Chapter 156: Shadow’s last breath

The ground groaned beneath a thunderous cry, cracks tearing apart like poisoned wounds across the grotto floor as skeletons moved their bony fingers. Rotting meat fell from the dead in torn tatters, their glassy orbs flashing an unearthly purple glint. The stench of rot clung to the air, disgusting and choking as their gruff growls echoed off the cavern walls. Behind me, Grayson and the rest streamed into the labyrinth, their cries of terror drowned out by the chaos of the horde of undead.  "Althea!" Grayson's cry cut through the din, bare with fear.

But I had already begun to run toward the obsidian altar, where Selene steadied herself against the evil glow of the talisman. The relic pulsed like a poisoned heart, green light its sickly sickly color casting jagged patterns that seemed alive. Static covered the air like a presence, every hair on my frame standing as the earth trembled beneath the soles of my boots.

"You’re too late, you pathetic little weakling!" Selene said again, laughing wildly, her blonde hair streaming in the unnatural gusts. She gestured widely and crazily towards the talisman that glowed and pulsed intensely, its light flashing in time to her mocking laughter. “Watch how my army will tear your loved ones apart!”

The rotting contagion, a wave of filth. Grayson unleashed a jarring howl as he advanced into battle, claws ripping infected flesh. Calista's spear struck true, decapitating a wolf as it sprang forward, and Landon's sword tore through the ribs with sickening crunches. For each corpse, two more slithered out of the earth, their ribcages removed and clanking as they lurched towards the living.

Selene leapt from the altar, crouched. Her wild eyes smoldered with evil as she summoned me to her. "Have you come to properly die at my hands this time?"

I attacked, my dagger poised to pierce her throat. She deflected with ease, her fist landing on my ribs. The crunch traveled through my bones, taking my breath away. I fell, blood filling my mouth.

"Pathetic," she sneered, circling me like a wolf playing with hurt prey. "You're nothing without this." She gestured towards the talisman again, its glow pulsating in tune with her laughter. "Your mother stole this power, but at least she had the decency to die for it. You? You're just a weakling hanging onto a relic you have no knowledge about.”

I charged, feigning to the left before I slapped at her wrist. She caught my arm, spinning until the knife dropped from my hand. Her knee pinned my stomach, and I doubled over, panting.

“Look at them,” she hissed, gripping my hair and forcing my head towards the gory scene ahead. Grayson battled three corpses at once, his shirt torn, blood streaming from a gash on his shoulder. “He’ll die first. Then the others will watch and you’ll watch, afterwards, I’ll kill you myself.”

Her boot slammed across my throat, restricting my air flow. The light of the talisman burning brighter, its power burning through my eyes. The cavern receding, Grayson's screams, the snarling, the crack of splintering bones, all distant, receding.

‘I'm sorry,’ I thought, as I felt darkness creeping up the edge of my vision. ‘I let you all down—’

"Get up, Althea."

My mother's voice cut through the fog in my mind like a knife. "If you die, everything you love dies with you. Now. Get. Up."

Selene recoiled to strike.

**‘Breathe.’** I told myself.

I rolled, her fist slamming into the stone where my head had lain. Pain howled through all of my muscles, but I moved, scrambling up onto my feet. Blood dripped from my nose, my ribs wailing with each breath.

**Connect.**

The labyrinth grew hazy, the stench of rot, the growls, the freezing stab of the talisman's beam. There was merely the pound of my heart, the hammering of blood in my ears, the spark of magic deep within me

**Ignite.**

White fire blazed in my chest. My eyes opened.

Selene froze mid-lunge, her sneer waning.  

"What—?"

I raised my hand. The air vibrated, charged with a storm I could not name. 

Selene's form twitched as the power within me lifted her from the floor, arms and legs outflung like a puppet's. She ran to grab the talisman but it slipped from her hands and clattered to the floor. 

"No!” she wailed, tugging at the raw magic ties. "This is mine!”

Energy flowed through me, uncontrolled and savage. The labyrinth trembled, rocks booming like a cataract as I drifted, energy surging at my fingertips. Violet lightning blazed from my hands, twisting around Selene's neck. Her face contorted, strangling, her legs thrashing wildly.

"You're wrong," I said, my voice a thousand-voiced chorus. "It was never yours."

She kicked, her fingers clawing at the air. "You—can't—control—this!"

"I don't need to control it." Magic flowed, burning through my veins. "I just have to destroy you."

The lightning coiled. Selene's screams became raw, her flesh boiling as the energy overcame her. The light of the talisman waned, its grip on her slipping.

"You… can't…”

she choked.

"I can."

In a final, wordless scream, her body went limp.

I collapsed to the ground, magic dissipating like mist. Selene's body fell, her lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling. The talisman lay nearby, its surface cracked and dull.

"Althea, wait—!" Grayson's voice, ripped with fear.

But there was no time.

I dragged myself to the relic, my blood marking its surface. The cavern shook, the possessed wolves dissolving into ash as the talisman's hold failed.

"Ashes to ashes,” I exhaled, the words rising up from some forgotten, lost part of me. "Shadow to light.”

The talisman exploded.

A shockwave of energy tore outward, destroying the labyrinth. Walls blazed white-hot, the air itself screaming as Selene’s dead army dissipated into smoke. The pack clapped hands over mouths, bent double as the wind howled, then fell still.

**Silence.**

I staggered, knees sagging. Grayson steadied me before I collapsed, shaking arms.

"Althea, look at me. Look at me!”

His face quivered in my line of sight, bloodied, scared. I tried to smile. "We… did it."

"Stay with me," he begged, forehead on mine. "Don't you dare close your eyes."

But the darkness had no mercy, dragging me under. 

In that final moment, I said what had been on my mind, what I had been too scared to say all this while. 

“I love you, Grayson.” 

The final thing I was aware of was the shocked look on his face. 

And then the darkness embraced me completely.