The hand around my ankle is wrong.
Not just cold—
old.
The kind of cold that feels like it watched stars being born and forgot to be impressed.
It tightens, bone-thin fingers digging into my skin. The cracked platform, the split sky, the gods, Aiden—everything tilts as the void beneath me ripples like a living sea.
I scream.
"AIDEN!"
He moves before my voice finishes.
"LIYANA!"
In one heartbeat, he's sprinting across the shattered stone—half-shifted, claws digging in, eyes blazing silver. The chains from before are gone; the explosion broke them. For the first time since this began, there's nothing holding him back.
Except the gods.
A wall of pure silver light slams up between us.
Aiden crashes into it with a snarl.
"MOVE!" he roars. "DON'T BLOCK ME—MOVE!"
The Moon Goddess stands with one hand raised, face pale in a way that makes her beauty look cracked.
"Stay back, wolf."
He hits the barrier again.
Again.
Cracks spiderweb across it.
"Liyana!" His voice breaks. "Hold on—I'm coming, just hold on—"
The hand around my ankle pulls.
Slow at first.
Testing.
The void below isn't just darkness—it's depth. Layers of shifting shadow, threads of reddish-gold light flickering underneath, like something alive is turning over in its sleep.
And now it's awake.
A second hand rises.
White, too long, glowing faintly red in the veins, etched with symbols that hurt my eyes to look at.
My stomach drops.
"What… is that?" I whisper.
The Shadow King answers, and for the first time, his voice sounds tight.
"We locked it beneath the realms long ago."
The Moon says nothing.
The hand yanks me lower.
I slide across the stone, fingers scrambling for purchase. My wings flare, trying to fight the pull—silver feathers, black fire—but the void is stronger.
"AIDEN!"
He shifts fully without thinking—fur exploding across his skin, bones snapping into wolf form. A massive silver wolf hits the barrier, claws raking, eyes glowing like moons.
He throws himself against it until the light shudders.
"LET. ME. GO. TO. HER!"
The Moon's voice trembles.
"If you interfere, you'll be dragged in too."
"GOOD!" he snarls. "THEN SHE WON'T BE ALONE!"
The creature in the void laughs.
The sound vibrates through my bones.
"This wolf would rather fall than let go…"
A third hand emerges, gripping the edge of the platform like something is pulling itself up instead of dragging me down.
The Shadow King's eyes narrow.
"It should not be able to rise this far."
The Moon whispers,
"Because she woke it."
My breath hitches.
"Me?"
The hand tightens again.
Pain flares up my leg, cold and searing at once. The power inside me—gold-black, newly born, still wild—thrashes like it recognizes the thing holding me.
Because it does.
The creature's voice curls through my mind.
"Child of my spark…"
Every hair on my body stands up.
"No," I whisper. "You're not—I don't—"
"You rejected Moon and Shadow," it says, amused.
"So you have nowhere left to go… but home."
Aiden howls.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!"
The barrier finally cracks under his rage—
then explodes.
Silver shards scatter like falling stars.
He doesn't hesitate.
He launches himself forward, wolf paws pounding the stone, fur blazing with moonlight.
He gets to me just as the void swallows my other foot.
His claws hook under my arms and he pulls.
Everything in him strains—
fangs bared, muscles trembling, veins popping in his neck as he drags me upward inch by inch.
My body jerks between two forces:
the void below,
the wolf above.
"Aiden—it hurts!" I gasp.
His fur ripples as he forces a half-shift, wolf and man clashing until he's some raw, ragged in-between. One hand forms, fingers gripping my arm instead of claws.
"Then let it hurt me instead," he rasps, voice shredded.
"Just—hold on. Don't let go. Please, Moonlight, don't let go."
The creature's grip tightens.
I cry out.
The world blurs.
The Moon Goddess steps forward.
"We must sever it, or it will drag her under."
My heart stops.
"Sever what?" Aiden snarls, not looking at her.
"The connection," she says.
"The new power she claimed. It is what the Primordial wants."
The Shadow King's eyes flash.
"If we cut that power out of her—"
"NO!" Aiden roars.
"She dies without it!"
He's right.
I feel it.
My new power isn't just magic—it's me. The part of me that refused to choose their thrones. The part that stood up and said: I choose myself.
If they rip it out—
There's nothing left.
The void pulses.
The creature speaks again:
"They cannot save you.
They cannot claim you.
You are mine."
Aiden snarls, voice dropping to a feral growl.
"OVER MY DEAD BODY."
The hand jerks me lower.
Half my body is in darkness now.
I'm shaking, teeth chattering, every nerve screaming.
"Aiden…" My fingers slip a little. "I'm too tired…"
His eyes flood with panic.
"No. No, no, no, no—don't say that. Don't you ever say that to me. You're staying. You hear me? You're staying. You chose yourself—now choose me."
The word hits somewhere deep.
Choose.
I chose neither god.
I chose a new path.
I chose to exist as something no one understands.
Now the thing beneath the realms wants to drag me back like I'm a runaway piece of its soul.
I look down into the void.
Those eyes glow up at me—gold and red, too many, too focused. Waiting.
My chest tightens.
I look up.
Aiden's hands are bleeding where he grips me. His breath shakes with every yank. His body is between me and the edge, like he's willing to let the void take him first.
Tears blur my vision.
"I don't want to go," I choke.
His voice cracks open.
"Then don't. Stay. Stay with me. Stay with us. With everything you've got—fight for it."
The word us lands like a promise.
The creature laughs.
"You cannot stay with him and stay what you are becoming."
The Moon Goddess flinches.
The Shadow King lowers his gaze.
They know it's true.
If I keep this power—
this third, impossible force—
I won't belong to any realm.
Not wolf.
Not witch.
Not Moon.
Not Shadow.
Not mortal.
Not safe.
My fingers slip lower on Aiden's arm.
He snarls in pure panic.
"No—NO—LIYANA—DON'T LET GO—!"
I grit my teeth.
Every instinct says: you can't hold on.
Every part of my heart that belongs to him screams back: yes you can.
The void yanks.
Aiden pulls.
My body feels like it's going to tear in half.
I scream.
The platform cracks wider.
The sky splits further.
The gods back away.
Aiden refuses to.
His forehead presses to mine, eyes wild, breath ragged.
"If you fall," he whispers, "I fall with you."
I sob.
"Aiden—"
"You are not going into that thing alone. I'm not letting you. So hold on. Or drag me with you. Either way… we go together."
The creature's voice curls around us, low and amused.
"Then let us see…
who she truly chooses."
The void's pull sharpens.
The stone under Aiden's feet crumbles.
His grip on me tightens hard enough to bruise—
And as the last of the platform gives way beneath us,
we both lurch downward—
straight toward the waiting dark.