Chapter 52 Continuation
The battle erupted. Wolves fought desperately. But there were too many creatures. They kept coming. Endlessly. Like a tide of darkness.
"We need to close the fracture!" Mara called to Morgana. "Can you do it?"
"I can try! But I need to get close! And nothing is surviving close to that thing!"
"Then we clear a path! Everyone focus fire on the center! Make a corridor!"
Wolves concentrated their attacks. Pushing creatures aside. Creating a narrow passage toward the fracture.
Morgana ran. Fast. Her shadow form flickering as she dodged attacks. She reached the fracture. Began chanting.
The creatures sensed the threat. All turned toward her. Charging.
"Protect her!" Zevran screamed. "Everyone protect Morgana!"
Wolves threw themselves at the creatures. Dying by the dozens. But buying time. Precious seconds.
Morgana's chant grew louder. More powerful. Dark chains erupted from her body. Shot toward the fracture. Began weaving. Sealing. Closing the gap in reality.
"It is working!" Kieran shouted. "Keep those creatures off her!"
But then something else emerged from the fracture. Something bigger. More solid. More real.
A figure. Humanoid. Made of pure void. With eyes that were white holes burning in its face.
"No," Kieran whispered. "That is not a fragment. That is a Herald. Oblivion's direct servant."
The Herald raised its hand. Pointed at Morgana.
"Stop," it said. Its voice was reality breaking. "Stop or I erase everything here. Every wolf. Every tree. Every memory of this place."
Morgana kept chanting. Kept sealing.
"I warned you." The Herald's hand glowed. Void energy gathered.
"Morgana, move!" Mara screamed.
But Morgana did not move. She kept sealing. Even as the Herald's attack shot toward her.
The void energy struck. Morgana screamed. Her body began to dissolve. To erase.
But the seal held. The fracture closed. The creatures stopped emerging.
When the light faded, Morgana was gone. Nothing remained. Not even ashes.
"No!" Mara felt tears streaming down her face. "No, she was supposed to wait! She was supposed to sacrifice herself when Oblivion broke free! Not now!"
"She made a choice," Selene said quietly. She had appeared beside Mara. "She saw the Herald. Knew it would kill thousands if the fracture stayed open. She chose to close it. Even knowing it would cost her everything."
"It is not fair."
"Nothing is fair. But it is heroic. And that matters."
The Herald remained standing. Looking at all the wolves surrounding it. "Foolish creatures. You sealed one fracture. But there are dozens more. You cannot stop them all. You cannot save everyone."
"Then we save who we can," Mara said. Her voice was steel. "And we keep fighting until there is nothing left to fight with."
"Empty words. Empty hope. Everything ends. Everything becomes void. Your struggle is meaningless." The Herald started to fade. "When my master breaks free, I will come for you first. I will make you watch as everything you love turns to nothing. Starting with the life you carry inside you."
It vanished.
Mara clutched her stomach. Fear and rage warring inside her.
"We need to move faster," she said. "Find the other fractures before they open. Stop them before more Heralds emerge."
"We just lost a thousand wolves fighting one fracture," Marcus said. "We cannot sustain this. We will run out of fighters before we run out of fractures."
"Then we recruit more fighters. Call in every favor. Every alliance. Every pack that owes us anything."
"That will take weeks. We do not have weeks."
"Then we make do with what we have." Mara turned to address everyone. "I will not lie to you. The situation is desperate. We are outnumbered. Outmatched. Many of us will die in the coming battles. But we fight anyway. Because the alternative is worse. The alternative is letting darkness consume everything. And I refuse to accept that. Who is with me?"
Every wolf howled. Even the wounded. Even the dying.
They would fight. To the last wolf. To the last breath.
Because that is what heroes did.
Over the next week, four more fractures opened. Each one was sealed. But at terrible cost. Three thousand more wolves died. Entire villages were erased. Regions of the kingdom became dead zones where nothing could live.
Mara watched her kingdom crumble. Watched friends die. Watched everything she built start to fall apart.
And she was helpless to stop it.
"You need to evacuate," Zevran said one night. "Take the civilians south. As far from the fractures as possible. Save who you can."
"I am not abandoning my kingdom."
