Chapter 4- It is Destiny

Aria's POV

I was standing in the middle of my village again, but everything was silent. 

The houses were untouched by fire, and the air was thick with the scent of rose, my mother’s favorite flower. I turned slowly and my heart skipped a bit, and there she was staring at me with a sad smile on her face. 

“M.mmm.Mumm…mother,” I stammered as I held back my tears. 

“Aria,” she said softly and her voice still sounded the same. 

She stood just a few feet away from me and her face was radiant and calm. Just the way I remembered her before the creatures came.

“Mama,” I choked out again. This time, tears sprung to my eyes as I stumbled toward her. 

My hands reached for hers. I was desperate to feel her warmth again. I wanted to touch her, I wanted to feel her. I wanted to hold her.  But when I reached to touch her, it was like grasping air.

Her expression softened towards me and my face fell.  There was a heaviness in her eyes that made my stomach twist. 

“It is almost time,” she said to me. Her voice tinged with sorrow that burned my heart.  

“Time for what?” I asked her with my voice trembling. “Mama, I don’t understand. What is happening? Why am I here? Can you explain to me, please? Why did you allow the monster to take you and dad away from me? Why?” 

The words rushed out of my mouth and my hand squeezed my chest tightly. 

“You have a purpose, my child,” she said and I saw her hands brushing slightly over my shoulders, though I could not feel the touch. “A purpose greater than you can imagine. You have always been destined for this, Aria. The moon goddess chose you long before you were born.”

I shook my head as confusion and fear filled me once again. Why was my mum suddenly talking about the mood goddess choosing me for something? The moon goddess that Alpha Keiran spoke about. 

“No, mum. She didn't choose me for anything. It can't be true. I don’t want this! I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I…”

She placed a finger to her lips, silencing me immediately. 

“Shhhhh….You will understand soon enough my child,” she whispered. “The time is near, Aria. Trust yourself. Trust your heart.”

Before I could say anything else, the world began to fade out. Her face blurred, her form dissolving into light, and I screamed for her to stay.

“Please don't go! Please,” I cried out, stretching my hand out to the disappearing light. 

But she was gone. And gone forever. 

***

I woke up gasping, my chest heaving as the remnants of her words echoed in my dark mind.

The room was dark and the heavy silence engulfing it pressed in on me. 

My clothes were soaked in sweat, and my hands trembled as I clutched the blanket.

“The time is near. The time is near?” I whispered to myself as her voice kept on ringing in my ears.

I could not go back to sleep. I might sleep and wake up in another nightmare with monsters fighting for my soul. 

I was already scared. I could not risk that. 

Instead, I got up from my bed and pushed the door open. I began to wander around the palace halls, soliloquizing to myself. 

“Aria,” a strange soft voice called me and I froze to the ground. 

I turned and saw a woman who was unlike anyone I had ever seen. 

She was old and wrinkled with her silver hair already shredding out but her eyes were sharp and clear, like she could see right through me.

I found her standing in front of the road that led to the palace gardens as if she had been waiting for me for a long time. 

“You have been running, haven’t you?” she asked. 

I froze again and my heart thudded continuously against my chest.

“Who are you?”

“A friend, I would say,” she said and she simply motioned for me to follow her beside her.

Something about her felt... different. Like a deity. 

Reluctantly, I followed her out and the night air pressed cooly against my skin.

“In case you are wondering, I'm Elysia and I know who you are. ” she said after a moment. “And I know what you are meant to do.”

Her words made my throat tighten. 

“Do you?”

She nodded continuously and chuckled softly revealing more wrinkles on her face. 

 “You have been chosen, my child. The moons have bound you to this realm, and your purpose is written in the stars. The festival will reveal all.”

“The festival?”

“The Full Moon Festival,” she explained. “The night when all clans come together to honor the moon and the moon goddess. It is there you will find your answers. It is there you will find them.”

***

I had just known about the full moon festival and now it has arrived already. 

The air buzzed with energy as people from all four clans gathered in the Crescent Moon pack’s territory. 

The night came alive with loud and  slow music. There was laughter from different people who spoke in groups and the scent of roasted meats and spiced wine filling the air. 

The moon hung high and full, shining brightly and casting its silver glow on the territory..

I was dressed in a simple long red dress with my head packed in a bun. I moved through the crowd, unsure of what to do and where to stay. 

I could not stop my heart from pounding so loudly that I was sure someone would hear it. 

My stomach churned with unease as I scanned the faces around me. 

Somewhere in this sea of people were the Alphas who were my mates.

I didn’t know how I knew, but I felt it. I could feel something in me pulling me to a direction. I had to find them. Something in me wanted to know who they were and I could not stop myself from searching through the crowd. 

And then I saw him. My wolf leaped and screamed “mate.” as I stopped in front of him.

“Alpha Kieran? No fucking way!” I blurted out in disbelief. 

This was unbelievable. This was the same man I first met. No, no. Something must be wrong somewhere. 

Alpha Kieran stood near the center of some gathering of people and his golden brown eyes scanned through the crowd like a predator on the hunt. 

When his gaze landed on me, I froze.

For a moment, the world around us seemed to disappear and the bond between us crackled like a live wire.

“You ran from me. Didn't you, sweetheart?” he asked and I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, another tall being pulled my attention.

A young man stepped forward, he also had the same golden-brown eyes as Alpha Kieran and they locked onto mine with an intensity that made my breath catch. 

Elain. 

I didn't know what was going on inside of him as his expression was unreadable, but I could feel the pull and the bond tying us together.

While I was still trying to absorb all that was happening, another appeared from the crowd. 

A third man. 

He had chiseled features with a toner muscular build. He had long red hair and wine stained lips. 

His eyes ran through me from head to toe as though he already knew who I was.

“I…I…” I stuttered and my eyes kept roaming from one person to another. 

Finally, the fourth. The one I was also expecting because I knew they were four of them. 

As I was told. I swear, I didn't expect all of them to appear sooner. I didn't expect to see all of them at the same time in the same event. 

This was crazy. 

The fourth man stood in front of me. He looked quite similar to the third. Just that he had an almost broken Roman nose and glowing red eyes. 

His presence was colder and more distant from the rest. But the bond was there, and was still as strong as the rest.

I staggered back, my mind reeling as I stood in the middle of them.

It has finally happened. Everything that I was informed of was playing out in front of me. 

There were Four. Not one mate, not two, but four.

I soon forgot that I was in the midst of the crowd as the four of them looked at me deeply as if they were expecting something from me. 

My heart raced and my breath kept coming in shallow gasps. The dream, my mother’s words, Elysia’s warnings. It was all coming together, and I was not ready.

The moon goddess had chosen.

And now, I had to choose my true mate from the four of them. Never in my life would I have imagined myself in a dilemma such as this.