Page 110 of Echoes From the Void
finally
The Eredar’s form becomes fully solid beside me, no longer just living shadow but something more defined. In this space between realities, I truly see him for the first time—not a beast, but a being of perfect balance. His shadows hold pinpoints of light like captured stars, while darkness swirls through his radiance like cosmic storms.
“You protected us,” I say softly, reaching up to touch his massive form. My wolves press against him, recognizing their ultimate source. “All those years, watching over the shadow realm, you were protecting us. Preparing for this moment.”
Always, his voice carries millennia of patient love.From the moment your mother first showed me what balance could be. What love could create.
Through spaces between moments, I feel Finn’s light pulse stronger. Waiting. Understanding. The mate bonds resonatewith shared purpose, their energy a reminder that we’re not alone in this impossible task.
“We can free them,” I whisper, the plan crystallizing. “Not just find Finn, but free all of them. Replace their sacrificed stasis with willing balance.”
It will be dangerous, he warns, but pride radiates from his ancient form.The void still hungers. The corruption still spreads.
“But we’re not alone anymore.” I straighten, feeling my power adapt to this impossible space. “We have each other. Have the pack. Have a better way.”
His massive head lowers until we’re eye to eye. In his gaze, I see galaxies birth and die, see shadow and light dance their eternal dance, see love stronger than time itself.
My daughter, he says, and the words feel like prophecy finally, properly fulfilled.Show them what true balance can be.
My shadows rise, stronger now with understanding. Through our bond, I feel Finn’s light answer—ready, waiting, knowing. Above us, impossibly distant but unbreakably connected, I feel my pack’s determination. Their love. Their strength.
“Together?” I ask my father, my wolves gathering close.
Together, he agrees.As we always should have been.
We turn as one toward where Finn’s light beckons, leaving the frozen light shifters pulsing with renewed hope behind us. Their messages follow us into the void:
save us
free us
balance us
please
Soon, I promise silently. Soon we’ll show everyone what willing sacrifice and chosen balance can do. What love can accomplish where force failed.
But first...
“Hold on, brother,” I whisper into spaces between reality. “We’re coming.”
The void parts before us—father and daughter, shadow and balance, love made manifest.
Together.
As prophecy always meant us to be.
Even in the darkest void.
Especially then.
Chapter 38
Leo
“Another wave coming!”I shout as more shadow beasts pour through the widening rifts. The tears in reality pulse with sickly purple light, each one large enough now to swallow a car. These beasts look different from the earlier escapees—their forms twisted into impossible angles, shadows bleeding corruption like oil on water. More desperate, more primal. Like they’re fleeing something worse than corruption.
The library’s grand steps have mostly crumbled, leaving me perched on a broken column that gives me a clear view of the quad. Ancient stone, older than Shadow Locke itself, groans under the strain of reality’s fracturing. Through gaps in the destruction, I can see at least thirty beasts already transformed, with twice that many still waiting. Their corrupted forms huddle in loose groups, some barely holding their shapes together.
