Chapter 46: The chains of faith

A War of Beasts

The ground trembled with Marcus's rage.

His claws tore into the shape-shifting creature, but it never bled. It never shattered.

It simply laughed.

Darkness enveloped Marcus's arms and legs, twisting like living serpents, attempting to consume him.

Yna's heart pounded.

Marcus was strong—*gods*, he was strong—but it was something more than strength. Something more than flesh and bone.

This was ancient.

And it was playing with him.

Marcus showed his fangs to the beast, his muscles quivering with raw power. "You think this is a game?"

The animal growled. "All is sport to those that do not die."

It snapped its hand.

A wave of emptiness energy burst outward, hitting Marcus with the power of an imploding star.

He was knocked sprawling, smashing into the earth with a ghastly thud.

Yna screamed.

The beast looked at her.

"Now," it breathed, "where were we?"

Yna relocated.

Her power surged through her like fire, her fingers exploding into mad, blinding light.

She bit.

The energy of the magic hit the center of the creature, searing through the darkness, making it contort.

It howled, its form unspooling for the first time.

Yna was breathing irregularly. "Not so fun now, is it?"

It growled.

And then—it struck.

Yna barely had time to toughen up before the darkness swept her away.

A Prison Of Shadows

She was sliding again.

Descending into infinite night.

But this time—

She wasn't alone.

The beast's voice wound around her, a whisper across her skin.

*"You cannot win."

Yna gritted her teeth, forcing herself to breathe.

*Think, damn it.*

The vacancy was its domain. Its prison.

And now it belonged to her.

She saw a flash of movement—Marcus.

He was out there, somewhere over the gulf, his amber eyes searching the darkness, seeking her out.

A tether snapped into place.

He was phoning her.

Yna touched him, power surging between them—

But the monster was *faster*.

It drew her in, drawing her deeper into the depths, drowning its existence.

* "You now belong to me."

Her eyes clouded.

Her limbs were heavy.

The blackness was creeping into her marrow, trying to pull her under, trying to *change* her—

No.

No.

Yna *wasn't* something that could be *claimed*.

She ripped herself free with a naked scream, her entire form bursting with starfire.

The void screamed.

And this time it caught fire.

The Breaking Point

Marcus experienced it before he could see it.

The shift.

The *crack* of the world as Yna tore herself apart through the emptiness, pulling herself back into existence.

And gods—

She was glowing.

There erupted a storm of power from her body, her eyes stars turning into confluence, her figure in the midst of *light and destruction*.

She was no longer struggling.

She was becoming.

The monster flinched, its shapeless form distorting. “Impossible.”

Yna raised her hand.

And *unmade* it.

Light exploded from her palm, ripping apart the creature's existence, causing it to *fold in on itself*.

It shrieked, its amorphous bulk convulsing, shattering.

Marcus hastened toward her, his heart racing. “Yna—”

The monster *imploded*.

Darkness fell.

And then—

Silence.

Yna stopped.

Marcus *caught* her before she could fall, his arms embracing her shaking body.

She screamed against his chest, her fists clenched in his shirt, her entire body shaking.

He rested his forehead against hers, his voice coarse. “I’ve got you.”

She took a shuddering breath. “It’s gone.”

Marcus's hold tightened. "Then let's get the hell out of here."

But the universe had other plans.

For as soon as the vacuum started collapsing—

Something *woke up*.

The Watcher in the Deep

A low vibration resonated through the emptiness, so low it seemed to vibrate the bones of creation itself.

Marcus stiffened, his gold-colored eyes flicking toward the shadows.

Yna sensed it too—a power older than the beast they'd just slain. Older than the Ancient One.

*Something else was here.*

The air warped, curving over them.

A shape formed, huge and unimaginable, its edges wavering between being and something *more*.

Yna's breath stopped. "No…"

Marcus pulled her close, his arm locked around her. “What the devil is that?”

The First spoke and their voice resonated in the emptiness, although their form was not discovered.

*"The Watcher awakens."*

Yna trembled. She had no idea what that was, but every fiber in her being cried out one thing—

They had to run.

Marcus ground his teeth. "We're going. Now."

He whirled, bringing Yna to the dying rift, but the darkness shifted, closing in

on them.

The Watcher would not let them out.

A single voice—low, eternal, *irresistible*—boomed into the blackness.

* "You are not finished yet."

And the void consumed them all.

To Be Continued.