CHAPTER 99: ANCIENT ENEMIES

Chapter 99: Ancient Enemies

The power burning around Liana suddenly flickered as Elder Mira’s scream cut through the air like a blade.

"VEXANDER!"

Every supernatural being turned toward the elderly wolf, whose silver hair was now whipping around her face as raw anger transformed her gentle features into something terrifying. "You!" she growled, pointing a shaking finger at Councilor Vex.

"I know that face. I know those eyes. I’ve seen them in my dreams for three hundred years!" Vex’s perfect calm cracked for the first time.

"Impossible. You should be dead." "I was supposed to be," Mira hissed, striding forward with power radiating from her small body. "Just like my mate.

Just like everyone else who dared to fight against your rule!" Confusion spread through the crowd. Liana felt her link to the ancient Luna spirit stir, old memories surfacing like bubbles in dark water.

"What rule?" she asked, though part of her already knew the answer would change everything. Mira’s eyes blazed silver. "The first rule. When creatures like him owned us all." The world seemed to hold its breath as memories that had been buried for ages began to surface.

Not just in Mira, but in every supernatural being present who carried old bloodlines. "Tell them," Mira ordered Vex. "Tell them how you used to be our gods.

How you ruled from crystal thrones while we crawled in the dirt, asking for scraps of power." Vex straightened, and suddenly the elegant mask fell away entirely.

The figure before them grew taller, more imposing, with eyes that held the cold light of faraway stars. "We were never your gods," Vex said, their voice echoing with otherworldly power.

"We were your makers. Your makers. Your purpose was to serve, and you were happy to do so until the rebellion poisoned your thoughts."

"The rebellion?" Kael stepped forward, his Alpha senses screaming danger. "The war that nearly destroyed both our species," Vex answered.

"When ungrateful children decided they wanted to rule themselves." Images flashed through Liana’s mind—not her own memories, but those of the old Luna spirit living within her wolf.

She saw crystal towns floating in the sky. Supernatural beings kneeling before tall, beautiful animals who glowed with inner light. And then... "The breaking," she whispered.

"Yes," Mira said, tears running down her face. "When we finally fought back. When we learned that unity made us stronger than they ever imagined."

The memories came faster now, shared through the supernatural connections Liana had made. Wolves learning to work with vampires. Fae joining forces with witches.

All the separated species finding that together, they could challenge their makers. "We nearly won," Mira continued, her voice breaking. "We had them on the run. Until..."

"Until we realized that destroying us would destroy you too," Vex finished coldly. "You were made from parts of our essence. Kill us, and you’d fade from life entirely."

"So you made a deal," Liana realized, the ancient memories drawing a horrible picture. "You’d stop ruling directly if we agreed to stay separated."

"A peace treaty," Vex confirmed. "We retreated to the shadows. You got your freedom. Everyone wins." "Except for the ones who refused to accept the treaty," Mira snarled.

"My friend, Adrian, led a group that wanted to keep fighting. That wanted true freedom, not your version of it." Her eyes blazed with old pain.

"You chased them down one by one. Made it look like mistakes. Like territorial issues. Like natural deaths." "Adrian was a terrorist," Vex said without feeling.

"He would have dragged both our species into mutually assured destruction." "Adrian was my everything!" Mira’s power exploded outward, and suddenly everyone present could see what she had seen ages ago.

A beautiful black wolf with silver eyes, fighting alongside his pack against creatures of impossible beauty and terrible power.

The love between him and a younger Mira glowing like a beacon. And then... The deception. Vex, wearing a different face but with the same cold eyes, appearing in their area under a flag of truce.

Adrian meeting the enemy, believing in peace. The poison that took three days to kill him while Mira watched helplessly. "You made me watch," Mira whispered.

"You wanted me to see what happened to rebels. To carry that fear for the rest of my long life." "It worked," Vex said simply. "You’ve been a model citizen ever since." "Until now."

Mira’s voice turned deadly quiet. "Until this brave child showed me what Adrian always believed—that love is stronger than fear."

She pointed toward Liana and the triplets, their bond still blazing with combined power. "Look at them, Vexander. Four souls sharing one fate. The very thing you’ve spent ages preventing." "One small pack," Vex dismissed.

"A wonder. Hardly a threat to the established order." "You’re wrong," Rowan said quietly. "It’s not just one pack anymore." He was right.

The connections Liana had made during her healing work, strengthened by the ceremony and now blazing with shared memories, stretched across the world. Pack after pack, community after community, all feeling the same ancient anger rising.

"The treaty is broken," Elena Moonwhisper stated, her coastal wolves howling agreement. "Your people started this by threatening innocent children."

"My people?" Vex laughed. "Child, you still don’t understand what you’re facing."

They motioned, and the sky split open like torn fabric. Through the rips in reality, more figures descended—dozens of them, each radiating the same alien power as Vex.

"The High Council isn’t a government," Vex explained as their reinforcements took places around the ceremonial grounds. "We’re a species. The original species. Everything else is just... offshoots."

"Failed experiments," added one of the newcomers, their voice like music and poison mixed. "Discarded toys that got ideas above their station," said another.

The assembled supernatural beings found themselves surrounded by their makers, outnumbered and outpowered. But instead of sadness, Liana felt something else rising in her chest. Rage.

Pure, burning rage at beings who saw every person she loved as nothing more than a broken toy.

"You want to know what Adrian believed?" she asked, her voice carrying to every part of the grounds. "He believed that children finally grow up. That they become stronger than their parents. That love and unity could conquer any tyranny."

Her Guardian power surged higher, fed by the anger of every supernatural being present. "He was right." "Was he?" Vex smiled coldly.

"Then prove it. Show us this togetherness you’re so proud of." "But know this," another Council member added, their beautiful face twisted with contempt. "The moment you strike against us, every mutant child on Earth dies.

Their existence depends on the barriers between worlds staying stable. Break those walls with your precious unity, and you’ll murder every innocent you claim to protect." The catch was perfect. Fight back and become child killers. Submit and watch their new world crumble back into the old divides.

But as Liana looked around at the faces surrounding her—at Kael’s determination, Jace’s defiance, Rowan’s quiet strength, Mira’s ancient pain, and Talia’s unflinching loyalty—she realized something the High Council had forgotten in their millennia of rule.

Desperate people with nothing left to lose were the most dangerous enemies of all. And River, still flickering between worlds in the healer’s quarters, had just opened their eyes and smiled.

Because the thing trying to break through from between worlds? It had been listening to everything. And it was very, very angry