They reached the outer edge of the Wraithlands before dusk. The land here was cracked and scorched, with no wind, no birdsong, no sound at all — as if the very air held its breath.
Kael's hand hovered near his blade. The bond between them pulsed with unease.
"This place is wrong," Lyra murmured.
"It's where the dead gods sleep," Kael said. "And some don't sleep well."
They hadn't made it more than twenty steps beyond the ridge when the first tremor hit.
The earth groaned.
A pulse, like a heartbeat, deep underground.
Lyra froze. "That's not natural."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "No. It's summoned."
From beneath the cracked stone, a shape began to rise. Tall. Cloaked in torn shadow and bone. Its face was hollow, but its eyes burned like dying stars.
A Wraithforged.
But not like the others.
This one remembered.
Lyra threw up a shield instinctively.
It shattered before it fully formed.
Kael was already in front of her, blade drawn, stance coiled.
The creature didn't attack. It spoke.
"Sin-marked," it hissed, voice like wind through a grave. "Your bond bleeds light into shadow. It is not allowed."
Kael didn't flinch. "Then try and stop us."
The creature raised its hands — and the sky fractured.
Tears of black lightning split the air. The ground cracked open. The magic here was old, poisonous, and now awake.
Lyra's voice shook. "It knows about us."
"It feels us," Kael said. "Our bond… it's a flare in the dark."
The battle was fast.
And brutal.
Kael fought like a creature unchained, but the Wraithforged wasn't like the lesser shadows. It anticipated. Adapted. Each blow Kael landed was matched with something darker.
Lyra tried to cast, but the corrupted air twisted her spells.
Until she stopped thinking. And let the bond lead.
Their magic synced — light and dark, wound tightly together.
When Kael struck the final blow, it wasn't alone.
It was through her.
Through trust.
Through flame and fury and light.
The creature shattered with a scream that echoed across the barren cliffs.
But before it died, it left one last curse in the wind:
"The Lords of Hollow Flame rise. Your love will undo you."
Then it was gone.
Kael dropped to one knee.
Breathing hard.
Bleeding shadow.
Lyra rushed to him, grasping his face.
"Kael—are you—"
"I'm fine," he said hoarsely. "But they've found us."
She looked toward the horizon.
It was no longer empty.
Darkness stirred in the far distance. Armies not yet visible, but undeniably moving.
Kael and Lyra stood together.
And knew their love had awakened more than just each other.
It had awakened war.