The battlefield was silent.
Shards of broken chains drifted through the air like snow, dissolving before they could touch the ground. The once deafening wails of the Shard-Keeper were gone, leaving only a stillness that felt too sharp, too expectant.
Ren stood in the middle of it all, chest heaving, his body trembling from the fight. His flames had dimmed, but a faint ember still licked around his arms, like a beast pacing behind bars. His skin stung where the vow-thread had branded him, glowing faintly as though still feeding even in the quiet.
He exhaled smoke, the taste of iron still on his tongue.
The shard-winged girl stumbled beside him, her feathers cracked, her body weak. But her eyes burned as bright as before. "You did it…" she whispered, voice rough. "You broke the Shard-Keeper."
