The darkness retreated.
Only a step.
Only an inch.
But it retreated.
And that terrified everyone.
Because impossible things were happening.
The prophecy had changed.
The Gate had awakened.
The First Bond had returned.
And now—
the being that had haunted existence since before history was afraid.
The countless eyes covering its massive hand narrowed.
Watching Liam.
Watching Denise.
Watching the power flowing between them.
For the first time, it looked uncertain.
The giant creature stared in disbelief.
“It remembers.”
Liam didn’t look away from the darkness.
“What remembers?”
The giant creature swallowed.
“The thing beyond the Gate.”
A cold wind swept across the mountains.
The crack in reality shuddered.
As though something on the other side had taken a step back.
Th
