Now I'm here. In the void. In the cold. In the realm that tried to break me once and thinks it can do so again.
The Guardian's awareness presses against my mind like crushing weight.
"This is my realm," the whisper slides through grey nothing. "You survived here once through luck. Now you return willingly to your death."
"I survived through stubbornness," I snarl back, tearing through the first wave of entities that converge on me. "And I'm not here to survive. I'm here to kill you."
The words come out clear despite my bear form. In the real world, I couldn't speak like this—wouldn't have a voice in this shape. But the shadow realm operates on different rules. Here,thought and intent translate directly into communication. Here, the impossible becomes routine.
The Guardian's attention focuses on me fully now, and the pressure intensifies until my skull feels like it might crack. But through the pain, Maren shines bright as a beacon. Home. Real. Waiting.
Her taste still lingers on my tongue. The scratch of her nails still marks my back. The memory of her gasping my name, of golden light blazing between us, of her demanding I come back to her. It's more real than this grey nothing could ever be.
I bare my teeth and push deeper into the realm, following the malevolent presence toward its source. Shadow entities throw themselves at me in waves, but I kill them all. Claws. Teeth. Pure fury fueled by six months of captivity and the absolute certainty that nothing is keeping me from getting home this time.
The Guardian is close now. I sense it waiting ahead, gathering strength. But I also feel Maren behind me, channeling power, holding the door, refusing to let me be trapped again.
The distance between us stretches like a physical thing, but the golden thread stays taut and strong. One heartbeat. Two. Three. Our pulses sync across dimensions, and I know exactly which direction leads home.
I just have to kill the Guardian first.
The corridor of grey opens into a vast chamber that shouldn't exist. The space curves wrong, walls that bend at angles that hurt to perceive. And in the center, the Guardian waits.
It's not one thing but many. Shadow coalesced into form, constantly shifting between shapes—humanoid one moment, serpentine the next, something with too many limbs and not enough joints. Eyes that aren't eyes watch me from a dozen points. A mouth that isn't a mouth speaks without sound.
"You came back."
"To finish what you started."
"Foolish." The Guardian's form ripples, and suddenly there are three of it. Five. Ten. All circling me, hemming me in. "You barely escaped before. You won't escape again."
"I'm not trying to escape." I shift my weight, tracking each form, knowing they're all real and all illusion at once. "I'm trying to kill you."
The Guardian laughs—a sound like breaking glass and distant thunder. "You can't kill what doesn't die. We are shadow. We are void. We are everything your light fears."
"Then I'll burn you out."
Through the bond, Maren's power surges. Golden light erupts around me, blazing so bright the shadows recoil. The Guardian's forms scatter, hissing, retreating from the brilliance.
I don't give it time to regroup. I charge. My paws hit shadow-substance and it's solid enough to grip, to tear, to destroy.
The Guardian screams—all its forms at once, that bone-vibrating shriek that triggers prey instinct. But I'm not prey. I'm predator. I'm apex. I'm a mate fighting to get home.
My claws find the core—that dense knot of darkness at the center where all the forms connect. I dig in, tearing, ripping, pouring every ounce of strength into destroying the thing that kept me prisoner.
The Guardian thrashes, its forms whipping around me, trying to throw me off. Shadow claws rake across my back. Teeth that shouldn't exist bite into my shoulder. But I don't let go. Can't let go.
Through the bond, Maren's determination blazes bright as a star. She won't let me fall. Won't let the shadow take me. Her love pours through the connection, steadying me, strengthening me, reminding me why I fight.
I bite down on the core and crush.
The Guardian's scream becomes something beyond sound—a vibration that shakes the entire realm. The forms dissolve,shadow matter exploding outward in waves. The corridor collapses, grey nothing rushing in to fill the void.
But something's wrong.
The Guardian isn't dissipating like the others. Its core reforms, pulling the scattered pieces back together. Stronger than before. Angrier.
"You think yourself clever," it hisses. "But I am this realm. You cannot destroy what IS the realm itself."