"You are not abandoning it. You are preserving it. Keeping people alive so there is someone left to rebuild after this is over."
"What makes you think this will be over? What if it just keeps getting worse? What if Oblivion breaks free and there is no stopping him?"
"Then we die fighting. But at least some will survive. Your child will survive. And they will remember what we fought for. What we died for. And maybe they will finish what we started."
Mara wanted to argue. But she was too tired. Too heartsick. Too overwhelmed.
"Fine. Start the evacuation tomorrow. Women. Children. The elderly. Anyone who cannot fight goes south."
"What about you?"
"I stay. I am the Moon Wolf. I cannot run while my people fight."
"You are also pregnant. Your first duty is to that child."
"My first duty is to all my children. Everyone in this kingdom. I will not abandon them."
Zevran knew better than to argue. He just pulled her close. Held her while she cried.
The evacuation began at dawn. Thousands of civilians heading south. Carrying what they could. Leaving everything else behind.
Mara watched them go. Each face a reminder of what she was fighting for. What she could not let fall to darkness.
"We will meet again," she called to them. "When this is over. We will rebuild. Together."
Some believed her. Others just looked sad. Like they knew they would never see her again.
Maybe they were right.
A messenger arrived. Breathless. Terrified. "Moon Wolf! The main seal! The one beneath the capital! It is breaking! Oblivion is coming through!"
This was it. The final battle. The moment everything led to.
"How long do we have?"
"Hours. Maybe less. He is tearing through from the inside. Nothing is stopping him."
Mara looked at Zevran. At Kieran. At everyone who had stood beside her through impossible odds.
"Then we go. All of us. We face Oblivion together. One last time."
"You cannot fight him," Kieran said. "He will kill you. Kill the baby."
"Then I die protecting my child's future. That is a good death."
"No death is good."
"But some are necessary." Mara drew her weapons. "Let us go. Before I change my mind."
They marched toward the capital. Toward the main seal. Toward Oblivion himself.
The city was already evacuated. Empty streets. Abandoned buildings. Ghost town.
At the center stood the seal. A massive circle of light surrounding a pit. And from that pit came sounds. Terrible sounds. Reality tearing. Existence screaming.
"He is almost through," Selene said. "Maybe ten minutes before the seal breaks completely."
"Can we reinforce it?"
"No. Nothing can reinforce it now. It is over. All we can do is prepare for what comes next."
Mara looked at the wolves gathered around her. Five thousand remained. All that was left of her kingdom's defenders.
Against Oblivion, it would not be enough. Not even close.
But they would try anyway.
"Form defensive positions! When he emerges, hit him with everything! Magic, weapons, prayers, whatever you have! Do not let him leave this plaza!"
Wolves scattered. Taking positions. Ready to die.
The seal cracked. Light burst from the fractures. The pit rumbled.
Then silence.
Everything went still. Quiet. Wrong.
From the pit rose a figure. The beautiful man with golden hair and silver eyes. Oblivion in his false form.
"Hello, little wolves," he said pleasantly. "Did you miss me?"
"Attack!" Mara screamed.
Magic erupted from every direction. Fire, ice, lightning, light. All striking Oblivion at once.
He laughed. Opened his mouth. And swallowed everything.
Every spell. Every attack. Every desperate attempt. He consumed it all.
"Delicious. But not filling. I need more." His silver eyes fixed on Mara. "Starting with you."
He moved. Faster than thought. One moment he was across the plaza. The next he was in front of Mara.
His hand reached for her stomach. For the life growing inside.
"No!" Zevran threw himself between them. Oblivion's hand pierced his chest instead.
"Zevran!" Mara screamed.
Zevran looked down at the hand through his heart. Looked at Mara with his ice pale eyes. "I love you. Always."
Then he was gone. Not dead. Not dying. Just gone. Erased. Consumed. Nothing remained.
Mara fell to her knees. The bond inside her chest shattered. She felt it break. Felt half her soul disappear.
"Zevran," she whispered. "Come back. Please come back."
"He cannot," Oblivion said. "He is nothing now. Part of me. Part of the void. And soon you will join him. You and your child. You will all become nothing together."
He reached for her again.