rm. She stood at the epicenter of magic and devastation, flames crackling around her fingers and the mark of the Eclipse Pact glowing with an unnatural gleam across h

he rebellion tried to flee, b

oth worlds, Seraphina raised h

heartbeat. Shadows that had crept across the battlefield recoile

betrayal," she whispered, voice

ames taking shapes-wolves, serpents, dragons-all for

me and soul-thread that she had woven from her life force. She couldn't look at hi

east, the

ged-The Black

a's brea

his aura distorted time itself. Magic bent around him like a kne

voice like shattered glass. "But

silence was her answer. And

ked his

nd screa

th memory and blood. They lashed at Seraphina, a

as alread

celestial flame. She twisted, danced, sliced through the air like

spat, circling him. "You're wrong. I

ittle bride. You broke the gate

nted with a

yours to

the sky

tmares-winged, horned, massive. The forgotten b

'da

e battlefield and summoned the screams of the dead. It landed in a qu

did not

ed to the earth, whispering ancient words th

nswered

n's cocoon trembled, then

at. Then

pha st

r own. It became the voice of the

ed. Now rise, Alpha of flame and fur

an's body

like a phoenix risin

. His eyes snapped open-once emerald, now molten bronze, glowing like a thousand suns compressed into flesh. The cocoon of fire sh

en it came, w

n the Alpha of t

'darun r

of uneasy deference. And yet, the Warlock laughed again, dark

an, "but not whole. The Flame has

ward, her magic thrum

"He is the flame.

ween them, a celestial arc of power that pulsed with their joined souls. The air shimmered with s

st rising with every ragge

nd she nodded, lip

gle word cracked the

pread acro

itans, and matriarchs of the forgotten tribes. They hovered, silent watchers of the final

the roots of a mountain. He stood fully, the last of the fire dying down into golde

s smirk fina

e dropped into

summoned a beast that should not

a golden spear of fir

w b

ight into Fen'darun's shoulder. The beast shrieked, stumbling backward,

didn'

t

-this time in f

os. Trees were uprooted, stone turned to dust. Seraphina summoned a dome of lun

looked at him

ne. He wasn't just Alpha of the Crimson Claw. He was heir of th

and her heart whis

r. Or n

ard, his palm blazing with concentrated

him without

spiraling in a violent dance, rising into the heavens a

struck

ter's wings shattered, falling like broken

ll-it c

d a blood rune into the beast's hi

didn't

d his heart before t

scream lost in the firestorm. The bond between

ast st

efield fe

a sound brok

e, echo

om Fen

rom K

om Ser

s not

of the Bride o

n moon abo

appeared. Not of this wor

lithered t

infinite

that was

Your true tri

and despair. Lightning slashed through clouds like divine claws rending open the heavens, and from the tear a

eyes blazing with divine rage. Her magic surged and curled around her like a living flame, the Echofir

nes carved by an ancient magic that had refused to release him. But his chest rose and fell. Slowly. Determinedly. T

knew better

etween worlds. Shifters whose forms were twisted beyond reason, their bodies stitched toget

asts but like puppets-

aphina ordered the Elem

ark magic. Calder summoned vines that sprang from the scorched earth, ensnaring demon hounds mid-leap. Even Riven

re not enou

behind her heart: When the Alpha falls and the Bride burns, the C

he battlefield, th

os

ud

...sen

Flame poured through her in a radiant blaze. Her voice bo

E FO

dormant, blazed alive with fiery script. The sky darken

black and crimson-a being whose eyes glowed with si

owl..." Seraph

n't a

s a b

ines. Magic screamed through the air, wild and unbound, coiling like serpents in a storm. Every step she took forward carried the we

he Matriarch's final whisper still li

blade of umbral matter, aimed directly for Killian's exposed side. His aura flickered-faint, frag

N

rough the battlefield, raw a

nt symbol of the Eclipse burned bright across her collarbone as she intercepted Eresh mi

lled-but it wasn't red. It was white-gold, glis

y now," she whispered, and th

tore through her flesh-wings of starlight and smoke, vibrating with ancestral might. The battlefi

rayer King, nar

Impossible. She holds both

rs trembling, tears mixing with ash on his cheeks.

ited the forbidden core within her, and the chaos she

n the fabric of the world. "You desecrate sacred g

"Then come and ble

beasts surged forward-draconic shades, skeletal alphas, serpents of glas

een carved into his spine-serrated, ancient, and draining. Kaelus

ting blood. "You can'

ain echoed in her veins

she split

t surged back toward Killian, wrapping him in a cocoon of ethereal thread, whisperi

a launched hersel

feet danced across shadows, her voice wove runes midair, and

caught its fangs and t

il into the air that turned its fire ag

as watching-

er to exhau

t his across the battlefield. A si

bones," she called. "Or must

orm of screaming shadows, his cr

oodstained plains of

to silence-wind, s

th

as

blad

e them. The ear

h one Seraphina countered burned her soul-yet she refused to f

ed for h

is curse, sending it screaming back into his b

" he b

rsed prophecy," she s

nd surged between them, a golden thread that vibrated violently. His body levitated off the

arply. "No-he sh

opened h

ere no lon

eyes of an anc

second moon began to rise-blood red and

oice dropped

rimson Ho

thick and trembling it felt like the world held

h

o

an and Seraphina pulsed like a star ready to supernova. Their magic-bound now not just by fate, but

strength, but by Seraphina's rel

chest now pulsing like a second heart. His aura blazed into black-gold fire, lickin

blade danced in a wide arc, carving sigils m

elus said, his voice barely above a whis

hm, and the runes responded. Lightning crackled. The skies opened, and a column o

water, and storm. Sentient incarnations of elemental order. They

y b

the Pact.

