The mountain split beneath their feet.
Kael and Aradia descended into darkness, their bond blazing gold, their bodies scarred but unbroken. Around them, wolves howled in the distance, gods whispered in silence, the world trembled with ruin.
At the center of the abyss beat a heart of black fire. The Shadow's true form. Endless. Eternal. Its voice thundered from every direction, suffocating.
"You cannot kill me. I am every death. Every fire. Every loss. I am eternal. And when you fall—as you always fall—you will be mine."
Kael's wolf roared, his massive frame crouched low, his green eyes blazing like emerald fire. "She will never be yours."
Aradia's fire trembled, her body glowing white-hot, her tears falling into flame. She felt its hunger, its pull, its promise.
The Shadow was not only darkness. It was temptation.