Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 441: Ava: A Familiar Place

White nothingness stretches in every direction. No up, no down, no sense of space or time. My last memory places me on the couch in my cabin, exhaustion finally claiming me after what feels like days with minimal sleep.

Yet here I float, in a familiar void.

A memory teases at the edges of my consciousness—a similar sensation of falling without movement, of existing without breath or body.

"Why does this feel so familiar?" The words disappear into the silence, no air to carry them. Yet somehow I know I've spoken them.

Because I've been here before. In another time, another dream. I just can't remember—

But suddenly, the white is no more, and I blink my eyes against bright sunlight. Warm air surrounds me, my body baking beneath the warm layers of winter.

Jagged cliffs rise around me, familiar yet different. Last time, clouds dotted an impossibly blue sky. Now it stretches endless and clear, like someone wiped away every imperfection.

I remember this place now. The pond with its gorgeous, clear aqua water. The strange sensation of magic in the air, something now familiar to me. It's a placed not only imbued in mana, but created from it.

This is where I met the Moon Goddess, so long ago.

"Selena?" My voice echoes in this gorgeous vale, but no answer comes.

The crystalline pond draws me forward, its surface a perfect mirror. Magic pulses beneath my skin, stronger than before, reaching toward something in this place.

"Hello?"

Still nothing.

The water reflects my face, but something's wrong. No glow emanates from my form like last time. No ethereal light dances across the surface. Just... me. Regular, exhausted Ava Grey staring back.

in the air, making my skin prickle with recognition.

through the cool water. The ripples distort my reflection—but it remains just a normal, tired face staring back. No magical

makes no sense. I've grown stronger. I've

stood in this place, my magic blazed like wildfire in the water's surface. Selena was beside me then; perhaps her presence is

This place is a reflection of my inner self. Also, the world needed its

world is thriving," I murmur, remembering how dismissive she

be how humans perceive

silence weighs heavy without Selene or Grimoire to debate these riddles. No snarky comments from my magical companion,

palm flat against the water's surface. "I wish you two were

A soft voice breaks through my reverie, making me

different. Her form wavers like heat rising from

been purifying—is that what you meant by the world being in drought? Does this place have anything to

cutting me

"But—"

Ava Grey. You are not the only

she goes in a direction so different—I vaguely recall something

made friends

like a candle in wind. "The path ahead is dark, but you won't walk it in

fading form. "Wait! Please! I need to know more!" I reach for her, but my fingers pass

the vale dissolves into white nothingness, Selena

I roll off the couch, slamming into the

eyes snap open to the familiar ceiling of my cabin, the floor hard

"Lucas…?"

Grimoire pops into my head, sounding concerned.