The Alpha’s Fated Outcast: Rise Of The Moonsinger

Chapter 343: Trials of echoes - past lives...

Lyla

The clearing facing the Northern Forest shone brightly under the Moonlight.

I'd gone to bed early after telling Ramsey I was tired and needed to rest. When I arrived, not just Circe but Nanny, Terra, and three priestesses I recognised from the Moon Temple were waiting.

They were all dressed in ceremonial gowns and formed a circle around a pattern of intricate symbols drawn in what looked like crushed rocks and herbs.

"You came," Nanny said with a frown. I know she wished I were anywhere but here. "I thought you might change your mind or couldn't convince Ramsey that you needed time alone tonight."

"Nanny," I sighed. "I need to do this, hmm? I'll be fine." I replied, approaching the circle cautiously.

Terra stepped forward, handing me a simple white shift. "Change into this. The trial requires you to be free of modern attachments."

I nodded, slipping behind a nearby tree to change. When I returned, Circe was arguing with Nanny in hushed tones.

"—perfectly safe if she maintains focus," Circe insisted.

"Nothing about this is safe," Nanny countered. "You know as well as I do that some people never return from the echoes."

They fell silent when they noticed me. Circe's expression shifted to something more ceremonial as she gestured for me to approach.

"Before you enter the circle," she said formally, "you should understand what awaits. The Trial of Echoes will show you the lives of previous Moonsingers, from the most recent back to Neriah herself. You'll experience their triumphs, failures, and most importantly, how they used their powers. Remember the death of a Moonsinger is also a rebirth of another Moonsinger, but 10,000 years passed before you were reborn."

"Will I just be watching?" I asked.

Terra shook her head. "You'll experience their lives as if they were your own. Their emotions, pain, and joy will all feel real to you."

"And the danger?" I pressed.

"Some people become lost in the echoes," one of the priestesses explained. They forget who they are and where they come from. They remain trapped in the past, and their bodies will become empty shells in the present."

"How do

Lyla, daughter of Miriam and Logan Woodland, mate of Ramsey Kincaid, mother of—" She caught herself,

"Your identity

my anchor," I nodded.

to enter the circle, but Circe held up her hand. "First,

chant in a language I didn't

present calls to blood of the past," Nanny translated quietly beside me. Memories sleeping in Moonlight await the wakening touch. The wisdom of ancestors flows through the vessel. Time becomes

blood will connect you to the bloodline of Moonsingers," she explained, offering me a

before cutting my palm and allowing several drops to enter the bowl. Circe mixed it with the iridescent liquid I'd seen earlier and added crushed herbs that sizzled upon

the circle, drink the mixture, and lie down

Nanny asked from beside me. "What will

babies?" I turned to Circe.

Circe sighed, "in the Veilwalk, you should only focus on yourself,

immediately. "You're asking me to forget

I hope she shows up

last fight and taught me how to fight off those vicious Ferals. I

spirits trained to feed on souls. If they think you're trying to protect someone other than yourself, they might notice the baby, but if you keep the focus on

inhaling deeply and pushing the worrying thoughts that had crept into the back of my mind.

sighed again.

Terra murmured. "Stop

again but didn't say anything as

the forest around us. A strange wind picked up,

last time, squeezing my hand before stepping

my feet, glowing faintly in the Moonlight. I

lie down," Circe instructed. "We will watch over your body until

the mixture in one gulp. It tasted bland—but something about the mixture seemed to tingle across my tongue and burned down my

the chanting, now seeming to come from inside my own head rather than

dissolved into