Chapter 118: The Real Choice of the Queen
Melissa’s POV
Raw, limitless strength pulsed through me like a second heartbeat, and I could feel it. As I raised my hand and saw the golden light dance across my flesh, my fingers shook.
Too much.
It was excessive.
My knees struck the floor as the force within of me struggled to control me as I gasped.
I heard Kane’s voice over the commotion.
“Elissa!”
My chest tightened as I turned to face him. His worried gaze swept across mine.
He stepped closer and said forcefully, “You have to fight this.” “Avoid letting it take control.”
I swallowed hard and balled my fists. “I’m not sure if I can.”
With his hands on my shoulders, Kane fell to his knees in front of me.
He declared, “You are more powerful than this force.” “More powerful than him.”
I wanted to think he was real.
However, a distinct truth was whispered deep within me.
The voice, “You are meant for more, Melissa,” slithered across my mind. “Why fight what you were born to be?”
I tried to block it out by shaking my head.
No.
Darius wasn’t like me. I wouldn’t turn into him.
Would I?
Dark energy spilled from the sky like a live storm, causing the ground to tremble and break open.
Darius had lost his masculinity.
Not a wolf anymore.
Nothing mortal anymore.
He was a moving nothingness with crimson eyes that twisted and swirled. Every shadow echoed his voice.
“The world will bow to me!”
When his darkness reached the first wave of soldiers, there was a scream throughout the battlefield. They disappeared the instant it touched them. No blood. No people. Simply gone.
Lydia tightened her jaw. “We must now stop him!”
Zephyr was standing next to her, holding a damaged book. He had a somber face. “There’s just one path,” he whispered. “And it won’t be simple.”
Kane gave a nod. “Whatever it takes.”
Zephyr glanced in my direction. “Only Melissa is capable of doing it.”
Everyone looked at me.
A thick burden landed on my chest.
I could put a stop to this.
Darius may be stopped by me.
But at what price?
My voice was no more than a whisper as I gulped hard.
“What am I supposed to do?”
After a moment of hesitation, Zephyr spoke the words that would alter everything.
“You need to raise yourself above him.”
As the shadows raced at them, Zephyr, Lydia, and Kane stood together with their weapons out.
With my heart racing, I watched.
Was being Queen really like this?
Not authority.
No throne.
But a decision.
And now I needed to make it.
The battlefield loomed in front of me, torn between hope and devastation, light and darkness.
The earth trembled as Darius chuckled. “You have a choice, Melissa. Come with me, or perish like the others.
I raised my hand.
The globe then bowed.
The battleground froze.
Everyone observed me with wide, unsure eyes, including Zephyr, Kane, Lydia, and the troops.
Darius, too.
Beneath my skin, the boundless force within me begged to be let out.
The battleground itself seemed to be awaiting my order.
Around me, the wind whispered. At my feet, the ground shuddered. The sky even appeared to sag, as though it were afraid of what might happen next.
Darius’s deformed body swam like a living thing as it hovered over the battlefield.
Something new shone in his crimson eyes, not hate or rage, but… curiosity.
“You understand now, don’t you?” His voice slithered across my mind as he whispered. “This power transcends morality. It just is.
I took a deep breath.
No.
I wasn’t like him.
I wouldn’t turn into him.
With a look that was half dread and half optimism, Kane took a step forward. “Tell me you’re still in there, Melissa,” he whispered cautiously.
I looked over at him.
“Yes,” I muttered.
However, was that accurate?
I glanced down at my hands, which were pulsing like a second heartbeat as the golden energy flickered around them.
I could have put an end to this conflict.
To take Darius out of the world.
To mold the world in my own way.
One command would be sufficient.
Just one breath.
Just one idea.
And it would all burn.
I curled my fingers.
Lydia stiffened. Zephyr remained silent.
Kane spoke softly and beseechingly.
Melissa… How will you proceed?
I looked up at the sky, the battlefield, and the shattered world.
I let out a breath.
Then I said something.
“Burn everything.”