My vision blurs to a hazy but bright light.
I remember this feeling from a dream not too long ago. The humming that surrounds me brings back the memory of the tune I heard the last time. She said it was the song of my ancestors.
Suddenly, my vision clears. The brightness settles enough for me to see that I am standing in a circle of some sort, emanating a golden aura. I step out of it and look back, making out the faint hazy shape of two wispy figures in the middle of the circle.
I look around my surroundings and recognize this place as the underground hall I was just in. Or am currently in. The dark shades of earthy browns and greys are now touched with bright whites and yellows, the walls and floor glistening in the light.
"Astrid," a voice calls from the entrance steps.
An entity made of pure light floats in, so bright that I squint my eyes almost to full closure. It settles down as soon as it stops in front of me. The woman before me looks inhuman in the most beautiful way possible. Her irises are so bright that all I can make out are the two black pupils. Her hair is pure white and so is her robe; where one ends and the other begins is a puzzle my eyes can't compute.
"Sun Goddess."
I gasp in awe of being in the presence of a heavenly being, one who created me and my family and everyone before us.
The Goddess smiles as she puts her arms unexpectedly around me. I gasp at the act, feeling strange that one as holy as her would embrace me so affectionately. My arms hang by my sides awkwardly. She moves in to place a kiss upon my forehead, then two kisses each on my eyelids. I feel utterly stunned.
"My child." Her voice tingles in my ears like wind chimes catching a breeze. "You have made it."
"I found the white wolf, Bianca, as you asked," I tell her.
She reaches a hand out. My breath is raggedy and I tremble quite a bit in nervousness and anticipation. The Goddess moves a bit of my hair that's hanging over my left shoulder. She smiles and traces a finger lightly over Rio's mark. She hums in approval.
"And I see that you have also finally found some sense and put your stubborn pride aside, Astrid," she says. "Good. I have been waiting for this. And now, I can give you what you came here to receive."
She plucks a single strand of hair from her head. It glows in between her fingers as she twists it into a circle. Then, placing it in the palm of her hands, she blows it onto my face. The hair disintegrates into tiny shimmery particles of light that I blink away as they enter my eyes.
The back of my head begins to tingle warmly as the sensation travels down my spine and spreads to the tips of my fingers and toes. I look down at my hands to notice my skin glowing for a few seconds, which then dissipates. And I feel a strange surge of power jolting up my soul.
"What's happening to me?" I ask, confused and enthralled at the power coursing through my veins, causing my heart to palpitate a little faster.
"I needed Rio to mark you first before you received my blessing, Astrid," she says. "It is through that mark that you take a bit of him as much as he takes a bit of you, for you are now two halves of a whole."
The light surrounding me begins to dampen slowly. I look up at the Sun Goddess and notice that her features, too, appear clearer as the harsh light softens. Her skin still looks unnaturally aglow—she is a Goddess after all—but her eyes now appear golden instead of the stark white I saw before. Even her hair, which was blended into her gown seamlessly before, is a slightly brighter shade of white that falls all the way down to her feet. She tilts her head and smiles at me. The movement causes her skin to shift and shimmer as if she were made of half glitter.
"Is this how we defeat the First Son?" I ask of her, naively hoping that killing a God would be easier than whatever answer she might give.
"For that, you will need my sister's help," she remarks. "But he has bound her in her Western domain."
"The Moon Goddess?"
I draw a short breath in as she nods to confirm. This, we were never taught in Silver Bow. All we knew was that our ancestors helped the wolves and the Lycans win. But the knowledge that the Sun Goddess and the Moon Goddess are sisters fills me with a tiny bit of relief that maybe Rio and I were meant to be, that our connection isn't so far off, that our destiny bond isn't a mistake.
"Did you bring Rio and I together?" I ask, trying to figure out how I fit into the greater scheme of things.
"Only the Moon Goddess has the power to bind two souls together."
