The Shadow grew vast, its smoke rising into the sky, its claws ripping mountains into ash. Wolves fell, gods faltered, the world itself bent beneath its power.
Aradia felt it—the core, the heart of the Shadow—beating within the smoke, endless and eternal. She closed her eyes, her fire trembling.
"I can reach it," she whispered.
Kael caught her hand, his green eyes blazing with both fury and fear. "It will kill you."
Her tears spilled. "It already has. A hundred times. A thousand. But if I don't end it now, it will never end."
He pulled her into his arms, kissed her fiercely, desperately, as if to brand her soul. "Then I go with you. Always."
She trembled, her fire blazing white-hot, her body glowing with godfire. He shifted, his wolf massive, his claws dripping flame.
Together, they plunged into the Shadow's heart.