Lunar Heart, Shadow Bound ✓ [when the moon lies]

Ch.40: The One Soul

Pinti's breath was knocked out of her as a gust of warm wind smacked into her face. An ear-shattering 'BOOM' made the cavern walls shiver. The golden scepter glowed so bright she had to squint her eyes. The vague black silhouette of Saboteur rippled. His tentacles vanished and she fell to the floor. Saboteur let out an ear-piercing shriek and another strong wind flattened her to the ground. Through the golden glow, she could barely make out a black form basked in orange light.

As the light faded a soft bubbling sound came from the alter like a natural stream coming out from the ground. Pinti groaned, lifting her head. The entire alter was covered in a creamy yellow liquid pouring down from the opening above. The magick of the moon made her fur tingle and her Lunar marking warmed. White runic symbols were flying around the cavern like little white flower petals blowing in a breeze.

The liquid light cascading down to the cavern floor concealed both Saboteur and the scepter. She had to stop him before it was too late!

Save Kathula. I have to. Pinti staggered to her feet.

The liquid shifted and some clumps fell away, disintegrating in midair. Saboteur's thorny wings sprouted out, glowing orange. Etching onto his back between his wings was a flaming, Lunar marking.

When the last line was made, Saboteur howled up to the moon. Pinti staggered backwards as a deep emotion gripped her heart in its talons. She could feel the sadness in his howl as he cried. The liquid light burst into a million glass shards reflecting the cavern. Golden light flowed out of the scepter anew, converging into a sphere above their heads. It was so bright she had to close her eyes shut tight. With a whistling shriek the magick fanned out, bursting from the cavern.

Even with closed eyes, Pinti saw the magick touch every wall and every tunnel, sweeping through the Sixth Ring and swiftly covering the entire world in a creamy yellow light. After a few heartbeats, it faded.

What has he done? Pinti opened her eyes and struggled to stand, feeling strangely weak. Her heart thumped as she took in the scene before her.

"The scepter!" she cried, and staggered to the alter, pawing the area but there was only an empty hole where it used to be. Dread weighed her down and she slouched against the wall. All she had worked for, to this day, with so much sacrifice, stolen right from under her whiskers. What was going on? Edglings weren't supposed to have been able to use the scepter. She spotted Saboteur lying on the floor unmoving.

Daero staggered into the cavern and sat down at the entrance. "The Edglings stopped fighting. Orvineau fell down dead. I didn't have to kill him."

Pinti stared at him, dumbfounded and realized if Saboteur wished for Kathula's deaths, she and Daero should be dead. Wasn't that what Edglings wanted?

Saboteur groaned and sat up. He was in his wolf-like form and he seemed different somehow. When she sniffed the air, he didn't smell right—no Edgling scent could be found.

"Your magick is gone?" Daero said in disbelief.

Saboteur bowed his head, staring at his paws. "A necessary sacrifice."

"What did you do?" Pinti stuttered, finding her voice. Saboteur looked at Daero who gave a firm nod.

Saboteur sighed. "Remember when the ground cracked, I pulled you away?"

Pinti would never forget that day. He changed her life forever. She could have saved her father!

"You would have died if I had not done that," he whispered. "Fallen into the fissure. It was meant to be us, Pinti. Not you. Not me. It was us."