CHAPTER 13 - THE REBIRTH

ALAENA’S POV

Everything hurts. My body is burning, my limbs feel like lead, and the fever has stolen my sense of time.

The swamp stretched on forever—water, mud, and tangled roots threatening to swallow me whole.

But I held on. I clung to Roy’s back, whispering to the spirits, to the stars, to anything that would listen. And now… I am here.

I blink up at the figure before me, the silver glow of her presence cutting through the haze in my mind.

Mahina.

The Moon goddess.

She is more luminous than I imagined, her light cool and soft against my burning skin.

Relief washes over me so fast that my breath stutters, and I almost collapse to my knees.

“I made it,”

I whisper, voice hoarse.

“I didn’t think I would, but I did.”

The fever still clings to me, thick and suffocating, but in her presence, I feel… ligh……