Page 196 of The Last Guardian

Home.

We finally reached the end of the cave. Torches lit one by one in the darkness, lighting up the wall before us.

I put a hand above them to see better as my eyes adjust to the new light.

Then something moved beyond the darkness.

A shadow emerged on the walls—cast by the torchlight—small at first, then growing, bigger every minute, until it filled the entire space.

My gaze was fixed on its distorted shape, like the thing was going to pounce on me at any moment. The large shadow moved closer. My heart stumbled in my chest at what might appear.

From the shadow, a creature emerged, not a monster, not a gigantic beast.

A large cat. Its fur was dense and intensely black, blending into the darkness. I could have mistaken it for the darkest part of the cave. But the hue of its eyes…

Light blue, almost silver eyes, like the gem from the relic. The same shade as the shards from my dreams. The same shade as the power that came from my hands.

Then, the cat blended, shifting, as shards of light moved, danced, and swirled. And transformed the cat into…

Stars—the cat was nowhere to be seen. It had turned into a gigantic beast, bigger than any tree I had ever seen.

Its head had let go of the feline features and melted into those of what could have been a dragon. Its entire body was covered in black scales instead of fur; it was long and serpentine, with enormous paws that could have crushed my skull and sharp, black claws.

It moved to get closer to me, the gigantic dragon-like beast shaking the soil with its paws. And by instinct, I stepped back. Stumbling into Zaid’s chest, I recoiled the second I felt him against me. The contact sent me aflame.

But the creature, the dragon—the Sankyanoia—tilted its gigantic head at me.

Its voice resonated in my soul, and in the room, too.

“Guardian of the Realms, I have been waiting for you,” it said in a dark, low voice. “Shall we begin?”

The soil trembled beneath our feet, rattling the mountain—rattling the world—to its core. Rocks tore from the walls, groaning and cracking, and they crashed to the ground.

Something hard shifted in my arm—in my wrist—a crack of pain that burned me from the inside. I hit the ground as a voice screamed my name. But I felt something else in my soul, taking root deep inside of me… The essence of the world.

The sun, the moon, the very stars.

The whole universe.

Its light.

And its darkness.

HOLDING HIS GLASS to his knee, his fingers lightly caressing the rim, Zaidkiel took a drink, letting the whiskey glide smoothly down his throat.

Despite the gentle rocking of the ship and the sound of the waves crashing against the hull, his soul remained restless.

His own culpability gnawed at his conscience, with the only thing keeping his ardor for destruction in check being the woman who lay unconscious in the quarters below. Her gentle, irregular breathing told him she was still alive.

Yet Alyana hadn’t woken up in three days.

Not since they had found the Sankyanoia.

Ever since then, she had sunk into a deep, unyielding slumber. Was it due to the wound she had sustained after the fight with the bloodthirsty goblins? Or the bond between her and the Sankyanoia?

Fuck.

Zaidkiel cursed himself for not insisting on examining her wounds… He’d felt her fading away. Her skin had lost its rosy hue. Her heartbeat had slowed.