The loud roar of the cloaked man, coming from the shadow beast, slowly faded away as Kaelan and Elara fell deeper into the dark. They dropped into the Heart of the Grove, far below the broken archive. The place felt like a deep wound in the earth. Old power lived here. Old pain too.
The air was heavy. It was hard to breathe. Every breath burned Kaelan's chest. The darkness pressed on him from all sides. Only Elara's soft emerald light kept them from being swallowed whole.
"The Heart of the Grove," Elara whispered. Her voice shook. "This is where the spirit lives. This is where everything went wrong. Where the binding was made. Where the betrayal began."
She held on to Kaelan tightly, her hands gripping his only arm. Her strength came and went, like the light inside her. The darkness here was alive. It felt hungry.
Kaelan's head spun. He had lost his hand. Blood still stained his sleeve. Worse than that, the dark force inside him was still there. It curled and moved, like a snake in his chest. The cloaked man had brought them here on purpose. He had cut Kaelan's hand to break the pact—but instead, the darkness inside Kaelan had grown stronger.
I'm just a piece on his board, Kaelan thought. A toy in his game.
"He wants Havenwood gone," Kaelan said softly. His throat hurt when he spoke. The dark voice inside him whispered again, sweet and slow, offering power. Offering control. "He said it must be cleaned. Broken. And rebuilt the way he wants."
"And the spirit," Elara said, her eyes full of pain. "Its suffering fed the darkness. It was used. Twisted. Turned into a weapon against its own home."
A low sound filled the chamber. It was like crying. Like a song made of sadness. It pulled at Kaelan's heart. Far ahead, a small light appeared. It was blue. Soft. Gentle. Like the color of tears.
"The tear," Kaelan whispered. He knew it at once. "He didn't destroy it. He led us here. He wants us to touch it. To free the spirit."
Elara looked scared. "But what will it cost?" she asked. "He talked about a true sacrifice. What if freeing the spirit destroys us? Or destroys Havenwood?"
The darkness inside Kaelan throbbed hard, fighting the blue light. Two forces pulled at him. One promised power. The other begged for peace.
"The balance," Kaelan said slowly. Something clicked in his mind. "He thinks Havenwood was built on a lie. That the old pact was wrong. He thinks breaking everything will fix it."
"But balance doesn't come from breaking things," Elara said firmly. Her emerald eyes burned bright. "It comes from understanding. From accepting both light and shadow. Havenwood once had that. Before the ancestors interfered. Before the cunning one twisted it."
The blue light grew brighter. A shape formed inside it. A woman made of light and sorrow. Her eyes shone like sapphires. Pain lived in her face. She was beautiful, but broken.
"The cloaked man," Kaelan breathed. "He is the cunning one. He was never a servant. He was the master. He used my ancestors' fear. He made them bind the spirit. He twisted Havenwood from the start."
Elara nodded. "He planned this for a long time. He used the pact. The Eye. Your bloodline. He slowly poisoned everything. Now he thinks he's about to win."
The spirit reached out her hand. She didn't speak. She didn't need to. Her pain said everything.
The darkness inside Kaelan screamed. It didn't want him to move. It wanted him to choose power.
Kaelan looked at Elara. Fear was in her eyes—but so was hope. She still believed in him.
I won't give in, he told himself.
He pushed the darkness back. He stepped forward and reached out with his remaining hand. He touched the spirit.
Light exploded.
Blue and green light filled the chamber. The darkness screamed and pulled away. Kaelan felt fire rush through his body—not pain, but cleansing heat. The corruption burned. Something inside him broke… and something new formed.
He was changed. He could feel it.
The spirit wrapped them both in light. Peace washed over Kaelan. He felt the land. The roots. The magic. He felt Elara. He felt home.
Then—
A roar shattered the calm.
Louder than before. Angrier.
The beast was back.
The cloaked man returned, his shadow form huge and terrible. Red eyes burned in the dark.
"Fools!" he thundered. "You have only delayed the end! True freedom comes from destruction! And the final sacrifice will be Havenwood itself!"
The spirit's light flickered. Fear passed through her form.
Kaelan stood beside Elara, his heart racing. The battle was not over. The true sacrifice was still coming.
As the shadow beast charged toward them, Havenwood's fate—and their own—hung by a thread.