Falling.
I'm falling.
Not through air—
but through darkness so dense it feels like liquid swallowing my lungs.
The moment the platform collapses,
Aiden's grip slips from my fingers—
but he doesn't let go.
He throws himself after me.
Both of us plunge headfirst into the void.
"AIDEN!"
My scream is ripped from my throat as the wind—if it's even wind—howls past us.
He catches my wrist mid-fall, claws burning with moonlight.
"I told you," he growls,
voice vibrating through the darkness,
"I'm not letting you go anywhere alone."
His grip is iron.
Unbreakable.
Desperate.
The void swirls around us like a mouth closing.
Above us, the shattered platform shrinks into a glowing tear of silver and black—
the last piece of the world we know.
Everything else is nothingness.
Endless.
Hungry.
Watching.
Aiden pulls my body against his as we fall, wrapping his arms around me, shielding me with his body like he can protect me from a realm that existed before gods.
"I've got you," he whispers, voice shaking.
"No matter where we land—I'm there. I'm always there."
His heartbeat pulses against mine.
It steadies me.
Holds me.
But the void is not empty.
The darkness below us ripples—
like something massive is moving beneath black water.
A deep, booming vibration echoes upward.
A voice.
Not external.
Not internal.
Everywhere.
"Child… you return."
Aiden snarls instantly, baring his fangs.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!"
The void laughs—
a rumble that shakes my bones and makes the hair on my arms rise.
"Brave wolf.
Loud wolf."
The darkness thickens around us, slowing our fall.
Hands—those long, pale, red-veined hands—rise from the swirling dark.
Dozens of them.
Reaching.
Stretching.
Growing.
Aiden twists mid-air, snarling, trying to shield me.
"This is MY mate," he roars.
"You want her—you go through me!"
"Gladly."
One hand whips upward faster than lightning—
clamping onto Aiden's torso.
He chokes, the air leaving him in a breathless gasp.
"AIDEN!"
I lunge for him—
But another hand coils around my waist, dragging me downward.
Not fast.
Slow.
Calculated.
Like the Primordial wants me to feel every second it pulls me away from him.
"AIDEN!" I scream again.
He thrashes, claws tearing at the hand crushing his ribs—
but the Primordial's grip doesn't break.
His wolf form flickers—
part shifting, part collapsing under pressure.
He is in pain.
Real pain.
I feel it lancing through the bond like a hot blade.
"Liyana—don't—watch—"
he wheezes.
I scream louder, grabbing at the hand around me, Moonfire flaring from my palm—
only to flicker out instantly, swallowed by the darkness.
"What—what is this place—why can't I use my—"
"Because all magic is born FROM me,"
the Primordial murmurs.
"And here… it returns TO me."
No.
No.
NO.
I fight harder, clawing at the pale fingers holding me.
It doesn't react.
Not a flinch.
Aiden, though—
his body jerks violently as the grip around him tightens.
"AIDEN!!"
My voice cracks, raw with terror.
"STOP!" I scream at the void.
"LET HIM GO—TAKE ME—!"
The Primordial laughs.
"You still do not understand."
The darkness brightens—
faint gold and red swirling deep below.
A shape rises.
A face emerges from the dark.
Or maybe many faces.
Twelve glowing eyes.
A mouth that isn't a mouth.
A form shifting between shadow, starlight, bone, and nothing.
Ancient.
Ageless.
Beyond anything a mortal was meant to see.
I scream as its presence slams into my mind,
millions of whispers crushing my thoughts.
Aiden roars at it.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!
YOU TOUCH HER AGAIN—I'LL BITE THROUGH YOUR ENTIRE REALM—!"
The Primordial tilts its head.
"Such fury… for something you cannot keep."
"I KEEP HER BECAUSE SHE'S MINE!" he roars.
The void pulses.
"She was mine long before she knew you."
"No she's NOT!" Aiden chokes out.
"She—CHOSE—HERSELF—she's not yours—she's not—"
"She is everything of mine that escaped,"
the Primordial whispers,
"and everything of me that became flesh."
My blood runs cold.
"A—an escaped piece?" I whisper.
The eyes turn to me.
My stomach drops.
"You are my lost spark…
born where I did not look."
My heart trembles.
Aiden snarls, voice breaking.
"She is NOT a piece of you. She is her own person. Her own soul."
The Primordial's attention snaps back to him.
"And you… wolf…
you are the chain that weakens her."
Aiden roars, lunging—
The hand holding him slams down.
He smashes into the void like it's solid, the impact sending a shockwave through him.
"AIDEN!!!"
He coughs—blood spraying the darkness before disappearing into nothingness.
But he still glares upward.
Still bares his fangs.
Still tries to stand.
Even broken.
Even bleeding.
Even drowning in the void—
He's still fighting for me.
"Don't… touch… her…"
he growls, voice shredded.
My heart cracks open.
Before I can scream again—
the hand around my waist lifts me higher, closer to the Primordial's face.
Its twelve eyes glow brighter.
"Come, spark.
Return home."
My pulse spikes.
"No."
Its eyes widen slightly.
"No?"
I shake my head, voice shaking.
"I'm not yours."
The void trembles.
Aiden's weak laugh echoes through the dark.
"That's my girl…"
The Primordial's tone grows colder.
"You refuse Moon.
You refuse Shadow.
And now… you refuse me?"
My jaw clenches.
"I refuse ANYONE who thinks they own me."
Power flickers off my skin—
gold and black, unstable, but mine.
Something the Primordial didn't expect.
It leans closer.
"Then what are you…
if not mine?"
Aiden coughs again.
"She's LIYANA," he growls,
"and she belongs to NO ONE."
The Primordial's eyes flash.
And for the first time—
It sounds angry.
"Then she belongs nowhere."
The void shakes violently.
The hands tighten around both of us.
Aiden screams.
I thrash wildly.
The Primordial spreads its many arms.
"Then let us remake her…
in the shape she was meant to be."
Aiden roars, fighting with the last strength left in him—
"NO—NO—STOP—DON'T TOUCH HER—DON'T YOU DARE—LIYANAAAAAAA—!!"
And as the Primordial drags me toward its core of swirling red-gold light—
the chapter ends with Aiden breaking free and launching himself at the Primordial with a roar that shakes the entire void.