Caelir's fury reverberated inside Leo as everything melted and devoured all remaining light fragments. Static noise took over then washed over by roars of destroyed earth and woods.
The ground under the Shadow Elder's feet cracked and broke. The Giant's constant attack shook the very roots of the ancient forest. Each hit sent waves of dirt and rock through the ground, turning the soil into a messy storm of mud.
The air grew thick with the smell of crushed plants and wet earth. It was a heavy, choking smell that clung to everything.
Her twilight eyes narrowed as she watched the damage. Memories from hundreds of years ago flashed through her mind.
"The other Elders speak of protection while wielding corruption like a blade, chaining Elderglade in the name of safety." Her voice held both disgust and old sadness. Her fingers curled into fists, and shadows twisted around them like angry snakes.
The Giant's fists kept up their terrible rhythm. Each strike drove Leo deeper into the ground. Yet, something in the elder's posture showed she was not sure what to do. There was a quiet tightness in her shoulders and a small shake in her normally steady hands.
"I could destroy them," she whispered, more to herself than to her enemy buried under the Giant's attack.
"Their power is nothing compared to mine." But as she said the words, something deep inside her pulled back from the thought. It was not fear that held her back. It was something else, as if her spirit refused to think of such a thing.
Her eyes went back to the crater where Leo was trapped.
"But none of that matters now," she said, her voice turning hard as stone. "You've done what no one before you dared."
"You've wounded our sanctuary, Elderglade."
The shadows around her grew darker, swallowing what little light was left. "As one who has sworn her life to protect every child of Elderglade, I cannot allow such a threat to live."
Lub-dub!
The words had barely left her lips when she felt it. That single heartbeat echoed through her entire body.
The first heartbeat shook not just the battlefield, but the forest itself. The mist trembled, and a quiet stillness spread out like a warning. She quickly looked toward the horizon, searching for the source of the ancient sound.
Lub-dub!
But the sound hit her like a real force, making her take a step back without thinking.
The Giant's attacks stopped at once. Its huge body froze in the middle of a punch, as if it were trapped in amber.
Another heartbeat followed, stronger than the first. It sent ripples through the dark mist that filled the battlefield. Each beat that followed grew more powerful until the air buzzed with their rhythm.
The Shadow Elder's own heart began to answer. It fell into sync with the strange beat, as if it remembered a long-lost song.
With each beat, something stirred in her old memories. It was a presence she had not felt in her lifetime, a faint connection that made her breath catch in her throat. Her shoulders, once tight with purpose, began to relax as her body answered the familiar rhythm. The feeling was powerful, like finding a part of herself she did not know was missing.
The dark mist around them pulsed with the heartbeat. It made patterns that danced with a plan, not with chaos.
"It cannot be," she breathed, her voice a soft whisper.
The forest held its breath.
It was waiting to see what would come from this moment of connection, this bridge between the past and the present.
Between shadow and light.
The Giant stayed perfectly still, as if even it could feel the importance of what was happening.
In that frozen moment, as the world paused between beats, the Shadow Elder felt something she had not felt in centuries. It was hope, both terrible and beautiful, blooming in her chest like the first flower after a long winter.
Suddenly, a feeling like lightning shot through her. Her body locked up. For a strange moment, she felt both frozen solid and burned from the inside out. The confusing feelings left her gasping for air as her ancient power surged wildly under her skin.
The silence that followed was deep, but it only lasted for a few heartbeats before the ground quaked. The earth itself cried out with a deep, ancient groan that shook both bone and soul. The shaking grew stronger until the air shimmered with wild energy, like a soap bubble stretched too thin and ready to explode.
The dark mist around her reacted ferociously, swirling and gathering faster and faster. She clenched her jaw so tight that her grinding teeth made a sound in her head, adding to the surrounding chaos.
"How dare you!" she roared, her voice full of anger and pain. "Using my own kin as puppets in your game—you think this will make me falter?"
She threw her arms wide, and the mist obeyed her command. It gathered behind her into a wall of deadly spikes. Each point gleamed with a sharp promise. Their edges cut the air around them, bending the space nearby.
Her fingers grew tight, ready to finish her deadly attack. Her muscle coiled preparing to attack, but then something happened.
From under the swirling clouds of dark mist, a light expanded and intensified.
It started as a small dot but quickly grew into something magnificent.
The glow took shape. It was a dragon made of pure light, its wings spread wide. The light made smooth, twisting patterns that flowed like starlight. The patterns formed detailed curves that pulsed with their own heartbeat. At the center, where the dragon's heart would be, two spinning crescent moons wove together in an endless, familiar dance.
From the crater, the heartbeats continued, pouring into Leo. The glow of the dragon-like rune spread from his chest, lighting up his changed body through the dust and shadow.
His long hair, now untied, fluttered as if it were in water. Each strand caught the light like a thread of dark silk.
The glow lit up his face, showing the neat points of his newly long ears, which proved how much he had changed.
But it was his eyes that grabbed all the attention. They were like two verdant fires that burned with power. They made a sharp contrast with the cool glow of the rune carved into his skin.
The pattern burned brighter. It pushed back the shadows with a force that made the Shadow Elder's ancient power tremble. Each line of light alive. It was telling a story in a language older than Elderglade itself.
The darkness pulled back, obliterated under the intense radiance.
The giant stirred, its huge body moving with a strange smoothness. But this time, it showed no anger. The dark mist covering its back began to ripple and flow down its body like liquid shadow. Each monster-like arm it had made dissolved into the dark flow, vanishing into the broken earth.
Then, in a move so surprising the world seemed to stop, the giant knelt. Its monstrous body lowered, bowing onto one knee.
The Shadow Elder's eyes widened.
She stared, not blinking, as the creature lowered its head.
Just moments ago it was a weapon of destruction, but now it was demonstrating its surrender.