“I insisted we try again,”whispers Luna.“Once I understood she was trying to bring my mate back, I became obsessed with it. I didn't care about anything else... about her. I'm still sure she was involved in his death. At the time, that was a good enough excuse to ease my conscience about using her.”
"...So you resumed the necromancy spell?"
Luna slowly lowers her head, her blue eyes on the lines of the circle.
“...We did. This time, I was fully involved in it, and... blinded. So blind, I focused on the magic without realizing what I was doing to Luna. She had been the one to drive the spell, pour her life force into it. Now, I was taking it from her, more and more, desperately.”
Her voice breaks on those last words. I feel... a bottomless sadness from her. She whimpers, and slowly crouches down on the circle. She looks at the other end of it, as if she was seeing something there, or someone. I feel her sadness melting with mine, adding to it like another weight on my heart.
“...She didn't tell me,” mutters Luna. “I kept going like a mad wolf, and she didn't tell me she was dying, or that I was using Dark Magic without realizing. I just chose to save my mate, and disregard everything else. No matter the price, I couldn't let go... I couldn't do what you did.”
I try to take it all in. All her sadness, but also the heavy truth behind this tragedy. Luna and I are different in one thing... She had no one else. For me, I could stop because there was Nora and Selena, Ben and Kelsi, and everyone else in Silver City. I could hold on to the fact that, even if... I lost Liam, I wouldn't be completely alone. I wouldn't be the only one to remember him, and I would be able to share my pain and that burden with someone.
Luna had no one like that but the same witch who had taken her mate from her. Actually, neither of them did. They had each other, but they could only hold on to the man they had both loved and were desperate to bring back. They couldn't trust each other enough to know they'd be there to support the other. They were desperate to regain the one they thought would be there...
"I would have been scared too," I mutter.
“Then why aren't you?” she suddenly growls and turns around. “You didn't hesitate to give away a chance to be with your mate, and instead–”
"I did hesitate!" I growl back. "This was perhaps the hardest choice I've ever made in my life!"
“Then how?!”
“Because I'm not scared to be alone,” I suddenly drop.
I just realized that now. I scoff as it suddenly hits me, and shake my head, a bitter smile on my lips.
"You weren't... scared to lose your mate, Luna. You had already lost him. You were just... scared to be alone. Just like why you went to that witch in the first place. You couldn't stay alone, so you went to the only person that was probably lonelier than you."
“No, you don't know what you're talking about,” she growls.
"Oh, no, I'm just understanding now," I retort, turning around.
I walk back to the cabin, and push the door to go in. It all stayed exactly the same as in my memory, except that now, I'm seeing things from a human's height. It's still all the same. There are no smells, but... it's the same bed, the same table, and the same stool. All for one person. One bowl, one... spoon, one meal that seems to be cooking in the little chimney. There isn't even a space for another human in here... I shake my head, and hear Luna barging in behind me.
"You were both frightened," I continue, looking around. "You were both terrified at the idea that you'd be alone again, after you had experienced being with your mate. You didn't want to go back to your children for fear their pack would reject you, so you went to the only woman who could understand you, and was as lonely as you were."
“What?”
"The curse didn't originate from a mistake in the spell," I declare, turning to her. "That spell was perfect, it was working. Even if you turned it to Dark Magic, you could have emptied all of Luna's strength and brought your mate back. But it failed. And instead, you got trapped in it. You don't know how Luna died, do you? You're not even sure how your mate died, and you didn't know how that spell ended either!"
“No! I–”
"You weren't just the creator of the curse, Luna," I say, stepping closer to her again. "You were also its first victim. Your Dark Magic realized how scared you were to be lonely, abandoned again, and fed on it. It pushed you to be alone again, and hate the only friend you ever had. It made you lonelier than ever, and yet constantly looking for a new host to experience your loneliness again. That's why it poisoned the minds of witches, forcing them to be alone again each time they had found a mate. Nephera ran from her second chance mate, although she was pregnant with his baby. Clarissa's mother was alone with her child too. All those women ended up alone because the curse pushed them to leave, somehow."
“Enough!” she growls. “You're not making any sense! I killed Luna who tried to use me! I created the curse with my Dark Magic!”
"...I don't believe you killed Luna," I mutter, turning around to look at the room. "I think you're the one who died trying to bring your mate back, and you didn't want to face the truth because you would have had to face your greatest fear to end that curse. Embrace the loneliness, and renounce your mate forever. That's why you endured all those years, and survived through the curse rather than to give up. It's like a... cursed loop. Making the wrong choice, over and over again, until someone could stop you. Until someone like me came along. Same story, same kind, and I was given the same choice. I can stop you because I'm not scared to be alone, Luna."
“No, no, no. She died. The witch died when we created that curse! Otherwise, why wouldn't she have stopped me?!”
"She couldn't," I shake my head. "I think... the curse you were trapped in was too strong for her to handle. She knew she didn't have the strength, as you took most of her life force. Moreover, it would have meant giving up on you forever... If I had been her, I wouldn't have wanted to make the same mistake twice."
I keep looking around the room, and I know what is missing. There's no Witches’ Ancestral Tree here... Perhaps it didn't exist back then, or perhaps Luna herself invented it for the next generations to keep track. I chuckle, as the truth suddenly comes to me, so easily it's almost risible.
"She had children," I say. "I saw the Witches' Ancestral Tree, and... Luna, the first witch, had children. Back then I wondered which one of you the tree was referring to, but if it had been you, Selena, Nora, and their grandmother would have been on there. No, it was her, and she definitely had descendants, like Nephera. No, she lived. Luna lived, and she couldn't stop you, so... she did the next best thing she could. She made sure no one could ever use that spell again. I understand why there's only one curse now. Your friend Luna was the one who made sure no other witch could go through the same thing you did..."
“Wh-... How?”she gasps.
