RHIANNAN POV
Time didn't pass normally during a soul trial.
The world dulled, sound, color, even breath.
Rhiannan stood on the sacred dais, a circular stone platform etched with pulsing ancient runes that glowed softly beneath her bare feet. Her five mates stood behind her in a silent crescent, hands clenched, breath held. Reyna and her triad were near the steps, watchful. And the ten finalists stood shoulder to shoulder below, lined up before the Mirror of the Soul.
A shimmer. A hum. Then stillness.
Faenet erupted with excited screaming emojis and commentary. The feed had millions of viewers. The mirror itself was old as the gods, and it now glowed like a living thing.
Rhiannan blinked.
And it began.
The souls. Ten of them.
They didn't speak in words, not really. It was emotion. History. Purpose. A flood of memories, cries, joys, regrets, and victories slammed into her one by one.
The first soul was Veena's...blazing, furious, dripping with pain and redemption. Her fire didn't burn; it demanded justice.
The next, Torvax...stoic but loyal. His soul was a glacier protecting a beating heart no one had touched until Reyna. He would die to serve.
Nyxar… Nyxar's soul was sharp, calculated silence. A razor wrapped in wind and heartbreak. But underneath the assassin's chill, a desperate plea rang: I want to matter.
Each soul unraveled before her.
A trickster fae who had never known love, only manipulation.
A half orc healer whose kindness had been used and broken over and over.
A desert born witch who bore the ghosts of her massacred clan.
So many stories. So much ache. So much worth.
Rhiannan wept.
The magic pulled at her chest, humming louder, brighter, louder, until she felt the pressure behind her sternum crest.
She gasped and stepped forward.
Time stopped.
Literally.
The ten were frozen in place, eyes open but unmoving.
Rhiannan raised her arms, trembling.
Faenet lost its mind.
Comments poured in:
💬"WTF is happening??!" 💬"Is she about to choose?? 💬Is this the moment?!" 💬"Why are they levitating??! 😳🔥✨"
The ten rose from the ground slowly, lifted by unseen hands.
Rhiannan's chest blazed.
A brilliant silver light pulsed from within her, too bright to look at, and then...
BOOM.
A sonic blast shattered the silence.
Three silver tendrils burst from her chest, spiraling like divine serpents through the air.
Each found a soul.
Each found the one.
Veena. Torvax. Nyxar.
Her knees hit the stone platform.
The cords of silver pulsed, throbbed, and then sunk into their chests, searing a glowing mark over each of their hearts.
Bound.
Chosen.
Linked.
Rhiannan couldn't breathe, but she didn't need to.
Their souls hummed with hers now. They belonged.
She opened her eyes and whispered, more to herself than anyone else...
"The trial is over. The champions have risen."
And all across the continent, the world screamed with joy. The goddess had chosen. And the war for the future had truly begun.
The moment the three silver tendrils snapped into the chests of the chosen, time itself seemed to hold its breath.
And then...
Light. Pure moonlight, cascading in an explosion of magic that sent everyone in the courtyard stumbling back and gasping. Faenet exploded, comments flooded in faster than Sasha could auto mod.
💬 "WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST WITNESS???" "THOSE TENDRILS THO 😭😭😭" 💬"IS THIS THE ACTUAL MOON GODDESS!?!?" 💬"SOMEONE SCREENSHOT THIS SHIT RN."
A ripple shimmered through the air like water disturbed by divinity itself. The sky fractured open in silvery cracks. And then… she appeared.
The Goddess of the Moon, Nythera, draped in flowing starlight, hair like spun frost and eyes glowing with ancient wisdom, descended with celestial grace. Her presence brought everyone to their knees. Even Sasha's cameras glitched trying to record her glory.
Rhiannan, glowing with exhaustion and awe, trembled as the goddess landed gently beside her.
"You have chosen well," the goddess said, her voice like bells inside bones. "And now I shall bless them as mine."
She raised her arms.
Blinding light poured into the three chosen, who now writhed mid air in a mixture of agony and holy transformation.
Their bodies glowed. Skin cracked open with silver veins pulsing like rivers of moonlight. Armor forged from fallen stars and lunar crystal materialized on their bodies, smooth, glowing, and indestructible. A sigil of Rhiannan's mark seared across their chests.
💬"IS THIS LIVE?" 💬"HOLY FUCK I'M SOBBING" 💬"REPLAY BUTTON WHERE" 💬"MARRY ME CHOSEN THREE."
