Elijah’s POV
No. No. No.
“What’s happening?! What is she doing?”
The words ripped from my throat, hoarse and raw with desperation. My heart pounded violently against my ribs, a frantic rhythm that matched the chaos unraveling before me. The battlefield, once filled with the sounds of clashing steel and war cries, now held only the deafening hum of power–a power that radiated from Stormi
Blinding light exploded from her body, expanding with an intensity that sent a painful tremor through the air. The very ground beneath us quaked, cracking as if the earth itself recognized the magnitude of what was happening. I felt it then–a deep, agonizing pull in my chest, as though something vital, something irreplaceable, was being torn from me.
I turned to Rowena, my vision blurred with fury and desperation. She had answers–I knew she did. “Tell me what’s happening!” I demanded.
But she didn’t speak right away. She only stood there, her face pale, her lips trembling. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks. The weight of her sorrow settled into my bones, chilling me far worse than the freezing winds that swept over the battlefield.
Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, she shattered my world.
“She’s… given up her soul.”
I froze. My breath hitched. My heart slammed against my ribs as my mind struggled to comprehend her words.
No.
No, she wouldn’t–she couldn’t.
Rowena swallowed hard, her voice shaking. “Stormi… her soul was a remnant of the Goddess. She’s using it–to finish the Shadow Weaver.”
A sharp, piercing pain shot through my chest, stealing the breath from my lungs.
Stormi–my mate, my Stormi–was sacrificing herself.
I barely had time to react before a deafening explosion erupted from where she stood. A massive force surged outward, a tidal wave of divine power that swallowed everything in its path. My body lifted off the ground, weightless, helpless, before I was hurled backward.
The impact was brutal. I hit the earth with bone–crushing force, my head snapping back as darkness threatened to consume me. The air was thick with smoke, heat rolling in waves that seared my skin. My ears rang, drowning out every other sound, leaving me trapped in suffocating silence.
Then, as the dust began to settle, the battlefield fell unnaturally still
I forced my aching body onto my elbows, each movement sending fresh bursts of pain through my limbs. The once–vibrant land had been reduced to ruin. Fires burned in the distance, casting eerie shadows over the wreckage. Scorched earth stretched as far as the eye could see. What had once been a battlefield was now a graveyard of ash and destruction.
And Stormi…
Chapter 221
My breath came in ragged gasps as I searched frantically, my eyes darting over the carnage, desperate–praying–for any sign of her.
But there was nothing.
No body. No trace
Just a massive crater, its edges still glowing with residual celestial energy, crackling like the dying embers of a once–consuming flame.
A strangled sound tore from my throat, something between a sob and a roar.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
We were supposed to win together.
We were supposed to live together.
A choked sob drew my attention. I turned to see Isaiah kneeling in the dirt, his hands trembling as they clutched a piece of fabric- Stormi’s torn shirt. His fingers curled around it like a lifeline, his body shaking with the force of his grief.
Austin was on his knees beside him, his face buried in his hands, his broad shoulders trembling. I had never seen him break before, never seen him fall apart. But now, with Stormi gone, he looked as shattered as I felt.
Rowena stood motionless, her gaze fixed on the place where Stormi had vanished. Her expression was hollow, empty.
And me?
I felt like my soul had been ripped from my body.
Then, something shifted.
A faint hum pierced the silence, so soft at first that I thought I imagined it. But it grew louder, resonating in the air like the lingering notes of an ancient melody. A strange energy crackled in the atmosphere, raising the hairs on my arms.
I lifted my head, my breath catching as I saw it–saw her.
A figure stood at the center of the ruins, bathed in an ethereal glow of silver and gold. She wasn’t entirely solid, yet not entirely intangible either. A presence that was both there and not, flickering like the last ember of a dying fire.
The battlefield held its breath.
My chest ached as hope warred with disbelief.
“Stormi.?” My voice was barely a whisper, raw and desperate.
The figure didn’t move at first. The glow around her pulsed, shifting with a rhythm that felt almost… familiar.
Then, ever so slowly, she turned her head.
Our eyes met.
And that single moment, my world tilted.
