CHAPTER 175: The Eclipse Child Rescues Kael After He Falls During Combat
CHAPTER 175: The Eclipse Child Rescues Kael After He Falls During Combat
The world was a haze of light and shadow. The air surrounding Kael sparked with his Eclipse power, but it was insufficient. Ancient, strong, and enraged, the gods of the Eclipse Realm had come down like a storm, their ominous energies blasting over the battlefield. Despite their heroic efforts, the wolves' might seem little in the face of such ancient powers.
As a wolf whose strength was molded by the Eclipse's own nature, Kael had always been a force of nature. However, he now understood how insignificant even the strongest of them might feel in the face of such overwhelming odds, as the heavens themselves seemed to split above him. The gods were unrelenting, but he swung his sword and cut through the darkness. The air surrounding them was distorted by their oppressive presence.
Kael just avoided an onslaught from a towering figure, a deity with eyes like flaming embers, her shape flickering in and out of existence as the earth under him shook. Kael was flung back with a force that broke the earth under him as her ghostly hand flew forward. His body ached with each movement until he slid to a stop, struggling to breathe.
"Kael!" He could hardly hear Selene above the din of combat, yet her words echoed across the confusion. When he glanced up, he saw her engaged in a violent battle with another of the gods, her claws slicing through the air. However, there were many more of them than they had ever imagined.
As he fought to get his bearings, the wolf's heart pounded. The conflict had sapped his strength and diminished his powers. Even though he could feel his body slackening and the battle leaving him, he persisted. Not right now. Not with everything at stake.
His eyesight was swimming as he attempted to rise. The group was struggling in the distance, driven back by the unrelenting gloom. Then he felt it the crushing closeness of one of the gods' powers. The deity held out her hand to strike, and the air itself appeared to freeze around him.
It was useless, but Kael swung his sword one final time. With a single, quick motion, the god's power ripped through him as her hand grabbed for his chest. As his body went limp and the blood gushing from the wound diminished his power, the world around him became quiet.
His eyesight became hazy. The faint echo of Selene's voice was too far away. This was it, Kael thought as the chill of death crept over him.
However, something shifted just as his body started to give way. Kael thought he saw the moon itself shine down on him for a brief moment as there was a bright, blinding flash of light. A weird power seized his waning awareness as his heart thumped in his chest.
After that, he stopped falling.
Rather, he was standing in the midst of unfamiliar, changing terrain. The world was always moving, whirling with light and shadow. There was a heart-like pulsing to the earth under his feet. There was just the stifling weight of quiet, no noises, no breezes.
As if they weren't his own, Kael's limbs felt heavy as he attempted to move. His senses reeled as he gazed about. Then he caught sight of her. A figure, barely more than a shadow, walked toward him from the center of the shifting void.
It was a kid. But not any kid.
Her hair was the color of the moon, and her skin glowed with a gentle, unearthly radiance. There was something old and strong about her eyes, a knowledge of things Kael could not comprehend, and they were more than simply human.
The child of Eclipse.
He couldn’t talk, couldn’t move, but the youngster was approaching him, her eyes steady and peaceful. The weird energy that surrounded them both started to hum in sync as she got closer, and the surroundings changed once again. The intensity of her presence seemed to have distorted and bent time itself.
"You saved me?" Even if Kael's voice was barely audible, it was sufficient. He wasn't sure if he was really speaking or whether the notion was just expressing itself in the weird environment they were in.
The child's eyes shone with knowledge as she cocked her head. Kael sensed a strong, overpowering feeling of purpose even though she didn't say anything. The energy appeared to concentrate in that instant as she held out her hand to him. The Eclipse's own soul seemed to be coursing through her, encircling him, and bandaging his wounds.
Kael gasped as the ache in his chest subsided and was replaced by an unaccustomed warmth, and he stumbled back. It was something deeper than healing in the conventional sense. Something older.
The child’s eyes flickered with light as she extended her hand further. "You won't be taken, Kael," she said, her words a sensation rather than a sound that resonated in his entire being. "But the bridge must be you."
"The bridge?" Confused, with his breath still coming in ragged spurts, Kael repeated. "What is meant by that?"
The child's surroundings changed once again before they could respond. Kael's memories of the battlefield, a far-off, chaotic scene, suddenly came flooding back. The pack, the gap, and the gods. It was all still going on. Still engaged in combat.
"No," Kael said, taking a bold step forward. "I can't remain here. "My pack Selene"
When the child's eyes flashed, Kael felt a strong surge of energy that drew him back from the brink of this weird world. "They don't need you the way you are right now. You have to know where you fit into the course of events if you want to fight and win.
Kael clenched his jaw, while feeling angry and powerful. "Tell me what to do."
As if composed of moonlight, the child's figure shimmered, her brilliance becoming brighter. "The gods are not going to give up lightly. You have to tie the eclipse to your destiny. You can only stop this at that point.
And with that, the youngster stretched out, her hand gleaming with the brilliance of the moon itself.
Kael felt an intense feeling as a sharp pulse of energy rushed through his body. He felt the Eclipse power flood through him, but this time it wasn't the same. This was not like the others. more powerful. Wilder. It was more than simply his power; it was the Eclipse's very soul, now tied to him and coursing through him in ways he could never have predicted.
Kael felt his awareness grow beyond anything he had ever experienced as the power engulfed him. He saw every scenario and every result the divide, the gods, the conflict. For the first time, he realized how much this battle really cost.
Then everything fell into place with one last, loud crack.
Kael's senses returned to the battlefield as his body jolted back. He was once again standing in the center of the conflict, rather than in the foreign world. Although the pack was still engaged in combat, he now had a new force a link to the Eclipse itself.
His body radiated the power he had never imagined possessing, and his eyes blazed with the moon's energy. However, what he saw as he looked over the battlefield chilled his blood.
There were others who opposed them besides the gods. Out of the darkness came a new presence, one that Kael knew too well.
Rowan was the one.
However, Rowan Kael was unaware of this. His figure was shadowed by the eclipse's force, and his eyes were glimmering with an eerie brightness. He was now a harbinger of doom rather than an ally.
And Rowan held out his hand with a chilly smile.
Kael sensed that the pack was still battling. They were losing.
And this time, only the Eclipse magic and who had it would determine whether the war was won or lost.