Aiden disappears beneath the dark.
One second he's there—
bloodied, furious, snarling, still fighting—
and the next…
He's swallowed.
Dragged downward in a violent pull that rips him from the spot where he was pinned.
His claws scrape uselessly against shifting blackness.
His scream shreds the air—
"LIYANAAAA—!"
And then the void closes over him.
Like a mouth snapping shut.
Like he was never there.
"AIDEN!"
My voice tears out of me, raw and broken.
The hand holding me suddenly slackens, as if entertained by my terror.
The fingers slide up my torso, along my ribs, lifting me higher, holding me like a doll suspended in space.
Below me—
Nothing.
No shape.
No fur.
No silver glow.
Just darkness thick enough to drown in.
"AIDEN!"
I scream again, throat bleeding with the force of it.
The bond between us vibrates violently—
a scream, a spark, a thread pulling taut.
Then—
It burns.
A scorching, ripping agony shoots through my chest, like someone is slicing the bond with a blade made of fire and ice.
"NO—DON'T TOUCH OUR BOND—STOP!" I sob.
The Primordial's voice rises around me, rumbling like distant thunder.
"The wolf fights still…
but he will not for long."
My heart plummets.
"What did you do to him?!"
"Dragged him into myself," it murmurs.
"To study what makes him so difficult to sever from you."
My pulse freezes.
"You— you put him inside you?!"
One of its twelve eyes blinks slowly.
Almost lazily.
"Partially."
Rage floods me so fast my vision blurs.
"You MONSTER—give him back!"
My voice cracks with fury and panic.
The Primordial seems amused.
"Such fire.
It is why the gods feared your awakening."
The hands holding me start to pull—
not downward now,
but inward.
Toward the swirling core of red-gold light.
The center of the Primordial.
Its heart.
"No—NO—STOP—DON'T TOUCH ME—" I thrash, wings flaring violently, feathers shedding sparks of silver and black that disintegrate instantly in the darkness.
"You cannot flee me," the Primordial murmurs.
"You were born of me."
"I WAS NOT!" I screamed, tears streaming.
"I AM NOT YOURS!"
The void vibrates with laughter.
"You rejected Moon.
You rejected Shadow.
Now you reject me."
I glare into its twelve eyes.
"I choose myself."
For a moment—
a single fraction of breath—
there is true silence.
Then the Primordial's voice drops, colder than ever.
"Then you will suffer what comes with being unclaimed."
The hands yank me down.
I plummet.
Straight into its core.
The moment my body crosses the golden-red threshold,
my power reacts—
violently.
My entire body arches in pain, my wings exploding with unstable light.
The realm around me twists—
fragments of memories not mine,
voices whispering in languages older than magic,
visions of ancient battles,
cosmic storms,
gods screaming.
I'm sinking deeper, deeper, deeper—
Into something massive.
Endless.
Alive.
Where is Aiden?
WHERE IS HE?
I claw at the swirling light.
"AIDEN!"
My voice breaks.
Nothing.
No answer.
Not even an echo.
Panic seizes my lungs.
"No—no—no—Aiden—ANSWER ME—PLEASE—ANSWER ME—!"
The bond flickers so faintly I almost miss it.
A spark.
A whisper.
Moonlight…
My breath collapses.
"Aiden?! Aiden—WHERE ARE YOU—?!"
A pulse of pain hits me.
Not mine.
His.
He's hurting.
Badly.
I reach for him through the bond, pouring every bit of strength into the connection.
A wave of cold crashes into my mind—
images I can't understand,
shapes I can't recognize,
darkness swallowing his silhouette.
Then—
his voice, ragged, weak:
Don't… stop… fighting…
Tears explode down my cheeks.
"I WON'T! I swear I WON'T! Just hold on—just hold on—Aiden—!"
The Primordial's voice rises again.
"He cannot hold on.
Not where he now rests."
A tremor shakes the void.
Something massive shifts deeper inside the core.
I fight to see through the blinding red-gold storm—
I catch a glimpse—
Aiden.
Not whole.
Not wolf.
Not man.
He is—
Floating.
Suspended.
Trapped inside a web of glowing tendrils—
threads of red-gold light holding him like a captive star.
He twitches weakly.
Blood drifts off him like floating ink drops.
"AIDEN!" I scream, reaching.
A hand—one of the countless astral fingers—
slams against my chest, stopping me mid-air.
"NO—LET ME GO—LET ME GO TO HIM—!!"
"You cannot reach him," the Primordial says calmly.
"Not yet."
"WHY?!"
Its twelve eyes lock onto mine.
"Because first…
I must awaken what sleeps inside you."
My breath dies.
"What… what do you mean?"
"You carry the spark I lost.
You carry the seed of power I created before time.
You carry me."
"I AM NOT YOU!"
The core begins to glow brighter—
so bright it hurts to look.
The Primordial's voice shakes the realm:
"You are the piece I cast away.
The fragment that grew a mind.
A soul.
A heart."
The light swirls faster around me.
A ring of energy forms—
gold and black fire spiraling up my body,
binding me in place.
My skin burns.
My wings tremble.
My lungs seize.
I choke.
My scream barely escapes:
"AIDEN—HELP ME—!!"
His voice is faint, cracked:
I'm… coming… Moonlight… just… don't let it win…
The Primordial continues:
"You became more than a spark.
You became a being.
A daughter."
My heart freezes.
"NO."
"A runaway piece…
of a god."
My pulse slams.
"You're lying."
The Primordial tilts its shifting head.
"Then let me show you."
A tendril of red-gold light slams into my chest.
Pain detonates.
My consciousness shatters—
—
—
I see a vision.
Not of this realm.
Not of any realm.
A giant being—
light and shadow swirling together—
stretching across the void like a cosmic storm.
Then—
a single spark detaches from it.
A tiny, glowing piece.
Small.
Weak.
Sentient.
The Primordial tries to recapture it—
But something pulls it away.
Moonlight.
Then Shadow.
Then… flesh.
A newborn cry.
A baby.
A girl.
Me.
The vision snaps.
I gasp back into the void, shaking, eyes wide with horror.
"No—NO—NO—NO—NO—"
I am not—
I cannot be—
A piece of—
The Primordial finishes the sentence for me.
"You are my lost spark.
And now…
I claim you back."
My chest burns.
My wings explode with unstable power.
The red-gold ring around me tightens—
My scream rips out—
"AIDEN—HELP—!!"
And from deep inside the core,
through a choking rush of pain—
I hear his voice roar:
"LIYANAAAAAAAAA—!!!"
The entire void trembles.
The Primordial hesitates.
The bond surges—
Exploding with silver light.
Everything stops.
Everything shatters.
And the chapter ends with:
A blinding silver burst tearing through the Primordial's core—as Aiden breaks free with a roar that shakes the entire universe.