Fauna's pov
I don't know when it started.
First, the dreams came.
Stones…
Symbols whose meanings I didn't know…
Words spoken in languages I had never learned.
They weren't the kind of dreams that faded after waking. They stayed with me, clinging to my thoughts. Then the voices began. Whispers from the forest, from the wind, even from the stones themselves. Sometimes meaningless. Sometimes terrifyingly clear.
The first time I touched the papers the witches believed no one like us could ever understand, something strange happened. It wasn't like I was learning a foreign language—it felt like remembering something I had always known. The symbols aligned. The words made sense.
Hybrid…
No.
I wasn't a hybrid.
My mother and father were not witches. I knew that much. A witch terrified of witches would have been laughable.
When I was younger, I told them about the dreams. About the voices. But their fear ran too deep. They never took me seriously. Eventually, their fear became mine. And I stopped talking.
Until the day my father came home from the arena with a shattered arm and broken ribs.
I was ten.
I couldn't endure it. I touched him. I felt something inside me flow into him. Then I pretended nothing had happened. I slept. I acted as if I hadn't noticed him healing.
At first, they were shocked. Then they blamed it on Lunaire—my wolf. They called it "wolf regeneration."
But the truth was simpler.
Without me, my father would have long since bled into the sands of that arena.
⸻
The Night Before Soren Fought the Witch
The dreams returned.
Hy-brid…
Hy-brid…
Death is very close…
The voices were accompanied by vile symbols. Sacrificed animals. Blood.
When I woke, I was drenched in sweat.
Lunaire stared at me, frightened.
"Fauna… what was that?"
"I don't know," I said. And I meant it.
I was just as terrified.
In the kitchen, my father was preparing his gear.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"The arena. There's a match today."
"You're not fully healed."
"The Arena Master summoned me personally," he said. "I don't want to anger him."
"I'm coming with you. I told you before."
The last time I mentioned the stones and Lunaire's whispers, fear had deepened in his eyes. He had erased the idea of taking me anywhere near the arena.
"No," he said sharply. "I don't even want to imagine you near that cursed place."
He left.
I turned to my mother, Selene.
"You know I have to go," I said. "You know something has been happening to me."
She looked helpless. But she also knew this—her daughter, with things she couldn't understand, was the reason the man she loved was still alive.
"Go," she whispered.
⸻
I prepared quickly and followed my father.
Guiding the wind was easy. Hiding my presence was even easier.
I slipped into the arena through the dark tunnels meant for warriors. There weren't even guards. The witches' arrogance convinced them no one would dare trespass.
But the moment I stepped inside, the stones screamed.
They were frantic. Maddened.
The voices returned in my mind.
Hide, hybrid…
Don't forget what we taught you…
I hadn't forgotten. I didn't know if these voices were good or evil, but so far, they hadn't harmed me. I had crafted a magical necklace to keep the witches from sensing me. I hesitated before making it—but I did it anyway.
The moment the match began, I knew this wasn't a fight.
A flying witch.
Obsidian armor.
A magical whip.
And three chained wolves.
This wasn't combat.
It was slaughter.
The first scream didn't come from the stands.
It came from the stones.
One wolf fell.
Then another.
Then another.
With every death, I heard the trapped souls within the arena cry out in agony.
Rage formed a knot in my throat. The crowd's cheers made my head spin.
Then I saw him.
My father.
Hybridd… death is very close…
He didn't want to fight. I could see it. But when that soulless bastard threatened him with us, I saw it—the desperate lunge in my father's eyes. My chest tightened in pain.
The whip grazed his leg.
He fell.
And the crowd roared:
"KILL HIM!"
My blood burned. Lunaire and I—every part of us—wanted to tear the arena apart until not a single stone remained. A sound ripped from my throat, something no human should make, and I pressed my hands against the arena wall.
Suddenly, blinding darkness swallowed everything.
Did I do this?
Then the voices rose again. Familiar.
"Thank you, hybrid…"
"Thank you, Fauna…"
"You have freed us…"
My father…
Where is he?