s. Her voice rang like a c

s's legs. The storm-being swept forward, striking with a spear of wind sharp enough to cut throug

lus did

shed hi

nor wolf, but Death-wrought Sovereign. His face split into three masks-one smiling, one crying, on

ltered for h

an stood b

re," he whispered, his

eclipse light and flame, shielding the Avatars, cleansing the cursed

m unraveling as he launched t

met him

d echoes into the air. Beneath them, Killian weaved a spell circle older than th

The Gate o

ins of fate burst from the glyphs, wrapping Kaelus in di

cho

laug

he soul... will always return...

hina

ha

s spell

rice... You carry me now, bride. The

to shards of obsidian and shadow, van

ll. The magic calmed. Th

e that followe

as d

clutched h

. Deep.

knees

r his face as he felt it too-the soul fr

voice trembling. "He... he made h

overhead b

oon... tu

ound the Blood-Tied Gate. The skies above churned with turbulent clouds, each one thick with ancient rage, echoing the cri

orn tapestry of embers and ash, her skin streaked with runes of light that pulsed to the rhythm of her heart

on. The jagged magic that pierced his side in Chapter 7 still glowed with unholy energy, refusing to be purged by even Sera

ifters, and ancient revenants resurrected by the Eclipse Pact. The final se

echoed acros

eet tall, built of bone, fur, and starless night. Its eyes bled black fire, and its howl shattered the bones of tre

ispered an elder wolf

ngs, once sealed, now made of obsidian and starlight, flaring with celestial

g in his eyes, but he nodded.

they stepp

pace around it, and its roar sent shockwaves that flattened what remain

Seraphina rose into the sky again, arms wide, lips chanting in an ancient tongue. Magic like falling star

ast's back, claws digging deep int

ne blood-red-spinning faster and faster until they were twin vortexes of magi

pen, revealing a burning red core. But before Se

hurtled from

her in t

illian

her as she crashed into the broken ea

face hidden behind a wolf's skull mask. He moved with

the pact..." Killian

le was n

just

d fell into st

rgence of the masked figure. Dust curled like incense above her broken f

ins glowing, his body quaking under the strain of holding back the beas

ed his spear with reverence, as t

, stepping forward, power rising in wav

el soaked in shadow. "Until you opened the Gate. U

s breath

m the Moon's Forgotten Fang. The first Alpha. The one your ancestors fear

wning. "The prophecy didn't warn us about

e barely rose above a whisper: "He is the corruption...

t Alpha as if tamed by its creator. The sk

at the masked traitor. But the Alpha of Shadows was faster. With a flick of his wrist, realit

magic pulsed again. Weak but

arth answered her call, stones lifting, vines igniting with sapphire flame.

e raised both hands and screamed a si

olar

itself-illuminating the battlefield. Every ancestor. Every blood

ered, snarling, mask fr

the broken shield, he plunged both claw

ling shriek. Its body split-white fire erup

t fast

final attack: a vortex of soul-

saw it t

't move f

na!" he

. just in ti

her square

cked the b

g turned

ed down l

toward the cra

ched i

ina la

gs burn

t... not

lian choked

him. Her voice... but distant. "You have

ha stood, stagg

ian

st burn

ng from silver

pse abov

th

oomed acr

. The Flame has passe

de Seraphina's still body. The heat from the blast still radiated across the battlefield, leavin

hed her

ll

no l

ood from her lips. "Seraphina... fight. Please-don

swirling eclipse, blood-red and vio

they

s. From deep within, a pulse-ancient and golde

rue meaning surg

Flame passes. When the Al

crea

the air, that tore fissures into

s born of ancient curses-began to shriek, clawing at their faces as golden fire erupt

power-was de

The cracks in his mask now spiderwebbed across his entire

stood,

ight and crimson vengeance. His eyes no longer glowed silver, but the deep

oming some

spoken in th

even the god

hoing like thunder wrapped in sorrow. "I am the venge

ent Alpha, whose legs

lic of a b

ipse above, threads of power descended-

clips

e, as light spiraled around him. "To the ashes of the one

Alpha screamed, bu

body, a golden sp

vortex forming in

him, sucked toward the same vortex. His form began to splinter-like a mirror cracking in

embled. The m

egan to glow. Her

ga

flutter

de her, utterly spent, power dr

" he whispe

ked. "Ki

kenly. "You cam

th

sky. The ecl

g... els

Ancien

methin

ing a vast, swirling abyss where countless glowi

ng had

ing wa

ing wa

lutched Kil

er of dread: "What di

echoing no

ent, it predated the go

paw stepped through. Blacker tha

The First Flame Eate