Page 43 of Moon Cursed
“I don’t care about the wolves,” I growled at Xenos. “Thegirl. Where is she?”
He frowned. “We encountered many female shifters. Was there one in particular we should be watching?”
I swiped a hand over my face.
Had my people learned nothing?
Leaning over the table, I ignored its disapproving creak. “Do you not realize that this is yet another Echo of Calamity?”
Xenos didn’t flinch, but the blank look on his face suggested he hadn’t considered it.
I’d been spoiled by spending so much time at an Academy where historical basics were mandatory lessons.
My Hunters dealt with Calamity on occasion, but their greater focus was troublesome beasts or overzealous supernaturals.
He shifted his weight before responding. “I thought this was supposed to be the aftermath of what you already handled?” The only hint of discomfort he allowed on his face was the furrow of his brow.
“Yes,” I confirmed, “but that’s only the half of it. Lilith and my mate-circle took care of the Third Echo of Calamity. But that doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be more.”
I hadn’t been sure at first, but now I had no doubt.
This wasn’t just the aftermath of what Lucifer had unleashed.
This was the next wave.
Calamity was an ancient force that sought to thread chaos and destruction across the realms. It reared its ugly head every thousand years, forcing the cosmos to choose a Champion to defend the natural order.
And Calamity always chose a Conduit to act as its vessel.
This time around, the First Echo of Calamity had forced the realms to begin to merge onto one another. Had Calamity succeeded in its original goal, all of the realms would have been destroyed.
I wasn’t sure if Calamity intended to create something new after it had decimated everything, or if it was even sentient enough to know what it wanted other than death and chaos.
The Second Echo had proven it was capable of some level of planning. It had used a resourceful supernatural to overturn the Royal Covens, the most powerful group of witches that controlled much of the path of Fate and magic.
While the Second Champion had stopped Calamity from taking over, Fate had still been twisted beyond repair. From my knowledge, Calamity had never progressed past its Second Echo, giving it more power than it had ever had before.
That’s when I had come in… or rather my mate, Lilith.
I called her Lily, because she was as delicate as a flower when I kissed her, but looks were deceiving.
She was no doubt the most powerful being to ever have existed. She had stopped the immense wave of Calamity from transforming every mortal in all the realms into some form of supernatural. Without her interference, Calamity would have succeeded in destroying us all from within.
Without humanity to balance out the various supernaturals who fed on them—not to mention the perspective mortals offered—it would have been a different form of destruction and chaos.
Calamity would have won.
Or perhaps it already had, and this latest Echo was its next form of a slow, agonizing death.
Sighing, I regretted not being able to go to Lily this time. It was a shame I couldn’t call on her strength, but I knew she wouldn’t agree with my plan.
She would never agree to the death of a Goddess, given that she was one herself.
Something Calamity knew. If I asked for her help, she’d try to find another way.
And then Calamity would win, further spreading its influence until all of the Deities in all the realms were under its control.
I wasn’t going to let that happen.
