her hand. She could feel its power pulsing, as if sensing the confrontation ahead. She had hoped the shard could help her- guide her through the rift growing between them. But she wasn't sure it could.

Dain appeared through the shadows, his figure emerging with an almost predatory grace. His eyes, once so full of warmth and light, now glowed with an unnatural darkness, the light of the moon seeming to have little effect on his presence. Elyra's heart ached at the sight of him, but she steeled herself. She couldn't let her emotions control her now.

"Elyra," Dain's voice was low, almost a growl, as he came to a stop in front of her. His gaze flicked to the shard in her hand. "Still clinging to that, are you? The light... does it make you feel safe?" There was a bitterness in his words that stung.

Elyra lifted her chin, refusing to let his words affect her. "I'm not afraid of the light, Dain," she said softly, though the words felt like a lie. "I'm afraid of what happens when you give in to the darkness."

He laughed, a harsh, bitter sound that made her skin prickle. "The darkness is my strength, Elyra. You just don't understand it." He took a step closer, his eyes narrowing. "You think you're better than me because you follow the light. You're just too afraid to seize what's yours."

slap, and for a moment, she felt her confidence waver. She had never wanted to be better than him-she only wanted him to remember who he truly was, the person she had known before the shadows began to consume him. But what if Dain

still clenched tightly in her hand. "We can still fix this. You don't have to embrace the shadow.

moment, he was silent, his gaze flicking to the shard in her hand. The tension between them crackled, a fragile silence hanging in the air like the calm before a storm. Then, without warning,

almost mocking. "I don't need to be saved, Elyra. I don't need

he raised his hand, and the ground beneath her feet began to crack. Black tendrils of shadow shot up from the earth, reaching for her, dark and

made your choice," Dain's voice was almost a whisper, but

magic, streaking toward her with the force of a storm. Elyra's breath caught in her throat as she tried to block the oncoming assault, raising the shard higher. Its light flickered, struggling to keep the shadows at bay. She could feel her connection to the shard weakening

seeping into her voice. "This isn't you! You're letting

rage and something darker-something that terrified her. She couldn't stop him. She wasn't strong enough. The shadows were suffocating her,

her hand clutching the shard as if her life depended on it. The

him, to break through the darkness that clouded his mind. But all she could do was retreat, stumbling backward,

shadows coalescing into a single burst of dark energy that tore through the air. The force of the attack was so powerful, Elyra was thrown backward, slamming into the ground with a harsh thud. The shard slipped from