Page 383 of Elemental Becoming

My arm sears with pain, and tears blur my vision, but I clench my teeth and push through it.

The Commander lifts both hands to block. Too late.

The bond between Thane and me opens wider than ever before, and together we break through.

For a single heartbeat, the world seems to hold itself still.

Then the impact hits.

Light erupts outward in a violent surge. Flame and wind twist together, elemental power tearing across the battlefield. The ground beneath the Commander fractures and gives way, cracks racing through the stone as fire bursts through them. Steam billows upward where water collides with scorched earth.

The shockwave rolls outward.

And when it finally passes, silence follows.

The air stills.

The screams stop.

Even the shadows seem to hold their breath.

Every eye on the battlefield turns toward the blast zone. Soldiers. Dragons. Even the remaining Fellborn lingering at the edges of the fight.

The place where the Commander stood is now a crater, scorched clean and ringed with glowing embers.

At its center, there’s nothing.

No figure.

No blade.

No shadow.

Only ash.

The remaining Fellborn begin to tremble. Their bodies twitch. Their snarls falter. Confusion ripples through movements that had once been unnaturally precise. One collapses. Then another.

They do not fall from wounds, but from something far more sinister.

The will that bound them is gone.

And just like that, the Shadow Force begins to collapse into ruin.

Around the field, the soldiers of Greythorne begin to rise from the rubble, stunned and bloodied. Some still clutch weapons. Others stare in disbelief.

Then someone cheers.

A single voice.

A ragged cry.

The voice becomes two, then ten, then a hundred as the sound swells into a roar that crashes off the ruined walls and rolls across the battlefield like thunder.

TETHERED

FIFTY-THREE

Physical prowess and relentless training prepare us for the battles ahead. Yet it is our bonds, our love, our loyalty, that grant us true strength. The spirit is the greatest weapon we possess.