The silence following the collapse of the violet barrier was more deafening than the explosion that had created it.
On one side of the cave, Silas stood frozen. The space where Elara had been only seconds ago was empty, save for a single silver dagger dropped in the moss and the lingering, sweet scent of her "Moon-Fire" light.
Then, the air in the cave began to vibrate.
It wasn't an earthquake. It was the sound of a King’s heart breaking, followed by the roar of a God’s fury. Silas’s shadow stretched across the cavern walls, growing larger and more jagged until it didn't look human at all.
"Kaelen!" Silas didn't shout; his voice was a tectonic shift, a low frequency that made the ice stalactites shatter and rain down like glass.
Kaelen burst through the frozen waterfall, her clothes t
