The air in the Titan temple tasted of rust and ancient malice. Eldrin's boots sank into the moss-coated stone as he stepped deeper into the chamber, the sigils on his left arm throbbing in rhythm with the seventh shard's pulse. Above them, the vaulted ceiling dripped with bioluminescent fungi, their faint green light warping the shadows of the towering stone pillars.
Tira trailed behind, her breath shallow, the third shard in her chest flickering like a dying star.
*It's watching us," she whispered, her voice splintering between fear and fury.
Liora brushed her fingers over a rune etched into the nearest pillar, her crystalline dagger humming. The Titans designed this place as a prison. Whatever they sealed here--it's *awake* now."
Nim adjusted her spider-mech's fractured lens, its hydraulic legs slicing through curtains of hanging roots. Great. So were basically walking into a god's panic room."
Jace said nothing. The mercenary's remaining hand tightened around a throwing knife, his gaze locked on the pulsating fissure aheadajagged tear in the temple floor, its edges glowing with corrupted shard-light.
Eldrin's sigils flared as he approached the fissure. The seventh shard in his chest resonated, its molten heat searing his ribs. Visions flickered:*Ophira standing atop a mountain of shattered shards, her shadow stretching across a bleeding sky. A voicehis ownwhispering, You cannot escape what we are."
He clenched his fist, liquid shadow pooling in his palm. The fragment's close. And so is *she*."
---
The chamber's center housed a dais of fused Titan bones, its surface carved with concentric rings of runes. At its heart hovered the seventh shardor what remained of it. The fragment had split, its jagged halves suspended in midair, spinning slowly like a fractured galaxy.
Between them swirled a vortex of shadow, tendrils of darkness lashing out to caress the walls.
Tira staggered, clutching her chest. ft's-*screaming*."
Liora's dagger flashed as she deciphered the runes. The Titans didn't just hide the shard here. They bound it with a covenanta sacrifice to keep the corruption contained."Her gaze snapped to Eldrin. Ophira's shadow is using the fissure to destabilize the seal. If it breaks"
The whole temple becomes a crater. Got it." Nim's mech-legs skittered nervously. So how do we un-break it?"
The covenant requires balance."Liora's voice hardened. One soul to anchor the light. Another to swallow the dark."
A cold laugh echoed through the chamber.
Ophira's shadow materialized atop the dais, her form flickering between corporeal and void. *You* speak of balance, sister?"Her raven hair floated like smoke, her eyes twin voids. You, who abandoned our birthright to play scholar?"
Liora's grip on her dagger turned white-knuckled. You were the one who chose destruction."
And you chose *cowardice*." Ophira's shadow stretched, tendrils snaking toward the fractured shard. But this'this is a gift. A chance to correct our*mistakes*."
Eldrin's chaos-fire ignited. Enough,"
He lunged, cobalt flames carving through the shadow's tendrils. Ophira dissolved, reforming behind Tira. Poor little host,"she crooned, her fingers brushing the girl's shard. You feel it, dont you? The void *hungers*."
Tira's corrupted eye blazed. Get. *Out.*"
Her shadow lashed out, striking Ophira's formbut the attack passed through her like smoke. The shadow laughed. You cannot kill a memory, child. But*he* can."Her void-like eyes locked onto Eldrin. End her. Claim the shard. Become what you were *meant* to be."
The seventh shard pulsed, its resonance vibrating Eldrin's bones. The sigils on his arm *screamed*, threads of shadow weaving into his veins.
*Join me,* the shard whispered. *Together, we will devour the void.*
---
Jace moved first.
A throwing knife embedded itself in the dais, its blade crackling with silencedust. The explosion tore through Ophira's shadow, scattering her form. Nimthe shard! *Now!*"
Nim's mech launched a grappling hook, its claw snapping around one half of the fractured shard. The temple shuddered. The vortex roared, its tendrils whipping wildly.
Eldrin!"Liora shouted. The covenant*you have to choose!*"
He froze. The visions returned: *Ophira and Liora as children, the original shard splitting. A choicedestroyer or guardian. A voice: Which will you be?"
Tira screamed. The third shard in her chest *ruptured*, shadow pouring from the wound. Her human eye met Eldrins. Do it! *Before she-"Ophira's shadow coalesced, her hand plunging into Tira's chest. Thank you, brother. For the *weapon.*"
The chamber exploded.
---
Eldrin's chaos-fire surged, gold and cobalt intertwining as he tore through the shadow. The vortex collapsed, sucking the darkness into its core. Tira crumpled, the third shard's light extinguishedbut the seventh shard's halves glowed brighter, their edges fusing.
Ophira's laughter echoed as her shadow dissolved. You cannot win, little brother. The void always returns."
The temple began to collapse.
Liora hauled Tira onto her feet. Go! *Now!*"
Nim's mech-legs pistoned as she carved a path through falling debris. Jace covered their retreat, knives flashing. Eldrin lingered, his sigils burning as he gripped the fused shard.
*Power or mercy?*
The covenant's runes flared. With a roar, he plunged the shard into the dais.
Light erupted. The fissure sealed.
---
The survivors regrouped in the swamp's fetid air, the temple's ruins sinking into the mire behind them. Tira lay unconscious, her chest scarred but whole. The seventh shard's light in Eldrin's palm had dimmed, its surface now threaded with black veins.
Liora studied the horizon, where storm clouds gathered. Ophira's shadow is regrouping. And the shard.it's changing you."
Eldrin stared at his corrupted sigils. i know."
Somewhere in the dark, the void whispered.
The game was far from over.