"Your strength shall rival the gods," the goddess continued. "Speed, agility, the ability to heal from all but beheading or a total bleed out. You are hers. Her guardians. Her divine weapons."
The three landed gently on the ground, trembling. One of them sobbed openly. Another fell to their knees. The third held their chest, whispering Rhiannan's name like a prayer.
Rhiannan stepped forward, tears slipping down her cheeks. "I can feel them," she whispered. "They're a part of me now."
Her five mates approached behind her, reverent and protective. Liam, shirt half unbuttoned, smirked and extended a hand to one of the newly blessed.
"Welcome to the fucking circus," he said, grinning. "We've got trauma, snacks, and enough love to ruin you."
Kaleb nodded solemnly. "You bleed for her now. And we bleed for you."
Arwen snorted. "And you better know how to fight. Because the shitshow is only getting started."
Elisha bowed his massive head. "Welcome, brothers and sisters."
Sable just glared with a predatory grin. "If anyone touches her wrong, I'll gut them and salt the earth with their ashes. But welcome."
The three chosen, still shaking, slowly smiled. And for the first time, the bond between the divine six and their new sentinels of war snapped into place.
The world watched. The world believed.
And belief, as the goddess had said, was the truest form of power.
As the silver glow faded and the chosen three knelt before her, the Goddess turned her full attention to Rhiannan.
And time. Stopped.
Everyone froze, breath suspended. But Rhiannan's chest rose and fell, fast and furious, as divine magic surged toward her in waves.
💬"Wtf is happening now!?" 💬"Is she...glowing?! Again???" 💬"HER FUCKING HAIR JUST LIT UP BRO I'M NOT OKAY" 💬"That's not a queen. That's a fucking GODDESS."
The Goddess stepped close, her fingers trailing a thread of moonlight that wrapped around Rhiannan's chest and throat like a shimmering collar of power. "Your people believe in you. They love you. And their faith… has made you unstoppable."
A soft whisper echoed through Rhiannan's bones.
"I grant you the Moonblood Flame."
It burned through her, power and pain colliding, expanding her senses, cracking open her mind.
New powers poured into her...
Faithfire: Raw belief now strengthens her physically and magically. The more people believe, the stronger she becomes.
Soul Link Expansion: She can feel the heartbeat of anyone bonded to her, whether mate, chosen warrior, or divine sibling.
Voice of Truth: Anyone who lies in her presence begins to burn. Literally.
Divine Pulse: Her touch now heals or harms depending on intention, no spells required.
As the goddess faded into stardust, her final words echoed across Faenet:
"The Queen is more than a weapon. She is a fucking reckoning."
The main hall was lit with a thousand floating candles and enchanted banners glowing with the names of the Final Three.
The chosen warriors stood at the head table beside Rhiannan and her five, draped in divine armor, flowers braided into their hair, kissed by every realm's magic. Food overflowed from golden platters, smoked meat, honeyed bread, and enchanted wine that whispered dirty limericks when poured.
💬 "I would sell my left tit to be at that table.". 💬"THEY'RE SO PRETTY I'M CRYING." 💬"Rhiannan looks like sex and vengeance tonight. Queen shit." 💬"If Sable growls one more time I swear I'm gonna faint."
Rhiannan, radiant in a gown of woven shadowlace and starlight, ate like a warrior who'd survived the apocalypse. Elisha fed her meat straight off his blade. Arwen dropped grapes into her mouth. Kaleb rubbed her shoulders. Liam whispered filth into her ear. And Sable? Sable just watched her with the hunger of a starving god.
She grinned at them all, tipsy on wine and adrenaline.
"We're going to fuck so hard tonight," she whispered.
They all raised their glasses.
"To the Moonblood Queen."
Rhiannan flopped onto the bed with a full belly, a full heart, and five delicious men undressing faster than Sasha could censor anything.
But first?
Talk.
"We need to find his name," she said, voice thick with exhaustion and need. "The Forgotten Fucking King is still coming."
Kaleb nodded. "Tomorrow."
Arwen: "After at least four orgasms."
Liam: "Each."
Sable: "I'll fuck her 'til she sees stars, then kill anyone who gets in our way."
Elisha growled, already sliding onto the bed. "She is the stars."
Rhiannan laughed, wild, free, fierce.
And then?
Sex. And sleep.