The Sun Goddess purses her lips and paces backwards.
That was quite a worded way of answering 'yes'. Then why do I feel like there's more to it? Of course, I believe her, but I also get a sense that I shouldn't be relieved just yet at the discovery of the legitimacy of my destiny bond with Rio. Even though we have marked each other and that's that, something about the Goddess's answer still puts me at unease.
But we have a First Son to banish first.
"So, how do we unbind the Moon Goddess?"
"You, the Lycan Alpha, and the White Wolf must work together in order to succeed."
At the back of my head, I hear Rio's voice echoing, 'three is a powerful number'.
"But," her voice rings, "you will need to leave my Eastern domain to enter her realm."
"But Valentina..."
"The First Son grows his power by the day so long as my sister is bound," her voice booms letting me know me not to resist a Goddess's wishes. "And I have blessed you with a golden eye so that I may watch you and guide you when you do so leave."
Golden eye?
"Yes," she hums contentedly to herself, "a replica of your mate's black Alpha Eye. He will be the conduit of my sister's power, while you will be the conduit of mine."
"And Bianca?"
"She will keep the vampiress host at bay."
I fight the urge to snort at this. It seems a little overdramatic to call the three of us the Trinity if one of us is just going to be acting like a guard dog.
"No," the Goddess suddenly says, reading into my thoughts. "It's not that simple. One of you has to be present in the moment to keep the First Son from phasing out of his host and back to his mother. To do that, you must capture the vampiress's body and lure the First Son back to Mesaniskia. He will not pass up the opportunity to land in the home of Luc's descendants."
"This is still quite an impossible ask," I tell her. "She disappeared in a shroud of smoke before our eyes. How do we catch something intangible?"
"That is the hard part, my child. The next few days will not be easy. With the Moon Goddess bound, I'm afraid there will be a lot more vampire attacks around the world and especially around the Mighty Five territories. You must track these movements carefully, but any warning to the packs will rouse the First Son's suspicions."
"You mean to just let them get attacked?" I ask incredulously. "Our families, I—"
"You are a leader now, Astrid. And all leaders must make difficult choices for the good of all."
But I'm just a school teacher. What do I know of leading all these people?
I try to contain my loud thoughts, but I know in the end I can't resist a Goddess's wish. At least, that's what she said.
"You must track his movements," the Goddess continues, "to know when the First Son has phased out of Valentina here in the East. It will be a small window of opportunity because he enjoys the cover of the mountains, but it is not impossible."
"How long have you been watching him?" I ask. "How long have you known he was here on earth?"
"I have watched him from the day he was made to the day he died," she answers with a glint of mystery in her golden eyes. "For millennia, he has stood the test of time. Such force is hard to tame."
A soft chill descends my spine when I hear this, the numbers too vast to mentally calculate. The question of who bound me to Rio comes back in mind. By the way the Goddess stares blankly at the wall, I know that she senses the sinking feeling in my stomach.
The humming reverberates all around me and I feel it penetrate my skin. Then I remember how I'd heard it not just once, but twice before—when the mages were creating the daylight ring. Perhaps it was the manipulation of light that made me hear it as I look at the Goddess made of pure light standing before me. She eyes me curiously at these unspoken thoughts, but shakes her head.
"I've said enough," she says. "Go."
The Sun Goddess holds an arm out and an invisible force pushes me back.
When I open my eyes, I am in the same room, but darker, dryer and more earthy. I am back in Sanctuary and out of the heavenly trance. Guru is still sitting before me, the way I last saw him, with Bianca supporting his back as he tumbles. When they both catch a glimpse of me, I hear the slight intake of air.
"Almighty Goddess," Guru utters.
Rio crouches beside me and tucks a bit of hair behind my ear. I peer up at him and he, too, seems to notice something that I don't about myself. But beyond the shock and surprise of Guru and Bianca, Rio's face erupts in a sweet smile.
"You're just like me now," he says.