Chapter Sixty-One

Fractures

For days there was only light.

Not the silver glow of moonrise, nor the ink of shadow—something new. A pale gold that shimmered through the air and hummed against Selene’s skin.

She and Kaen climbed from the hollow where the Heart had once rested and looked out across the Shadowlands. The mists that had hidden the realm for centuries were thinning. Towers of glass and onyx stood clear against the horizon; rivers ran bright where darkness had once swallowed everything.

Kaen stretched, shaking silver sparks from his fur. His low rumble carried a question.

“Yes,” Selene answered softly. “It’s beautiful.”

But beauty was not peace.

The light that poured from her hands did not rest; it trembled, seeking something beyond her grasp. Each time she tried to still it, the world shivered—as if the new balance she had forged were already straining at its edges.

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They reached the high cliffs where Lucien’s citadel once stood. Half the fortress was rebuilt, alive with quiet shadows that moved like memories.

Selene stepped inside, and the walls murmured to her.

Fragments of Kimberly’s laughter, Lucien’s voice, the distant echo of wolves.

Kaen padded through the doorway behind her and stopped abruptly. His fur lifted.

A scent. Metal. Rain.

Selene followed his gaze.

Across the throne hall, a thin line of light cut through the floor—white at first, then red. It pulsed, slow and steady, like a heartbeat.

Selene knelt beside it. “A fracture,” she murmured. “Between worlds.”

The line widened, releasing a whisper of cold air that smelled of pine and earth—the mortal realm.

And then another scent followed: smoke.

Kaen barked once, sharp, warning.

Selene rose, her hand pressed to her chest where the Heart now lived. “Something’s wrong above.”

The fracture flared, and an image bloomed in the air: a forest burning under a half-red moon. Wolves running. Shadows twisting out of the fire.

A voice, distant and broken, cried her name.

Selene.

The flames died with the vision, leaving silence behind.

Selene exhaled. “The worlds are bleeding into each other again.”

Kaen growled. His eyes glowed crimson for an instant—then silver.

She frowned. “You feel it too?”

The wolf bowed his head. A faint shimmer spread from his paws, forming words in the air—shadows reshaping themselves into runes she somehow understood.

THE VOID REMEMBERS.

Selene’s pulse quickened. “But I sealed it.”

Kaen’s gaze was steady, mournful. The runes changed.

THE VOID LEARNS.

A chill ran down her spine. She touched the floor crack. The light beneath it flickered like something breathing.

“Then the balance wasn’t the end,” she whispered. “It was the beginning of something new.”

The Heart inside her throbbed in warning. Creation and destruction share a pulse, it whispered in her mind. To mend one realm is to unmake another.

Selene clenched her fists. “Then I’ll mend both.”

She stood, drawing power from the mark across her skin. Light and shadow intertwined, forming a halo around her shoulders.

“Kaen,” she said, voice firm. “We’re going home.”

The wolf barked once.

Selene raised her hand toward the fracture. The golden light flared, blending with the red, until the veil split open.

Wind rushed through the hall, scattering ash and silver dust.

Beyond the tear lay the mortal world—forests burning beneath a trembling moon.

Selene stepped to the edge. Her reflection wavered in the molten air: not just a girl now, but something older, radiant and dark at once.

She looked down at Kaen. “If the void remembers, then so will we.”

And together, they leapt through the rift.

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They landed in a clearing of ash and embers. The air was heavy with smoke; the sky burned in streaks of red and gold. Wolves darted between trees, trying to drive the flames back.

One froze when it saw her. Its fur was pale silver, its eyes bright with recognition.

“Easy,” Selene murmured. “I’m here to help.”

The creature bowed its head.

Kaen stood behind her, his shadow stretching across the firelight. The two wolves locked eyes—ancient, primal acknowledgment.

Selene lifted her hands. Her power spilled outward, silver and black threads weaving through the flames. Where they touched, the fire bent, cooling into mist.

The ground hissed. The trees straightened.

But the sky didn’t calm.

Above, the moon flickered—half silver, half gold, then crimson again.

A voice echoed faintly, not from the heavens but from the soil beneath her feet.

You healed the wound… but something crawls through it.

Selene turned toward the forest’s heart. Between the trunks, a shape moved—tall, luminous, shifting. Not human, not wolf. Something new.

It watched her with eyes that mirrored her own: one silver, one black.

Kaen stepped forward, growling.

Selene raised a hand. “Wait.”

The figure tilted its head.

When it spoke, its voice was soft, curious—almost childlike.

“Mother?”

The air froze. Selene’s heart stopped beating for a breath.

“What did you call me?” she whispered.

The being smiled faintly, eyes glowing brighter. “The balance made me… from what you left behind.”

And then it vanished, leaving only a trail of golden dust and the faint echo of laughter.

Selene stared at the space where it had stood, the weight of the Heart thrumming inside her.

A new creation. Born of balance… or of the void.

She turned to Kaen, her voice trembling with both fear and awe. “We’re not just

mending the worlds anymore.”

Kaen whined low.

Selene lifted her gaze to the flickering moon. “We’re giving birth to another.”

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