Chapter 117: Awakening.

Around them the cavern shook, the very air heavy with the pulse of dark force. Lucas could see the ground under his feet moving, the atmosphere pulsing with a power so old and erratic it seemed to seep into his own bones. Now the stone altar in the middle of the hall shone more brilliantly, the marks throbbing like a pulse, each thrum resonating across the walls in Lucas's head.

You are unable to stop it. Deep and old, the voice exploded from the altar. "This power was never supposed to be confined. You missed too late.

Lucas was hit by the words like a physical blow. The Shroud swirled inside him, a constant tug causing his pulse to rush. He could feel the gloom whirling in his chest, pushing him to welcome it and accept what he was. To yield to the authority existing inside him.

Lucas, though, turned away from listening. He tightened his hold on his blade, gritted his teeth. Not now, not now was he about to give in.

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• Fate’s Hidden Luna: When Rejection Awakens the Wolf Within   Chapter 118: The Abyss's Edge.

  Silence, a thick, oppressive hush that seemed to be pressing in on Lucas from every side, enveloped the trip back to the camp. The exact magic that had formerly kept the Shroud at distance now destroyed its influence, so rendering it no more within him. That did not, however, mean the world had returned to normal. Though the war—Lucas knew—was far from finished, the battle was won. The woodland around them was absolutely motionless, as if the energies they had unleashed had scarred the ground itself. Once vibrantly alive, the trees now seemed twisted, their brittle branches black. Once carrying the sound of birds and rustling foliage, the wind now sounded deep and sorrowful, as though the ground itself were in grief. The worst thing Lucas could not get rid of, though, was the sense that something worse, something deeper still awaited. "We did it," Seraphine's voice sliced through his ideas. She had been strolling alongside him, her sl

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  Once the figure vanished into the darkness, the woodland seemed to pulse with an unnatural silence. The weight of the words Lucas had said permeated the air, resonating in his head like a rhythm and each pulse reminded him of the approaching danger they still had. The Shroud wasn't the end. Only the beginning. The dismal hush echoed Seraphine's comments from just now. "There is no control over The Shroud." It cannot be taken down. It starts rather than finishes. Lucas's blood ran cold as he considered how far this plot ran; the power of the unknown was too great. Lucas could feel it now, but, the figure's warning was not without cause. A creeping terror crept into his chest as the dark power in the air settled about them like a shroud. This was about something much worse than merely conquering an opponent. The Shroud has always been a remnant of something ancient, a component of a far more sinister power. But if the Shroud marked merel

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  The creature lay silent, its huge shape stretched over the ground of the woodland, its odd radiance fading into oblivion. The ground surrounding it had split, its black force vanishing into the air like vapor. Every breath heavy, every movement measured, the tension in the clearing was obvious. Lucas could feel the weight of the struggle they had just gone through in his bones as the woodland started to calm once more. It had only been one fight, but it had been one against something far more ancient and far more terrible than anything they had ever battled. Breath shallow as Seraphine got to her feet, her face pale but resolute; she wiped blood from her lip. She had been drained by the barrier, and fighting against the guardian had taxed her. She was alive, though, and that was something Lucas appreciated. They were all just as. Still at the brink of the clearing, Roland kept his eyes fixed on the fallen beast while clutching his swo

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