Chapter 18: The Last Sanctuary

The horns didn’t stop. They rolled across the valley in waves, echoing off the cliffs until the sound felt like it was inside my chest. The ground shook beneath us. The sky darkened again, though the sun was still rising.

Revan stood in front of me, his jaw tight, eyes fixed on the horizon. Jordan was beside him, wiping blood from his mouth. Neither spoke. There was nothing left to say.

They were everywhere.

Across the ridges, along the river, through the ruins — soldiers in black armor as far as I could see. The Council’s banners flapped against the wind, a wall of silver and black.

Jordan swore under his breath. “We’re surrounded.”

Revan’s voice was calm, too calm. “They mean to end it here.”

I stepped closer to him. “Then we can’t stay.”

He turned to me, eyes burning dark and clear. “There’s nowhere left to go.”

Jordan sheathed his sword with a metallic snap. “Then we make a way.”

The air trembled again. Far in the distance, I could see more movement — not soldiers this time, but shapes in the air. Seraphs. Their wings glinted faintly as they descended, slow and deliberate.

I felt the heat rise under my skin again. “They’re bringing them back.”

Revan nodded once. “Then it’s war.”

Jordan’s voice was low. “War needs numbers. We have three.”

“Three’s enough,” Revan said.

He was lying, and I think we both knew it.

The heartbeat inside me pulsed faster. I pressed my hand to my stomach, trying to calm it, but it only grew stronger.

Revan caught my hand. “You feel it too?”

“Yes.”

“Is it fear?”

I shook my head. “It’s something else. It’s… ready.”

He nodded slowly. “Then so are we.”

Jordan laughed softly, bitter and tired. “You make it sound simple.”

“It is,” Revan said. “We fight until there’s nothing left to fight.”

Jordan looked at me. “You don’t have to do this. You can still run.”

I stared at the army below. “If I run, they’ll follow. If I fight, maybe they’ll stop.”

Revan’s hand brushed my shoulder, warm and steady. “You won’t fight alone.”

The first arrow flew before any of us could speak again. It hit the ground inches from my feet, burning with blue fire.

Jordan drew his blade. “That’s the signal.”

Revan took a deep breath, his claws sliding out. “Then we answer.”

The valley erupted.

Arrows rained from the cliffs. Fire spilled across the rocks. The ground shook as the soldiers charged, their boots thundering like a storm.

Revan met them first, fast and brutal. Every move was precise, practiced, unstoppable. Jordan followed, a flash of steel beside him.

I stood behind them at first, the fire building under my skin. The marks on my arms lit up one by one. The air around me shimmered with heat.

Then one of the Seraphs landed hard in front of us, wings slicing through the dust. Its eyes burned like suns.

Revan shouted, “Lora!”

I raised my hands. The fire shot forward, golden and wild. It hit the creature square in the chest, throwing it backward into the ranks of soldiers. The explosion tore the cliffside open.

But the light didn’t stop. It spread again, faster than I meant it to. The ground split beneath me, and the fire crawled through the cracks like living veins.

Revan grabbed me from behind, holding me steady. “Control it.”

“I’m trying.”

“Breathe.”

I forced the power down, pulling it back until the world stopped shaking. My vision blurred. The noise around me faded into a hum.

Jordan’s voice came through the smoke. “They’re regrouping.”

Revan’s tone sharpened. “We move.”

We ran through the chaos, through fire and smoke. The valley was a blur of noise and light. The soldiers kept coming, wave after wave, until I couldn’t tell if the ground trembled from footsteps or from me.

We reached a narrow pass between two cliffs. The wind howled through it, carrying ash and the smell of burned stone.

Jordan stopped, chest heaving. “We can’t hold them here.”

Revan looked ahead. “We don’t need to. Just long enough to get her out.”

“I’m not leaving,” I said.

Revan turned, his voice rough. “You don’t have a choice.”

“Yes, I do.”

Jordan stepped forward. “He’s right. If they get you, it’s over. You said it yourself — the child decides everything.”

“Then I stay and decide.”

Revan’s hand cupped my face, his touch gentle even now. “You’re not dying here.”

“I’m not running either.”

The ground shook again, louder this time. The soldiers were close.

Jordan pulled me back behind a wall of fallen stone. “We’ll hold them as long as we can.”

Revan turned to him. “If we don’t make it—”

Jordan cut him off. “Don’t start that.”

“Listen to me,” Revan said. “If we don’t make it, you keep her safe.”

Jordan met his eyes. “If we don’t make it, nobody does.”

The two men locked eyes for a second too long. Then Revan nodded once.

They stood side by side as the first wave came through the pass.

Steel met fire. Claws met blades. The sound was endless.

I stayed behind the rocks, shaking, the fire burning inside me again. Every time one of them fell, it pulled harder. I couldn’t watch. I couldn’t breathe.

The child’s voice whispered again. “Let me.”

“No.”

“They’ll die.”

I pressed my hands to my head. “Not again.”

The voice grew louder. “You can save them. Just let me.”

Revan shouted something — my name maybe — but I couldn’t hear him anymore. The light had already started rising again.

The fire burst out before I could stop it.

It tore through the pass like a storm, swallowing everything in gold and white. I heard the soldiers scream. I heard Jordan curse. I heard Revan shouting for me to stop.

Then silence.

The smoke cleared slowly. The valley was empty.

No soldiers. No Seraphs. Just ash.

Revan was still standing, barely. His arms were covered in burns, his chest bleeding. Jordan was beside him, limping, his face streaked with soot.

I fell to my knees. “I didn’t mean to.”

Revan knelt in front of me, breathing hard. “You saved us.”

I shook my head. “I destroyed everything.”

Jordan leaned against a rock. “They’ll send more. They always do.”

Revan looked at him, then at me. “Then we don’t wait for them this time.”

I frowned. “What are you saying?”

He met my eyes. “We take the fight to them.”

Jordan straightened, wincing. “You’re talking about attacking the Council.”

Revan nodded. “They won’t stop until she’s dead. Until the child’s dead. If we wait, the world burns. If we move first, maybe it doesn’t.”

I felt the weight of his words like a stone in my chest. “You want war.”

He didn’t deny it. “It’s already started.”

Jordan looked between us. “You think we can take down the Council with three people?”

Revan smiled faintly. “Not three. An army.”

“Where are you going to find one?”

He looked out over the valley, where the smoke was still rising. “In every pack they’ve broken. Every wolf they’ve hunted. Every soul that’s lost someone to their power.”

Jordan gave a dry laugh. “That’s not an army. That’s chaos.”

Revan looked back at him. “Sometimes that’s what freedom starts as.”

I stood slowly. My legs trembled, but I was still standing. “If we do this, there’s no going back.”

Revan’s hand found mine. “There hasn’t been a way back for a long time.”

Jordan wiped the blood from his jaw. “Then we find them. All of them.”

Revan nodded. “We rebuild the broken. We rise before they know we’re coming.”

The wind shifted again. Far below, in the ashes, something glowed — faint and steady.

I walked toward it. It was a shard of the black stone from the gate, still warm, pulsing with a dim light.

When I touched it, a spark ran up my arm.

The child’s voice whispered again, calm and sure. “The world will follow the one who burns and forgives.”

Revan called from behind me. “What did it say?”

I turned to face them both. “That it’s already begun.”

The light from the shard flared once, then faded completely.

I looked at the burned valley one last time. “We start here.”

Revan nodded. “Then let’s begin.”

Above us, the clouds split. The sun broke through for the first time in days.

But the light didn’t feel like peace. It felt like a warning.