The battlefield fell into a strange, suffocating stillness as Lyra stepped forward, her silver eyes locking onto Eryon’s amber ones. Blood smeared her hands, her cloak tattered and swaying in the faint breeze.
The light of the Blood Moon above cast her in an otherworldly glow, its silvery light fractured with deep cracks, as if responding to the moment’s weight.
Without a word, Lyra raised her blade and pressed it against her palm. The sharp edge sliced through her flesh, and blood welled up, crimson against her pale skin. She extended her hand toward Eryon, her expression resolute.
Eryon hesitated, his claws flexing as he stared at her outstretched hand. His jaw tightened, and for a brief moment, his gaze flickered with uncertainty. Then, with a sharp intake of breath, he drew a claw across his own palm.
The cut was deep, his blood pooling quickly. He reached out and clasped her hand tightly, their mingled blood dripping to the ground.
The Moon above responded immediately. A crack split its surface with a deafening rumble, and its silvery light grew unbearably bright. The battlefield erupted with motion as a powerful wind swept through, whipping at cloaks and banners and sending dust swirling into the air.
Wolves howled, Shadowbound shrieked, and the very ground trembled beneath their feet.
Lyra and Eryon held on, their joined hands glowing with the Moon’s intense light. The cracks in the Moon widened, and its fractured glow began to shift and pulse, as if alive.
A low hum filled the air, growing louder and deeper until it became a roar. Shadows on the battlefield began to writhe and stretch toward the Moon’s glow, as though pulled by an invisible force.
The first of the Shadowbound was dragged screaming into the light. Its form dissolved as it hit the radiance, its tortured cry cut short as it vanished.
One by one, the creatures were pulled toward the Moon, their desperate shrieks echoing across the battlefield. The portal forming in its glow grew stronger, the pull dragging everything in its path toward the light.
The King stumbled backward, his crimson eyes widening in disbelief. His usual composed expression twisted into something raw and unfamiliar—terror. “No!” he bellowed, his voice cracking. “You cannot—”
The portal’s pull grew stronger, and the King’s voice was drowned out by the howling wind and the shrieking of his Shadowbound army as they were consumed by the light.