Chapter 140: Her Eclipse Awakens

The wind stilled.

Time slowed.

And in the silence that followed Selene’s awakening, the world seemed to hold its breath.

She stood in the center of the broken temple, power curling off her skin in waves of molten silver and black flame. Her eyes were no longer just silver—they burned with the dual light of a full eclipse. The medallion had fused into her chest, pulsing in rhythm with her heartbeat.

The energy in the air shifted. Even the shadows hesitated.

Elias, blade raised, turned to look at her—jaw clenched, gaze stunned. “Selene…?”

She didn’t answer. Her gaze was fixed on the army of corrupted beings pouring from the forest beyond the ruins. Dozens. Maybe more. Shadowborn, in varying degrees of decay and power—misshapen limbs, eyes like pits, fangs too long for mortal mouths.

And at the front of them, cloaked in mist and rage, stood Theron.

His arms were bare, veins blackened and bulging. The last sliver of light in his eyes was gone, replaced by void. He looked like death incarnate, forged by betrayal and bound to the gate.

“Move aside,” he commanded. “Or fall.”

Selene took one step forward, barefoot on the cracked stone. “No.”

Power flared behind her—an aura so bright and dark it looked like the eclipse itself had descended upon the earth. The shadows recoiled instantly, some disintegrating before they could draw near.

Elias glanced at Lyra. “She’s burning them just by breathing.”

“I can see that,” Lyra said, tightening her grip on her twin blades.

Selene raised her hand.

The eclipse pulsed outward in a shockwave, flattening the first wave of shadowborn in a blast of light and fire. The others hesitated, snarling, but they couldn’t breach her radius. The ground cracked beneath her feet as magic surged up from the temple ruins, answering her bloodline.

Theron roared. “You think power makes you invincible?”

“No,” Selene whispered. “But purpose makes me unbreakable.”

And then—he lunged.

The Battle Erupts

Theron crashed toward her like a storm, shadow blades erupting from his arms. But Selene moved with impossible speed, intercepting his strike with a wall of eclipse light. Their magic clashed in a burst of heat and wind, sending debris flying across the temple.

Lyra leapt into the fray, slicing through the shadowborn surrounding them. Her movements were brutal and elegant, a dance of death guided by fury. “Protect the circle!” she shouted.

Elias rushed to Selene’s flank, shielding her side as she repelled Theron blow for blow. Every time their powers met, the earth trembled. Light and shadow warred in bursts of glowing black and molten white.

Theron’s voice broke through the chaos. “You don’t understand what the gate is. It’s not just a prison—it’s a promise. A promise of control. Of safety. Of order.”

“You call this order?” Selene shouted, blasting him backward with a beam of concentrated light. “You’ve let yourself become the very thing Naelira died to stop!”

“You don’t know what Naelira did,” he snapped, forcing himself upright. “She broke the balance first.”

“You’re lying.”

Theron growled and hurled a sphere of shadow straight at her—but Elias stepped in, his fire-magic roaring to life. He caught the blast mid-air, then threw it back tenfold, sending Theron crashing into a ruined pillar.

“You don’t touch her,” Elias said, his voice low and murderous.

Selene’s hands trembled as her eclipse aura blazed. She turned slowly toward the remaining shadowborn. The medallion embedded in her chest flared—and she reached deep into her bond with Elias.

Their souls synced.

Twin lights—sun and moon, flame and silver—spiraled around her.

She raised both arms.

“By blood, by oath, by eclipse—I cleanse you.”

The words weren’t hers, not entirely. They came from Naelira’s line, buried in her soul.

The shadows screamed as the temple floor lit with an ancient glyph. Light surged in every direction, cleansing the corrupted bodies—one by one—until the ruins were coated in ash and silence.

Only Theron remained, gasping, on his knees.

Theron’s Reckoning

Selene stepped toward him, her expression unreadable.

Theron looked up, his form flickering. The darkness inside him was unraveling. Without the shadowborn to feed the bond, the gate’s grip on him began to weaken.

“You don’t have to die like this,” she said quietly. “You still have a choice.”

He laughed bitterly. “You sound like her.”

“She never stopped believing in you,” Selene said. “Even as she died.”

Theron’s hand trembled. “I saw her face the day she bled out. She wasn’t angry. She wasn’t afraid. She was… free.”

“She forgave you.”

“Then why can’t I?”

Selene knelt before him, placing one hand over his chest. The gate’s shard pulsed faintly beneath his skin.

“I can remove it,” she whispered. “But if I do… you’ll be mortal. You’ll feel everything again.”

He looked at her, tears filling his broken eyes. “Then let me feel it. Let me atone.”

She nodded—and drew the darkness from him in a beam of pulsing red light.

Theron collapsed as the shadows evaporated.

Aftermath

Elias caught Selene before she hit the ground, her strength finally ebbing. “You did it,” he whispered, brushing sweat-drenched hair from her face.

Selene managed a breath. “I didn’t do it alone.”

Lyra stood at the edge of the altar, bloodied but alive. She gazed across the ruined field. “That wasn’t just a victory,” she murmured. “That was a warning.”

“To Darian,” Elias said darkly. “He knows she’s unlocked the full eclipse now.”

Selene opened her eyes. “Then he’ll come for me.”

Lyra turned toward the horizon.

“Let him.”