The light didn’t fade.It cracked.
Shards of it fell around me like dying stars, burning holes in the ground where they landed. The air reeked of ozone and blood. I looked up and saw that I was kneeling in a crater. The glow from the Cradle had vanished. The rivers of silver had turned to ash.
And Kalen—
Kalen lay still a few feet away.
My hands were shaking so much that I could hardly touch his face as I crawled over to him. His eyes were half-open and his skin was cold. His chest had a silver mark that was turning black.
"Kalen," I muttered. "You're furious and stubborn—don't you dare?"
For a moment, nothing. Then his breath caught. A broken sound, weak but alive.
With blood on his teeth, he smiled. "You….burned the world again."
I let out a laugh—half sob, half relief. "You're w
