CHAPTER 4: THE COUNTER-STRIKE
The link was beautiful.
Liana had spent days tracing it—the connection between the crystals they wore and the ritual circle outside. It was delicate, complex, perfect. Alaric's masterpiece.
"We can't break it," she explained, her eyes bright with academic fever. "That would alert him immediately. But we can reverse it. Send something back through the link. Something he doesn't expect."
"Like what?" Raine asked.
Liana looked at me.
I understood.
"The entity," I said quietly. "Not all of it. Just... a taste. A whisper. Enough to make him understand what he's trying to unleash."
Kaia's eyebrows rose. "You can do that? Control it?"
"No." I met her eyes. "But I can filter it. I'm the lock. The seal. Nothing passes through me without my permission. Not even a hint of what's below."
Elara stepped forward. "Will it hurt you?"
The question surprised me. Not will it be dangerous or can we survive this. Will it hurt you.
"I don't know," I admitted. "But I know that if we don't stop him, he'll find another way. Another group of sacrifices. Another set of lives to destroy." I looked at the four women who'd become... something. Not allies. Not friends. More. "I won't let that happen."
---
The ritual took three hours.
Liana guided my power. Elara anchored me with her faith. Kaia stood guard, ready to kill anything that interrupted. Raine held my hand—literally, physically held it—and whispered encouragement.
When we finally reversed the link, when I felt Alaric's consciousness on the other end, when I pushed a fraction of the void through that connection—
His scream echoed across worlds.
Not pain. Understanding. The horror of realizing what he'd almost unleashed. The terror of knowing that something infinite had noticed him.
The link shattered.
I collapsed.
---
When I woke, Raine was crying.
"You idiot," she sobbed. "You idiot. You weren't supposed to—you just—"
"I'm fine." My voice was weak, but steady. "Look."
I raised my hand. The runes were still there. Still bright. Still me.
Raine grabbed my hand and held it to her chest. "Don't do that again."
"I make no promises."
Behind her, Elara, Kaia, and Liana stood in a row. Tired. Worried. Relieved.
"Alaric is... diminished," Liana reported. "Aged decades in seconds. His followers fled. The ritual is broken."
"Good."
Kaia stepped forward. "You did that. For us."
"I did it because it was right."
"No." She knelt beside me, her gray eyes intense. "You did it because you care. Don't pretend otherwise."
I had no answer.
But Raine's hand was warm in mine. And for the first time since waking in this body, I didn't feel alone.
---