Not violently.
Gently.
Like hands unclasping after holding on too long.
Silver light exploded outward across the realms.
The corruption recoiled fully from the foundations for one brief, impossible moment.
The Nushtonia screamed.
Then went silent.
The tear in the realm sealed shut.
And Gerick vanished.
* * *
Nick was crying.Kara would have mocked him for it later if she wasn’t currently too exhausted to remember her own middle name.
Their daughter lay against her chest wrapped in thick cloth while silver-gold light pulsed softly beneath the foundation chamber around them.The corruption had retreated beyond the lower fractures, not gone, but held back now by something fragile and newly awakened.
The baby blinked up at Kara with startlingly blue eyes.
Nick touched one tiny hand like he was afraid she might disappear.
“She’s perfect,” he whispered brokenly.
Kara smiled weakly.
Then the foundations trembled again.
Not collapsing.
Warning.
Verna stood at the edge of the platform staring into the abyss below with ancient sorrow carved deep into her face.
“It is only sleeping,” the elder female said quietly.
The Troll King approached beside her, his massive sword blackened with corruption.“The realms still weaken.”
Verna nodded once.“But now they remember how to resist.”
Kara looked down at her daughter.
The baby yawned.
Honestly?Very rude considering the emotional trauma she’d just caused everyone.
Nick kissed Kara’s forehead fiercely.“We survived.”
Kara looked toward the foundations.Toward the retreating corruption.Toward the fractures still spiderwebbing beneath the realms.
Then she wondered about the rest of their pack, if they were okay, if everyone had survived, or if they even knew.She thought about Raja.And far away ...deep beneath every realm ...something ancient still moved in the dark.
Her daughter shifted against her chest.The silver-gold light pulsed again.Temporary.Only temporary.
