The world narrowed to a single breath.
The* screamed as it widened, reality bending around its edges like flesh torn from bone. The Devourer’s eye loomed—vast, ancient, endless—its hunger not loud, not frantic.
Patient.
Waiting.
Kael stood at the center of it all, arms spread slightly, his ruined form trembling as power poured through him. Silver-black light carved through his veins, burning away what little humanity remained.
“Do it,” he urged softly. “You feel it, don’t you? The bond. The truth. You were always meant to stand here—with me.”
The pull intensified violently.
Not just pain.
Memory.
Every moment I had ever belonged to him—chosen or not—rose up and wrapped around my heart like chains tightening for the final time.
I screamed.
The Guardian’s massive form loomed behin
