Page 120 of Night Fae

Reality itself began to tear. The ceiling ripped open like fabric, revealing a churning void of colors. From those tears, torrential rain fell—not water, but glittering fragments that burned where they touched skin.

"Take cover!" Caelen commanded, pulling Daniel beneath a stone archway as part of the temple wall simply vanished to be replaced with nothing.

Zev grabbed Malik's arm, dragging him behind a fallen column as the ground where they'd stood seconds before erupted inblack flame. The air itself became difficult to breathe, thick with the scent of ozone and rot.

"What's happening?" Malik shouted over the cacophony of collapsing stone.

"The borders are collapsing completely," Leon called back, eyes wide with terror. The floor beneath him surged upward, forcing him to leap to safety as it twisted into a spiral. "The deity is waking up!"

At the center of the chamber, darkness gathered, coalescing into a massive entity that pulsed and shifted—sometimes appearing with too many tentacle-like limbs, sometimes with none at all, never maintaining a single form for more than seconds.

A howl of hunger echoed through the temple—not a sound made by any creature of flesh, but the cry of something that had been separated from itself for eons and now sensed reunion.

From the entity, shadow tendrils lashed out, smashing pillars and grabbing Night Court soldiers. Those caught were not killed but transformed, their bodies twisting and elongating until they became shadow creatures themselves, immediately turning on their former comrades.

"We need to complete the binding!" Leon shouted, dodging a falling chunk of ceiling.

"How?" Adrian yelled back, pressed against Knox.

The ground beneath them bucked violently, throwing several of Ashelon's guards into a yawning chasm that hadn't existed moments before. Prince Ashelon himself clung to a pillar as half the floor beneath him ceased to exist.

"The cardinal points!" Leon pointed desperately at the four symbols that still glowed through the chaos. "It's now or never!" Leon scrambled back toward the northern point.

Zev pulled Malik close as a shadow creature lunged at them. Without thinking, he channeled power, pushing the monster back. It recoiled, hissing in pain.

Zev stared down at his hand.

He still had some of the deity's power inside himself. "We can use it against itself."

"What do you mean?" Malik asked.

The others seemed confused as well. "Whatever you're planning, do it quickly!" the Shadow King shouted, freezing a shadow creature mid-lunge as he and Daniel defended the eastern point.

Knox and Adrian took up the west spot again. "Leon! What exactly do we do?"

"Channel everything through the bond! Let it flow through you, not into you!"

"This is madness!" Prince Ashelon called. "We need a vessel to contain it!"

"No," Zev countered, blasting back another shadow creature. "I'll serve as a conduit."

Malik whipped around to him. "Are you sure?"

"Trust me."

At the northern symbol, Leon raised his hands, silver energy coursing down his arms. "Follow my lead! Touch the symbols!"

The humans each placed their hands on the symbols before them. Instantly, light erupted from the points, connecting them in a geometric pattern that cut through the chaos.

But the deity fought against the binding with tremendous force. The pattern flickered, threatening to collapse under the strain.

"It's too strong!" Daniel cried out, his face contorted with effort.

"We need more power!" Adrian echoed, his knees buckling.

Zev touched his hands down next to Malik's. "I'll redirect its own energy back into the binding."

Malik's voice sounded strained. "Are you going to sacrifice yourself?"