جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 30

The corrupted throne exploded in a shower of dark crystal and malevolent energy. From its shattered remains, something vast and terrible began to emerge. Not the Shadow Emperor himself, but a projection of his consciousness—and it was enough to make reality itself recoil.The being that materialized was beautiful and horrific in equal measure. Tall as a mountain, with wings that seemed to be cut from the fabric of night itself. His face could have belonged to an angel, if angels were forged from despair and fed on suffering."Finally," the Shadow Emperor said, his voice causing the very stones to weep. "Ten thousand years of imprisonment, ended by the willing sacrifice of my enemies.""We did not sacrifice anything willingly," I snarled, power still coursing through my body from the failed ritual."Did you not? You gathered here. You performed the magic that freed me. You even channeled your own life force to make it possible." His laugh was like the sound of dying stars. "What is tha

The ground beneath my feet cracked as something colossal approached through the crimson mists. Each footstep sent shockwaves through the shadow realm, and I could feel the malevolent presence growing stronger with every passing moment.My companions stirred around me. Marcus groaned and pushed himself upright, blood trickling from a gash on his forehead. Prince Gareth and Chieftain Zara helped each other to their feet, their magical auras flickering weakly in this hostile dimension."Where is Morgana?" I asked, panic creeping into my voice."Here," came a pained whisper from behind a cluster of black stones.I rushed to find the High Priestess curled in a ball, her divine radiance dimmed to barely a candle's worth of light. The journey had cost her more than the rest of us combined."The faith magic does not work the same way here," she gasped. "This realm... it feeds on despair. Makes hope harder to hold.""Can you fight?""I can try."The footsteps stopped. In the distance, a figure

I looked at the shimmering portal back to the mortal realm, then at Luna's hopeful face, and felt my heart breaking into a thousand pieces."I stay," I said quietly."Aunt Lyra, no!" Marcus protested. "Your kingdom needs you. Your mates need you.""My niece needs me more." I knelt beside Luna, taking her young hands in mine. "I will not leave you alone again.""But the princes—""Will understand. They promised to build the kingdom our parents dreamed of. They will keep that promise with or without me." I tried to smile, though tears were streaming down my face. "And maybe it is time for someone else to wear the crown.""This is not right," Prince Gareth said fiercely. "You should not have to choose between duty and family.""Every ruler faces impossible choices. This is mine."The portal pulsed brighter, urgency radiating from its edges. The window back to the mortal world would not stay open much longer."Go," I told them. "Tell my people what happened here. Tell my mates..." My voic

The patch of absolute nothingness hung in the air before us like a wound in reality. Staring into it made my eyes water and my mind rebel—there was simply nothing there to perceive."How do you create life from nothing?" Luna whispered, her dual magic crackling nervously around her fingers."I do not know," I admitted. "But we have to try.""Fifty-five minutes remaining," the Void Empress announced cheerfully, settling into a throne that materialized from shadow. "Do try to be creative. I so enjoy watching impossible tasks."I reached toward the void patch, then pulled my hand back as my instincts screamed warnings."Touching it might unmake you entirely," Adrian warned. "True void does not just absorb matter—it erases the concept of existence itself.""Then how are we supposed to work with it?""Maybe we do not work with it directly," Luna said thoughtfully. "Maybe we work around it.""What do you mean?""Think about how life actually begins. Not magical life, but natural life." Her

The Devourer of Realities stood thirty feet tall, its form a constantly shifting mass of hungry void that made the Void Empress's darkness look like candlelight. Where it stepped, existence simply ceased—not destroyed, not absorbed, but erased so completely that the concept of "having been there" vanished."Well," the Chaos Eternal said with forced lightness, "this complicates things.""You," the Devourer spoke in a voice like the silence between heartbeats, "have been making noise across dimensions. Disturbing my meals.""Your meals?" Luna stepped protectively in front of me. "You eat realities?""I consume possibility itself. Every choice not made, every path not taken, every story left unfinished." Its attention fixed on her with predatory interest. "And you, little dual-nature queen, carry so many unrealized possibilities.""Stay away from her," I warned, power flaring around me."Oh, I will take her last. She will be dessert." The Devourer turned its hungry gaze on the memory-flo