The wind over Ravenshade carried a strange chill that night.
The moon was full—glowing not in silver, but in a faint red hue, like a warning painted across the sky. Within the sanctuary walls, the air stirred with unease.
Alaric was in the war chamber with Carlos, their voices sharp and urgent. A distress message had arrived from the border outposts — magical distortions, disappearances, and trails of corrupted glyphs stretching toward the Ashen Divide. It reeked of Marlik's touch.
At the same time, Seraphine stood in the great hall, her gaze fixed on the sky. A sudden weight pressed in her chest. She felt… hollow. Something was pulling at her aura, muffling it like fog smothering fire.
> "Alaric," she called out, breathless. "Where's Caelum?"
But by the time they realized it, he was already gone.
---
In the Deep Forest
Caelum's footsteps were light but fast. He moved as though in a trance — guided not by logic but by a strange pull, a whisper in his mind that felt both familiar and distant. The voice wasn't calling him by name… it was calling him by blood.
> "Come, vessel of fire and flame... come, divine one."
The trees grew denser as he entered the heart of the Whispering Forest — a place even seasoned warriors avoided after dusk. But to Caelum, it felt… warm, like home.
Then he saw it — a clearing, bathed in violet mist, where black flowers bloomed unnaturally fast at his feet. In the center stood a stone arch, ancient and pulsing with red runes, and behind it — Marlik.
The demon's spirit form hovered like smoke, solidifying just enough for Caelum to see the burning red eyes beneath his dark hood.
> "You came willingly," Marlik said with a grin. "That means your soul already recognizes its destiny."
Caelum froze, confusion flashing across his face.
> "Who… are you?"
> "I am what you are meant to be," Marlik replied, stepping closer. "I am the darkness that bore your fire, the voice that hides in your flame. You are a god-child… but wasted on light. Let me show you your real purpose."
With a wave of his hand, an enchantment circle erupted beneath Caelum, binding his feet with black chains laced in flame. The boy tried to move—but the enchantment was already digging into his soul, prying open the core of his power.
> "No…" Caelum gasped. "Stop…!"
The mist around the forest grew thicker. The symbols in the arch began to glow.
Marlik raised his arms. "You are the perfect vessel. Lycan rage. Witchcraft legacy. Vampire power. Elven light. All fused into one divine form. But with my will inside… I will become unstoppable."
The moment Marlik's essence reached out to latch onto Caelum's heart—a violent pulse of white fire burst from Caelum's chest, hurling the shadow back.
Caelum fell to his knees, panting. His eyes glowed — golden irises shot through with streaks of red and violet.
> "I'm not yours," he growled.
Marlik screamed in fury, trying again to pull him under.
But then—
---
Back in Ravenshade
Seraphine's heart twisted. A scream — faint, but from her son — echoed in her soul. Her connection to him had been muffled by an enchantment… now it snapped back.
> "Alaric! Carlos!" she shouted. "It's Caelum. He's in the forest!"
Alaric's eyes darkened. "Marlik…"
Carlos unsheathed his blade, already sprinting to mount his beast.
> "Then we bring him back — and burn the bastard who dared touch him."
-----
Shadows slithered along the bark, and the wind whispered names not spoken in centuries. At the center of a cursed glade, Caelum stood alone, suspended in midair by chains of black flame. Marlik, now fully resurrected in a spectral body of fire and shadow, loomed over him.
> "You feel it, don't you?" Marlik cooed. "The power inside you... the blood of the gods and monsters. You are made for more than their protection. You were born for dominion."
But Caelum's golden eyes, bright with the fire of witches and the calm of elves, stared back without fear.
> "You're wrong," he whispered. "I wasn't made to rule through fear... I was born to end it."
Just then — a blast of silver wind tore through the clearing. Alaric arrived like a storm, his crimson eyes burning, his fangs bared, power rolling off him in waves. He landed beside Caelum with a snarl, severing the black chains with one swipe of his flaming sword.
> "You shouldn't have touched my son," Alaric growled.
> "You should've stayed in the grave," Marlik hissed. "But since you're both here... I'll take you together."
He lunged, tendrils of corrupted flame flying out like snakes. Alaric blocked the first wave, parried the second, and countered with a blinding arc of holy fire. Caelum, freed, landed beside his father — both now glowing with ancestral power.
> "Let's end this," Alaric said, casting a glance at his son.
> "Together," Caelum replied.
They moved as one.
Alaric struck high with flaming sword and claw, pushing Marlik back, while Caelum unleashed golden sigils in the air, calling down storms of light. Marlik howled, his form burning and healing at once, writhing as the two bloodlines he sought to corrupt now worked against him.
But it was Caelum who saw it — the tear in Marlik's essence. The place where his soul had never fully sealed. The wound left by his first death.
> "Now!" Alaric roared.
Caelum raised both hands, one alight with blue elven light, the other blazing with black flame inherited from the Carellos — now purified.
> "I am Caelum," he shouted, voice echoing with ancient magic. "Son of Seraphine and Alaric. Heir of light and flame. Vessel of no one!"
The combined light of his bloodlines ignited.
Witch. Vampire. Lycan. Elf. Divine.
Caelum hurled the spear of energy directly into Marlik's core.
Marlik screamed as the blast tore through him. His body began to unravel — his form collapsing, darkness escaping like smoke under a rising sun.
> "This isn't… possible!" Marlik cried. "You were mine—!"
Caelum stepped forward, voice steady.
> "No. I was never yours."
With a final flash of light, Marlik exploded into nothingness, his presence erased, the forest cleansed. Silence followed.
---
Aftermath – At the Forest's Edge
Alaric placed a firm hand on Caelum's shoulder. "You did it."
Caelum looked up, eyes glowing faintly, his body trembling from the release of power. "We did it, Father."
Carlos and Seraphine arrived moments later, faces filled with worry — until they saw the light in the clearing, and the silhouette of the boy who had just slain a god.
Seraphine ran to him, embracing him tightly.
> "You're safe…" she whispered. "You saved us all."
Caelum looked around. The whispers in the forest were gone. The darkness had fled.
> "He won't come back," he said. "Not while I live."
Alaric stood behind him, eyes dark and proud. "Then we'll make sure you live long... and rule in light."