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Light and the Shadow will face one another once more. Their ancient battle will begin again and the world will tremble beneath the onslaught of war.

I’m not sure why I do it, but I tilt the book. The change makes the illustration shimmer. Under the writing is the illustration of a night sky so dark it seems to pull the shadows right toward it. Four stars stand out in stark relief, burning brightly against the sky's dark backdrop.

Only one of them is burning gold, however. The other three are, oddly enough, blue, green, and red.

And they’re arranged in the shape of a door.

No.

A gate.

My pulse skips two beats, then starts up again. My fingers curl into the edges of the book. My head snaps up, eyes locking on Riven’s. His are wide, and I’m sure he’s thinking the same thing I am.

My hand shakes when I turn the final page.

The final piece of art is simple, yet more beautiful than any that came before it.

A girl sits in the middle of an open field interspersed with tiny flowers. She sits with her back to the reader, barely more than a silhouette.

Her hair is painted in metallic strokes of color that fall to her waist and merge into strands of flame, water, wind, and root.

Above her, the night sky covers the Earth, stretching endlessly into the horizon. The stars from the previous page shine bright above her, set in the same constellation—a burning gate.

The girl reaches out with delicate, graceful fingers, as though she might pluck a star from the sky if she were close enough. And though I can't see her face, I feel exactly what she’s feeling.

It pulses through me. Fear. Curiosity. Awe.

“What’s it say?” Vae whispers, twisting his neck to try to read it when I don’t do so quickly enough.

One hope remains, however. Inside the heart of a girl not yet born. Within her blood, all four hearts—our entire legacy—will beat once more. Together.

All that we are, all that we were or may once have been will pass into her keeping.

The future will shift the night of her birth. With her first breath, a flame will spark, and the world will begin a new journey. Destiny will call, and she will answer. And when the time is right, the Gate will open once more.

Light. Shadow. One cannot exist without the other. They are opposites. And yet they are the same.

Only she will weave the foundation that will bridge the divide, binding to her fang, claw and shadow.

And when the hour of battle arrives, she will stand ready.

For only one who has lived a life in the dark will have the strength to face the Shadow without flinching.

By the time I finish, my mouth is so dry I’m struggling to speak. My lips tingle, and so do my fingers.

“This is—” I hesitate, unable to finish the thought.

This isn’t just a story. It’s not just a book. It’s something so much more.

I’ve never truly believed in magic outside the scientific explanation that attributes it to differences in the DNA of a small percentage of vampires and wolven. That genetic mutation lets some of our kind manipulate our blood and use it to scry or create wards for protection.

It’s science. It makes sense. It’s no different from how only a few inherit perfect pitch while others never come close to what might seem like magic, when in reality it’s just genetics.

This, though… This is not code. It is not DNA. At least, not the way we know and understand it. Whatever this is, it’s ancient and powerful and… alive.

“What does that all mean?” Vae asks, and a strain in his voice makes me squint to study him more closely.

“What aren’t you saying right now, Vaelenor?”