🔥 EPISODE 36 — "WHEN SHADOWS BLEED"
SCENE 1 — THE LIGHT STRIKE THAT FREES HER
The light still hums in Aryex's body.
Not exploding. Not screaming.
Holding.
He turns toward Raven.
The Shadow Lord tightens his grip again— but this time, the light answers back.
Aryex doesn't attack.
He places his hand on Raven's chest and releases a single pulse.
Not power. Recognition.
The shadow inside her fractures.
Raven gasps.
Her blade slips from her fingers.
She collapses to the stone floor like a puppet whose strings were cut.
The Castle exhales.
For the first time since she was taken—
Raven cries.
Not loudly. Not dramatically.
Just one broken breath.
Aryex catches her before she hits the ground.
"I'm here," he says. Not as a warrior. Not as a savior.
As the boy she remembered.
SCENE 2 — THE REALIZATION
Raven's eyes clear.
She looks at her hands.
They're shaking.
"I—"
Her voice breaks.
"I chose wrong."
Aryex doesn't deny it. Doesn't forgive it either.
He helps her stand.
"You chose survival," he says quietly.
"Now you choose again."
Raven looks past him.
At the Castle. At the shadows retreating.
At the thing watching them.
She steps forward.
Stands beside Aryex.
Not behind him.
The Shadow Lord freezes.
That was never supposed to happen.
SCENE 3 — FEAR WEARS A CROWN
The Shadow Lord finally speaks.
Not shouting. Not threatening.
"Then I release them."
The Castle splits.
Seven gates open across the upper spires.
Seven presences descend.
Not monsters. Not beasts.
Generals.
Upper Moons — perfected, patient, terrifyingly calm.
Each one bends the Castle differently:
One warps gravity.
One devours sound.
One fractures time by seconds.
One bleeds shadow into light.
One wears a human face.
One has no form at all.
One watches without moving.
Raven's breath tightens.
"These aren't soldiers," she whispers.
Aryex nods.
"They're endings."
SCENE 4 — THE FIGHT THAT CAN'T BE WON CLEANLY
The battle erupts.
Aryex moves in Light Mode — precise, controlled, devastating.
Raven fights beside him — shadow refined, hers, no master.
Together, they hold ground.
But the Upper Moons don't rush.
They separate.
They corner.
And then—
Ilya screams.
A shadow pierces through the battlefield toward her.
Aryex reacts instantly.
Too instantly.
He moves to shield her.
Light flares defensively.
And that's the problem.
Every time he protects Ilya— he stops attacking.
Every time he stops— the Moons recover.
Raven shouts, "ARYEX—!"
Another strike.
Another save.
He's bleeding now.
Not from wounds.
From choices.
SCENE 5 — ILYA'S DECISION
Ilya sees it.
Really sees it.
Aryex can't win like this.
Not while carrying her life in his hands.
She steps forward.
"No," Aryex says immediately.
She doesn't listen.
"I didn't wait all this time to be your weakness."
She moves toward the shadows.
Light flickers.
Aryex reaches—
Too late.
A Moon descends.
Ilya closes her eyes.
SCENE 6 — THE MIRACLE THAT ISN'T MERCY
The Castle moves.
Stone slabs tear free from the walls.
Not violently.
Protectively.
They wrap around Ilya like ribs.
The shadow strike hits—
And shatters.
The Castle itself shields her.
Every corridor trembles.
The Upper Moons hesitate for the first time.
Raven stares.
"The Castle…" she whispers.
"It chose."
Aryex feels it then.
The truth.
The Castle was never Shadow's home.
It was waiting.
FINAL SHOT — THE WAR REDEFINED
Aryex turns back to the Upper Moons.
No panic. No hesitation.
Raven steps beside him, blades ready.
Ilya stands inside the living stone, alive.
And somewhere above—
The Shadow Lord's confidence cracks.
Because this war was never about conquering the world.
It was about who the world would obey.
And now—
The Castle has chosen its master.
CUT TO BLACK.