Esther sprinted back down into the Ogwumagala Caves, the glowing, pulsating Silver Bloom lighting her path. She found Samuel and Fortune exactly where she had left them, the tension between them still thick and volatile.
"The Bloom is critical," Esther gasped, stumbling into the cavern. "It's seconds from explosion."
Fortune's eyes widened with unholy excitement. He didn't wait for permission. He snatched the Silver Bloom from Esther's hands.
"The Golden Leaf is mine!" Fortune hissed, forgetting his truce and his bargain. He thrust the fragile, glowing plant toward his chest, ready to absorb its exploding power.
"No, Fortune!" Samuel roared, galvanized by the immediate threat. He shoved Esther behind him and lunged, not at Fortune, but at the Crystal Casket on the slab.
Samuel grabbed the perfectly formed, five-sided crystal. In a burst of desperate speed, he slammed the Crystal Casket around the exploding Silver Bloom in Fortune's hands.
Fortune shrieked. The crystal Casket, perfectly fitted to the Bloom, immediately snapped shut around the plant's core. The plant's terrifying white glow was contained, channeled, and instantly stabilized by the crystal.
The light emanating from the Casket shifted from volatile silver to a deep, mesmerizing gold. The tremors in the cave stopped instantly. Silence descended, deep and profound.
Fortune recoiled, dropping the Casket onto the cavern floor as if burned.
"The Golden Leaf," he whispered, his voice shaking with awe and fury. "She succeeded. The pure, stable power source."
Esther rushed forward and knelt beside the glowing Golden Leaf Casket. The energy pulsing from it was warm and calm, no longer draining or chaotic.
"It's stable," Esther confirmed, looking at Samuel with triumphant relief. "The Stone is now protected by a permanent, independent power source. The pact is severed."
Fortune watched the Casket, his ambition crushed by the realization that the power was now stable, contained, and entirely useless to him as a weapon of chaos.
"The wolves are free," Fortune stated, the anger hardening his pale eyes. "And the Keeper is useless."
He looked at Esther, a cold, empty hatred replacing his previous obsession. "You broke the leash, Esther. But the wolf is still a beast."
Fortune turned and dissolved into a faint mist, retreating deep into the caves. He was defeated, for now, but not destroyed.
Samuel stumbled toward Esther, his face contorted not with pain, but with profound relief. He was free. The danger of the beast's permanent savagery was gone.
He dropped to his knees beside her, embracing her fiercely, his body still radiating a powerful heat, but now it was the heat of pure, unfiltered joy.
"You saved us," he whispered into her hair, his pine scent overwhelming the damp cave air.
"We saved us," Esther corrected, leaning into his strength, the Golden Leaf Casket glowing between them, a testament to their love and ingenuity. "Now, we face your father."