The ground beneath Elowen Keep trembled, sending loose stones and ancient rubble cascading from the crumbling walls. Kael stumbled back, clutching the second shard to his chest. The air had grown cold too cold and even Thalen's protective wards flickered and strained.
"We woke something," Thalen muttered grimly, his staff flaring as he cast another stabilizing spell.
A deep rumble answered him a sound not of collapsing stone, but of something vast shifting far below. From the cracked earth at the center of the ruined keep, a jagged fissure split open, exhaling a foul mist that reeked of rot and old magic.
From the mist rose a creature unlike anything Kael had ever seen.
It was serpentine in shape, yet its body was stitched from broken bones and scorched roots, its eyes twin wells of abyssal blue. Around its neck hung tattered remnants of a royal banner one from the old kingdom, now long forgotten.
"A bone wyrm," Thalen hissed. "A Guardian of the Forgotten. Bound to the last king... and to the shard's keeper."
The beast lunged, snapping the air where Kael had stood a heartbeat before.
"Scatter!" Lysara shouted. She and Merek rushed opposite ways, trying to divide the creature's attention.
Kael gritted his teeth and raced toward the crumbling dais where the fissure had split. His mind raced. He had two shards now one pulsing with fire, the other cold as frost. If he could somehow wield both...
The wyrm lashed out, sending a shockwave of spectral energy rippling through the air. Merek caught a glancing blow on his shield and was thrown into the ruins with a grunt of pain.
"Enough running," Kael growled. He slammed the two shards together.
A flash of blinding light erupted. Fire and frost, intertwined, whirled around Kael like twin serpents. His sword transformed, its blade forging into a gleaming arc of molten steel and frozen crystal.
The wyrm recoiled, hissing.
Kael charged.
He dodged under its swinging tail, rolled, and slashed upward, carving a glowing wound through the beast's hide. Frost raced along its bones, fire seared its tendrils. It howled a sound that tore at the mind and recoiled again.
"Keep pushing!" Lysara cried, darting in to drive a dagger between the beast's ribs.
Thalen unleashed a barrage of arcane missiles, each bolt finding a crack in the wyrm's defenses. Merek, bruised but unbowed, hurled his axe into one of the creature's eyes.
With a final roar, Kael leapt, driving his blade deep into the wyrm's skull.
The creature spasmed once, then crumbled, its body dissolving into ash and bone dust.
For a long moment, none of them moved. The only sound was their ragged breathing.
Finally, Lysara gave a shaky laugh. "Well... that's one way to wake up the dead."
Kael slumped to one knee, exhaustion flooding him. But he smiled grimly. Two shards were now his, and the power they carried sang in his blood.
They had survived the Dead Vale.
But far to the east, in a black tower crowned with storms, a shadowed figure turned from his scrying pool and smiled.
"The boy gathers strength," Malagar murmured. "Good. Let him come. Let him think he can challenge me."
His voice became a whisper that slithered across the void.
"Soon, the true war begins."