The Banished Shy Luna Chapter 174

I didn’t even see it move—

one second the forest was empty,

the next second—

Douglas was screaming.

Blood sprayed.

He was thrown like a ragdoll into a fallen log.

Mason staggered back, trying to shift, but the creature was faster.

It slammed into him, claws raking across his chest, sending him crashing into the dirt.

The twins didn’t even have time to scream.

One was grabbed by the throat.

The other pinned on her back, fingers digging into the dirt as she kicked and clawed, trying to reach her sister.

Everything in me snapped.

Not fear.

Not instinct.

Power.

A violent, bone-deep surge ripped through my chest and out of my skin—

raw, ancient, alive.

Shadow-light erupted around me, cracking the air, blasting the creature backward so hard it tumbled across the clearing, skidding through leaves and snapping branches like twigs.

The dome of energy wrapped around Mason, Douglas, and the twins without me even thinking about it—

a warm, pulsing shield that hummed like a heartbeat.

My heartbeat.

The creature shrieked.

A horrible sound.

Not wolf.

Not human.

Something in-between and wrong.

It clawed at the ground trying to stand—

but the minute my power brushed against it—

It stopped.

Froze.

Not like prey caught by a predator.

Like a servant recognizing a master.

Then—

It knelt.

Not a collapse.

Not a fall.

It bowed.

Forehead pressed into the dirt.

Arms stretched forward.

Shoulders shaking.

Like it was worshipping something.

Like it was worshipping me.

Behind me, Douglas—bleeding and barely standing—whispered hoarsely:

“Holy… shit.”

The twins clung to each other, eyes wide.

Mason braced against a tree, staring like he’d never seen anything this terrifying in his life.

“Kid…” he rasped. “It’s submitting. To you.”

The creature’s voice came out warped—two tones overlapping, desperate, trembling:

“Ancient One… forgive us…”

Ice shot through my spine.

It lifted its head just enough for me to see its eyes—

unfocused, glowing, terrified.

“We did not choose this…”

“We did not want to hunt you…”

“Forgive us… break the chain…”

I felt everyone behind me stiffen.

Talon wasn’t here—

Toren wasn’t here—

Tyson wasn’t here—

and yet their absence felt louder than the creature’s scraping breath.

I stepped forward.

The shield moved with me like it was alive.

Mason coughed blood and reached weakly toward me. “Kira. Be careful—”

But the creature flinched at the sound of his voice and bowed deeper, trembling so hard the ground shifted beneath its weight.

“They bind us…” it cried.

“The Elders bind us… please…”

Its claws dug into the dirt, carving deep trenches.

“By the goddess…” one twin whispered. “It’s begging.”

I swallowed hard, pulse hammering.

“Who binds you?” I asked, voice shaking.

Its answer came out strangled:

“The Elders.”

“The Shadowless Ones.”

“They command our flesh… they twist our minds…”

I stepped closer despite the warning shouts behind me.

My power pulsed outward again—

not attacking—

testing.

The creature collapsed fully to its knees.

“You outshine them…” it whispered.

“Your aura… burns their chains…”

“Ancient One… set us free or end us…”

My heart pounded so hard it hurt.

It wasn’t threatening me.

It wasn’t challenging me.

It was begging.

Begging for mercy.

Begging for release.

Begging for me.

I exhaled slowly.

“Look at me,” I whispered.

It did.

And the entire forest held its breath.

The creature lifted its head just enough for our eyes to meet.

Its aura—if I could call it that—was a fractured, trembling thing.

Held together more by suffering than spirit.

Bound.

Twisted.

Controlled.

Not anymore.

I stepped closer, until my shadow fell across its bowed form. The shield hummed around me, warm and fierce, reacting to my heartbeat.

“Hold still,” I whispered.

The creature shuddered.

I reached inward—

to that ancient thrum inside me,

to the power that had nearly torn the earth open,

to the blood the moon goddess awakened.

My hands lifted on their own.

Black-gold light spiraled from my fingertips, curling like smoke, thickening like shadow-storm clouds.

The creature choked.

“Ancient One—” it rasped. “Please—”

“I’m not here to hurt you,” I whispered. “I’m here to break you free.”

Then I pushed.

Power poured out of me so hard the ground cracked.

The creature convulsed, screaming as chains I couldn’t see but somehow felt tightened—

then snapped.

One by one.

CRACK.

CRACK.

CRACK.

Something invisible broke in the air like glass shattering underwater.

The creature collapsed forward, claws sinking deep into the dirt as the final bond broke with a deafening psychic BANG.

Silence followed.

A heavy, sacred silence.

It lifted its head—

And bowed.

Fully prostrated itself in the dirt before me.

“Freedom…” it whispered. “You have given us freedom. Ancient One… our lives are yours.”

Behind me, the twins gasped.

Mason muttered, “Holy hell…”

Douglas braced on a tree, wide-eyed. “She just unshackled a monster.”

The creature pressed its forehead to the ground again.

“I pledge myself to you,” it vowed, each word thick with devotion.

“To your blood.

To your line.

To your will.

Command me, Ancient One… and I will obey.”

My pulse thundered.

A creature that had been slaughtering packs—

Was now kneeling to me.

My voice came out low, steady, colder than I intended:

“Tell me where the Elders are.”

The creature’s head twitched, then lifted slightly.

“Yes, Ancient One.”

It rattled off a location—coordinates so fast and crisp it sounded like it had memorized them for lifetimes.

Mason snatched a pen from his pocket and scribbled it onto a torn page of his notebook.

The creature waited until he finished, then turned its face fully toward me.

“You will not be safe until they are dead.”

Talon growled softly beside me.

“Trust me,” I said quietly, “I know.”

The creature shuddered again—this time in reverence rather than pain.

It pressed its claws to its chest, dipped its head once more…

Then its body dissolved.

Not shifted.

Not faded.

Dissolved.

Sinking into the earth like melting shadow, swallowed by the soil in a ripple of black-gold light.

Just before the ground sealed over, its voice echoed up:

“I will return, Ancient One.

With their corpses.

Or with my own.”