Chapter 14 - Breaking the Veil
The purple energy dome pulsed violently, casting eerie shadows across the snow-covered rocks as Cassian continued his relentless chanting. The dark runes etched into his staff burned with a blinding violet light, drawing power from the blood of the fallen rogue wolves scattered across the canyon floor.
Seraphina stood at the center of the ring of fire, her breathing steady despite the oppressive, suffocating weight of the dark magic pressing down on her chest. The silver crescent mark on her shoulder burned fiercely, not with pain, but with a sudden, overwhelming surge of clarity.
“Don't fight the pull,” a gentle, melodic voice echoed inside her mind—a voice she had never heard in life, yet instinctively knew as her mother’s. “Let the starlight answer.”
Seraphina closed her eyes. Instead of resisting the dark pressure of Cassian’s spell, she opened herself entirely to it, allowing the ancient celestial energy within her veins to rise to the surface.
Outside the ring of fire, Darius lunged forward, his massive form moving with supernatural speed as he charged straight up the rocky incline toward the ridge where Cassian stood. The spectral white wolf surged ahead of him, its jaws wide, ready to tear the traitor apart.
Cassian’s eyes widened in sudden panic as he saw the Alpha King closing the distance with terrifying velocity. “Stop him! Kill him!” Cassian screamed to the remaining rogue wolves, redirecting half of his spell's energy to form a barrier of dark lightning in front of Darius.
The lightning bolt struck Darius squarely in the chest. The King grunted, sliding back a few feet in the snow, but his grip on his broadsword never wavered. His silver eyes burned brighter than ever.
“You cannot stop a tide with a twig, Cassian!” Darius roared, swinging his heavy blade with enough force to shatter the dark lightning barrier into a million sparkling fragments.
At that exact moment, Seraphina opened her eyes. They weren't brown anymore; they were pools of pure, luminous starlight.
She raised both hands toward the sky.
A pillar of liquid silver light erupted from her shoulders, punching straight through Cassian’s dark energy dome and shattering it into glass-like shards that rained harmlessly down into the snow. The shockwave of pure celestial power swept across the entire canyon, instantly neutralizing the violet glow in the eyes of every rogue wolf, dropping them unconscious to the ground.
Cassian staggered backward, his staff slipping from his trembling hands as the sheer force of Seraphina’s awakening hit him like a physical blow.
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“No... impossible... the ritual was flawless!” Cassian gasped, clutching his head as his dark magic backfired into his own body.
Darius reached the ridge in a single, powerful bound, grabbing Cassian by the collar of his tattered robes and lifting him effortlessly off his feet.
